NiteStalker
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There is two trailers att gametrailers.com. Just press "S" and scroll down...
Half Life 2 vs Stalker?!?!?
- Thread starter csmighty
- Start date
K
Kotik
Guest
These are another trailes.
We wait for the new big trailer.
We wait for the new big trailer.
Mountain Man
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Stalker looks nice, but I have not really heard anything about its gameplay that excites me. Far Cry's gameplay seems much more interesting to me and it's graphics aren't too shabby. Of course we know that Half-Life 2 is going to have gameplay out the ying-yang, so no worries there.
Rigamix
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K
Kotik
Guest
Stalker, no story?
God, theres a book about Stalker.
Check out this page: http://www.oblivion-lost.com
K
Kotik
Guest
Not so expensive?
It we hadn't any game, we would never have so beuatiful graphics in movies or games.
It we hadn't any game, we would never have so beuatiful graphics in movies or games.
K
Kotik
Guest
Me too
B
Boogaleeboo
Guest
There's a good book and a good movie that Stalker is semi-based on. The problem is these were almost entirely action free, and the big point of the stories and situation was people studies. How it works in an action game, we'll have to see.
Tequila
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Originally posted by Rigamix
Can you buy me a new PC please ? I'll buy one at Sptember but, if you could buy for me, it'd be great too !
What I mean twas, I wish I was wealthy, I don't have enough for a new PC game never mind buying you a PC! :cheese:
F
FlyingAnts
Guest
Did anybody notice that in the big Stalker video everything looks really cool until you see it up close. Everything looked so 2D when you got closer to it. Doom 3 and HL2 both make objects and surfaces look better the closer you look at them. I suppose that's how Stalker manages to produce such a large world. I'll go read some more on Stalker since I don't want to be like so many people on this forum and post in ignorance. Looks like there's a lot of readin' about it, too.
K
Kotik
Guest
The quality of the video was crappy!
wow i guess i shouldn't of posted this thread STALKER vs. Half Life 2! I mearly meant that Stalker looks to be a worthy =game of discussion. I think the game looks wicked cool and I think i will probably buy it
Only grips i had about the screenshots is that the hands look to much like Day Of Defeat....and DOD runs on the half life engine, am i missing something here?
Oh well, looks like an awsome game. Pretty cool concept that they are combining a FPS with RPG dont you think? Has to have a story that will drive you to complete the game. Other than that, i usually just run a round and kill things
Sorry about posting this thread as "Stalker vs. Half Life 2" I know now that it was a mistake. I should have renamed it to "Stalker?"
Only grips i had about the screenshots is that the hands look to much like Day Of Defeat....and DOD runs on the half life engine, am i missing something here?
Oh well, looks like an awsome game. Pretty cool concept that they are combining a FPS with RPG dont you think? Has to have a story that will drive you to complete the game. Other than that, i usually just run a round and kill things
Sorry about posting this thread as "Stalker vs. Half Life 2" I know now that it was a mistake. I should have renamed it to "Stalker?"
dawdler
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Think people would have proclaimed HL2's grandness less?
Anyway, it looks really good... Though it reminds me more of a high poly version of Flashpoint than DoD (not that flashpoint ever had such complex model, just the general view of those screens) (oh wait you said the hands. What's hands got to do with anything? You can only model them so good, then its hard to do more
). Downloading the movie to check it out...
NiteStalker
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It's better if they look like in DoD than if they look like in CS.
And yeah, it looks like Flashpoint with much better graphics...
And yeah, it looks like Flashpoint with much better graphics...
NiteStalker
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It depends on Fileplanet. Sometimes they are evil and they won't let you download if you aren't a subscriber. But the G-man video was for free...
dawdler
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http://www.3dgamers.com/dl/games/oblivionlost/stalker_engine_large.avi.html
edit: Oh wait, maybe its a new trailer you are talking about, didnt think of that, it isnt exactly a trailer.
Anyway, I was NOT impressed by it. Its very detailed and pretty, and I like how they solved the grass thing (it grows up instead of just appearing), but its not very impressive at all... The Hl2 video was REALLY impressive in comparison, although showing more ugly exteriors (well, they where mostly dark) (and the seabed isnt close to the complexity of the stalker map, though its very similar as a show).
edit: Oh wait, maybe its a new trailer you are talking about, didnt think of that, it isnt exactly a trailer.
