Nothing beats telling stories in games

Anas Rahhal has achieved the seemingly impossible. Growing up, he had two dreams: playing video games and working in finance. The latter was a challenge, since he was a stateless Palestinian living in Syria. Then the civil war broke out. Amidst all the chaos and violence, his dreams seemed forever out of reach. But Anas wouldn’t give up.

How do you develop a sequel to a game that simulates the violent life of a goat? A game that was partly successful due to its hilarious bugs. Well, Coffee Stain does it by skipping part two completely and going straight to Goat Simulator 3. And, of course, by making sure to find the sweet spot where the game is goat enough.

What would you like for lunch? How about a can of microwaved canned tomato soup, some office-cooked corn chicken with mushroom gravy, or perhaps nougat dumplings with gingerbread crumbs? In the global Embracer family, the lunch options are many and varied — and you are invited to join!

Why would anyone leave a place where you can swim with the dolphins, own an unlimited number of dogs and spend your days at the beach? Shanice Lapierre Armande did all that, but she also wanted a good education. So she left the Caribbean for a new life in the Netherlands. She still longs for the island lifestyle, but she also loves her new life — as a VR developer at Vertigo Games.

Natalia Boró was in the middle of her life and had a great career, when she received the devastating news. She had breast cancer. Then she was laid off. Everything looked very bleak. But now, three years later, she is not only cancer free, she has also started a new career. This time, in the games industry.

It’s busy days for Helen Haynes, as she and the rest of Dambuster Studios put the final touches to Dead Island 2. But as an HR manager, Helen’s mission is not killing zombies — it’s creating the best working conditions possible. And since retirement is just around the corner for Helen, she’s not holding back when she delivers some hard-earned truths about what HR should be in the games industry. Buckle up!

When David Lahmeyer received a Nintendo 64 for Christmas, he made his mind up — he was going to work in the games industry! He was only eight years old and since then he has never bothered to make any other career plans. Failing to become a programmer did not hinder his ambitions, nor did working in the industry stop him from collecting Nintendo 64 games.

Remember MSX, the Japanese computer standard from the 80s, with its huge selection of games? Did you know that Bomberman made its debut on this hybrid of console and home computer? If not, don’t worry. Thomas Sunhede, retro gaming advisor at Embracer Games Archive, will tell you all about this mostly forgotten console.

Growing up, Molly Ericson loved two things — horses and video games. When studying game design at the university she became annoyed when she watched her boyfriend play FIFA. Why were there no sports games like that for equestrian sports? So she decided to fix that problem herself, and brought her fiancé along on the ride.

Making game studios more inclusive and increasing the gender balance are big challenges for the games industry. The good news? Vermila Studios in Madrid seems to have found a solution to the problem. The bad news? They don’t really know how they did it.

Do we really need more committees? Well, if the committee is committed to your well-being, the answer might be yes. At Deep Silver Dambuster Studios in Nottingham, Emma Green and the other members of the Well-Being Committee is busy making the work place better for everyone, with a special focus on mental health. As it turns out, it doesn’t need to be all that complicated.

Growing up under communism in East Germany wasn’t great for graphic novel buff Michael Hochhaus. The only good comics he could get his hands on were the few his relatives managed to smuggle in. But Michael beat the odds, and today he works for Koch Films and has an impressive collection of drawings from some the world’s best-known cartoonists and animators.

Aisha Kuipers was 30 years old and had achieved her dream of being a PR manager at the VR studio Vertigo Games. That’s when she discovered she had incurable cancer. How do you maintain a sense of purpose, joy and gratitude in the middle of dealing with all that? Well, Aisha has some answers.

David finds rare Nintendo special editions, a Mega CD collection with unopened games, a handheld games collection with some very special Pokemon games, and he also tells us all about his love for fat TVs.

In a vault somewhere close to Karlstad, Sweden, the ever-growing Embracer Games Archive is stored. It’s time to do some serious unboxing and find out what kind of gaming treasures are hidden in all those pallets and boxes. Join Games Archive’s new CO David Boström on one last visit to the vault.

Aaron Fernández had two dreams growing up, to become a rock star or a game developer. Both seemed out of reach as he worked in the family business, a metal workshop in Madrid. But then he hurt his shoulder, downloaded Unreal Engine for free and started practicing coding on his own. And all of a sudden, maybe that childhood dream wasn’t  that far off after all.

This fan favourite game has a lot of names! Game historian Martin Lindell has looked through another box in the growing Embracer Games Archive collections, and found the Konami silver boxes, and more specifically the game Probotector. If you don’t recognise the name, don’t worry. You might know it by one of its other names.

Video games are great, but for Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors, it all began with used comic books. Growing up in the countryside and in need of cash, he started his first business when he was in primary school and ran Sweden’s largest used comics business by the time he was 15. That’s when he took notice of some second-hand Nintendo games and that’s when everything changed.

As a woman, you should be able to say what you want, be who you want, dress the way you want – and still be taken as serious as a man. Amplifier Game Invest executive Linn-Marie Edlund grew up loving games and saw no limit to what she could do within the gaming world. Then she met men who thought otherwise. So she quit. But only for a while. Now she’s back, with an important message.

Italy’s biggest game studio, Milestone in Milan, is experiencing great success with a toy car game for kids, Hot Wheels Unleashed. But before it came 30 years of doing realistic motorcycle racing games. CEO Luisa Bixio tells the story of the studio, why they wanted to be a part of Embracer and what lies ahead.

Tita and Lexa escaped their lives as stray dogs in Buenos Aires, to a small town in Sweden. They also brought their humans, Paula Cal and Flor Coletta, with them on their journey. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, Paula and Flor also happen to be skilled games developers who are currently working on a new strategy game at Palindrome Interactive.

Horse games have actually been big since the 90’s, yet they are rarely discussed in neither games media nor among games collectors. Thomas Sunhede, Retro Games Advisor at Embracer, dives into the Games Archive and tries to understand why this is.

With eight million copies sold, the Viking survival game Valheim is one of this year’s great success stories in the games industry. This is the story of how it all started and where it’s going from here. Meet Iron Gate studio founder Henrik Törnqvist, community manager Lisa Kolfjord and publisher Sebastian Badylak of Coffee Stain Studios.

Content warning: This video contains discussions about mental health and suicide. Jace Varlet is a popular community manager at Coffee Stain Studios, reaching thousands each week in his streams. But once the camera is off, another reality awaits. Jace suffers from bipolar II disorder, a chronic mental illness, characterized by periods of severe depression and hypomania.

Once again we sent game historian Martin Lindell into the secret vault, where Embracer Group’s growing game collection is stored. This time he found something really rare – a tabletop arcade machine called Adventure Vision, from 1982.

”It’s a mixture of excitement and horror”, says Lisa Kolfjord. Late last year she was hired as a 3D artist and community manager by a small indie studio, developing their first game. The game was called Valheim. When it was released in February, Valheim became a huge hit, with millions of players. As the person in charge of such a big player community, Lisa Kolfjord’s working life has changed. A lot.

A story of a lonely coffee machine, a bank vault, something that looks like a prison courtyard, and having really bad timing when renting new office spaces.

What do you do when you are a brilliant game developer who just wants to make the games of your dreams, but really don’t want to have to deal with the business side of things? Well, you could do what Mattias Kylén did.

Deep down in a secret vault, Embracer Group’s growing game collection is stored at the moment. But we have early access, and game historian Martin Lindell has picked out a selection of classics from the archive, to show us. We’ll soon be back with more stories from the collection.

Developing a game is hard under the best of circumstances, but how do you cope when a pandemic strikes unexpectedly? Producer Michele Caletti knows all about it.