Interview of: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl | By: Justin Fenico

21 Jun-2004

With so much hype and anticipation covering Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl and with a release date soon approaching (hopefully) I was able to get a few answers from Oleg Yavorsky, Senior PR Manager of GSC

QUESTIONS

Q: A game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R probably has had a lot of development changes during its many years of creation. What are some of the more interesting gameplay elements that have been added or taken away from the game since our last interview almost two years ago? A: Until recently changes have been going daily. As we are creating new proprietary technology, some things work and some don’t, while many turn out unexpected and good. Gameplay creation in particular has been a process of daily changes (and those for the better?). Since two year’s time we undergone one major change which was the concept of the game – grim reality of Chernobyl changed the fancied world of conquering universe. At the moment there are not many changes going, there’s mere putting the game together and debugging happening here. ....................................................................................................... Q: We know that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. takes place in “the zone” 20 years after the Chernobyl incident but why? What was it about Chernobyl’s history that made the team want to develop a fictional story/game around it? A: Chernobyl catastrophe is a reality for us. It has affected nearly every family here in the Ukraine. And that is all caused by mere human carelessness. We would like to draw the community’s attention to the problem of criminal negligence by creating an alternative story of how things could have developed in Chernobyl. There’s of course a bit of fiction there, but that helps to describe potential consequences. And after visiting Chernobyl on research trips we do know what kind of atmosphere we need to create for such a for-warning game. ....................................................................................................... Q: Gamers will be able to purchase and control vehicles in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Will there be a strong concentration in using these vehicles and how easy will it be to control the much larger and advanced ones like planes or hovercrafts? A: The player will not be allowed to control flying vehicles, only ground ones will be offered to him. We are very much keen on realism in the game; however at the same time we wouldn’t like things to go too complicated. Therefore, the vehicle controlling will be implemented as a balance between realism and arcade method. As for the concentration, vehicles will be rather easy to find as the actual Chernobyl is full of vehicle cemeteries and stuff. Not all of the vehicles found will be drive-able however. While driving, the player should also be careful not to fall prey to a deadly anomaly concentration. ....................................................................................................... Q: The zone is a living and breathing world with all types of inhabitants. Can we expect the zone to change during game play i.e. Structural damage, rain, snow, radioactive damage etc? A: There is a phenomenon in the game we call blowout of anomalous energy. It happens regularly, approximately once a week of the gaming time, off the center of the Chernobyl zone to change the face of the area. After each blowout the location of anomalies change, so as new artifacts get generated to basically make the Zone an unexplored area again. It’s extremely dangerous to remain outdoors at the time of blowout and every creature tries to find a hiding place. On top of anomalies changing, we’ve got dynamic time and weather system constantly functioning in the game. So, along with sunrises and sunsets the player will experience rain, fog, wind and more. ....................................................................................................... Q: Some may think S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is just a flat out FPS but they’d be wrong. With some slight RPG elements how does S.T.A.L.K.E.R. twist the experience of a usual FPS? A: With S.T.A.L.K.E.R. players will receive freedom of actions and movement, no corridors and obligations to complete levels from point A to point B. With that they will get a world living around by its own laws, creatures following their instincts, NPC stalkers accomplishing tasks similar to those of the player. Therefore, the player will no longer feel a ‘got to kill everyone’, but a mere little part of this world, which is not really dependent on his actions. On top of all that; we introduce such parameters as hunger, irradiation, fatigue, which will all add to the survival atmosphere in the game. Trading and item exchange, communication and the NPC’s attitude will also be integral elements of the gameplay. We want to create an experience of the player’s total immersion into the dangerous Chernobyl world. ....................................................................................................... Q: Without getting too technical let’s talk about the in house developed X-Ray engine. What was the reasoning for creating S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s very own personal graphical engine? What are the biggest benefits using this engine over others? A: It’s been GSC tradition to create proprietary technologies. Secondly, we have very skilled coders on the team able to create compelling engines. Thirdly, we wanted to have an engine to satisfy all our designers’ needs and be ideally suitable for the quality we are after. With S.T.A.L.K.E.R. one of the key-important factors is the right atmosphere of grim realism and photographic quality of the picture, and that’s what the game’s X-Ray engine is good about. Behind all that stand tons of polygons rendered in real-time, advanced lighting technologies, extensive use of shader effects and much more. We have also created our proprietary AI and physics systems for the game. As a result, we received a unique technology able to decently compete with any engine out there. There’s an opinion that we are at least half a year ahead of any other technology available in the market today. ....................................................................................................... Q: Something that hasn’t been talk about other games like Half-Life or Doom have is shock content. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. seems to have a perfect atmosphere to really give gamers quiet the scare. Is there anything made from the developers standpoint that’ll really make the hairs on our back standup and give us goose bumps? A: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has one big difference that separates it from other scary games. It’s the realism of everything happened and happening in the Zone. The catastrophe is real and the environment is not a fake. The atmosphere of real tragedy and despair can frighten more than most horrible fictional monsters (we’ll have those too) :) ....................................................................................................... Q: After S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is released can we expect to see any add-ons or additional content? A: We considered this question, however there hasn’t been any decision made yet. ....................................................................................................... Q: At the beginning of development what were the goals of the team? Nearing the end of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s creation can they say that they’ve accomplished all of them? A: Our goal was to create an ambitious project which would draw more attention to our development studio and East European game development in general. I think so far everything has been going as planned and even better. We are happy with how the project has been evolving, especially with the attention it has been receiving. ....................................................................................................... Q: There are many FPS out there but what do they all lack that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. seems to succeed in? A: I think it’s the free living and breathing world which makes S.T.A.L.K.E.R. stand out.

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