BLACKSTEINN INTERVIEW. DMITRY SOROKIN AND ALEXANDER SIYUTKIN

Finally the last interview of this year has reached the release :) And this is an unusual interview, because two people will answer your questions from FB and IG at once: CEO of the studio Dmitry Sorokin and COO Alexander Siyutkin. Learn more about the foundation of Blacksteinn, the company's values and plans for the future! Stock up on tea and something tasty ;)

- Traditionally, let's start with your path in the industry. Where did you start, what did you continue with and how did you come to found Blacksteinn?

- DS: I got acquainted with 3D a long time ago, back in 9th grade. A classmate advised me to look at 3Ds Max, saying that in this program you can make screensavers like in the movies. Basically, it was the first thing I learned to do: a rotating inscription around the planet :) The Internet in my hometown of Norilsk was still in its infancy. And there were no YouTube, sites with useful lessons, etc. All I could afford was to buy a bunch of books on 3Ds Max: "Autodesk 3ds Max. User's Bible", "Autodesk 3ds Max for dummies" and the like. Everywhere was written the same thing: how to make a mug, a plate, a chair, a table. It was interesting to look at 3Ds Max helps, but my English at that time was limited only by looking at pictures :) Back then there was nothing even close to 3D graphics in the educational system. Except for the Real-time graphics school in Moscow. And that was just courses - nothing more.

As fate would have it, I entered the St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions to specialize as a multimedia director. There I began to discover different knowledge both in 2D and 3D-graphics. There was a desire to go down the path of developing special effects for movies and music videos, but I chose the direction of game development. And when I had an internship in the 3rd year in a small studio, I realized with 100% that it was closest to me. Having successfully defended my diploma in 2007, I practiced freelancing, and in 2008 I got a job as an intern at Sperasoft - and I was extremely happy that I was given the opportunity to touch the development of great games. I had very little knowledge: I didn't even know what a normal map is, because all I did was loops with photo textures. I had no idea what bakes and ZBrush meant. It was all just developing, and to me it seemed like something unrealistically awesome. But I was fanatical about my work, coming in at 9am and sitting up until 11pm to soak up all the knowledge I could from the guys, asking them for tips and tricks. And I was building up my hand.

Every year I grew my career: after the internship I became a junior, then just an artist, then a senior, a lead and a team lead. I had a hand in projects like Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age 2 and 3, Mass Effect 3, and many others. For me, the best praise was seeing my name in the credits. I felt an unreal pride that a kid from a small northern industrial town could become a part of famous foreign games.

Later I became an art director at Sperasoft, I had time to visit some clients in the USA, to see and touch all the inner workings live, to personally meet great artists, not just chat with them. That comes at a price.

But as a workaholic and careerist, I realized one day that this was the ceiling for me. I wanted something more, my own company, similar in some ways but different - mine. I went freelance to start with, then I was invited to join a cool company where I was very highly regarded. But I continued to pursue my dream. At the same time, I realized that without investment, nothing would happen to me. And then I just started saving up money to have enough for at least a few months of work for a couple of artists. This was partly a mistake: it wasn't as easy as I thought. And so, in 2015, I founded Blacksteinn, laying down my philosophy for the company: stability, reliability, longevity. The name consists of two words: Black (from English "black") and Steinn (from Old Scandinavian "stone"). All together it is like a monolith, a black stone, something solid, strong, that nothing can affect. That's what Blacksteinn is.

- AS: I got acquainted with 3D when I was still a schoolboy. I was studying in 10th grade - I think it was 2004. I saw three-dimensional models of cars, then I came across a forum on the subject and became addicted to it. There were very few tutorials and lessons at that time, video platforms and streams didn't exist at all, and most importantly: in Surgut, where we lived at that time, the internet was slow and very expensive. For example, I spent a week downloading a video lesson on modeling a BMW car - at that time it was the only thing I could find on the web. In addition, there were a bunch of different articles and books from the category of "3Ds Max for dummies".

