What's it like for a game dev in Kyiv?
Brendan Sinclair
Managing Editor
Thursday 3rd March 2022
"When it all started, everyone but me was sleeping. I heard some distant explosions."
That's Kyiv-based developer Alex Molodkin, who along with his partner Tay Kuznetsova comprise the two-person studio Weasel Token. Weasel Token is currently working on Puzzles for Clef, a "peaceful 2D puzzle adventure with a treasure hunt at its core," but there's obviously not much work getting done ever since Russian forces began a siege of Kyiv.
Molodkin tells GamesIndustry.biz about the first night of the siege.
"I was working on our game and I had to stop and wake everyone up," he says. "It was a hard first day because the realization that you're suddenly plunged into war is very difficult to take in. It all seems like a nightmare. But then the realization sunk in and we started feeling a bit more practical about it. We moved everyone from the rooms to the hallway and we've been living in the hallway since day one because all of our rooms have windows and outer walls, so it would be very difficult if there were explosions nearby."
Molodkin lives in an apartment building. Some of his neighbors still live there. One moved to a nearby shelter.
"We have [a shelter] nearby but it would be difficult for my grandmother especially because she has issues with her legs," he says. "If the worst comes to pass we'll have to locate there for a while but hopefully it won't be for a long time because that would be just impossible for her."
Kuznetsova and Molodkin
Molodkin and Kuznetsova have been bracing for this since the start of the year.
"When everyone in the world panics, even if you don't follow the news, you start hearing some echoes of it," he says. "When the neighboring country builds up its
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
