VGTimes Interview with the Developers of Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem

Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem became one of the main surprises of the beginning of the year. The fourth part was controversial, and no one expected revelations from the add-on — only the Siberian setting was intriguing. However, the result was impressive: the gameplay turned out to be action-packed, the level design was fascinating, and the battles with bosses became much more interesting. How did the Russian developers from Timelock Studio achieve such a result? And how did they become the authors of the add-on? The creators of Siberian Mayhem will answer these questions!

Siberian Mayhem takes place between missions of Serious Sam 4. According to the plot, a nasty general betrayed the earthlings, captured Sam and went to the Tunguska portal to help Mental's troops capture the planet. Luckily, the hero managed to leave the board in the middle of the Siberian wilderness, and then caught up with the villains and beat everyone up. But how exactly did Sam get to the portal? This is what the add-on tells us.

The plot of Siberian Mayhem can be described by the synopsis «Sam goes forward.» On the way, he will encounter many interesting things. Abandoned houses, filled with twists, wall hangings and other utensils close to the heart. Wooden churches with an atmospheric iconostasis. Russian partisans who desperately fight monsters and chat in broken English.

Traditionally, thousands of enemies will interfere with the hero. They crawl out of all the cracks and effectively turn into mincemeat after a volley from a double-barreled gun. In general, the story turned out to be filler, but due to the cranberry and color, it is still quite entertaining.

However, the main feature of Siberian Mayhem is the gameplay. Russian developers have corrected many of the mistakes of the original. Exploring locations has become much more interesting, the terrain looks gorgeous, and tearing aliens to pieces is pleasant as in the first parts. At the same time, the add-on introduced bosses with several phases, which was not the case before.

It was precisely due to the competent work on locations, adequate placement of enemies on the map and fun shooting that Siberian Mayhem was liked by many, even more than the fourth part. For a young team, this is a serious achievement.

But what was the development process like? How did Timelock Studio agree on cooperation with Croteam? What kind of support did the legendary Croats provide? Team leader Evgeny Yagudin and lead programmer Alexey Oblaukhov will tell you about this.

VGTimes: Tell us a little about yourself and Timelock Studio!

Evgeny Yagudin: My name is Evgeny Yagudin. I am a team lead and level designer. At Timelock Studio, we developed Siberian Mayhem, an add-on for Serious Sam 4. It tells the story of what happened to Serious Sam during one of the episodes of the original game. We expanded on this episode and tried to bring something new: including levels, mechanics, enemies, and some weapons.

Alexey Oblaukhov: My name is Alexey Oblaukhov, and I am responsible for programming and design at Timelock Studio. I am also responsible for developing various gameplay elements such as balance and all sorts of gameplay moments.

VGTimes: As far as I know, you have eight people on your team. How did you find each other?

Evgeny Yagudin: It all started when eight Russian-speaking guys ended up on the Serious Sam 4 beta testing team. We then came up with the idea that it would be great to expand the third episode of the game. Feedback from players and the press only confirmed this idea.

Some time later, after the release of Serious Sam 4, we got together with the same group of Russian-speaking testers. I came up with a proposal to create our own concept for the add-on, and we started working on it, which took about two months. We developed an 80-page design document and sent it to the creative director of Croteam.

We didn't know whether our document would be accepted or whether anyone would like the concept. There was a risk that we wasted two months for nothing. However, everything worked out: the concept was accepted, albeit with changes. We discussed with the founding fathers what needed to be cut and added, and came to a consensus. That's how the project's development began.

VGTimes: What if Croteam had responded that they weren't interested in the add-on?

Evgeny Yagudin: We had an option in case of unfavorable developments. Perhaps we would have dragged some ideas into our mods or maybe done something else. But considering how much effort we spent, we were confident that the project would be accepted.

VGTimes: How did you end up making Siberian Mayhem? Are you all programmers and designers?

Evgeny Yagudin: Most of the team has extensive modding experience, over ten years. There were even mods for the classic parts of Serious Sam, which were released in the early 2000s. Some started later, but released major expansions. We have several well-known projects: for example, I personally made the Red Day mod, which also tells about the events in Russia and offers remakes of the second «Sam» maps.

Alexey Oblaukhov: I also have six years of modding behind me. I developed modifications for the third and fourth parts, which change the gameplay, complement and improve it. That is, everyone who ended up on the team had their own experience in creating modifications. Someone, for example, makes enemies and bosses better. I am responsible for the code and gameplay. Evgeniy is a great professional in level design. Our experience in creating modifications helped us to cope with a full-fledged add-on.

Evgeniy Yagudin: This experience also helped us to develop a realistic concept. Considering that we had to reach the end, it helped us to objectively assess our strengths.

VGTimes: You are all connected by the Serious Sam series. But why this one?

