Gamers praised Black Book for its charming Slavic setting and interesting plot — it's no surprise that 94 percent of reviews on Steam are positive. We talked to the game's author Vladimir Beletsky and learned a lot of interesting things. How the project was created, where the money came from, what he thinks about criticism of the combat system and much more — more about this in our article.
Black Book combines elements of a visual novel, RPG, and card game. The plot tells about the difficult life in the Cherdyn district of the Perm province. To feed themselves, the peasants have to work tirelessly in the fields. To avoid freezing at night, they have to go to the forest for firewood. To drink water, they have to carry buckets to the well.
There are enough worries as it is, and devils plague the poor residents every day. Sent a child to the steam room? The bathhouse spirit might drag him away. Built a mill by the river and didn't make a sacrifice to the water spirit? Soon the evil spirits will kill the workers. Did the entire harvest suddenly perish? It was the devil's doing.
The vekshitsy can cope with the devils. These are sorcerers who see evil spirits, communicate with them and wield magical powers. The main character Vasilisa is one of them.
Once she was an ordinary girl who avoided everything otherworldly and dreamed of marrying her lover. Alas, one day the chosen one committed suicide. Why did he do it? What weighed on his soul? The story is clearly not simple.
But the suicide probably ended up in hell — this thought torments Vasilisa's soul. To get her betrothed out, the heroine decides to become a sorceress and receives a powerful Black Book with seven seals. If you open them all, you can make any wish.
The story of Black Book is dedicated to the removal of seals. On her way, Vasilisa will encounter many terrible events, difficult choices, and deadly creatures. She will have to wander around the locations and help the locals, as well as fight devils.
The battles in Black Book are card-based. Vasilisa takes cards from the deck that attack, inflict damage, protect from damage, and much more. Often, fights force you to reassemble the deck and think for a long time — the heroine will not survive without thorough preparation.
VGTimes: Vladimir, hi! Can you tell us about yourself? What did you do during development?
Vladimir Beletsky: I worked on Black Book as a game designer, programmer, scriptwriter, and performed other tasks. I am from the Morteshka team.
VGTimes: Where did the name Morteshka studio come from?
Vladimir Beletsky: It's a play on the word «matryoshka» with the word «mort». Mort is a Komi-Permyak word meaning «man». And in French, mort is «death“.
VGTimes: How did you come up with the idea to open your own studio?
Vladimir Beletsky: At first, I just wanted to make a game. In 2015, I took a vacation and suggested that Mikhail, our composer, work on ”Human Voice». Initially, the development was supposed to take place in a game jam format and take a week, but in the end, the project grew.
VGTimes: What did you do before developing «Moose Man»?
Vladimir Beletsky: I worked in game development before that. Starting in 2013, I worked at «Alternative». It's a Perm studio where I was a programmer and product manager.
VGTimes: «Moose Man» is an unusual game. Why did you choose such a narrow genre?
Vladimir Beletsky: We wanted to take on an original project that no one had done before. We specifically looked for a story that no one had covered before. Since we are from Perm, the local animal style was a natural choice — everyone here is familiar with it from childhood. Before colonization, the indigenous population of these places were the Finno-Ugric people. I wanted to touch on this topic, because before us it remained unnoticed.
VGTimes: To make «Mooseman», did you invest your own savings and work on sheer enthusiasm?
Vladimir Beletsky: «Mooseman» was made in the evenings. That is, there was no financing. I did everything related to the game, and Mikhail was engaged in voice acting and music. We also ordered translation and voice acting on a freelance basis — we financed this from our own funds. But we are talking about insignificant amounts.
VGTimes: How did the game sell? Did we make money on «Human Moose»?
Vladimir Beletsky: Since we didn't invest much money, the profit was significant. Since there was zero investment, the profit went to infinity. It turns out that the first game brought us an infinite amount of money — this allowed us to continue working on the new project. After «Human Moose», I decided that I would try to develop indie games full-time. So I quit my job and started making Black Book.
VGTimes: You raised money for the development of Black Book on Kickstarter — in the end, you were supported with 160 thousand dollars. What would you have done if the campaign had failed?
Vladimir Beletsky: The game would have been released anyway, but its format would have been less voluminous. Thanks to Kickstarter, we were able to add voice acting, «Fool» and other things to the game that would have been abandoned otherwise. The same card «Fool» was originally supposed to appear only in a couple of locations. But it turned out to be a full-fledged mini-game.
VGTimes: $160,000 — is that the amount that was enough for development?
