# The Making of Disco Elysium - Part One: Foundations Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH6mUTHZ5C4 Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/eH6mUTHZ5C4 Generated: 2025-11-28T18:10:10.388+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview The creation of Disco Elysium originated from years of collaborative, high-fantasy pen-and-paper role-playing sessions among a disorganised group of Estonian artists searching for acknowledgment, which gradually evolved their world concept, Elysium, from a knock-off Dungeons & Dragons system into the core setting for the eventual video game after Robert Kurvitz shifted focus from his unsuccessful novel to game development. **Key Points:** - Robert Kurvitz started evolving the core world of Elysium between ages 15 and 22 after finding a minimal Finnish knock-off of Dungeons & Dragons and deciding they needed to create a better system. - The early Elysium campaigns included 'Maailma Sügis' ('World Autumn') and 'Riget' ('Kingdom'), which established worldbuilding elements like the city Revachol and featured core players Martin Luiga and Argo Tuulik. - The third campaign, 'Torsen and McLaine,' heavily influenced by the TV series 'The Shield,' established the identity of Revachol, Jamrock, and the cop procedural elements that became central to the final game concept. - Robert Kurvitz's first novel, 'Sacred and Terrible Air,' written in the Elysium world, was not a huge hit, selling only 1,500 copies, leading Kurvitz to pivot, stating, 'I let everyone know that I'm not a novelist anymore, and that I'm trying to make video games.' - The foundational concept for the game, initially called 'The Return,' was a giant police procedural that incorporated combat inspiration from games like Pillars of Eternity, forming the essential concept of Disco Elysium. - Kaur Kender secured the initial investment, around €700,000, from Estonian investor Margus Linnamäe, which allowed Robert Kurvitz and Kaur to open an office and begin building the development team. - Aleksander Rostov developed a distinct artistic style used for illustrations for Kurvitz's novel and later became key to the game's look, as Kurvitz felt Revachol was 'custom-made for a pre-rendered background' utilizing Rostov's abilities. **Context:** This first part of a documentary series explores the foundations of the development of the game Disco Elysium, focusing on the formative years and circumstances in Tallinn, Estonia, that led to its creation. The core group, including Robert Kurvitz, Helen Hindpere, and Aleksander Rostov, emerged from a post-Soviet environment where forming artistic 'gangs' to commit 'art hooliganism against society' was a known tradition, often involving extreme poverty, as shared by Rostov who split €100 rent with Kurvitz. ## Detailed Analysis The genesis of Disco Elysium lies in Robert Kurvitz's decade-long evolution of the world of Elysium, starting with amateur pen-and-paper role-playing sessions that began by attempting to improve upon a poor Finnish D&D knock-off. Over several campaigns—'Maailma Sügis,' 'Riget,' and 'Torsen and McLaine'—the setting matured, shedding high fantasy elements for a more grounded, politically charged, '70s-inspired aesthetic heavily influenced by 'The Shield' TV series and Kurvitz's deepening interest in Hegel's philosophy of history, which allowed him to layer convincing historical depth onto Revachol. Kurvitz's subsequent attempt to publish his novel, 'Sacred and Terrible Air,' set in Elysium, failed commercially, leading him to conclude the world needed a different medium: video games. He enlisted key collaborators like Aleksander Rostov for art direction, leveraging Rostov’s pre-rendered background expertise, and Jüri Saks for industrial design, focusing development on a police procedural concept tentatively titled 'The Return,' which directly informed the final game. The financial breakthrough came in 2016 when Kaur Kender secured an initial investment of approximately €700,000 from Margus Linnamäe, enabling the formation of the studio ZA/UM with a team of developers, none of whom had prior commercial game experience. ### Origins of Elysium - Began as an evolution of a bad Dungeons & Dragons knock-off between ages 15 and 22 by Robert Kurvitz and a small group of players - First campaign 'Maailma Sügis' ('World Autumn') featured an amnesiac story inspired by Planescape: Torment - Third campaign 'Torson and McLaine' focused on Revachol and introduced cop dynamics influenced by 'The Shield'. ### Estonian Context and Artistic Environment - The creators came from a background where forming creative 'gangs' to oppose society was a tradition, with Aleksander Rostov noting they 'cosplayed being artists' before becoming them - Artists like Kurvitz and Rostov experienced extreme poverty, sharing a tiny studio space and splitting rent. ### The Pivot to Games - Robert Kurvitz spent five years writing his novel 'Sacred and Terrible Air' in the Elysium world, which sold poorly (1,500 copies) and resulted in many copies being shredded ('paberihunt') - Kurvitz declared himself a novelist no longer and invested his remaining funds in an Alienware laptop and Razer Ouroboros mouse to pursue game development. ### Concept Finalization and Art Direction - The initial game proposal was 'The Return,' a giant police procedural with combat, borrowing ideas from Pillars of Eternity - Rostov's artistic style was deemed perfect for Revachol, as the setting was 'custom-made for a pre-rendered background' - The worldbuilding incorporated layers of history, including high fantasy elements becoming the 'Bronze Age' of Elysium. ### Funding and Team Formation - The team sought funding, with Kaur Kender successfully connecting them to Estonian investor Margus Linnamäe in 2016 after about a year of negotiation - The initial investment was around €700,000, allowing Kurvitz and Kender to establish an office and hire a team of Estonian artists, writers, and engineers who lacked commercial game development experience.