Funexpected Math: How graduates of Mekhmat MSU began to make indie games
IN THE RUBRIC "COMMUNICATIONS" WE TELL ABOUT GIRLS, who came up with a common cause and achieved success in it. But at the same time we expose the myth that women are not capable of friendly feelings, and can only aggressively compete. Video game development is an industry in which equality is unlikely to come soon. Today, the number of women in game devs is about 22%. This is partly a consequence of gender education: often girls from childhood are told that games are for boys. Another reason is the policy of developers who, when hiring employees, are guided by stereotypes. But this complexity can be circumvented - not to work for the company, but to create your own studio and invent indie games. Natalia Pereldik and Alexandra Kazilo friends tell how they made a mobile game for preschoolers Funexpected Math, which immediately fell into the “recommended” collections in the AppStore, and why doing mathematics from childhood is no less important than learning to read
Julia Dudkina
About friendship and travel
Natalia: Sasha and I met when we came to study in the ninth math class. On the first of September we sat down at the same desk and sat until the release itself. And then both entered the Moscow State University, and again found themselves at the same desk. They even wrote diplomas from one supervisor.
Alexandra: We also hitchhiked together. It was the 90s, nobody had a lot of money, and people were not very often abroad. And we wanted to travel around Europe. The first time we got to Paris, and the second time we traveled for a month and a half - we visited Germany, Holland, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic.
Natalia: We had a tent with us, and often we spent the night in parks or fields. Once we slept on the lawn in front of the Russian consulate in Brest. Since we were minors, we needed notarized permission from our parents to enter Poland — and we forgot their homes. So we had to camp and wait until the parents send the documents to the consulate and we can continue on our way.
Alexandra: I remember that in Prague we spent the night in a tent in a cherry orchard, but in the morning the guards came and pushed us. It was not even light in the street, the weather was nasty, everything was covered. I had to go to the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslaus and Vojtech. Together with a group of people climbed to the roof - it turned out they were shooting the final scene of a movie in which a man rang a huge bell. And so we stood at dawn, listened to this bell and felt the sound pass through the whole body. It was amazing.
Natalia: When we went to study at the Faculty of Mechanics, we both liked mathematics, but we hardly wanted to devote our life to science. We did not plan anything concrete at all. At that time there was no internet internship for teenagers. It was difficult to determine the profession in advance. As a result, I studied for a year at the Russian Economic School and became a trader in an investment bank. I really liked my job, I climbed the career ladder, but there was no free time at all. Sasha also had a lot of things to do, so we began to talk much less.
Alexandra: I received my second education at the Polygraphic Institute and became a graphic designer. In addition, three months after graduation, my daughter was born, and then another. Natasha and I have a very different life. We saw each other every six months, but this did not prevent us from remaining close friends.
Natalia: Then, ten years later, my son was born, and I had to get used to the fact that now I am responsible not only for myself. For me it turned out to be difficult, the first year of motherhood was very difficult. Sasha helped me at that time, especially since she herself has a third child just a few months older than mine. So we started talking again.
Alexandra: I am glad to work with my girlfriend. It’s like we’re at university again. This is such a happiness - when you understand a colleague from a half-word.
Natalia: Of course, we have many different views. But we never think that someone’s better, and someone’s worse. When we cannot choose between several options of actions, we just try everything, test it. This is not a competition, there is no need to defend your opinion with foaming at the mouth. Yes, and we know so long ago that we know how to negotiate everything. If you hitchhiked the whole of Europe with a man, then you can run a business.
About math and motherhood
Alexandra: It may seem that after the university we stopped studying math. For example, my profession is a designer. How can this be related to her? But in fact, almost everything is connected with mathematics. For example, in communication design, you need to constantly solve specific tasks that require logical thinking and the ability to structure information.
Natalia: Mathematics is not only about arithmetic, numbers are about general logic. Not all people are able to plan time, to think logically. For example, in childhood many people cannot get together in time for school. But for this you need to perform certain actions for a certain time - this is also math. And then, when you become an adult, you need to plan a working day or draw up a business plan.
