Stalin vs. Martians Interview

Stalin vs. Martians: The Shcherbakov Review

So, I reviewed Stalin vs. Martians, but as Mr. Shcherbakov says below, “the smartest journalists don't rate the game at all.” Even though I gave the game a rating (I had to) I felt like I wasn't getting the whole story. So I sent off a pack of questions to the lead designer and producer of SvM, Alexander Shcherbakov. I asked him about the Russian reaction to the game, the perspective on Stalin which informs a game like this, and his plans for the future of the franchise.

2404: Three studios worked on this? On the website you say it's a long story as to how this came about, but I'd like to hear it. What about SvM required the talents of three whole studios of professionals?

Alexander "Zima" Shcherbakov: Well, first there was a concept of the game, which was created by my friend Aleksey Savchenko of BWF and me while celebrating the New Year. So, basically, it's just the two of us (plus some additions staff here and there). We had a desire to make this weird RTS game, some amount of money to spend and so we hired N-Game to deal with the technical side of the project, 'cause the guys made couple of games based on Blitzkrieg 2 engine. BWF/Dreamlore controlled the creative side of the project and produced it, N-Game did the tech job. It's like Mistwalker and feelplus, working on Lost Odyssey. Or like movie industry with dozens of subcontractors.

It was quite obvious that with a budget we had (like, 5 times lower than Braid's) and the purposely trashy concept it is impossible to make a Starcraft II killer. And we never even tried to. What we tried to create was a game titled Stalin vs. Martians, a possible trash cult classic. And now we're halfway to becoming a real trash icon for years and years.

2404: What do Russians think of the game? There were a lot of jokes in the game that stupid Americans are definitely not going to get.

AS: The initial response from the Russian audience was mostly quite negative - for different reasons. First of all, most of the people just don't dig the absurdist humor and have no idea of kitsch and trash aesthetics. Second, our game sometimes seriously irritates both the Stalin admirers and Stalin haters. Not all of them, but the most active and dumb ones. Stalin vs. Martians became a very prominent audience trolling.

After the release, the opinions kinda split. Half of the audience praises the game for being, well, not quite a game, but a superb art performance and parody. Another half says it's a huge pile of shit. I've seen user rating breakdowns with almost half of the people rating the game 1% out of 100%, and another half - 99%. Almost the same with the press. The smartest journalists don't rate the game at all. Because, well, you can't measure or rate the project titled STALIN VERSUS MARTIANS as another RTS. You can't take it serious and deal with it like it's a normal game. You would look stupid. You basically have three options: 1% rating, 99-100% rating or no rating at all.

Speaking of the jokes, I guess there are really some of them which are not very understandable for the average Joe. Like faux Cyrillic used by Russians and making extra fun off the bears'n'vodka stereotypes. Or some of the Stalin's remarks and political allusions.

2404: I expect that you're going to take heat from the western press for portraying Stalin in the way that you did- can you explain the Russian attitude towards him and how it's different from the western one?

AS: First of all, the Western/Eastern audience cares less than the Russian audience, since Stalin is not really an important part of their history. Well, sometimes he is, but he wasn't the leader of the state. But generally the Western people think that Stalin a mad tyrant, murderer of millions/billions/trillions, the Lord of the Evil Empire and a Russian counterpart of Hitler. They don't care about historical studies of Stalin's person, the details of his reign and don't think that Stalin was a controversial ruler. They just follow the blueprint of the Cold War propaganda. Evil, evil, evil. Almost like Hitler.

In Russia, Stalin is a very controversial person. I mean, really controversial. The Westerners sometimes cannot believe it, because they stuck with the propagandist pattern of "he killed millions". Trust us, we have lots of studies on Stalin. And it is still hard to find the consensus. Today about 50% of Russian think that Stalin was a great leader and possibly the greatest leader of the country in the XX century. About 30% hate him and speak of the reign of terror and mass murders. 20% don't give a damn or think that situation is more complex.

The main problem right now that after Stalin's death, his successors like Khrushchev did everything to make Stalin a scapegoat. He was made responsible for all of the crimes of the regime and the numbers of the victims were possibly very, very inaccurate. That doesn't mean that Stalin was absolutely innocent. He was a leader of the totalitarian regime after all. But you can't blame him in all sins of the system and you can't forget that he was a brilliant politician with lots of positive achievements. Including his prominent role in crushing the Nazism.

2404: How was working with Mezmer, Paradox's new indie label?

AS: It's hard to say right now. We're waiting for the sales reports!

2404: What are your plans for the future of the SvM franchise? A wintertime expansion pack? Maybe a standalone expansion, Patton vs. Martians? Xbox Arcade?

AS: No plans, really. I'm still thinking about Stalin vs. Stalin stand-alone expansion pack, but honestly Stalin vs. Martians is good when it doesn't turn into a "joke told twice".

2404: Do you really have a samovar in Moscow? I'm skeptical.

AS: My grandmother does. But I think of asking her to give it to me. I think that all Russians should use samovars to drink tea. I'm a samovar revivalist. I also think that samovars can be a good product for export, like AK-47 and oil/gas. Samovars will save our economy. It's our last hope.

And there you have it. Thanks to Mr. Shcherbakov for the interview. Learn more about Stalin vs. Martians at http://stalinvsmartians.com .