Evgeniy Yagudin: It seems to me that the story goes back far into the childhood of each of the participants. For example, my first game appeared in 2004. I was very interested in it then, gradually began to open the editor, tried to do something there — and as a result, the process sucked me in. That's how life turned out.

Alexey Oblaukhov: At some point, everyone became interested in creating modifications. My history with Serious Sam also goes back to the early 2000s, that is, to the first parts. Back then, I was still little and was afraid to touch the modification tools, but in 2016, something pulled me to replay Serious Sam on the last difficulty.

Then I played in multiplayer, and there I made a community and my own skin. Little by little, I got hooked. The Serious Sam games come with their own editor, which provides quite deep possibilities for modification. At the same time, the editor has a fairly low entry threshold. That is, you don't need to be a programmer to start making modifications with it.

VGTimes: As far as I know, you worked on the add-on for 14 months. So, Croteam allocated a sufficient budget, which you spent on salaries?

Evgeny Yagudin: After Croteam accepted the concept, we discussed this issue. We got a publisher, Devolver Digital, who allocated certain funds for development.

All this happened after we showed a prototype of the project. First, they made sure that we had made some progress in development. That is, we really had a contract with a certain term. We worked under this contract and did not experience any financial hardships.

VGTimes: Do you do anything else besides game development?

Alexey Oblaukhov: I have a second main job, I am a 1C programmer. And I worked on the Siberian Mayhem project in my free time — for me it is a kind of hobby. Naturally, I sometimes devote more time to development than to my main job.

Evgeny Yagudin: And I really do work on the game full-time.

VGTimes: Did Croteam help in any way during the development process?

Evgeny Yagudin: The main help we received from them was approval. Then there was also a lot of support and support for the project until the release. We are talking about providing the necessary materials for creating maps and mechanics. Plus, they talked about how they work and coordinated our actions. Of course, such important elements as music, voice acting and testing were also implemented by Croteam.

VGTimes: Siberia in Siberian Mayhem seems very authentic. Churches, atmospheric iconostases, meters, carpets hanging around the houses — everything is so native. How did you come up with these locations?

Evgeny Yagudin: I put the greatest emphasis on nature, which has always played an important role in «Serious Sam». Cold, unexplored forests, rivers, and mountains — all of this suits the series.

But in the level with the factory, I wanted to show the future. It's the 22nd century, so the factory appears on a huge and majestic scale. It can work without a person. It's almost a living organism that functions even during a war.

As for villages, cities, farms... Here we focused on what the country has. On the one hand, Russia is devoted to traditions and in some places looks outdated or stuck in the 18th century. On the other hand, wooden houses can have futuristic heaters. People from the future live here, after all.

Alexey Oblaukhov: You asked about Croteam's involvement in creating levels. In general, we were in charge of all the creative direction of development. Evgeny and our other level designers were responsible for the layout, concept of levels, and their design. Croteam helped us with what it does best — for example, with music.

VGTimes: Just like in the fourth part, in Siberian Mayhem I sometimes ran into a remote corner of the location and didn't even find a pack of ammo there. Is this some kind of feature of the series? Why do some places seem empty?

Evgeny Yagudin: «Serious Sam» has always been a linear game. There is point «A», from which you need to get to point «B». However, in Siberian Mayhem we tried to solve the problem of the fourth part.

If you remember, Serious Sam 4 had a huge level in France. The player was required to get on a motorcycle and get to the city. At the same time, there was nothing to explore along the way: there is a road, you drive along it, you come across small settlements, houses — and that's it.

In Siberian Mayhem, we have the same huge level, but this time we decided to give the player the opportunity to explore. That is, he can also drive from point «A» to «B» and complete the task in minimal time. But there is an opportunity to move away from the main path and go to points of interest.

These can be alien fortifications, sawmills, a secluded house in which you can stumble upon a new skirmish with enemies or a valuable item. Or Sam can find a piece of a puzzle that will help him in the future. For example, when collecting three cards, he can open a new skill point — this will be useful in the future. That is, we tried to solve this problem to some extent.

Naturally, there are places that seem empty, because you can't put a cartridge in every corner of the field. Overall, we believe that we have managed to overcome the disease of empty cards, as in the fourth part.

Alexey Oblaukhov: Serious Sam has a limited amount of health and ammo that you can absorb. On a huge map, the number of corners significantly exceeds the number of items that Sam can physically collect. Plus, there are balance considerations that take into account the number of items Sam should have and the difficulty of the upcoming battles.

We tried to optimize the ratio as much as possible so that the level is large, but in the most obvious places where the player can go, something cool awaits him. If not an item, then some secret or Easter eggs.

