DEVLOG #60 - In the name of decency

Chornobyl Liquidators

Chornobyl Liquidators is not a fantastic tale of exploring the Zone. It's a story about real people facing a real threat — the CNPP disaster. Invisible radiation, KGB, difficult moral choices... Do you have enough courage and strength to take on this challenge?

Recently, there have been lively discussions in our team about a certain issue. A matter which, for many, is probably trivial, but for us, extremely important. Namely, we were faced with the problem of what transcription we should use in our game. Until now, this issue has not been raised in relation to the Chornobyl disaster, and all translations have been made from Russian. This is probably an aftermath of the time when Ukraine, and by implication the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, were part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, where Russian was forcibly used. Today, however, in independent Ukraine, the beautiful Ukrainian language can be used without hindrance. There is therefore no need to refer to the Russian language. What is more, Ukrainians themselves are trying to make international opinion aware of the difference between the two languages, which is not at all obvious outside the circle of Slavic culture. Therefore, as a team we unanimously decided to use a transcription from Ukrainian for the translation. In the face of Russian aggression and attack on the territory of independent Ukraine, many may interpret our gesture as a political act or as a manifestation of conformism resulting from political correctness. We, however, hold political correctness in deep disregard, and our decision is based solely on common human decency. "Follow only such a rule as you might wish to make a universal law." Immanuel Kant The first consequence resulting from our decision will be to change the title of the game from "Chernobyl Liquidators" to "Chornobyl Liquidators". [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35404032/096b896cbe2fbeecef3b06837dbe458499c2d1ba.jpg[/img] As you probably noticed, we have also removed 'simulator' from the name. This is related to the transformation of the gameplay, which has evolved in the production process over the past months. This reflects the fact that we want our game to be more than just a simple simulator, but also to tell the story of the people who, often against their will, were caught up in the events of the Chornobyl disaster. People who were confronted by Soviet totalitarianism with decisions that were not only difficult but also affected the fate of others. Decisions based on truly Conradian choices. We hope that we can count on your support and that you will like our new development direction!