Problems with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. development?

[Patrocles]

read this over at the wargamer forum...though you blokes might be interested.

if this is true I wonder if S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will ever be released.
http://www.ggmania.com/?smsid=20774

[Don Maddox]

Thanks for that update, Patrick. I'll see if SZO can dig up more on the issue.

[Beardo1976]

Heres what I found on www.actiontrip.com:



A rough translation of a Russian article on the web site Gamemag.ru indicates that THQ's upcoming shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.- Shadow of Chernobyl is (surprise, surprise) in serious trouble. The American publisher is growing impatient and is, supposedly, pressing GSC Gameworld to ship the title this year. THQ is obviously fed up with the whole shebang. In fact, they made it clear that they don't care what shape the game is in, as long as it ships in 2006".

Things are looking a bit grim for the folks over at GSC. Also, several claims show that THQ was willing to hand over the project to a completely different development team. One of the programmers at GSC said that the game most likely won't be given to another team, since most of the game's code is not documented.

The whole thing reeks of disaster... It's only a matter of time now, before the entire project gets canned. On the other hand, they could go for a premature release and screw things up even more.




God I hope they don't screw this one up, I am really looking forward to this game..........if it ever sees the light of day. :hush:


Jason

[Patrocles]

Thanks for that update, Patrick. I'll see if SZO can dig up more on the issue.

please do! yeah, i would hope THQ would not throw this game into the rubbish bin or release it prematurely.

[Patrocles]

Heres what I found on www.actiontrip.com:



A rough translation of a Russian article on the web site Gamemag.ru indicates that THQ's upcoming shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.- Shadow of Chernobyl is (surprise, surprise) in serious trouble. The American publisher is growing impatient and is, supposedly, pressing GSC Gameworld to ship the title this year. THQ is obviously fed up with the whole shebang. In fact, they made it clear that they don't care what shape the game is in, as long as it ships in 2006".

Things are looking a bit grim for the folks over at GSC. Also, several claims show that THQ was willing to hand over the project to a completely different development team. One of the programmers at GSC said that the game most likely won't be given to another team, since most of the game's code is not documented.

The whole thing reeks of disaster... It's only a matter of time now, before the entire project gets canned. On the other hand, they could go for a premature release and screw things up even more.




God I hope they don't screw this one up, I am really looking forward to this game..........if it ever sees the light of day. :hush:


Jason


thanks for the link!

OT...awesome avatar! at least you are humble and not sticking up a 10-3 SMC for yourself! :)

[Ivan Rapkinov]

One of the programmers at GSC said that the game most likely won't be given to another team, since most of the game's code is not documented.


is this meant to impress me with their l337 coding skills, or simply dismay me due to the fact it's amateur hour over there? If I was THQ, I'd be bailing in a big way.

[mr_clark]

Hmm, I just read yesterday in a largge german gaming mag that the game is scheduled to ship first quarter 2006, so in the next two month. They included it into the new information page, so I think really someone did actually told them, question is who...

[Don Maddox]

There is a small update on this on the main SZO website.

[Beardo1976]

thanks for the link!

OT...awesome avatar! at least you are humble and not sticking up a 10-3 SMC for yourself! :)


No problem on the link, it’s a good site that is updated daily and the guys that run it have a pretty good sense of humor.
Thanks on the avatar. I'm not humble, I’m just a newbie to ASL and I know how much I suck :nuts:


Here’s some more Stalker info from http://stalker.myexp.de/en/index.php posted the 10th of January:


Playground.ru has posted a fresh interview with Oleg Yavorsky. Here is our translation:


Q: Recently, the fan site http://www.stalker-world.com.ua has stated that GSC has practically finished work on S.T.A.L.K.E.R..
What can you say about this? Can you confirm the information?
A: It is not a secret that the development is in its final stages. But we have not yet said that the game is finished.

Q: At first, there were planned to be 8 endings for the storyline. Has this number changed by now?
A: With the endings, everything is going according to plan.

Q: How are things with the ballistic system? Can a player get wounded by a chance bullet? And will there be bullet holes left on a character's body?
A: The ballistics are very realistic, all like in real life.
A wallmark system is supported.

Q: How will the player heal himself in the Zone? Will there be standard medikits, or some other methods of healing?
A: There will be not just medikits. We will describe this later on in detail.

Q: Will there be a fully ukrainian version, as it was with Cossacks 2?
A: Ukrainian version - quite possibly yes.


This guy is a chatterbox :D But eight endings? Sweet, I really like the open form of this game..........................*crosses fingers*.......please don’t screw this up............


Jason

[Beardo1976]

Here's the latest news from www.actiontrip.com:


Another Major STALKER Setback

I think it's safe to officially say "bye-bye" to STALKER. "THQ's latest conference call for financial analysts revealed delays for both Supreme Commander, the upcoming RTS game from Gas Powered Games, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, GSC Game Worlds long-in-development first-person shooter. They report both games are now expected in THQ's fiscal year 2007 fourth quarter, making them due between January and March of 2007."

Q1 of 2007? STALKER is simply never going to happen.



Hmmmm....this doesn't sound so good..................:blab: :mad:


Jason

[jayedub7423]

boooooo......

[MomoJak00]

Shoot. I come back to SZO to this and a halo skin. :(

I wish there was an option to change the release date of STALKER like I can change the skin.

[Beardo1976]

Has anyone heard anything new about this game? Is it dead? Delayed again? Thanks!!




Jason

[Beardo1976]

Well its not looking good, seems that the developers have been BS'ing about some of the features of the game:


S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Woes
For those of you wondering about S.T.A.K.E.R., it's not as bad as the Titanic yet, but it's getting there:

Some of it is true, some isn't. Obviously, we know now the game is still on track and that the release will indeed be early next year. A major development did however occur - around a year ago THQ brought in freelance developer Dean Sharpe to transform the game from an undefined mess of potential to a sprawling masterpiece.

