Platform alternatives or platform power: Custom and commercial game engines in the work of foreigners in Czech game production

Abstract

The paper addresses the evaluation of game engines by internationals, i.e. expatriates and remote workers, in 10 Czech studios that use custom and commercial game engines. The research employs longitudinal semi-structured interviews with internationals, to advance their (locally unexplored) perspectives on such tools. Some Czech studios use custom engines that internationals see as lagging behind commercial tools. However, projects using commercial engines suffer from understaffing as being skilled in them is demanded internationally. Through live service arrangements, projects with custom engines promote communal aspects of game-making in cooperation with players and modders. As this community might be unattractive to seniors with nomadic views on game development, the paper argues for their longer studio onboarding. The results demonstrate that seeing commercial engines as democratising game production is problematic in development contexts that use alternative engines to those promoted by powerful industrial centres or actors.