Vladimir Beletsky: We have strong ties with the publisher, so I can't answer such questions. But it certainly wasn't unnecessary. Kickstarter helped us, although on the other hand it took a lot of extra time. We had to make new features, and communicating with backers took a lot of time. Luckily, publishers help us with this.
VGTimes: How did you agree on cooperation with HypeTrain? Did you just send them the materials and offer cooperation?
Vladimir Beletsky: When we had the first prototype, we started looking for a publisher. We went to specialized events and sent letters to publishers that we liked. We had several offers — we thought for a long time and decided that we were on the same path with HypeTrain.
VGTimes: Did the publisher invest in the game?
Vladimir Beletsky: Yes, we were looking for funding, among other things. There was a small reserve of funds from «Moose Man», but I knew that it would not be enough for the entire project. I wanted to hire a couple more people to the team. So we were looking for a publisher who would help with marketing and funding.
VGTimes: How do you rate the launch of Black Book?
Vladimir Beletsky: We are glad that players have warmly received the project. A lot of indie games have come out recently, and the competition is high. So it's great that Black Book was not only noticed, but also well received. Gamers help us even after the release. There were errors and bugs that people tell us about — we are actively fixing them and releasing patches.
VGTimes: How do you like the sales?
Vladimir Beletsky: We need to wait before drawing conclusions, but overall, we are happy. As I said, there is a lot of competition now — it is scary to look at colleagues who do not always succeed.
VGTimes: The Slavic setting is charming, but it is not very popular in the world. Have you ever thought that if we took, for example, the Scandinavian setting, the online would be much higher?
Vladimir Beletsky: We are not interested in this. Initially, we had an idea to make unusual projects. It is clear that they are niche. However, we didn't want to make a game that would have a Scandinavian setting and an icon with a screaming man. We were going to make a project with original themes — and how the players would perceive it, that's how they would perceive it. At the same time, we tried to do everything in our power to make the game high-quality.
VGTimes: Some fights and puzzles turned out to be too hardcore. During the gameplay, there are situations when it becomes too difficult — many gamers complained about this. Why did this happen?
Vladimir Beletsky: There are a number of reasons, and opinions vary. We really got into trouble with players for the difficulty. Many people found the game too hardcore, so we made the appropriate changes in the first fixes. They should improve the experience of gamers who are not familiar with card games.
Why did this happen? Firstly, we did not think that many would play puzzles, because they are mostly found in side quests. It seemed that few people were interested in ally quests. It turned out that many took them on.
The thing is that Nikolai's ally quest is the first puzzle that players encounter. However, it was far from the first one we created; many complicated puzzles were developed before that. Because of this, it turned out that the gamer is thrown out of the frying pan into the fire without preparation. This is probably the main problem. Looking back, I think that the main storyline should have included easy puzzles that would introduce gamers to the situation.
As for regular battles, they really caused difficulties for a number of players. For us, this was a surprise — it seemed that the game was quite simple. Most likely, this is what experienced players who are familiar with Slay The Spire, Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone feel. They don't find the game challenging.
But other players get frustrated when they can't get through a certain episode. It's our fault. We should have created a smoother experience for new players so that they can enjoy the game. We are currently monitoring such moments and nerfing the monsters that cause difficulties.
VGTimes: On the normal difficulty level, Black Book seems frantic to many, and if you switch to «easy», there is no challenge left. Do you plan to add another difficulty level?
Vladimir Beletsky: «Znatka» is an average level. With patches, we will bring it to a moderate difficulty for the average player.
The problem is that some players do not select a deck. They collect cards — and whatever comes in battle, comes. However, there are opponents who ignore direct damage. Then the unsuitable deck simply stops working. The idea was for the player to guess to reassemble the deck.
VGTimes: It happens that you collect the right deck for the battle and seem to win, but in the final round, the critically needed cards do not come into your hand. As a result, you lose and start all over again. Is that how it should be?
Vladimir Beletsky: This is a fundamental problem with randomness. The right card may come, or it may not. It may happen that the same cards will drop every time. And tomorrow a meteorite may fall to Earth. You can't guess.
You can make a charged randomness, but you have to approach it wisely. For a charged randomness, you need to study data on how players lose and where they need help. Our studio is not able to handle this with its current composition. Firstly, we do not collect analytics, and secondly, we do not have the necessary competence in charged randomness.
VGTimes: In Black Book, Vasilisa's team is full of devils — if you carry them around, you will get negative effects. They can be sent to annoy people, but this increases the heroine's sinfulness. Is it even possible to complete the game if you always carry demons with you?
