Smeshariki. The Legend of the Golden Dragon

An interview with the companies “Riki”, the rights management agency “Marmalade Media”.

App2Top.ru : Most of the applications based on “Smeshariki” are made and released by the company iTales.ru . Why did you decide to change this practice this time?

Evgeny Lykov (Director of the Digital Department of the Riki Group of Companies): I wouldn’t call five apps the majority. Most of the applications over the past five years we have released independently, on our own. These were our “experiments”. Now we have moved away from this practice and prefer to give such work to professionals. As for HeroCraft, this is not our first experience. We have already collaborated with HeroCraft on our first full meter, and we were quite satisfied with the result.

Evgeny Lykov, Director of the Digital Department of the Riki Group of Companies

App2Top.ru : In general, there are a lot of games based on this brand on the mobile software market now, but for some reason there was no major hit at least at the level of “Masha and the Bear” from Indigo Kids and Apps Ministry. What do you associate this with?

Evgeny Lykov: Probably, it is connected, first of all, with the specifics of the market of children’s applications. In my opinion, it’s just starting to gain momentum, and pretty soon we’ll see a lot more big stories on licensed brands.

App2Top.ru Q: Does the brand earn anything on mobile apps now? If so, can you name the approximate orders?

Evgeny Lykov: Of course, he earns… Not as much as I would like, but enough.

App2Top.ru : How do you usually contact the company or companies contact you on the development of a game based on “Smeshariki”?

Evgeny Lykov: It’s always different. Sometimes we come to a major publisher with the ideas of a particular product, sometimes we just sell a license to a trusted company whose quality of products suits us.

App2Top.ru Q: On what terms do you usually cooperate (is it about renting a brand, or about a percentage of sales, or something else)?

Evgeny Lykov: As a rule, the conditions are always individual and negotiable.

App2Top.ru : What is required from the company, apart from good games in the portfolio, to become a partner, to get permission to develop a game based on motives?

Evgeny Lykov: First of all, the company should have an understanding of what they want to get in the end. Another product in the portfolio or a product that will work. Many companies believe that if you take a well-known brand and release any product with it, then they are undoubtedly waiting for success, fame and money. But this is not quite true. The specifics of launching a licensed project are not much different from the usual one, and many companies do not understand this. In their understanding, it is enough to make a beautiful product, and it will work by itself.

App2Top.ru : The cartoon, despite the children’s setting, is quite deep. Adults also love him very much. Why were there no attempts to create games based on “Smeshariki”, whose gameplay is not designed for children?

Evgeny Lykov: Such attempts have been and will be in the future. Next year we plan to release a number of such products under our brands.

Interview with the company HeroCraft. The producer of the project Pavel Kostin was responsible.

App2Top.ru Q: Why did you decide to build the game on several mechanics, and not on one?

Pavel Kostin (producer of the project): You know, in the mobile world, it is believed that games for children should always be primitive. Here are three and a half buttons and one mechanic – to put a dog there, for example – and that’s enough for you. We’ll also hang a five-dollar price tag.

Pavel Kostin, producer of the game “Smeshariki. The Legend of the Golden Dragon”

But we decided to try a different approach. Are kids 7-8 years old still not able to master more complex concepts? Yes, of course, I can! Yes, indeed! This is convincingly proved by both children’s games on Nintendo consoles, and, for example, the same Minecraft, which has practically turned into a subculture for modern schoolchildren, and the mechanics there are what.

So our game is not just three and a half buttons and one mechanic, it’s practically a citybuilder (albeit a simple, childish one) and a friendship simulator with Smeshariki, and mini-games are an interesting way to complete character tasks and captivate the player. And of course, it’s much more interesting to play different mini-games than to repeat the same thing. Moreover, we must boast – all our mini-games are not a convention for quantity, they are seriously developed, independent elements of the overall gameplay. In each mini-game, you can achieve success, develop, play in different locations, invite different Smeshariks to help, each of which has its own unique abilities, etc., etc. Well, plus the engine implies the possibility of adding new mini-games in updates. In general, it will be fun! We recommend adults to try it too – we tried.

App2Top.ru : Who was the initiator of the transaction?

Pavel Kostin: Yes, everything has grown together by itself! We made the first game for the Riki Group of Companies (includes the Petersburg Computer Animation Studio, where Smeshariki has been created for more than 12 years – ed.) and scored four million installations with it. So when the question arose about the official game for the upcoming full-length cartoon – the choice was already without options. And we are very proud and glad that we are working with such a wonderful brand as Smeshariki!

App2Top.ru Q: How much time was given for development?

Pavel Kostin: We started, of course, as soon as we signed the papers, although at that time the release date of the cartoon was still being worked out. Firstly, it is impossible to delay with projects of this level, and secondly, we ourselves are very excited to work on such an interesting, large and positive project! So the deadline turned out to be almost a year – from signing to release. Although this figure is a big convention: the approach of “well, that’s it, we’re done and that’s enough” it does not work with such projects, and it is unacceptable.

Millions of players will come to the game after the release, they will have new requests, new wishes, and it will be necessary to make it interesting for them six months after the release of the game, and in a year, and in three. And, of course, we will do everything so that the players do not get bored. New content, new mini-games, promo codes in children’s products and so on – there will definitely be updates and updates for the entire lifetime of the project. So while the game will live – it will always be in development!

App2Top.ru Q: How many people were involved in the development?

Pavel Kostin: Also a difficult question! The project team itself consists of about twenty people: programmers, modelers, artists, game designers. But HeroCraft is a big company, and everyone contributes to the common cause. So in addition to the development team, many other specialists take part in the formation of the project! The game is being watched at the HeroCraft central office by game design, art, marketing specialists, including senior management – creative director, commercial and, of course, art dealer; the game will undergo numerous tests in the QA department until it is recognized as of sufficient quality and the complete absence of errors is confirmed. The build will be uploaded to digital distribution stores by store managers, and promo graphics will be prepared in the appropriate department.

Well, do not forget that we necessarily show all the art of the game and coordinate it with the artists from the Smesharikov studio. So we can say that there are a good hundred people in the development team! This is the strength of the publisher’s company!

It is curious that the development office itself is located in the heart of Siberia, in the city of Novokuznetsk, and the central office of the company is in Kaliningrad.

App2Top.ru : Does Marmalade Media have any special requirements for the project, other than deadlines (for example, the required revenue or the number of downloads)?

Pavel Kostin: We have quite serious conditions and requirements for the coordination of art with the studio “Smesharikov”. We respect and certainly pay great attention to these requirements, because we understand that all this is done for the sake of the quality of the project.

Otherwise, there are no special conditions. Together we make every effort to ensure that the project is of the highest quality, and for this we do not need special clauses in the contract. We are doing everything for the success of the project and we are sure that the partner is doing the same.

App2Top.ru : The new cartoon will be released only in March, and the game until the end of this year, why not at the same time?

Pavel Kostin: The cartoon will be released only in March 2016, and we will release the game earlier, because for us it is an opportunity to prepare for the arrival of a large wave of audience at the release of the film, to run in advance the project and the mechanism of updates.

App2Top.ru Q: What number of downloads do you expect, given the popularity of the brand?

Pavel Kostin: I don’t want to guess). Let’s be superstitious and not croak. I hope that at least no less than the first part. Well, I hope that you wish us good luck!

App2Top.ru : Of course we wish!