Anyway, I was NOT impressed by it. Its very detailed and pretty, and I like how they solved the grass thing (it grows up instead of just appearing), but its not very impressive at all... The Hl2 video was REALLY impressive in comparison, although showing more ugly exteriors (well, they where mostly dark
) (and the seabed isnt close to the complexity of the stalker map, though its very similar as a show).
Rigamix
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This video is not the trailer which will be released tonight...
Q1. What kind of public places will be accessible in the game: towns, bars, shops, etc ? What is their importance in the game ?
Andre: There will be a number of different "public places" the stalker will be able to go into. Dealer's, possibly shops, scientific camps and maybe something else will be good for buying and selling weapons and equipment and socializing with other residents of the Zone to find out the latest news and events, rumors and gossips etc.
Q2. Is the hero going to meet some girl ? Can we expect some love/sex in this post-apocalyptic game ?
Andre: The post-apocalyptic Zone did not seem to us a very good place for dates and affairs, so it's very unlikely that the hero will indulge in any kind of sexual intercourse in S.T.A.L.K.E.R, although the "girl" issue is still being discussed. There will be a massive number of other rendezvous that will keep the player rather tizzy.
Q3. If there is no sex, could we at least see some "politically incorrect" situations in the game, or is it the "all audience" kind of game ?
Andre: The game will have nothing to do with politics of any kind and it could be adjusted to the player's liking, making this game unacceptable probably for babies only. You will be able to tweak a lot of the gore-related options. It should be noted that being good or bad will greatly depend on the player himself. The player may choose to hunt other stalkers bring them down and steal their belongings. In this case if seen by someone, next time you meet other stalkers they will discharge a cartridge in your muzzle and the dealer will rip you off like there's no tomorrow. Basically the freedom we are putting the player in, will allow him/her to choose his/her own way.
Q4. What's the real source of evil ? We are almost sure it's not just the radiations.
Andre: You are right, it's not. This is one of the most intriguing parts the player will figure out when playing the game. There are a lot of other spicy things too.
Q5. Who's the final big boss ? There's always one in FPS, enlight us.
Andre: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is basically an FPS game, which also has elements of RPG. It's a world of exploration, communication and shootings. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a tangle of intertwined psychological and physical dangers - psychotropic weapons, zombied humans, telepathy, telekinesis, mutant creatures, deadly anomalous zones etc
Q6. How fast does the player move ? More like in Ghostrecon ? Counter-Strike ? Quake ? Is it possible to lean and crawl ?
Andre: The player will move with approximately the same speed as those in Counter-Strike do. He will be able to duck, jump, hide behind trees, buildings etc. Leaning and crawling are still under consideration.
Q7. Lots of developers have announced advanced AI in their games, but we always ended up disappointed. How is yours ? Are the enemies playing like a Quake 3 bot or more like the Half-Life dumb marines ?
Andre: One of the advantages of our AI is that the NPCs and enemies will try to guess where the enemy is rather than know it. It would be too simple to let the AI know where the enemy is, we have opted a more interesting way of putting other characters in the same pair of shoes as the player. They are limited by what they see and hear, their sight is impaired in darkness and behind the bush. They hear what player can hear. NPC will get alerted if he hears shots nearby, or if the branch crunches close to him, he will look for the safest way to approach the source of the noise. Besides he may think that checking that noise might be dangerous and just give up by trying to leave the place. The characters will be careful to enter a dark tunnel, they will try to avoid it, and otherwise try to pierce into the darkness to make sure it's safe. They will consider the number and types of enemies, weapons and then either attack or flee. They will try to avoid superior forces.
It's no good creating an AI that will beat the player easily. It's difficult to create human characters able to have emotions, able to cry, panic, fear, joy, in other words act like people. Of course, what we are going to create now will be a fake option of that, because the characters are not alive anyway. Although we are trying to create characters that will not bore the player with their straight-forward dumb way of thinking. AI for us is more a simulation of sapient and "live" creature than a set of unbeatable algorithms.
Q8. There are 30 weapons in your game. Did you include some deployables like claymore mines, cameras or something like that ?
Andre: The game is not a war where the life of a player depends mostly on how huge an arsenal he is carrying around. The game will certainly have a "lock n' load" element crowned with some RPG and exploration ingredients. There will hardly be claymore mines or cameras, since stalker will not play the role of an infiltrating spy or whatever - the Zone will pose lots of other "natural" hazards to him.