Vladimir Beletsky: The most vicious devils can be sent to meaningless work that does not bring sins. The rest can be turned to good use. Devils that poison and cause damage are worth exploiting — there are cards in the deck that pump Vasilisa up when she takes damage. So it is possible to complete the game with devils at your side.
VGTimes: The devils in the game are intelligent and interesting. They are often kinder than some people. Have spiritual citizens criticized you for this approach?
Vladimir Beletsky: The devils in Black Book behave like in mythological stories. Their image is not idealized. In tales, they are not perceived as absolute evil — they are more down-to-earth. Many are a mixture of old pagan gods. That is why we have not received any criticism from radical religious organizations. I hope no one will be outraged, because we have tried to preserve the mythological images of devils.
VGTimes: There are questions about some plot twists. For example, one day a plot character is plotting something evil behind Vasilisa's back. His image is darkened, but the gamer immediately guesses who it is by his silhouette. Is this a flaw or a conscious decision?
Vladimir Beletsky: Some people will recognize it right away, and some won't. But we didn't try to hide the mysteries. The thing is that all the seeds for solving the ending are planted in the introduction. You can immediately guess who the antagonist is, how the plot will develop, and how it will all end. I think this is a sign of a good story, because the hints are given subtly.
It is common now to distort the viewer's expectations, but I don't like this technique. Take Game of Thrones, for example — you assume what will happen next, but in fact something completely different happens. When I wrote the script, I wanted the development of events to be more expected.
VGTimes: The game uses old words like «vekshitsa», «vybukhnesh», «tselovalnik». They work great for the atmosphere. How did you translate these words into other languages?
Vladimir Beletsky: We didn't translate them at all. Other languages use transliterated terms. Some words seem ordinary to us, but for English speakers they are some kind of novelty. For example, «sorcerer», «conspiracy», «devil» and so on. This creates the necessary atmosphere. If we say, «make a conspiracy», then in English they say «create a zagovor». When the gamer hovers the mouse over the hint, he learns that «zagovor» is a «spell».
VGTimes: Russian developers often say that 90% of sales are on the Western market. What are your statistics?
Vladimir Beletsky: There are no detailed statistics yet, but we have a lot of players from Russia. I can't say that we have ninety percent foreign players. I rely on reviews. There is a lot of interest from the Russian-speaking community.
VGTimes: Are there any plans for the future?
Vladimir Beletsky: There are a lot of ideas for future projects, but there are no specific plans yet. Now we will be making DLC, because we promised a battle mode on Kickstarter. In addition, the game needs patches. When we finish all this, we will decide what to do next.
VGTimes: Do you plan to move to the AAA segment and make expensive and well-selling projects?
Vladimir Beletsky: Directly to AAA, most likely, no. Such projects require a large team, and it will not be possible to work directly on games. Now I can immerse myself in all the components of the game. But I would like the new project to be a little higher quality, larger-scale and polished.
VGTimes: Who did you consult with on mythology topics when you were creating the game?
Vladimir Beletsky: Perm Krai is a treasure trove of ethnographic data. Information has been collected here since the end of the nineteenth century. Even now, there are several famous folklorists and ethnographers in Perm Krai whose works are cited and published by scientists in other regions.
One of them is Konstantin Eduardovich Shumov. He has a collection of «Bylichki i valshchina» (Bylichki and Byvalshchina), and there is also fiction. We also talked with the famous local historian Alexander Vasilyevich Chernykh. We visited the archive of the Khokhlovka Museum. There was a lot of help.
VGTimes: There is a lot of folk music in Black Book. Who recorded it?
Vladimir Beletsky: These are vocal recordings of a student choir from the Perm Regional College of Arts and Culture. We worked with the college on «Chelovekolos». For Black Book, we were given several ready-made recordings and several were made specially.
VGTimes: This is a significant help — it seems that many took Black Book seriously. Russian games are doing well today. Why do you think there are more single-player games? Has more money started circulating in the industry?
Vladimir Beletsky: I don't think it's about money. It's just that a new generation of developers has grown up who were not disappointed by the events of the past. For example, I did not live to see the era of decline in the Russian gaming industry, when everyone switched to mobile phones.
Perhaps the new generation is not so interested in the business component, but simply wants to implement projects that interested them as children. I want to make games that I like, not those that will bring in more money. It seems to me that many developers adhere to the same approach.
The authors of Black Book do not think about how to make more money on the game — otherwise they simply would not have taken on such a niche project. They just do what they love and give it their all. Perhaps, Black Book has many shortcomings, but it has, forgive the high-flown cliché, a soul — perhaps that is why the game was rated highly.
What do you think about Black Book? Write in the comments!
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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.