Hello everyone! While v1.5 is undergoing additional testing, we continue introducing you to the team behind INSOMNIA: the Ark (part one can be found here, and part two — here). Part three will get you acquainted with a few more key members of Mono Studio who made important contributions to the worldbuilding of the game. It’s time to start!
Kirill Daybov, Programmer
When I was 12 I realized that games don’t pop up out of nowhere — there has to be someone to bring them to life. So I asked myself: why can’t I be one of those people? It took some time and eventually when I got a “little” older I was able to get a position in Skyriver Studios and became involved in the development of Order of Magic. I switched to INSOMNIA in 2013, even before we had our first successful Kickstarter. I was responsible for implementing AI along with quest and dialogue systems. So whenever NPCs act weird during combat everyone on the team knows who to blame, haha. I have also worked on miscellaneous game mechanics, interfaces, tools for other devs and localization support.
The overall process of working on INSOMNIA was very inspirational on its own. It was really interesting to witness how the game has evolved over the years. Each team member invested so much time, energy and effort in this project. We became a real family while working on this game — we spent time together, created paintings, visited gigs, and helped each other in different ways. Good games have been the other source of constant inspiration for me. I always play something and it’s very heartwarming whenever I see someone leaves comments for INSOMNIA saying that this game had an impact on their lives. I play strategy games a lot, including HOMM 2-5 (2nd installation is my favorite one, not the 3rd!), StarCraft, WarCraft, and X-Com. I’ve got Switch last year which opened new Zelda and Super Mario Odyssey for me. Currently, I’m fiddling with Into the Breach, Binding of Isaac, Banner Saga, and Divinity 2: Original Sin.
Petr Yakyamsev, Sound Designer
I’ve become a part of the video game industry back in 2011 when I had a chance to work on a Tetris-like title. This was an interesting experience and I decided to pursue this direction of work further. This is when I found out about INSOMNIA, and still remember my first meeting with Anatoliy (lead developer of the game). I was responsible for INSOMNIA’s sound design till 2017 and gave “voice” to quite a few things during this time: environment, guns, inventory, monsters, robots, some jazz tunes for radio broadcasts and background music for a few locations (Thyper Shelter, Reservation D-106, etc.). I was also involved in collaboration with other musicians and voice actors.
My main inspiration comes from one simple thing: the very thought of creating a world, even a virtual one, is astonishing. I’m an occasional gamer and, currently, I try to play all the classics I’ve missed for any reason including Deus Ex, Divinity, Invisible Inc, Soma, Mark Of the Ninja, Tomb Raider, Pathfinder, etc. My most recent interest is Overwatch which I usually play with my brother. I also have a special place in my heart for Bioshock, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Silent Hill, Tekken, and X-Com.
Ilya Fursov (Textere Oris), Original Soundtrack author
My gamedev era started back in 2013 when I met a fellow musician from the Montren project and we decided to try and do something together. Eventually, this evolved in a completed track and we’ve managed to put it into Coma: Mortuary, an indie game from our friends. A year later I was browsing VK (a popular Russian social media website) looking for tracks by an old punk band called Insomnia and stumbled upon an ad regarding an RPG game with the same name looking for musicians. I’ve decided to take my chance and spent the following 3 days on composing the “Main Theme” track.
I wasn’t the only one who showed interest in this position, however, I was lucky enough and got the job. I was given the go ahead to do whatever I want in terms of creating music for the game and this is exactly how the “Hollow” and “Radiation” tracks came to life. Other tracks were more “guided” in certain ways and I had to consider the feedback and references from the rest of the team. Yeah, by the way, all the music I’ve recorded for INSOMNIA is in A minor, 432 Hz. Just sayin’. I draw inspiration for all kinds of music. Also, I love to have long walks in parks which usually result in spontaneous field recordings. For example, at some point, I heard a howling dog and recorded the sound (you can actually hear it in the “Hollow” track from INSOMNIA’s OST). When it comes to gaming, I enjoyed playing This War of Mine and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, and Stasis. I was playing Factorio heavily while working on INSOMNIA and continued with Skyrim and Pillars of Eternity. Back in the day, I enjoyed all Infinity engine powered games, Fallout 1-2, and HOMM III.
As always, stay tuned for our future biweekly updates regarding the lore, extra backstage information about INSOMNIA, and any progress with v1.5.