I need an alien language translator. What are F2P games? And, frankly speaking, I’d not refuse your interpretation of “casual”. The word is familiar, but I won’t explain it straight away…

Casual means random, that is, you don’t play chess with a smartphone, where the pieces follow certain rules, and the situation in the game is created by chance. That is, if in the game you need to shoot at flying bubbles, then they appear on the screen randomly. These are games of the moment where the payline can be completed within 5 minutes. A short game session, but with a storyline, which is a great advantage of casual games. Users can immerse themselves in the game world anywhere and anytime, from the trolley to the sofa, and spend as much time in the game as they want. What is also important is video games that don’t require a large investment of user time in order to play, win and enjoy the process. F2P is free-to-play. The game is downloaded and begins for free, expecting that at some point of time the player will decide to pay for some additional features.

How many people do you have in the team?

Forty.

Hmm, not bad, you sell additional features if you pay a salary to such a team...

In fact, a very small percentage of players pays in the games...

Then you can be proud of the number of downloads. Can you provide a number?

Throughout the history of the company, we’ve developed 6 games, three of which are still on the market. The total number of game downloads is about 20 million. Favourite game, Lost Bubble, about 45 million users.

And for what do players pay after all? For armament? For powerful engines?

It’s easier. Our games are all designed for mass consumption by a wide range of players of any gender without any national localization ...

It’s much easier, you are again as an alien...

The games we develop are simple, nice and don’t require investment of time to learn how to play them. That is, after a couple of minutes after download, you can already fully play. Therefore, we sell a simple thing, playing time. Let’s suppose that you have five lives and you have lost everything, but you want to play further. It will only be possible to play for free in a couple of hours, and by paying a dollar, you can continue playing right now. A part of this dollar is our company's revenues.

It’s clear now. Estimating the set of your competencies, I want to ask a question, where one can study to become general manager of game companies?

If we consider, in particular, me, then at the Faculty of Winemaking Technology.

Now I know for sure why Moldovan winemaking has progressed so much in the recent years, if its technologists are able to do this. Then, two more questions, one unserious, and the second returns to seriousness. The unserious one - what is your favourite Moldovan wine, since you’ve studied in this field, and the second one - how have you passed all the path to the general manager in such a business?

No matter how trite it sounds, my favourite wine is Rosé de Purcari. And the path ... I’ve started in the position of Business Analyst. In simple words, I read and “re-read” the contracts with the sites where our games are sold. Then I worked as Manager of one of the projects, and then I made a step toward the position of General Manager.

That is, you are not so much an IT specialist, but a manager?

I principle, yes. However, a manager of creative processes. There are not so many developers in our company as artists or content managers. And product development is closer ideologically to cinema than to IT development. Frame building and dynamics of frame development are no less important for success than technologies are.

But now you are a “universal soldier” managing a game development company, aren’t you?

In the area of “bubble shooters”, maybe. But the game market is so large and so diverse, that the business processes of companies can be very different. “Tanchiki” is also a “shooter”, but completely different than our development...

What markets do you work in? Is there a “localization” or are you worldwide?

We have interfaces in 12 languages, all European languages plus Turkish, we even have a promotion partner from Turkey. We’ve tried to enter the Asian market, but it’s tough and undemocratic. So, we postponed these attempts.

You’ve said “promotion partner...”

We try to focus on the production and development of games. Promotion is a separate business process, it’s easier to give it to partners.

Are you not afraid that your games will suddenly lose popularity? Like “Tetris” in its time. The whole world was playing, and now no one remembers it.

Three years ago, we thought that the market would be “terminated” soon. But no, people keep playing. According to the analysis of users, we see that there are players who have been playing for five years, in general, a very simple game. Maybe this is the secret of the popularity of such games, There is not much time in the modern world, and you don’t need to invest hours and days of training in a simple game so that you are no longer “killed” or you stop losing life one after Another... (one after Another)

Do you play?

Absolutely. I love our old Lost Jewels toy. And I fell out of everyday reality into virtual reality. There is such a game, Beat Saber, where you should smash to the music flying blocks with two luminous swords. This is a real infection...

And haven’t you thought to go beyond the “casual F2P games” in the business?

We are thinking about it, but so far there is enough exciting creative work in our area. These games seem simple just at first glance. In fact, even working on a character is a separate layer. Like on a Disney princess. To have charm, you need to come up with a twist. Or the “architecture” of the worlds. To attract a player, you shall, in fact, come up with a small universe... Plus, you should work on the development of the game, it also needs to be constantly dealt with, as fans of the game are always waiting for updates ...

Olia, what’s your secret of a creative company?

You know, I visited once a gaming company in Lvov. A stylish office, glass and bright walls, but something was missing. I asked (it was lunch time) coffee. “Wait a while until the machine heats up.” Apart of the secret lies here. Our coffee machine in the office heats up in the morning earlier than any of the computers.

And here is a few of screenshots and pictures from the Stellar Group games

Pavel Zingan