When your development team is spread out across multiple countries due to wartime relocation, and you're finishing a very ambitious game while pioneering new technology, every aspect of collaboration becomes critical. This was the reality for GSC Game World during the development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl—a project that represents far more than just a game.
Founded as one of Ukraine's most celebrated game development studios, GSC Game World faced unprecedented challenges developing their highly anticipated sequel. The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series holds legendary status for gamers, and for many Ukrainians, this wasn't just another game release—it was a cultural statement to the world.
"For many people in our studio, this game is not just a game. It's a legacy of Ukrainian history, of Ukrainian game development," explains Slava Lukyanenka, Head of Production at GSC Game World. "From time to time, developers from Ukraine approach me saying 'do you understand how important this is for Ukrainian game development? You can't mess it up.'"
DEVELOPMENT UNDER SIEGE
The challenges facing GSC extended far beyond typical game development hurdles. Team members were relocated across multiple countries - Ukraine, Prague, and other European countries while maintaining production on one of the most technically ambitious projects in the studio's history. The team was pioneering Unreal Engine 5 technology, being among the first adopters while building a range of complex in-game systems.
In this environment, traditional feedback workflows became impossible. The studio's previous approach relied heavily on in-person coordination, manual organization of playtests, and time-intensive processing of feedback data.
"Before Live Aware, we had to organize everyone in one location, share the build, provide everyone with the same Zoom call, have someone taking notes, then putting it in Jira, then processing all the feedback," recalls Lukyanenka. "That's a massive amount of work."
For a team of over 500 people spread across multiple time zones while facing the pressures of wartime development, this approach, like many others in a post-relocation era, required a new solution.
DISCOVERING THE MISSING PIECE
Lukyanenka first encountered Live Aware at GDC 2024 while specifically searching for solutions to simplify playtesting and development operations as the team approached release. The tool immediately aligned with the workflow he had been trying to create manually for his distributed team.
"I was looking for tech that could allow us to simplify playtest, QA, and devops services," he explains. "Live Aware was following the workflow I was hoping to create for the team for playtests. It was like 'I've been searching for the tech you already have. Nice!'"
The timing proved crucial. As a large studio with team members scattered across many different countries, GSC needed a solution that could seamlessly coordinate feedback collection without the overhead of manual organization and processing.
SEAMLESS COORDINATION ACROSS COUNTRIES
Live Aware transformed how GSC's distributed team collaborated on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The platform's lightweight recording solution eliminated the technical barriers that had previously prevented consistent participation in feedback sessions.
"Just recently, last Friday I was part of one of the demos," Lukyanenka describes. "Big part of the team was in Ukraine, big part in Prague, I was in Warsaw, our director was travelling abroad. People scattered around Europe, yet at the same time we were all able to see the game being played and discuss feedback smoothly and everything was captured and noted."
The ability to capture and automatically process feedback from multiple locations simultaneously proved transformative. Team members could focus on playing and providing insights rather than wrestling with recording setups or note-taking responsibilities.
Dan Lohinov, who implemented Live Aware across GSC's Quality Verification workflows, emphasizes the tool's impact on decision-making: "It's very useful for us because not all our team is in Prague or Kyiv or other places. We can just stream it and they can share their feedback. It's helpful because we have a lot of vision holders in different locations, and Live Aware helps give them context about what we do."
SCALING TO THOUSANDS OF VOICES
Live Aware's impact extended far beyond internal development. Following S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's release, GSC leveraged the platform's multi-channel capabilities to process feedback at large scale.
"Right after the release, we captured YouTube and Twitch streams of the first impressions of many streamers. We put it in Live Aware to process all the insights we were using as inputs for our patches," explains Lukyanenka. "It saved us many sleepless nights. I could put it in Live Aware instead of hours of manually watching individual streams, and the quality of the insights is way better this way."
This capability proved essential for a studio managing one of the year's most anticipated releases. Rather than manually monitoring hundreds of streams and videos, GSC could automatically aggregate and analyze feedback patterns, enabling rapid response to critical issues.
REMOVING ROUTINE TO RESTORE CREATIVITY
For Lukyanenka, Live Aware represents the right approach to leveraging AI in daily workflow by significantly improving the operational efficiency.
"If it's something that saves your time, leverages your team's capability and frees them up to focus on all the creative aspects, then that's an absolute must. No one wants to spend their days in routine operational work," he reflects. "Live Aware is one of the tools which helps make the creative industry more creative by removing mundane tasks."
This philosophy proved crucial during S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's development, where every hour saved on administrative overhead could be redirected toward creative problem-solving and technical innovation.
THE POWER OF CONTEXT
Live Aware's ability to preserve context alongside feedback proved particularly valuable for GSC's complex development process. Rather than losing crucial details in translation between team members and systems, the platform maintained the full narrative of each insight.
"We were able to effectively combine quantitative and qualitative parts of the playtest," Lukyanenka explains. "A person just plays the game, they're commenting on what they see, and Live Aware allows us to combine all the data points and understand which feedback is mostly repeated, which we need to address effectively. The best part is we don't need to have anyone taking notes and struggling with 'did I hear that right?'"
This preserved context became essential for post-release support, where understanding not just what players were experiencing, but why and how, informed critical patch decisions.
LEGACY AND FUTURE
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl launched to critical acclaim, representing not just a successful game release but a cultural victory for Ukrainian game development. The studio's ability to maintain creative vision while efficiently processing feedback from around the world contributed significantly to this success.
As GSC continues post-launch support and future development, Live Aware remains central to their workflow. The team plans to expand external playtesting capabilities later this year, building on the foundation of streamlined feedback processing they've established.
"The earlier you see the problem, the earlier you need to eliminate it," Lukyanenka notes, reflecting on lessons learned. "Live Aware helps us identify not just what needs to be done, but more specifically why it needs to be done."
For GSC Game World, Live Aware proved to be more than just a development tool—it was the technological foundation that enabled a distributed team to maintain creative cohesion under extraordinary circumstances while delivering one of the year's most significant gaming achievements.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S. Learn more about GSC Game World's continued development at their official website: https://www.gsc-game.com/
To learn more about how Live Aware can help your distributed team capture and analyze feedback at scale, sign up for a complimentary trial here: liveaware.io.