Online gaming is going through a renaissance, with hundreds of websites offering free games to while away the time. One company making waves in the sector is Pastel Games – a Polish game developer responsible for such hits as the Submachine series and the Squirrel Family games. WBJ.pl speaks with company founders Mateusz Skutnik and Karol Konwerski about their their business model, the state of the industry and developing for the iPhone.

Roberto Galea: Since the flash games that you produce are free to play online, where does your income come from?

Mateusz Skutnik: The income comes from our sponsors. We sell games to online flash-game portals, such as Arcade Town, Spill Group, Armor Games and others. They pay us for ad space within the game, mostly logos and links redirecting to their portals.

Your flash games, including Submachine and the “room escape” series, have become immensely popular worldwide. What kind of reaction have you seen from the Polish gaming community?

MS: The gaming community in Poland reacted in much the same way as the rest of the world. They liked it. The developers did and so did the players. This is the kind of genre that suits everyone I guess. It’s something that you can’t really predict, but that is what’s most precious in this business.

How hard is it to break into the global gaming industry with so many artists competing for the spotlight?

MS: It’s harder than you’d think, because since every single game that you make is pure genius and fantastic for the creator, the only way to determine its value is to release it to the public and listen to what [players] have to say about it. Well, maybe not listen to their opinions, because the more people play, the more [their] comments become a white noise of polarized opinions ranging from love to hate. But the mere number of players says all that we need to know about a game. It is quite tricky, it took me about three years to find the specific genre that we’re good at and people love.

As an artist working in Poland, how does the country’s current social and political landscape fit into your work?

MS: Not much. Our creations are not locally based, they’re global, and keeping that in mind we don’t include social or political matters. We’re in no way dependent on the state of the country. All the work that we do goes straight abroad. We export our intellectual property mostly to Western Europe and US.

You also write games for the Apple iPhone. When it first came out, the iPhone took the world by storm as a fashion and technological breakthrough. Entrepreneurs are now realizing its business potential. How do you see the iPhone evolving as a tool in the coming months?

Karol Konwerski: Over the last year, the iPhone has become more of a handheld gaming console than just a multimedia gadget. Recently in the first time in history, the four-top selling applications at Apple’s App-store were games. Furthermore, something which is important for us, and on which we have based our business plan, is that the iPhone determines new trends for handheld gaming devices. The best proof of this is the new device from Sony – the Sony PSP Go. We can say that it’s more than just a temporary trend or fashion. What we are observing at the moment is just a natural progression of the whole gaming industry. That is why we haven’t had a problem finding an investor.

What management models do you practice at your company?

KK: To speak about management models, we have to separate flash-game development from iPhone games. In developing flash games we prefer to work with freelance graphic designers and programmers. As we have learned from practice, a team created specifically for a concrete project will be much more effective and creative [than a static team]. This is important for us – as well as for our clients and users – since you can tell exactly who was working on a specific game. That kind of “artistic touch,” let’s say, has distinguished our work from that of other flash-game developers. It is completely different when we talk about iPhone games. Developing games for Apple’s smartphone is much more complex than working on flash games. First of all, Apple’s device opened brand new possibilities for developers, [since] each game has to be totally unique but there are no solid programming grounds like in flash games. What we had to do was to create a developer engine. To do that we could not use freelancers. Right now we employ three full-time workers and three others for concrete tasks in two divisions – graphic design and programming.

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And now for something completely different. Here’s my newest platform game. Just finished it, however it’s been in unfinished state for several years. And now you’re asking me: why in the world do you publish a platform game when you were supposed to be doing new Submachine?? The answer is simple. I always do multiple projects at the same time. Nothing to worry about here. Sub6 is on schedual. And while you’re waiting for it, you can play this nice platformer right here. It does have some puzzle content in latter levels you know.

I had to take few days off of the production of Submachine 6, because I was asked to create a small comic for the anthology honouring one of our (polish) best comic artists, Janusz Christa. The deadline for this project was in fact deadly – August 31st. Luckily I got a nice idea for this 3-page comic pretty soon and it went smoothly. It’s finished now, I’m back on track with Submachine, nothing to worry about. ;)

Kinematograph was selected to the International competition of short films of the 66th Venice Film Festival. Congratulations, mr Baginski.