...

One thing we noticed during a area change was a loading screen. Sharpe said that not only do these loading screens appear between areas, but also as you walk about the world. So the game unfortunately doesn't feature a seamless world as we once believed.

...

What was most surprising however was Sharpe revealing that 'I may or may not take out the vehicles - I haven't decided yet'. Vehicles were a big part of the game's original feature-set. If they were to be removed it would pose more than a few design problems, considering the size of the 30-square kilometre area covered in the game.

News spotted on EvilAvatar.com.



:mad: :freak: :blab: :hush: :cry:

[Beardo1976]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to share some new on STALKER posted over at www.ign.com:



Stalking S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
We track down Producer Dean Sharpe for a little interrogation.
by Daniel Staines

October 6, 2006 - S.T.A.L.K.E.R has been in development for almost five years now. FIVE YEARS. You have to wonder: how does a game that has been in development for so long retain any semblance of its original vision? A lot of things have happened in the world of PC gaming over the past half-decade - has S.T.A.L.K.E.R kept up with the times? Now that the game is finally drawing close to completion, we decided to catch up with Executive Producer Dean Sharpe to find out.



IGNPC: So, let's be blunt here: Why is S.T.A.L.K.E.R so late?

Dean Sharpe: There are number of reasons why it's so late. Probably the biggest thing is that it was just over ambitious. The guys at (developer) GSC really wanted it to be the end-all, do-all game, and I think they got a little caught up in adding features - especially based on community requests. S.T.A.L.K.E.R has a huge community throughout the world and I think GSC just listened too much to what they wanted sometimes.

Also, they tried some new things that just didn't work. Obviously, if you try and do things that haven't been done before, there's a risk of it not working. That's what happened a lot with the game's complete open-endedness - it just didn't work. And it had to be changed.

IGNPC: You say the game was over-ambitious - does that mean its more ambitious elements have been reigned in to get it out on time?

Dean Sharpe: I wouldn't say that it's been reigned in. It's just ... okay: it was possible for you to not be able to finish the game before. One of the other S.T.A.L.K.E.Rs could get to the end before you, which isn't all that fun when you've played something for three week and find out that you can't actually beat it. Plus, it was very difficult to tune and balance. So we added a minimal amount of scripted things to keep things going in the game. Basically, we wanted to keep the underlying structure and allow you to finish it without compromising the freeform design.

IGNPC: How has the game evolved technologically to keep up with current PC specs?

Dean Sharpe: Well, the renderer was completely re-done over the last year and switched over to DX9. So, I think that the current version of the game holds up very well compared to other high-end titles coming out now.

IGNPC: Chernobyl is an interesting place to set a videogame. Some would say it's ethically inappropriate to use the scene of a tragedy in such a way. What's your take on that?

Dean Sharpe: S.T.A.L.K.E.R is hugely popular in Russia and Ukraine, and you'd think if there was going to be backlash, it would primarily be in those countries affected by Chernobyl. But there's none of that. Maybe because it's bringing to light something that happened - or even putting a positive spin on it. From my standpoint, it's hard to say. I think it's a moral question I really can't answer.

IGNPC: There are so many FPSes out there nowadaways. What makes S.T.A.L.K.E.R different?

Dean Sharpe: I don't know if S.T.A.L.K.E.R is really has any huge differences. Certainly the RPG elements of it make it slightly different, but it's so tough with games right now. How many games are really different to any other game? What you're really doing is taking something that's already done and putting your own spin on it.

Having said that, I think what primarily differentiates S.T.A.L.K.E.R is its look and atmosphere. The game couldn't have been made anywhere other than the Ukraine. You'd have to be there to understand just how much it captures the feel of that area. I think S.T.A.L.K.E.R takes you some place that other games don't take you.

IGCNPC: A lot has been made about the AI in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. What do you think the secret is to making good AI?

Dean Sharpe: You know, it's a tough question, because there's a difference between really intelligent AI and fun AI. A lot of times, really good AI just aren't fun. I think S.T.A.L.K.E.R had a little bit of that where the enemies were just too realistic and too intelligent, and it was just too hard and wasn't fun. So, basically, I think there's a delicate balance between realism and fun.

IGNPC: Given the game has been in development for so long, do you find that you've now reached a point where you're restricted in your ability to tweak the design?

Dean Sharpe: Absolutely. At some point you've just gotta say, "Okay, we've got this much time and these are our priorities." And if something doesn't make that priority list, then sometimes it needs to be cut.

IGNPC: So have there been any really painful sacrifices you've had to make?

Dean Sharpe: Not up until this point - at least not from my perspective. Certainly in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R community, there was a lot of anger when sleeping and eating were cut. We were running out of time and we needed to make sacrifices, and it was decided that sleeping and eating weren't critical to the game - or even that much fun. But the S.T.A.L.K.E.R community was livid about it. But that's just the nature of any game with a big following. You're never going to be able to please everybody. The question is, how much do you let that control what you're doing? At some point, you've just gotta get the thing done.





And this from the official game site http://stalker-game.com/index_eng.html:


We have a pleasing news for you today: the release date of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has been officially fixed as Q1 2007. We will keep you posted regarding the more specific release timing of the game.




So it looks like things are still moving along even after the rumors of the game going belly up :p



Jason

[Don Maddox]

Jason, that's great info and very interesting. But please don't "quote" an entire article from another game site. Better netiquette is to post a paragraph or so and give us a link. ;)

[Beardo1976]

Jason, that's great info and very interesting. But please don't "quote" an entire article from another game site. Better netiquette is to post a paragraph or so and give us a link. ;)

Roger that boss!

:thumup:



Jason