Q9. The video released 2-3 months ago is really impressive, except that the running animation seems weird. Is it temporary ? Will you use some motion capture to create new animations ?
Andre: We are using the motion capture base, but do some post processing of it too. The video you're talking about was produced on and it was more of a draft version.
Q10. What computer did you use to record this video ?
Andre: P 1Hz, 256 Mb, GeForce 4 MMX 128
Q11. About the multiplayer mode, you went down from "up to 64-players" to "up to 32-players" in your latest interviews. Don't you think trying to add a strong multiplayer mode to such a huge game is a bit too ambitious ? Aren't you afraid of not making it as good as you'd expected (good netcode, quite debugged, etc.) ?
Andre: There could be a little misunderstanding that occurs while the game is being developed. We are targeting at least 32 players network game, but the final decision will come out of code testing. The main focus of the game remains the single-player mode. The multiplayer mode will have slightly different goals, still it has to be as smooth as the single player option. The game itself is quite an ambitious project, although we would not have started it if felt too weak for it technically.
Q12. Do you intend to make a public beta to validate your 32-players netcode before releasing the game, thus avoiding the crowd's anger (Tribes 2, Battlefield 1942, etc.) ?
Andre: Yes, we are going to release a public beta, but this will happen closer to the release when most of the code is tested and the players can get more or less real feeling of the final release will be like.
Q13. Given that the player is in an irradiated zone, will he suffer radiations ? What would it imply (on his body or capabilities, for example) ?
Andre: When we say radiation we mean the Zone. Radiation will certainly affect the player, and the stronger it is the more likely it is for the player to perish from the radiation sickness, which is often terminal. The level of radiation will vary from location to location and it's advised the player checks it with detectors before going there. Some zones could bear a strong field of radiation that the player will not be able to cure after the contact.
Radiation will affect health, strengths, and will leave visual impacts on the player. But this is yet to be defined.
Q14. We also saw on screenshots that mutant rats follow the player in a quite impressive number. Will they influence the player's irradiation, or are they just waiting for him to die ?
Andre: The rats are unlikely to wait for the player to die, even if he's affected by the radiation. They will pursue him if they think they can kill him. Radiation might affect some of the parameters of the stalker and make rats' job easier J.
Q15. How does the saving system work, can you save anytime you want ? Is it limited ?
Andre: We plan several difficulty levels. The difference between difficulties will not be just about complexity of accomplishment and monsters aggressiveness. On the easiest level, some endings will be unavailable, the player can save any time and any place, NPCs won't try to solve the ultimate task instead of the player. On the most difficult level, we plan to leave only auto saving. It will work when exiting the game, when at the dealer's, when moving from one level to another and in certain periods of time. There also will be a "custom game" mode when you can customize the game you feel fit.
Q1. What kind of public places will be accessible in the game: towns, bars, shops, etc ? What is their importance in the game ?
Andre: There will be a number of different "public places" the stalker will be able to go into. Dealer's, possibly shops, scientific camps and maybe something else will be good for buying and selling weapons and equipment and socializing with other residents of the Zone to find out the latest news and events, rumors and gossips etc.
Q2. Is the hero going to meet some girl ? Can we expect some love/sex in this post-apocalyptic game ?
Andre: The post-apocalyptic Zone did not seem to us a very good place for dates and affairs, so it's very unlikely that the hero will indulge in any kind of sexual intercourse in S.T.A.L.K.E.R, although the "girl" issue is still being discussed. There will be a massive number of other rendezvous that will keep the player rather tizzy.
Q3. If there is no sex, could we at least see some "politically incorrect" situations in the game, or is it the "all audience" kind of game ?
Andre: The game will have nothing to do with politics of any kind and it could be adjusted to the player's liking, making this game unacceptable probably for babies only. You will be able to tweak a lot of the gore-related options. It should be noted that being good or bad will greatly depend on the player himself. The player may choose to hunt other stalkers bring them down and steal their belongings. In this case if seen by someone, next time you meet other stalkers they will discharge a cartridge in your muzzle and the dealer will rip you off like there's no tomorrow. Basically the freedom we are putting the player in, will allow him/her to choose his/her own way.
