Hello guys, this is Aleksey again, answering some of your questions in our regular blog.
And today’s spotlight is how much Cyberside is related to the gaming industry “for real”. Well, let’s dwell a little bit on this, shall we?
While the first Cyberside is an obvious homage to cyberpunk and dystopian classics, with some 80s influence, we have definitely put some of our experience, together with Bert Jennings, in it. I would say that back in those times, I was more optimistic, and my eyes shone more brightly about the gaming industry and tech in general and the book sets a couple of serious questions like “How does tech influence us daily?” It’s an entertaining, allegorical road trip through the internet as we know it.
Creature of Darkness went deeper. The concept of the comics has always been telling the story of the Cyberside from Matilda’s eyes and that
would mean we will have to tell her from James’ perspective about how the world and Fall Water Lake got corrupted into what they became and that took us deep down a dystopian and somewhat philosophical rabbit hole.
Now, Cyberside: Level Zero was written at times of corporate mistakes, industrial decline and serial layoffs, and I went full Fincher-esque political thriller meets boardroom talks, meets Cyberside original story, meets speculative fiction and Versa Foundation, kind of our own Umbrella-like private-equity villain. Some close friends ask, “Did I “Taylor Swift” some of the conversations?” I totally did. Do I mean by Versa and FWL any actual company? Not really, I would say that they are collective, grotesque and quite dramatised versions of some true industrial stories.
Overall, given the fact the story is not yet over, I think that Cyberside is rather a version of the mirror that can be held to my perception and experience in the game development industry over the years. It is somewhat depictive, but that depiction is a result of my observation, imagination and desire to drama some cool things together.
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