The most of you are probably unfamiliar with Test3Project, the three-man strong Estonian studio behind Telelgitch: Die More Edition. Here's an introduction to them, their careers, and their thoughts on the indie dev scen in Estonia.
Who are you guys?
Mihkel:
I am a young computer addict working in a small studio located on top of a dirty garage, working on
different sound, game and graphic projects. I am seeking new possibilities for using technology to
provide joy to myself and others.
Johann:
I'm a 22 year old university dropout. I spend most of my time behind computer, either working on Teleglitch,
playing something or just wasting time.
When not behind computer, I entertain myself with hitchhiking, bicycle rides and arguing mostly about
politics, the meaning of life and science over a bottle of wine.
I've also done visuals for local raves with Mihkel, but I've been too busy for that lately.
Edvin:
I am a 30 y/old game design teacher in University of Tartu, indie gamedev in various roles (except coding)
and a writer. I work with several game projects and teams, of which Teleglitch and Test3P
have been most fruitful so far. My dream is to become a creative producer one day, and use
the funds generated with games for strategic charity and reduction of suffering around the world.
I aspire to be worthy of calling myself a humanist/nonreligious buddhist.
What's you're role at Test3Projects?
Johann:
Everything involving code is done by me. I also did customer support.
Mihkel:
My field of activities is pretty wide. Graphics, sound effects, music, level bits and level design, balancing, bookkeeping and
other company-related bureaucracy, that nobody else wants to deal with
Edvin:
The background setting, story and all the texts in Teleglitch. I also did the PR and
marketing campaing for the initial version of the game and helped out in various aspects
ranging from translation to testing to project development in general.
How did you get started with developing games for PC?
Mihkel:
We started making games together with Johann in 2002. Johann was then 11, me 13. I was creating the graphics and Johann was programming.
We started by using Gamemaker software, then moved to Blitzmax and then finally C++. We've been working on about 25 very ambitious and different
game projects, out of which only few were completed and all were only made public in the Estonian GameMaker forum. There were about 6 Teleglitch-like
projects, and only few of those have remained on our harddrives. Edvin joined our gang on the spring of 2012.
Edvin:
Before entering the games industry around 2010, I had written a couple of books, participated in estonian comics scene
and experimented with animations and other creative stuff. I realized I could never go deep in all of those fields, so the
solution was to pick one where all of the different mediums would come together, which for me was game design.
I'd been a gamer since the 90s and had also dabbled in designing tabletop games since 2005.
So I started participating in amateur indie projects and learning all aspects of game design and development. At one point,
I worked through 2000-pages of truly good game design literature and, based on it, created a game design & development
course for University of Tartu. BA in semiotics/anthropology, side studies in psychology and work experience as a marketing
consultant were all additional puzzle pieces that would support the direction I was taking. Finally, a childhood friend brought
me together with Teleglitch developers, and now I've become part of a team that's made the internationally most well-reviewed
Estonian game so far.
What's the (indie)game scene like in Estonia?
Mihkel:
For me, the Estonian game-scene feels very distant. There used to be a forum dedicated to the GameMaker software games
that I used to actively visit, but the forum has sort of died off. I mostly hear about other gamedevelopers through Edvin.
Johann:
There's a forum for gamemaker, as Mihkel said. Most of it is boring, but every once
in a while something really brilliant pops up. I think that they deserve way more recognition
than ~10 downloads, but for some reason they never really distribute their games beyond Estonia.
Other than that, I don't really know anything.
Edvin:
There's over 20 companies in the Estonian game industry (including asset creators and other supportive service providers),
plus a number of small indie teams and one-man developers.
There's also the European first business accelerator focused on games (Gamefounders) in Tallinn and IGDA Estonia
(independent game developers association), both of which I have the privilege to be involved with. I would say the Estonian
game scene is still opening it's first blossoms and this is only the start. I see great gamedev potential in this country.
Who are you guys?
Mihkel:
I am a young computer addict working in a small studio located on top of a dirty garage, working on
different sound, game and graphic projects. I am seeking new possibilities for using technology to
provide joy to myself and others.
Johann:
I'm a 22 year old university dropout. I spend most of my time behind computer, either working on Teleglitch,
playing something or just wasting time.
When not behind computer, I entertain myself with hitchhiking, bicycle rides and arguing mostly about
politics, the meaning of life and science over a bottle of wine.
I've also done visuals for local raves with Mihkel, but I've been too busy for that lately.
Edvin:
I am a 30 y/old game design teacher in University of Tartu, indie gamedev in various roles (except coding)
and a writer. I work with several game projects and teams, of which Teleglitch and Test3P
have been most fruitful so far. My dream is to become a creative producer one day, and use
the funds generated with games for strategic charity and reduction of suffering around the world.
I aspire to be worthy of calling myself a humanist/nonreligious buddhist.
What's you're role at Test3Projects?
Johann:
Everything involving code is done by me. I also did customer support.
Mihkel:
My field of activities is pretty wide. Graphics, sound effects, music, level bits and level design, balancing, bookkeeping and
other company-related bureaucracy, that nobody else wants to deal with
Edvin:
The background setting, story and all the texts in Teleglitch. I also did the PR and
marketing campaing for the initial version of the game and helped out in various aspects
ranging from translation to testing to project development in general.
How did you get started with developing games for PC?
Mihkel:
We started making games together with Johann in 2002. Johann was then 11, me 13. I was creating the graphics and Johann was programming.
We started by using Gamemaker software, then moved to Blitzmax and then finally C++. We've been working on about 25 very ambitious and different
game projects, out of which only few were completed and all were only made public in the Estonian GameMaker forum. There were about 6 Teleglitch-like
projects, and only few of those have remained on our harddrives. Edvin joined our gang on the spring of 2012.
Edvin:
Before entering the games industry around 2010, I had written a couple of books, participated in estonian comics scene
and experimented with animations and other creative stuff. I realized I could never go deep in all of those fields, so the
solution was to pick one where all of the different mediums would come together, which for me was game design.
I'd been a gamer since the 90s and had also dabbled in designing tabletop games since 2005.
So I started participating in amateur indie projects and learning all aspects of game design and development. At one point,
I worked through 2000-pages of truly good game design literature and, based on it, created a game design & development
course for University of Tartu. BA in semiotics/anthropology, side studies in psychology and work experience as a marketing
consultant were all additional puzzle pieces that would support the direction I was taking. Finally, a childhood friend brought
me together with Teleglitch developers, and now I've become part of a team that's made the internationally most well-reviewed
Estonian game so far.
What's the (indie)game scene like in Estonia?
Mihkel:
For me, the Estonian game-scene feels very distant. There used to be a forum dedicated to the GameMaker software games
that I used to actively visit, but the forum has sort of died off. I mostly hear about other gamedevelopers through Edvin.
Johann:
There's a forum for gamemaker, as Mihkel said. Most of it is boring, but every once
in a while something really brilliant pops up. I think that they deserve way more recognition
than ~10 downloads, but for some reason they never really distribute their games beyond Estonia.
Other than that, I don't really know anything.
Edvin:
There's over 20 companies in the Estonian game industry (including asset creators and other supportive service providers),
plus a number of small indie teams and one-man developers.
There's also the European first business accelerator focused on games (Gamefounders) in Tallinn and IGDA Estonia
(independent game developers association), both of which I have the privilege to be involved with. I would say the Estonian
game scene is still opening it's first blossoms and this is only the start. I see great gamedev potential in this country.