In general, time passed, and after school, in 2005, I moved to St. Petersburg, entered and studied at St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, specializing in "Information Design". At the same time, I never stopped studying 3D graphics and, I can say, devoted all my free time to it.

In 2010, I got my first job as a 3D artist at Sperasoft, and I didn't know what this company specialized in until the last minute. I sent my CV to a dozen different places. It was a complete mishmash: advertising agencies, military-industrial complex simulators, archives and something similar to game development (I didn't believe it at the time). At that time, working in the game industry was something unrealistic, especially in St. Petersburg. But when I entered the office, I saw a TV set with game videos in the hall and realized that dreams come true. Then I had an interview and received an offer. And then it was all a blur :) ?

I worked at Sperasoft for a wonderful 3 years, and in 2013 I left the company as a senior artist. Now I remember that period with great warmth and gratitude, because there I was able to touch the real game making, got a huge experience, and most importantly - met a lot of awesome folks, including Dmitry Sorokin :) I left only because I always wanted to try my hand at entrepreneurship. I thought, when, if not now? I took out a loan and went to become a business shark, in another field. But I failed, alas. It happens :)

Nevertheless, I continued to work with graphics on a freelance basis to stay afloat somehow. There were a series of different projects where I acted as a senior artist, as a lead, or as an art manager. This continued until 2017, when at some point Dmitry called me and asked: "Do you want to go on a trip to Finland?". I could say that this call was the beginning of our partnership at Blacksteinn.

- Tell us about the path you had to take when you opened the studio and the most important milestones in the company's development.

- DS: When I founded Blacksteinn, I got my first client: Wargaming with their tanks - back then, everyone started with tanks. It was a great pass to the industry, because there are a lot of tanks and hands are always needed. The path was difficult to say the least because the client didn't pay until the job was completely closed. To turn in a tank, you had to spend sometimes 2-3 months - this is without textures. But the salary must be paid every month. And people don't care about these problems. I didn't want to spoil my reputation from the first months. So I took credit cards: one, another, another, and another, to pay people on time, because no bank would give loans. Outsourcing was something incomprehensible to them at the time, and having clients did not guarantee that you were solvent. This put me in a corner and caused me stress. I didn't sleep 24 hours a day so that I could earn more money and pay off my debts. At the same time I continued freelancing, because I needed money not only for the company, but also for my life :) After that I started working with Saber Interactive, their awesome projects: World War Z and Quake Champions.?

Further - more: a trip to GDC 2017 in San Francisco, USA, and test work for Remedy. It was an incredible leap and success: for a little-known and small studio like Blacksteinn to get a big-name client like Remedy Entertainment. To combine a trade show in the US during the day, and in the morning and at night to remotely monitor the test job with 12 hours difference... It was stressful :) But we passed the test, our guys turned out to be the strongest. And Remedy invited me to their office in Finland to discuss further prospects. It was scary to go alone, so I called Alexander Siyutkin, my old friend from Sperasoft. The negotiations were more than successful, and after that I offered Alexander to become a partner in the company and move together. Then the work began to boil over - there was more and more work, and the clients arrived more and more.

So, it took me a few years after the company was founded to get out of debt. And only then I started to reap the rewards of our work. The hardest thing was not to give up, not to drop everything. Especially when you have to pay everyone's wages, and in the end you have nothing left to live on. I can give one piece of advice to similar entrepreneurs: never keep all your eggs in one basket. Don't rely on one big client, no matter how cool he may be. Because when a client decides to suddenly end a project or worse, goes bankrupt, and you already have a big team, you lose all ability to support them. That's what happened to us once. We had to dismiss almost all the people from the office. It was just me and Alexander and a couple of remote workers. But the universe always helped us, and we found the Aliens: Fireteam Elite project. Rolling up our sleeves with Alexander, we made the test faster and better than all the other vendors who participated. This was probably the most important event for the company. Thanks to this project we were able to not just get up from our knees, but to grow quantitatively and qualitatively. We had the opportunity to rent a large spacious office, renovate it and build up a team of awesome artists. ?

