Polish gamedev is known to be a major player in the global gaming industry, with studios like CD Projekt, Techland, and 11 Bit Studios continuously raising the bar on how we enjoy video games. Yet, the industry’s future looks even brighter as more talented teams try to tap into the $220 billion market.
One such company is Wonder Legends Studio, which is developing both a computer game and an animated series set in a world that blends Greek mythology with steampunk. In early 2025, the studio secured $1 million in pre-seed funding from SMOK Ventures to accelerate the development of its IP.
AIN spoke with Artur Malczyk, game director, and Wojciech Karubin, narrative lead and series showrunner, about their latest project, recent funding, and future plans.
Combining Greek mythology with steampunk is quite a unique concept. What is the inspiration behind such a vision for a setting and how did you manage to mix these two worlds together?
Regarding your question about inspirations, Greek mythology is a fundamental part of our cultural heritage, deeply embedded in our language, but it’s very much alive, just look at pop culture. Its enduring presence is remarkable; each generation finds new ways to reinterpret these stories. This longevity speaks to the quality of these tales—they continue to captivate audiences because they're simply great stories.
But our "Myths and Steam" universe doesn't stop at Greek mythology. We aim to incorporate various mythologies and their heroes. The common thread is a whimsical, topsy-turvy world—part ancient, part early medieval—where the discovery of the steam engine has upended the existing order.
You’ve described your approach as a "transmedia production model." Can you explain more about this approach?
Look at Netflix's experiments with interactive content. It wasn’t exactly a successful attempt because the technology wasn’t quite there yet. A classic case of "growing pains." We aim to go further by providing audiences with a truly immersive experience, allowing them greater control over the storyline. This is our next step. Currently, we're focused on delivering both the game and the series using Unreal Engine, preparing for the future, and building our capabilities as a next-gen transmedia studio to play a key role in the evolving entertainment industry.
Did any existing transmedia products influence your decision to stick to such a formula? Any examples of successful marriage of game and animated series that you look up to?
Wojtek:
There are plenty of great games and series out there, and while we can draw inspiration from any game with excellent gameplay or well-written series, we're focused on creating something new and uniquely ours.
We don’t really know if any IP was developed simultaneously as a game and linear animation. All existing transmedia examples happened sequentially after the success of one product. We aim to launch a new IP recognizable in different media. From other projects we learned what caused problems when the world working in one media is being implemented in other media.
We learned what needs to be addressed in the foundation of the IP, not to struggle later, and to maintain consistency. We've already dedicated much time to this and are ready to invest even more. We're carving our own path straight to Olympus!
We already know about the world setting, can you share something about the story? What is the general plot outline about?
Wojtek:
In the game, the player takes on the role of rookie hero Icarus, tasked with stopping a machine uprising. Icarus is just a teenager—a talented engineer, but no Hercules. He’s a bit like Peter Parker at the start of his hero’s journey. He must gain the favor of capricious gods, whose ichor—divine blood—can activate Talos, the great automaton and protector. Icarus traverses mythological realms, including the underworld of Hades, encounters diverse characters, utilizes the mechanical world around him to accomplish his mission, and, of course, engages in combat.
Images were provided by the speakers
The events of the series precede the game's storyline. The series features two protagonists: Icarus and the feisty Princess Ariadne. Despite their contrasting personalities, they learn to collaborate to thwart the schemes of Eris, the goddess of discord. Eris hates how steam technology has changed the world and aims to restore it to its pre-steam state.
Why did you choose Unreal Engine 5 for both the game and the animated series, and how has it influenced your creative process?
Artur:
We started in Unreal Engine 4.2. The initial idea was to use real-time pipelines used in games to create linear animation. At that time, Unreal was not popular in postproduction, rarely used as a rendering tool. Our expertise comes from both industries. We have used gamedev pipelines and production logic to create a totally different approach to each stage of animation production.
With Unreal Engine 5, things just became much easier for us. We can achieve much better real-time results, iterate much faster, and evaluate close to the final results. Still, the foundation stays the same, we are using gamedev logic and pipelines. Without this approach, the benefits of using Unreal are limited. That is one of the reasons it’s still not a standard and main production tool in animation studios. It is used mostly for pre-viz or sometimes to speed up the production of some shots. We are using it to revolutionize the whole production process.
How do the game and animation teams collaborate to ensure a cohesive narrative and visual style across both formats? Are they connected story-wise, setting-wise or just stylistically?
Wojtek:
One of our biggest challenges is ensuring the consistency of the story and world between the series and the game. We've been developing Wonder Legends long enough to know exactly what we want to convey and to whom, which is crucial. As parents of two children each, we understand the importance of creating content that appeals to a broad audience—family entertainment.
The game targets slightly older audiences, while the series is geared towards younger viewers. Much like the biggest hits from Pixar or DreamWorks that resonate with children and adults, we aim for everyone to find something enjoyable in our work. From the outset, we're committed to producing content that is not only visually captivating but also meaningful. The world of Myths and Steam is a distorted mirror of our contemporary society, where technology and consumerism have become akin to religion. We poke fun at this without being preachy.
