Disco Elysium was released in 2019 to rave reviews, but the developers say there was a release date in the first place because they were in a “mega crunch”. The lead director of the game even says that the development of Disco Elysium “ruined lives”, while another writer says that it “changed” people and hurt relationships.
This comes from an extensive documentary on the development, release and aftermath of Disco Elysium, courtesy of the People Make Games YouTube channel. In the two and a half hour video, almost everyone involved discusses the difficult development of Disco Elysium and the even more difficult development of its sequel. And while many writers and developers can’t agree on the ZA/UM legal drama, they all agree that the production of the first game was unhealthy for everyone involved.
“The last nine months he’s been working on Disc … it’s been a mega spasm,” says Argo Tuulik, a writer at ZA/UM. “For nine months I don’t think I slept at least one night [every week]. Everyone was so broken and burned out after that.”
This version of events is shared by others who worked on the game, including Robert Kurvitz and Alexander Rostov, who were fired from the company after the release of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, leading to ZA/UM’s current legal troubles. Although they disagree with ZA/UM about the events that led to their dismissal, they say that the development of Disco was “absolutely inexorable”. They blamed “totally unrealistic hands” for this predicament.
“It made for a really hellish pace of production,” says Kurvitz. “You know this really complex CRPG is not going to be released in 11 months. You know it’s not possible. You even say it’s not possible. But you are required to do it anyway.
“You have the option to abandon the project entirely and outsource it […] all of everyone’s hard work on it just goes to waste, it lets everyone down. Or just say, ‘Okay, let’s try to do the impossible,’ and don’t fail until you do.”
Helen Hindpere, who was also fired along with Kurvitz and Rostov, shares a similar opinion.
“I think so Robert [Kurvitz] he was working like crazy,” says Hindpere. “We kind of stopped having a relationship because he was working so much. He would get up at 4am and start working and finish at 11pm.”
Of course, the headache was far from over when Disco Elysium began. Work on The Final Cut began soon after, but memories of who worked on it differ between former and current ZA/UM writers. But it’s certainly not a time Kurvitz likes to look back on.
The legal dispute between the management of ZA/UM and Kurvitz continues. Judging by how the proceedings looked in the People Make Games documentary, the two sides are unlikely to reach an agreement anytime soon.