- AS: I joined Blacksteinn in 2017, so the studio had already existed for two years before I came on board. Nevertheless, it was a very eventful period, because it started the process of transforming the company from a small team of remote employees to something also small, but more traditional: office, workstations, cookies and that's it :) That year is very important for me, because the emotions you feel when you look for the first office of your company, when you interview and hire the first office artists, you can't live and feel it a second time. I'm afraid that it would be impossible to describe the whole path in a short answer, it would take a whole book. I will simply say that the path has always been, is and will always be very difficult!

- What projects do you consider the most significant for the company? And what is the significance?

- DS: Almost every project is important to us to a greater or lesser extent. Yes, of course, there are short-term tasks, but mostly we try to take long-term and interesting projects. Taking into account that I am an artist myself, I look at games from this point of view, and not just as a job for the job's sake. Sometimes it can be sad that you can't get your hands on some tough tasks yourself, and you just get happy for our guys and girls who are doing really great stuff. Out of the vast amount of games out there, I'll probably highlight a few of the most memorable ones: Control by Remedy Entertainment, Aliens: Fireteam Elite by Cold Iron Studios, Back 4 Blood by Turtle Rock Studios, Cyberpunk 2077 by CD Projekt RED, Nine to Five by Redhill Games - and many more that are still in development and we can't mention. Some of them have played a significant role in the development of the company, some of them have helped in building our reputation and recognition, some of them have contributed to a great opportunity for interesting and new experiences. And the bigger the project, the more exciting the work and higher the involvement, because you are not just a vendor, but a part of the development team. This is especially felt when you personally visit a studio and discuss together with the studio about the art that needs to be made.

- AS: Personally, all projects are equally important to me, I don't separate them. Each game is a part of our studio's history. It's people, emotions, experiences. That's why I can't divide them into the most significant and not the most significant. But, of course, sometimes you manage to work on the projects of iconic developers whose games you played as a child. At such moments there is a slight awe and pride inside that you could touch something great and legendary!

- How can you formulate the credo/mission of the studio?

- DS: The mission is the same: to do our work with five plus and improve its quality every time, without stopping. Constantly expand the areas of operation and study new technologies. Once you raise the bar, you can't go any lower.

- AC: To be the best in our business, to perform at 150%, regardless of the level and prospects of the project.

- How do you keep your team motivated when developing projects?

- DS: There is no golden rule to keep everyone happy and energized. But you should never force a person to be on one project until they are completely blue in the face. It's always important to communicate with people, to know and feel their mood, to understand their desires. And if an artist starts to burn out or is tired of making cars/weapons/props, it is always possible - and necessary - to move this artist to another project or another type of task. Then he breaks into the fight with renewed vigor. No overwork: a properly structured work will allow you to correctly distribute your time and not waste it. And this means that both tasks are completed on time, and a person does not get tired of delays. You also need to believe in people and from time to time assign them anything difficult or new to them, opening up the opportunity to learn something. This is also encouraging and inspiring for new feats.

- AS: In order to maintain the so-called tonus and motivation in our work, we try to select the most interesting projects both from a visual and technical point of view. Being artists ourselves in the past, we have a fine sense of what would be interesting for our guys and what would not be so interesting. We cancel many projects at the stage of agreeing on future work if we realize that it will not meet the expectations of the team. Each new game should be at least as good as the previous one, and ideally better, more complex, more technological, etc. So it should be a real creative challenge! But we must recognize that there is no such thing as an ideal project that would suit everyone at once. That's why it's important to gather a team for a specific game, as well as to keep your finger on the pulse, in time to notice those who feel uncomfortable and start to burn out in the framework of such work and, therefore, to make the necessary changes. To do this, you should always keep in touch with the team, talk, and discuss the pains of each employee. By ignoring artists' personal experiences regarding the work, you risk losing it altogether. ?

- What do you like most about your work?