VGTimes: There is a secret item on the first level, which lies on a broken bridge. If you get to it, it turns out that there is regular armor there, which is simply called «secret». Why didn't you put something cooler there?

Evgeny Yagudin: Such secrets are a tribute to the traditions of the third part, where many small items were scattered around the levels. Perhaps they were not hidden very well, but when you picked them up, a message appeared that it was a secret. Serious Sam 4 also has such things.

Returning to the question. On the same first level, there is another bridge, where a piece of armor also lies. But when you pick up this armor, a bull appears from behind, which can throw you off if you do not jump back in time. This is a tribute to the classics, when you are cruelly punished for picking up small items.

Alexey Oblaukhov: In addition, the game is full of secrets that contain references and even real madness. We even have a secret boss. And ten units of armor will also seem like a nice find to someone, if Sam was badly injured in the previous battle.

VGTimes: In Siberian Mayhem, you can run through the forest with a Kalashnikov and shoot a Perun. Have you thought about adding more color and, for example, replacing bulls with bears? Or giving Sam a lumberjack axe instead of a knife?

Evgeny Yagudin: We didn't plan on bears, just as we didn't plan on replacing the minigun with a balalaika — but we had other ideas. For example, we planned to make an attachment for a shotgun that shoots freezing grenades instead of regular ones. Unfortunately, we encountered technical difficulties and couldn't implement it. Overall, we weren't particularly aiming for the big picture: we just wanted to show what Russia might look like during an alien invasion.

VGTimes: Serious Sam 4 was often criticized for its perks. For example, many did not like that Macedonian shooting had so many perks. Did you decide to leave the leveling the same?

Alexey Oblaukhov: We initially had no plans to change the leveling. Despite the fact that there is criticism of the progression tree, there are also many players who love each branch and each of its elements. Therefore, we thought it was wrong to modify it. Especially considering that the game was designed as a DLC for Serious Sam 4, and only then everything grew into an independent add-on.

We did not have any restrictions from Croteam, so this is our decision. However, we made minor changes to the leveling to give the player a little more freedom in which way he wants to open certain perks.

VGTimes: The final boss in Siberian Mayhem is great, but some of the story and secondary bosses are regular enemies with a higher health bar and a couple of new abilities. Why is that?

Evgeny Yagudin: Often, such boss fights introduce a new enemy. We have a fairly fat enemy that shoots lasers. We decided to make his first appearance a boss fight and reveal the enemy in full. This helps to understand how he works and how to fight him.

There is also a side boss on the fourth level, which is a pair of large gnars. They look impressive and are frozen versions of the original gnars. This is a completely different story: they are really presented as real bosses.

They have different attacks, and they act in pairs. In co-op, fighting them is especially fun: it's funny when one gnar is chasing you, and the other is chasing your friend. These opponents do not meet again.

And we gave it our all on the final boss. It turned out to be dynamic and two-phase, which is not typical for «Serious Sam».

VGTimes: Gamers have long been waiting for the plot of «Serious Sam» to move on from the point where it stopped in the second part. Were you worried that fans might criticize the filler nature of the story?

Yevgeny Yagudin: We had concerns, given that the fourth part itself is filler and tells about the beginning of the war. Serious Sam 4 focuses on events between certain points, and we did the same.

VGTimes: Are you happy with how gamers have received the game?

Evgeny Yagudin: Very happy. We haven't encountered any serious misunderstandings — the reviews have been warm. We were also flattered by the increased attention from the press. It's nice when people are interested in your work, especially when it comes to a new studio and a debut game.

VGTimes: What are your plans for supporting Siberian Mayhem?

Evgeny Yagudin: We are planning additional content in the future. We are talking about a survival mode, where several new maps will be available that can be completed both alone and with friends. We also plan to add several skins for the player, which he can choose in single or cooperative mode.

VGTimes: What will you do after Siberian Mayhem?

Evgeny Yagudin: We hope that we will have new projects that we can take on. While the period of support for Siberian Mayhem is ongoing, we are fully focused on this. It is difficult for us to say what our goals will be in the future. There are certain ideas, but they are hidden behind a veil of fog. We hope that we will be able to reveal them and implement them.

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The secret of Siberian Mayhem's success is the irrepressible enthusiasm of its creators. The developers adore the series, enjoyed creating mods for it and developing their own skills. In the end, this approach helped them turn a hobby into a profession, and this definitely deserves respect!

VGTimes has been operating since 2011 and during this time has visited dozens of exhibitions and festivals, where our journalists have collected many exclusive materials. For example, in 2019 we got to a closed screening of Cyberpunk 2077 at gamescom, in 2017 we prepared a photo report from WG Fest, in 2020 we were at the largest gaming event in Central Asia CAGS, and also visited IgroMir several times, where we saw Hideo Kojima and other famous developers.