What Was The First Polish Computer Game Translated Into Other Languages?

One of the most vibrant and lucrative aspects of Polish translation is the world of computer games, a field that has evolved over the past three decades from virtual nonexistence to a cornerstone of Poland’s digital industries and one of the country’s biggest exports.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this rapid development is that it is easy to trace the industry’s roots as an underground industry into one with huge levels of international success.

In this case, all of this success can be traced to a somewhat unexpected release from the first company in the country to make original games in Polish, Metropolis Software House.

After the somewhat surprising success of their debut game, Tajmnica Statuetki (The Mystery of The Statuette), Metropolis would work on a follow-up adventure game with a similar tongue-in-cheek tone and subject matter but with a very different art style than the digitised photographs used in this game.

After selling between 6,000 and 9,000 copies in a game market that had not existed up to that point, the company would work for a full year on their next release, something they would highlight in the marketing for their next game, Teenagent.

This game would use a team of graphic designers, animators and testers, as well as a full marketing campaign, highlighting a much greater ambition for the game. It would even be the first game to be released on CD-ROM in Poland with fully voiced dialogue.

Teenagent is focused on the story of Mark Hopper, a teenage boy conscripted by the Polish police agency RGB on the advice of a fortune teller to hunt for gold that is going missing in banks across the country, in a plot inspired by the 1991 film If Looks Could Kill (released as Teen Agent in the UK).

It was released in three parts, the first of which was freely available with the rest being available either as shareware or as a retail release, although it has long been made freely available.

The company would continue to make games until a personal conflict led to lead designer Adrian Chmielarz leaving to form People Can Fly and by 2008 what was left of Metropolis was bought by CD Projekt.