Kefir: “Developers don’t really care what city they are in”

Maria PestrikovaThe interview was conducted by the White Nights Conference Partner Manager Egor Ershov with the assistance of Getloyal.

Masha, let’s start with a little introduction about yourself. How did you get into the gaming industry?

I joined Kefir seven years ago as an HR manager. Before that, my life had nothing to do with gamedev.

At all?

I wasn’t involved with development, but I played a lot. Including in World of Warcraft, where she was in a guild with Andrey Pryakhin, the founder of our company.

You got into the studio when it was still small and not as famous as it is now, and you probably know why the company is called that way?

When we worked exclusively on the Russian market, this question was not so popular. Now it is being asked more and more often, especially by our foreign partners.

The name has its own little history.

When we created our first game (“Jailhouse”), we needed to upload it to a social network. And at this stage, we suddenly realized that we had not chosen a name for the team.

We immediately ran to see what names other studios usually use. It turned out: completely complex in English. Often beautiful, but at the same time very pretentious. It didn’t suit us. We are humble, simple.

It is also very important: we are from Russia and at that time we were creating a game for Russian social networks, for Russian users. Therefore, we decided that our name should be Russian.

Then the question arose, which Russian word or phrase to choose.

We decided to build on the experience of Apple, from the experience of the Kino group. Both of them took something very simple, understandable to everyone as a name.

A little later, during a small search of the names, we stopped at the word “kefir”.

Are you treating me to kefir in the office?

No!

In fact, in terms of branding, we do not adhere to the etymology of the word chosen for the name at all. However, we don’t need it.

We recently organized a social survey among our players who live in different countries and regions. We asked how they perceive the word “kefir”. Is it clear? Is it easy to call it, to use it?

It turned out that in 98% of the countries where we conducted the survey, everyone understands what kefir is.

And in the remaining two percent?

We had a little misunderstanding with some Arab countries. They have a very consonant word “kafir”, which means “infidel”.

Since we are talking about geography, let’s talk about the location of the studio. Kefir is located in Volgograd. Tell me, what is it like to develop large titles, to have a large team not in Moscow, but in the regions?

Developers don’t really care what city they are in. It is more important for them what projects they are working on, in which team and under what conditions.

By the way, I recently heard one of our leading game designers, who hails from St. Petersburg, was asked if he wanted to move to another country or to another city. He replied that he lives in Dota 2 and he absolutely does not care what happens outside the window, so he does not want to move anywhere and does not intend to.

We employ those who love games, who want to participate in the development of interesting projects. We are ready to provide all resources to such people, to give creative freedom in development.

A great example is Last Day. Initially, two artists made a prototype. Alone. Without a game designer and programmers. And during the development, a survival with zombies turned out.

You’re describing almost an incubator story. And where did the development begin at all?

From marketing. Before the full launch of Last Day on Earth into production, we conducted a lot of research. We were looking for settings and genres that would be most interesting for players.

Initially, we didn’t even have a prototype. We made landing pages, tested screenshots, tried to convey this or that idea of the game very accurately on them. Actually, we were looking for the widest possible niche.

Before we settled on survival, we dropped about 20 concepts. And there was still a risk. A year and a half ago, isometric survival projects were almost not represented on the mobile market. It was believed that survival is about long gaming sessions, about convenient management, using the mouse and keyboard. There was a risk, but everything worked out.

Now the project even has clones. And you made one of them yourself. How do you feel about cloning in general?

We take copying calmly. Our social projects were also often copied. For us, this is a recognition of success.

Let’s go back to the processes in the company. An employee comes to you, wants to make games. How does it adapt?

I’d rather start not with adaptation, but with an interview. It’s related.

At the interview stage, we ask a lot about the gaming experience. We look at the Steam account of our potential employees, how many hours have been played, what projects a person is playing, whether they are of the same type, whether the employee knows the market well. And, based, among other things, on the applicant’s gaming experience, we make a decision whether to hire a person or not.

The question of adapting a person who plays the same games as us usually does not cause difficulties.

The main task at the stage of employee adaptation is maximum participation in solving everyday issues. We don’t want them to think much about them, because we know by ourselves that first of all developers love and want to play and make games.

From the point of view of processes, everything is more or less standard here. On the first working day, we give a special book that tells about the values of the company, about its structure, about how our work is built. After reading the book, the new employee is already aware of how things are going.

Plus, of course, personal work is underway. Our HR managers practically do not leave the newcomers in the first month.

And then what? How is your work in the company structured?

We have no strict rules and no rigid hierarchy. We don’t need it. Creative people work for us, this approach should not be applied to them.

Each project is a separate team. Each team works in its own way. We don’t have any centralized project management system. There is a product manager, there is a team. Together they define a convenient way of working and interacting.

In general, we can say that we prefer the “carrot” policy. We encourage new ideas, personal development.

Isn‘t it happening that someone considers this attitude too free?

As a rule, such problems do not arise. If it happens, then as an exception. People see how they are treated, and try to match, give the company as much as they receive.

Who were you guided by when choosing this approach?

Including on Valve. For example, we looked at the idea of a book from them.

In general, we are close to their approach to development. They do not welcome hierarchy, the usual division into bosses and subordinates. This rigid division is not close to them. It’s the same with us.

Kefir has a flat company structure, as far as possible, of course. We have a producer, a chief game designer, and the founder of our company. We also have technical leads. But we limit ourselves to this.

No one here will set a task in the spirit of “I am the boss, you obey.”