Jarek Kolář
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Jaroslav Kolář (born November 8, 1977)Commercial register at justice.cz, identification number (IČ) 25513648, PTERODON, s.r.o., the Articles (in Czech ''společenská smlouva'') were signed on 17 October 1997 is a Czech
video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...
and producer. In the early 1990s he enjoyed playing
LucasArts adventure games From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, LucasArts was well known for their point-and-click graphic adventure games, nearly all of which received high scoring reviews at the time of their release. Their style tended towards the humorous, often ir ...
, especially '' Indy III'' and '' Monkey Island I''.Haquel P. Tickwa, ''Na hraní už nemáme čas'', Excalibur 36, page 6 (interview with Petr Vlček and Jaroslav Kolář) While studying at the secondary school ''Gymnázium Slovanské náměstí'' in
Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
, he met programmer Petr Vlček and they together created a parody of ''Monkey Island'' where Guybrush ( transcribed as Gájbraš) had to escape from an island inhabited by
donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
s.Petr Ticháček,
Jarek Kolář o počátcích CZ herní scény
', 21. June 2000, bonusweb.idnes.cz (interview with Jarek Kolář)
His opponent was LeGek, a brother of
LeChuck LeChuck is a fictional character in LucasArts' ''Monkey Island'' series of graphic adventure games. Created by Ron Gilbert, LeChuck was introduced in ''The Secret of Monkey Island'' and is the main antagonist of the series. Gilbert drew on aspe ...
(with reference to the book '' Chuk and Gek'' by
Arkady Gaidar Arkady Petrovich Gaidar (russian: link=no, Арка́дий Петро́вич Гайда́р, born Golikov, russian: link=no, Го́ликов; – 26 October 1941) was a Russian Soviet writer, whose stories were very popular among Soviet chil ...
about the adventures of brothers Chuk and Gek in "the great and happy country named
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
", a compulsory reading for school children in communist
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
). Petr Vlček at the time only had an 8-bit Atari 800 and therefore developed the game editor and engine at school. Jarek drew the locations and wrote the plot. While on a school trip to
Polička Polička (; german: Politschka) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,700 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrat ...
, Jarek decided to skip a lunch with his classmates and instead went to find the
panelák () is a colloquial term in Czech and Slovak for a panel building constructed of pre-fabricated, pre-stressed concrete, such as those extant in the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in the world. Paneláks are usually located in housing estat ...
where entrepreneur Petr Vochozka lived at the time. Two weeks later, Vochozka saw their demo and agreed to produce and distribute the game. ''The Secret of Donkey Island'', released in June 1994 after two years of development, is considered the first Czech commercially successful
point-and-click Point and click are the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse, usually the left button (''click''), or other pointing device. An example of point and cli ...
graphical adventure. In the following months Petr Vlček and Jarek Kolář created an adventure game called ''Seven Days and Seven Nights'', based on a story about a
womanizer Womanizer may refer to: * "Womanizer" (term), a promiscuous heterosexual man * "Womanizer" (song), a 2008 song by Britney Spears * "Womanizer", a 1977 song by Blood, Sweat & Tears from '' Brand New Day'' * ''Womanizer'', a 2004 album by Absolute ...
written by Petr Vochozka for a semi-developed
Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
game. After working for a while for German game development companies, Jarek Kolář and programmer Michal Janáček founded the company PTERODON, s.r.o. in October 1997. In May 1998 they started development of a new 3D game, released in 2000 as ''
Flying Heroes ''Flying Heroes'' is a fantasy action game produced by Take 2 Interactive, Illusion Softworks, and Pterodon. Gameplay Flying Heroes is an arena based shooter game that takes place on various flying creatures. There are four clans to choose f ...
''. Thanks to Petr Vochozka, who in 1997 founded with Jan Kudera
Illusion Softworks 2K Czech, s.r.o. (formerly Illusion Softworks, a.s.) was a Czech video game developer based in Brno. Founded as Illusion Softworks in 1997 by Petr Vochozka and Jan Kudera. The company was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2008 and s ...
, '' Hidden & Dangerous'' was successfully released in 1999, and was followed by ''
Flying Heroes ''Flying Heroes'' is a fantasy action game produced by Take 2 Interactive, Illusion Softworks, and Pterodon. Gameplay Flying Heroes is an arena based shooter game that takes place on various flying creatures. There are four clans to choose f ...
'' in 2000. Both were distributed by
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...
. Pterodon closely cooperated with Illusion Softworks; their teams shared one open space in an administrative building in Brno. Jarek was lead designer of the
tactical Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tacti ...
first-person shooter ''
Vietcong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
'', released by Pterodon/IS in 2003. One of the last released games Jarek contributed to is ''
Mafia II ''Mafia II'' is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by 2K Czech and published by 2K Games. It was released in August 24 2010 for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360. The game is a standalone sequel to 2002's ''Mafia (video game), Mafia'', an ...
'' (senior gameplay producer). Kolář later joined newly formed
Hangar 13 Hangar 13 is an American video game developer based in Novato, California, in the area of the former Hamilton Air Force Base. Established with Haden Blackman in December 2014 as a division of 2K (a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive), t ...
and contributed to ''
Mafia III ''Mafia III'' is a 2016 action-adventure video game developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games. It was released in October 2016 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, in May 2017 for macOS, and in October 2021 for Google Stadia. It is ...
'' until he returned to the Czech Republic and joined
Bohemia Interactive Bohemia Interactive a.s. is a Czech video game developer and publisher based in Prague. The company focuses on creating military simulation games such as '' Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis'' and the '' ARMA'' series. It is also known for ...
. He also worked on a story for '' Dead Effect'' and '' Dead Effect 2''. He currently works for BadFly Interactive.


List of games

*1994 - The Secret of Donkey Island *1994 -
7 days and 7 nights "7 Days and 7 Nights" is a song written by Brolle (Kjell Junior Wallmark) and performed by himself at the second semifinal of Melodifestivalen 2011 in Gothenburg. The song received the second highest vote in the semifinal (following Sanna Nielsen ...
*1997 - Akte Europa *1998 - Hesperian Wars *2000 -
Flying Heroes ''Flying Heroes'' is a fantasy action game produced by Take 2 Interactive, Illusion Softworks, and Pterodon. Gameplay Flying Heroes is an arena based shooter game that takes place on various flying creatures. There are four clans to choose f ...
*2001 - Loco-Commotion *2003 -
Vietcong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
*2005 -
Vietcong 2 ''Vietcong 2'' is a tactical shooter video game, developed by Pterodon and Illusion Softworks, published by 2K for Microsoft Windows in October 2005, and set during the Vietnam War. It is the direct sequel to ''Vietcong''. Gameplay The story ta ...
*2010 -
Mafia II ''Mafia II'' is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by 2K Czech and published by 2K Games. It was released in August 24 2010 for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360. The game is a standalone sequel to 2002's ''Mafia (video game), Mafia'', an ...
*2013 - Dead Effect *2015 - Dead Effect 2 *2016 -
Mafia III ''Mafia III'' is a 2016 action-adventure video game developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games. It was released in October 2016 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, in May 2017 for macOS, and in October 2021 for Google Stadia. It is ...
*2017 -
Argo In Greek mythology the ''Argo'' (; in Greek: ) was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sour ...
*2019 - Vigor


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolar, Jarek 1977 births Living people Businesspeople from Brno Czech video game designers