Scarlet Deer Inn

Czech Appeal: Use of Local Themes and Settings by a National Game Industry

This paper examines how Czech game developers have incorporated local themes and settings into recent titles, and what this reveals about the relationship between national culture and game production in a peripheral region.

• The paper argues that, despite pressure toward generic international appeal, Czech game production decisions remain strongly shaped by local support networks, tastes, and game culture opinion leaders.
• Developers often choose local settings for practical reasons, since they offer easier access to reference material, and for creative reasons, since they enable more personal storytelling.
• Indie developers relying on asset stores face a notable obstacle: these stores frequently lack distinctly local assets, such as Hussite battle wagons.