- DS: What I like most is when a client is amazed by the level of our artists :) Especially when we set the bar for the quality of the graphics ourselves, and the client then revises the entire visuals of the game based on our level. You feel very proud of the artists you have in your team. And of course, the credits. What's better than seeing yourself on a list of people who have made a particular hit?

- AS: I like a lot of things about my work. I like to notice different little things, after which you think that all the efforts were not in vain! I like to see the happy faces of the artists when their eyes are burning with new knowledge, when there is a friendly team around, when there is an opportunity to work on desirable projects.

- Tell us about the most difficult matters you had to deal with at the head of the company.

- DS: Probably the most difficult issue was to retain and keep the team and clients in the last two years. Due to the political situation, it was not easy, and for the first six months it was even hard, I'm not going to lie. No one prepared us for this. But all together we coped with it.

- AS: There are a lot of them :) In general, we can divide them into two groups: employees and clients. Actually, the most difficult issues arise from them. Recently, the foreign policy instability has been added to the mix. It's a circle :)

- What games do you play/played yourself? What are your favorites?

- DS: My favorite genre is real-time strategy games like Command & Conquer: Red Alert and Tiberian Sun, Starcraft, Age of Empires, Company of Heroes. Of the latter, my favorite is The Last of Us franchise. Cult games.

- AS: Mostly old games: Fallout 1-2, Heroes M&M III, Jagged Alliance 2, Civilization, Simcity, etc.

- Of course, we can't avoid one of the main topics of the passing year: neural networks :) What is your opinion about them in the 2D and 3D gaming field? How do neural networks affect these areas now and how will they affect them in the future?

- DS: Until today I was skeptical about them, because I didn't understand what they are and what they are used for, so to speak. In fact, the possibilities of neural networks in graphics, video, text and the like are enormous. Even Adobe realized how cool it is and implemented it in Photoshop. And so, of course, first of all, neural networks are a great help for generating ideas. In my opinion, it's a perfect help in work when you need to form a bunch of visual concepts that you can work with in the future. Yes, of course, the magic "make pretty" button hasn't been invented yet. But it's even scary to imagine what could be five years from now (if neuron development isn't banned). Sometimes technology just blows your mind.

- AS: My opinion: for large AAA projects it doesn't work yet, but for indie developments it's a huge breakthrough. After all, this way you can visualize your ideas in a couple of clicks and for little money. But to be fair, neural networks can be used not only in the gaming industry, but also in absolutely different fields, such as film production, animation, fine arts, clothing, design, architecture, interiors, printing, and just for inspiration. So, in general, I am very happy about such technologies and that their development does not stand still. Another question is that nowadays there are a lot of technical innovations, and sometimes you don't know what to grab onto. Bitcoins, meta-universes, NFT, and now neural networks - my head is spinning. Time will tell what is viable out of all this. But, of course, some creative professions will be dead afterwards. However, you shouldn't worry too much about it. Creative people will always find a way to realize their potential ;)

- About the plans and perspectives of the studio. How do you see them, what is already certain?

- DS: There are plenty of ideas ;) I don't want to talk a lot, we will show them by deeds. We plan to grow and expand, to provide the most competitive working conditions. For many years we have gained a lot of experience and we know what we want and what people want and how to get there. We have a cool team and we are extremely happy that the company has such professionals who are dedicated to their work. Only thanks to this is it possible to achieve something high. Globally, there is one big goal: to do our own projects. And, hopefully, one day we will come to that. Educating and raising up awesome artists within the company is just as important a task. Because it's very sad to look at all these courses that give people unfulfilled hopes.?

- AS: The plans are very big! I don't want to declare something definite, but we will definitely continue to grow and develop: both quantitatively and qualitatively! This applies to the level of projects, artists and the studio as a whole. We must always be prepared for even greater challenges than we had before, that's why we don't stop the process of studio development even for a minute. But progress should be approached wisely. That's why we try to introduce more analytics and improve many internal and external processes. Something needs to be automated, something needs to be made more transparent and understandable. And in general, we will strive to create better conditions for our people.