“Ambitions Must Match the Budget”: What We Learned While Creating a Game About the “Road of Life” Funded by IRI

Sergey Gimelreich, head of the ISKRA studio

IRI Support

The development was funded by the Internet Development Institute. In 2025, we participated in their national content creation competition, reached the finals, and defended our project live.

The defense, by the way, turned out not to be the scariest part. It was much more challenging to organize the budget. We had to outline the expenses by item, honestly estimate the available resources, the technologies we would need, and what might change along the way. And all of this took place during pre-production, when it was unclear where the project might stall.

Budget for the Main Focus

Our rule is simple: the money goes to what the game is actually about. If it's about story and atmosphere, then that's where the main part of the budget goes.

We were lucky here: from the very beginning, we knew what we were focusing on and what we wanted to deliver to the player. Plans changed along the way—no project, regardless of how strong the initial idea is, can avoid that. But when you know what's essential, it's easier to decide what to cut and what cannot be touched.

Things I Would Change

If we were starting now, I would have budgeted entirely differently. For example, I would have allocated much more for character animations and plot variability.

And also: we wouldn't set such a high bar for ourselves with such a modest budget. Ambitions should match the funds. It sounds obvious until you start working on a project you strongly believe in.

In the end, we had enough money for production: the studio has extensive experience working under such conditions.

Spiral Development

The core idea hardly changed throughout development: the player is a GAZ AA truck driver transporting cargo across the ice of Lake Ladoga, encountering situations where decisions must be made. However, we struggled with the mechanics from start to finish.

Initially, we planned to tackle missions one at a time: finish one, move on to the next. Eventually, we switched to a spiral approach: at each iteration, we went through all the game's missions and improved them, from rough drafts to polish.

Driving Straight

One of the most challenging tasks turned out to be the road itself. The ice road is a completely flat surface with almost no relief, and the road is literally straight. Making this drive interesting was quite a puzzle.

We had to find a balance: to make the world interactive enough but not distract from the atmosphere and storyline. For the sake of a coherent story, we sacrificed some player freedom. In "Road of Life," it's important to read, listen, and look around. We wanted to create an interactive story-driven journey with a documentary foundation.

History and Gameplay

Combining historical accuracy, gameplay, and budget was tough, especially since the accuracy needed to be engaging. Compromises were necessary.

We checked every mechanic and every situation with one question: "Could this have really happened?"

For example, on the real ice road, boxcars simply stood along the way as support points. They didn't have barriers, and drivers were not required to enter and mark their waybills. But we needed save points. So, we reimagined the setup a bit: placed barriers at each boxcar and required drivers to mark their waybills. The logbook entry effectively serves as saving the game.

Interactivity Instead of Survival

Originally, we envisioned a much more gameplay-oriented game: survival in the harsh conditions of war and the wintery Lake Ladoga with a highly branched narrative. We wanted multiple endings and different consequences for decisions, but it turned out to be too expensive and complicated. The player's possibilities had to be narrowed, focusing primarily on atmosphere and story.

The result was a linear interactive story. The gameplay ties character encounters together: players can drive the truck in challenging road conditions, shoot from an anti-aircraft gun, and try not to freeze if they stray too far from the road.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the result. We achieved the main goal: allowing players to briefly step into the shoes of a GAZ AA truck driver on the ice road. I hope the players appreciate this.

"Road of Life" will be released on Steam on October 27. The game will be free.

• Game page on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4693550/
• Game page on VK Play: https://vkplay.ru/play/game/doroga-zhizni-47895/