Alexandra: Many believe that in childhood it is necessary to teach a child to read. But studies show that it is the mathematics classes with preschoolers that influence the level of academic progress in the future and the unfolding of creative potential. My mother always resented that many people have problems with logic. Often they do not understand the difference between the structures "if ..., then" and "A, therefore B". They say: "If it rains, you will need to wear boots." And they understand it so that the rain has to go, and the shoes need to be put on. But no one has yet said that he will certainly go. Logic is also a part of mathematics, and it is better to study it from childhood.
True, not everyone knows how to do mathematics with preschoolers. As a rule, parents begin to use the school paradigm, where there is an example, the right and the wrong answer. Once, when my daughters were small, Alexander Zvonkin's book “Toddlers and Mathematics” came into my hands. The author told how he organized a circle for his son and his friends - I was struck by this book. The most valuable thing a child has at preschool age is curiosity, interest in the world around. We must behave very carefully, so that this interest is preserved. The book showed how not to crush this interest, not to become "a teacher from school." And then, when Natalia had a son, I presented this book to her.
Natalia: The fact is that Ilya, practically from infancy, fell in love with numbers. We constantly together came up with some puzzles, solved puzzles. Sasha found out about it and gave me a book. I am also very penetrated. And then, when my son grew a little, he started playing games on the tablet. Of course, I tried to find interesting applications for him: either beautiful, or with good music, or developing ones. I tried to find him some kind of math game, but the choice was small. Most applications were devoted to arithmetic - that is, the addition and subtraction of numbers. There was no logic, no geometry, no puzzles. All this could also be found, but in other applications. That is, there was not a single game about mathematics in the broad sense of the word. I was on the second maternity leave, I had the time and effort, so I decided: we can make the children's mathematical application ourselves.
Alexandra: I then lay at home with pneumonia, and I also had time to think. I drew a few sketches and understood: this is it. So at the end of 2017 we decided to open our studio. I left BBDO, where I was engaged in branding. Natasha did not have to leave anywhere - she was still on maternity leave. We got down to business. That was a little over a year ago. We had a studio Funexpected, and we began to invent the game itself - Funexpected Math.
About the creation of the game
Natalia: We had no experience in developing applications, so we had to find out what professions there are in game dev and how the processes are organized. Having come up with the first three puzzles for mini-games, we began to look for a developer. It is clear that few people were willing to go to the team, which has nothing yet, but in the end was found Jacob Borevich. We could not verify his technical skills, because we did not understand the question, but after talking with him, we immediately realized that this was our man - enthusiastic and thinking.
Our business model is based on a subscription, we are constantly adding new mini-games. In the future we want to make other options, so that you can buy only what the user likes. We have no investor, the company has existed for just under a year, and we are investing only our own funds. So far we have started in Moscow and Ireland, but soon Funexpected Math will appear in the AppStore all over the world.
Alexandra: In the game, the child travels to different countries and plays mini-games in each of them. They are based on different mathematical puzzles and are designed so that the child not only finds a solution, but also understands the patterns. Mathematics is the science of the simplest, but universal laws. She explains how things work in life. You can meet the same story in different situations. That is why in the fifth grade, schoolchildren solve different problems all year round, but essentially the same tasks: boats float downstream and upstream, excavators dig trenches, pools are filled with water ... In fact, these are all linear equations. You just need to know the familiar concept in the new situation. We came up with a game that helps preschoolers to see these concepts. There is no need to teach them how to add 35 and 47, it is more important that they understand how the answer is generally obtained in such tasks.
About parents
Alexandra: We believe that Funexpected Math is a developing application rather than a game. But you can't say so on it. I think many parents do not understand what is useful in it. But it should be so - we invented it in such a way that it would be interesting for children. They should not think that someone is testing their knowledge.
Natalia: At the same time, we understand what we are doing. We studied a bunch of teaching materials and research to understand how to work with preschoolers.
Alexandra: Hand just in case, we also made a section for parents, which explains what this or that mini-game teaches.
Natalia: In general, many parents are wary of games and applications. Like, online - this is not good, you need to deal with children offline. But in fact, few people have enough time and energy for offline. By the New Year, we made an advent calendar and posted it on the site. Every day, parents printed a "letter from Santa Claus" with the task. He had to be put under the tree. The child found it and completed the task to help the wizard deliver the gifts. So, to the end of the quest far from all reached. For offline classes need time, strength, discipline.
