Kommersant

Kommersant, an economic strategy game that gained immense popularity in the post-Soviet space during the early 1990s, was conceived and developed by Kyiv artist, photographer, poet, and writer Volodymyr Kharchenko in 1991. This business simulator, set during the Perestroika era, immerses players in the life of a typical trader from the late Soviet or early post-Soviet period.

The game, which commences on January 1, 2000, invites players to engage in buying and selling oil and land, interacting with bandits and riot police, trying their luck in casinos, and betting on races. A key aspect of Kommersant is its simulation of the economic and social landscape after Ukraine declared its independence from the USSR.

The game's currency, termed "grubles," reflected the transition from Soviet rubles in a unique and creative manner. Kharchenko, drawing inspiration from Ukraine itself rather than specific game models, considered Kommersant more as a media and artistic project than a conventional game.

Kommersant was designed using Turbo Pascal and, along with its music, totaled approximately 42 KB. Kharchenko leveraged his expertise in Assembler to create custom designs, reducing the program's size and enhancing execution speed. Initially shared through FidoNet, a global messaging and file transfer network, Kommersant rapidly gained traction, showing up in lab, university and government computers throughout Ukraine.