With the release planned for 2027/2028, how do you plan to keep the game and series relevant and up to the market level amid rapid technological changes?
Artur:
From the very beginning, we were on the forefront of technology evolution. We are constantly following all the trends and exploring new possibilities. We are trying AI tools not to miss the moment they become a standard. We see it not as a revolution but rather as an evolution of tools. We don’t know how it will affect our pipelines in the end, but definitely, we are open to adjusting and iterating how we work and what we use to tell our stories.
We also want to create products that will get old well. It’s as simple as telling universal stories with great stylized fantasy costumes, not trying to reach the uncanny valley of CGI. We put emotions and joy of the experience over the obsession with perfection in individual details while losing sight of the bigger picture.
Let’s talk about your investment round. How did you manage to secure the financing for your latest round and what do you think made you stand out in the eyes of the investors, specifically SMOK Ventures?
Artur:
SMOK Ventures are seasoned investors who know exactly what they’re looking for. They combine professionalism and experience with great manners and a natural, laid-back vibe. We've had plenty of experiences with different potential investors, so we have a solid basis for comparison. We had two approaches to them. The first was unsuccessful, and we were not yet ready for a proper kick-off! We had to prove that our large-scale project was built on solid foundations. And we did!
Development was pushed forward against all business odds and cashflow issues. Each milestone delivered is a playable demo with outstanding production value that works well on average machines, including the Steam Deck. As founders, we managed to open many doors and get attention from top players in the industry, publishers, and investors.
Wojtek:
I think the fact that we managed to get a top dog like Christophe Erbes, the former head of Disney XD, Nickelodeon, and SuperRTL, on board for ongoing collaboration shows that we know how to sell our vision to the best in the business. It also proves that our vision is built on solid foundations. And Smok VC noticed and appreciated that too. First, we were reevaluated by the Polish SMOK team: Diana Koziarska, Borys Musielak, and Tomek Kościelniak. Then we had a decisive meeting with SMOK founder Paul Bragiel. Paul has Polish roots, and he genuinely cares about helping Polish brands achieve global success. And finally it happened—we signed the investment deal.
With funding from multiple sources such VCs and state institutions, how do you balance creative freedom with stakeholder expectations for the product?
Wojtek:
We're fortunate that our investors trust our vision and intuition. We strive to avoid missteps, building the studio organically with common sense rather than blind optimism. In game development, our team has delivered three consecutive stable builds, which you can download and play. Although these are still early prototypes, our investors and partners recognize that the product is being developed thoughtfully and that the team possesses significant expertise. Meanwhile, the series is being produced as a European co-production, developed in collaboration with renowned studios from Germany, Italy, and soon France. So, we're simply doing our best, and it seems to be earning trust.
How does the $1M pre-seed funding impact your production timeline and team growth?
Artur:
Development-wise, it gave us comfort to focus on Vertical Slice, business-wise, it gave us nice credibility and momentum needed to build up the following round, probably the last equity deal before the publishers' involvement. The main schedule didn’t change. The core team scaled very little. During the whole of 2025, we don’t want to scale much. We will be in the pre-production stage, and even if we get the entire budget tomorrow, we won’t grow until we are ready for the main production, hopefully in early 2026.
We are conscious devs, who took the lesson of fastly growing teams in the post-pandemic boom. Of course, to achieve proper AA scope and quality, we need a certain amount of manpower, even in the early stage. We grew from 8 core members and 12 freelancers to 16 core-team talents, 8 part-time members, and around 10 regular collaborators.
Looking back at your journey since the start of the development phase in 2019, how much of the planned work did you manage to finish?
Wojtek:
We're at the point we aimed for—just a few years later than planned! The truth is, we're in this tough position of being still a small studio tackling a really big project. We took this on because we believe in our capabilities. Artur has nearly 20 years of experience in animation, post-production, and game development. I've spent the same amount of time in the film industry, gaining experience as a producer, distributor, creator, and screenwriter.
Our team consists of experienced developers and artists. We're seasoned professionals at a stage in life where we don’t do stupid things, have acquired necessary skills, and still have the drive to work long hours.
Lastly, what challenges do you foresee in the near future, and how do you plan to tackle them?
Artur:
The biggest challenge in the near future is to sustain the current scale and development tempo in 2025. Signing the main production deal will likely happen late this year. We know that even with VS ready, the chances of doing this fast are tiny, if any. That is why we are looking for one more pre-seed late round to finalize pre-production after delivering the Vertical Slice.
Wojtek:
The series, which has a budget comparable to our first game, is something we’ve been patiently developing with our partners. Funding a series is very different from funding a game, as part of the costs comes from various sources, including public funds, which makes the process quite time-consuming. But we’re steadily making progress, and I believe that within a year, we’ll move from development to pre-production, with full production of the first season in 2027.