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walkthrough: video; english; francaise; polska; español; hungarian

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Kara is still looking for Karl von Toten. But in the process to her surprize she finds someone completely different. Or maybe he finds her?… This time we travel to Zurich, where we have only one night to explore the city and it’s mysteries…

It’s been long two years since the previous installment of this series. I have to say this one is opus magnum, not only it’s the biggest game I’ve ever created, it took longest development time as well. But that you probably know. With that taken off my chest, now I can devote myself to creating Submachine 6. Phew. Enjoy the game.

1. railway station

– scroll to the man with gazette, collect gazette, open it from inventory, collect wallet and a document.

– enter the station and go left to the tickets window. Buy a ticket, doesn’t matter which one. Go back to the main hall and into thelounge, and then into the locker rooms.

– click on locker 102 and enter code 2340. Collect everything from the locker.

– Go back to the tickets, now window on the left is open. Buy a swiss army knife.

– find restaurant and go into the toilet. Enter the far right toilet booth and look up. Unscrew the window using the knife, and click on open window.

2. safe house

– enter the hotel, talk to the manager, buy key 14.

– go upstairs, unlock room 14 and enter. Find bible on the bed, collect adocument from the bible. zoom on the telephone, take off the ear-piece (drag it to table on right side), and enter the number you got from the bible.

– open the closet and go into the secret room. Collect lever from the carton box on the ground and key from the far right drawer of the desk. turn around and use them both on the device next to the exit. Then turn the key and lever. Both lights should go white.

– now turn left and approach the machine. Zoom on the codename input and enter m-24-7-69 – now the machine should display “Kara”; zoom out and click the main button on that machine. A print comes out. collect it.

– Get out of the hotel into the street, and click on the exit that says “old town”;

3. the library

– zoom on door on the left wall. Use newspaper to break the window. Click on window to unlock the door. click on handle to enter the library.

– go right once and enter the door that’s in front of you. There should be a rail. Open it by clicking the lock on the gate. Now open the drawer, take the large key. zoom out and click on the machine on the desk. enter 32158 and collect the print out. Exit that room.

– go right and into the big main hall with a star on the floor. Enter the middle door (catalogue).

– open the gate with the large key. Enter the room.Click on the “n” closet and “e” drawer. Collect the book card. Go back to the main hall.

– enter the left door (books). Open the gate and zoom on the machine input slot. Use the book card and press button. Collect the book.

– look at the book in the inventory, collect photograph from it. Look at the photograph. go back to the main hall.

– enterdoor on the right (newspapers). zoom on the machine and click on the button that says “Zurichsee Zeitung”. Click on the set of newspapers and on one active newspaper. Zoom out. Look at the newspaper on the table, click on von Toten’s picture and again on his suitcase. go back to the main hall and click on the star on the floor.

4. trapped

– click on Manfred and talk to him. After he leaves, zoom in on the bed grating and collect four metal rods (first one is to be taken by hand, other using the first rod).

– turn around and face the wall with cracks on it (you should have the gate on your right side and window on the left). Find four spots to place the rods in, and click the corner beneath the ceiling.

5. the airfield.

– click on the building twice, so you’re facing its front wall. click the rainspout near the open window. Inside turn on both levers. Exit the building.

– go near the plane. Zoom on the wheels and take out the blocking logs. zoom out.

– click on the pilot’s cabin, beneath the wings and turn the horizontal lever. get out.

– zoom in ot the propeller and turn it.

– get back to the pilot’s cabin and turn the main steering lever.

Covert Front épisode 3 : Night in Zürich, la solution, auteur: Lambda.

Chapitre 1 :

– Regarder sur la gauche, cliquer sur le journal que lit l’homme du banc, récupérer le journal et le feuilleter dans l’inventaire pour trouver un portefeuille et des notes. Aller à droite, ouvrir la porte métallique et entrer.

