[DOS] Info on MM Software Productions? (Stalker 1 - Path of Fire)

[yando]

Howdy all! I am currently working on a games history research project and I was wondering if anyone here knew anything about the company MM Software Productions, who released a side-scrolling Stalker game for DOS. Here is the game btw, it is playable on the Internet Archive

Here is what I know about MM Software Prodctuions so far:

• They released Stalker 1 in the states in 1994, their only game
• They planned to release two more games in the series and were taking preorders at one point
• They probably outsourced the development of Stalker 1 to a studio in Kyiv called Future-Art and Garm Vidar (Sergiy Ivanov), who would go on to work on the GSC Game World stalker franchise
• MobyGames says they were based in Stamford, Conneticut back in 1994

To cite my sources, most of what I know comes from this article by Oleh Danilov (Ukrainian language) and by the research conducted by Oleksiy Rains. I'm just getting started looking into this particular mystery!

Any help is appreciated and, if nothing else, I hope this post got you to try out a weird old DOS game :)

 

[Tortuga]

Never knew this game even existed
Always thought first thing GSC guys did was that crazy warcraft with aliens and nukes warcraft 2000
And after that their first official game was Cossacks 1

 

[yando]

Never knew this game even existed
Always thought first thing GSC guys did was that crazy warcraft with aliens and nukes warcraft 2000
And after that their first official game was Cossacks 1

You're correct! Sergiy Ivanov is the only person to have worked on both this Stalker and the later STALKER games, they are otherwise unrelated

There is an argument to be made that Stalker 1 is "closer" to the source material (Roadside Picnic), but even then it is still pretty far

 

[Clippy]

MobyGames says they were based in Stamford, Conneticut back in 1994

If you download the game and look through the files you can find a couple documents. I'll attach the order form since that's the most interesting one. It confirms that they were based in Connecticut and provides a phone number they used (most likely long out of service) as well as tentative titles for episodes 2 and 3.

EDIT: I did a little more digging and I found something. I can't really confirm any of this but it seems that a certain Mikhail Medvinskiy (or Medvinsky) lived (maybe still lives) next to the company's P.O Box and may have been connected to MM Software Productions. That would track with the Ukrainian connection and hey, maybe his initials are where the MM part of the company name came from. Again, I can't confirm any of this and I'm not sure if trying to dox the guy over what could barely be called a lead would be the right thing to do.

EDIT2: I seem to have found you asking this question somewhere else and someone directed you to the same Mikhail Medvinskiy that I found. Good luck out there, KosherSalt

 

[yando]

If you download the game and look through the files you can find a couple documents. I'll attach the order form since that's the most interesting one. It confirms that they were based in Connecticut and provides a phone number they used (most likely long out of service) as well as tentative titles for episodes 2 and 3.

EDIT: I did a little more digging and I found something. I can't really confirm any of this but it seems that a certain Mikhail Medvinskiy (or Medvinsky) lived (maybe still lives) next to the company's P.O Box and may have been connected to MM Software Productions. That would track with the Ukrainian connection and hey, maybe his initials are where the MM part of the company name came from. Again, I can't confirm any of this and I'm not sure if trying to dox the guy over what could barely be called a lead would be the right thing to do.

EDIT2: I seem to have found you asking this question somewhere else and someone directed you to the same Mikhail Medvinskiy that I found. Good luck out there, KosherSalt

I'VE BEEN DOXXED! lol

Thanks for looking into this friend! :)

The fact that two people came up with this guy's contact bodes well~

I sent an email, I will report back if/when he responds