– Aller à gauche et prendre le passage du haut (entre les lampadaires), cliquer sur le guichet et acheter un billet de train (n’importe lequel). Ressortir et aller à droite, entrer dans le salon (« lounge »). Entrer dans le passage à droite et regarder à droite pour trouver des casiers. Cliquer sur le casier n°102 (tout en haut à peu près au milieu). Ouvrir avec le code 2340. Le code correspond à l’horaire affiché du train pour Vienne et le n°102 est à la fin de la note trouvée dans le journal. Récupérer les photos, l’appareil photo et les notes.

– Revenir vers le guichet où on a acheté le billet de train, cliquer sur le guichet de gauche et acheter un couteau suisse. Revenir en arrière, prendre le passage de gauche et entrer dans le restaurant. Aller au fond à gauche et entrer dans les toilettes. Entrer dans les toilettes de droite et regarder en haut, ouvrir la fenêtre avec le couteau pour s’échapper.

Chapitre 2 :

– Entrer dans l’hôtel, parler au gérant, prendre la clé de la chambre 14. Monter les escaliers et aller ouvrir la chambre 14 avec la clé, entrer. Cliquer sur le livre posé sur le lit, feuilleter jusqu’à trouver un papier avec un code. Aller au téléphone, décrocher le combiné et le poser sur la table. Composer le numéro trouvé dans le livre. Ouvrir l’armoire et entrer dans la nouvelle pièce.

– Ouvrir le carton et prendre l’espèce de clé, fouiller les tiroirs et prendre la petite clé. Se retourner et utiliser la petite clé et l’espèce de clé sur le boîtier à gauche de l’ouverture. Tourner la clé et abaisser le levier pour allumer les deux boutons.

– Tourner à gauche et cliquer sur la grosse machine posée sur le meuble. Cliquer sur les boutons et entrer le code (numéro d’identification trouvé sur les notes : M-24-7-69). Reculer et cliquer sur le gros bouton de la machine. Prendre le papier qui sort et sortir de l’hôtel et se diriger vers la vieille ville à droite.

Chapitre 3 :

– Cliquer sur la porte à gauche, utiliser le journal pour casser la fenêtre et passer la main dans le trou pour ouvrir la porte et entrer. Aller à droite et ouvrir la porte du fond. Ouvrir le portillon (en bas à droite) puis fouiller le tiroir pour trouver une clé. Cliquer sur la machine posée sur le bureau et entrer le code 32158 (voir les notes). Valider avec le gros bouton et récupérer le papier qui sort.

– Ressortir, aller à droite puis tout droit jusqu’à une grande pièce avec une étoile au sol. Passer la porte du milieu, utiliser la clé pour ouvrir la porte. Chercher le meuble N puis le tiroir « Ne », prendre la fiche trouée (dans les notes on parle du dernier livre emprunté, de Newton). Ressortir, prendre la porte de gauche et utiliser la carte perforée sur le lecteur de la machine (penser à ouvrir d’abord le portillon), valider avec le bouton. Récupérer le livre et le feuilleter dans l’inventaire pour trouver une photo.

– Ressortir et prendre la porte de droite, cliquer sur la machine puis sur le levier « Zurichsee Zeitung ». Cliquer sur le journal qui descend puis le feuilleter sur la table, cliquer sur les photos. Revenir en arrière et cliquer sur la grosse étoile au sol.

Chapitre 4 :

– Parler au garde. Tourner à droite, cliquer au bout du lit et récupérer le barreau rouillé. Récupérer les trois autres barreaux du lit en utilisant celui qui est rayé. Prendre la note sur le bord de la fenêtre. Tourner à droite et utiliser les barreaux sur les fissures du mur (une des petites fissures est au dessus de l’arche). Cliquer tout en haut pour grimper et s’échapper.

Chapitre 5 :

– Cliquer sur la maison, entrer par la fenêtre en utilisant la gouttière de droite. Abaisser les deux leviers en face. Sortir de la maison et aller jusqu’à l’avion. Enlever les cales sous les roues. Entrer dans l’avion et pousser le bouton à droite. Ressortir de l’avion, cliquer sur le moteur et lancer l’hélice. Remonter dans l’avion et tirer sur le manche.

You think you’re a big fan of Submachine?… Think again. And take a look at those pictures of Jennifer. You think you can top that? That’s a Submachine loader tattoo in the back of her neck right there. Epic. The artist was Kaylene from Wicked Ink in Sydney. I’m kinda speechless.