Q4. What's the real source of evil ? We are almost sure it's not just the radiations.
Andre: You are right, it's not. This is one of the most intriguing parts the player will figure out when playing the game. There are a lot of other spicy things too.
Q5. Who's the final big boss ? There's always one in FPS, enlight us.
Andre: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is basically an FPS game, which also has elements of RPG. It's a world of exploration, communication and shootings. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a tangle of intertwined psychological and physical dangers - psychotropic weapons, zombied humans, telepathy, telekinesis, mutant creatures, deadly anomalous zones etc
Q6. How fast does the player move ? More like in Ghostrecon ? Counter-Strike ? Quake ? Is it possible to lean and crawl ?
Andre: The player will move with approximately the same speed as those in Counter-Strike do. He will be able to duck, jump, hide behind trees, buildings etc. Leaning and crawling are still under consideration.
Q7. Lots of developers have announced advanced AI in their games, but we always ended up disappointed. How is yours ? Are the enemies playing like a Quake 3 bot or more like the Half-Life dumb marines ?
Andre: One of the advantages of our AI is that the NPCs and enemies will try to guess where the enemy is rather than know it. It would be too simple to let the AI know where the enemy is, we have opted a more interesting way of putting other characters in the same pair of shoes as the player. They are limited by what they see and hear, their sight is impaired in darkness and behind the bush. They hear what player can hear. NPC will get alerted if he hears shots nearby, or if the branch crunches close to him, he will look for the safest way to approach the source of the noise. Besides he may think that checking that noise might be dangerous and just give up by trying to leave the place. The characters will be careful to enter a dark tunnel, they will try to avoid it, and otherwise try to pierce into the darkness to make sure it's safe. They will consider the number and types of enemies, weapons and then either attack or flee. They will try to avoid superior forces.
It's no good creating an AI that will beat the player easily. It's difficult to create human characters able to have emotions, able to cry, panic, fear, joy, in other words act like people. Of course, what we are going to create now will be a fake option of that, because the characters are not alive anyway. Although we are trying to create characters that will not bore the player with their straight-forward dumb way of thinking. AI for us is more a simulation of sapient and "live" creature than a set of unbeatable algorithms.
Q8. There are 30 weapons in your game. Did you include some deployables like claymore mines, cameras or something like that ?
Andre: The game is not a war where the life of a player depends mostly on how huge an arsenal he is carrying around. The game will certainly have a "lock n' load" element crowned with some RPG and exploration ingredients. There will hardly be claymore mines or cameras, since stalker will not play the role of an infiltrating spy or whatever - the Zone will pose lots of other "natural" hazards to him.
Q9. The video released 2-3 months ago is really impressive, except that the running animation seems weird. Is it temporary ? Will you use some motion capture to create new animations ?
Andre: We are using the motion capture base, but do some post processing of it too. The video you're talking about was produced on and it was more of a draft version.
Q10. What computer did you use to record this video ?
Andre: P 1Hz, 256 Mb, GeForce 4 MMX 128
Q11. About the multiplayer mode, you went down from "up to 64-players" to "up to 32-players" in your latest interviews. Don't you think trying to add a strong multiplayer mode to such a huge game is a bit too ambitious ? Aren't you afraid of not making it as good as you'd expected (good netcode, quite debugged, etc.) ?
Andre: There could be a little misunderstanding that occurs while the game is being developed. We are targeting at least 32 players network game, but the final decision will come out of code testing. The main focus of the game remains the single-player mode. The multiplayer mode will have slightly different goals, still it has to be as smooth as the single player option. The game itself is quite an ambitious project, although we would not have started it if felt too weak for it technically.
Q12. Do you intend to make a public beta to validate your 32-players netcode before releasing the game, thus avoiding the crowd's anger (Tribes 2, Battlefield 1942, etc.) ?
Andre: Yes, we are going to release a public beta, but this will happen closer to the release when most of the code is tested and the players can get more or less real feeling of the final release will be like.
Q13. Given that the player is in an irradiated zone, will he suffer radiations ? What would it imply (on his body or capabilities, for example) ?
Andre: When we say radiation we mean the Zone. Radiation will certainly affect the player, and the stronger it is the more likely it is for the player to perish from the radiation sickness, which is often terminal. The level of radiation will vary from location to location and it's advised the player checks it with detectors before going there. Some zones could bear a strong field of radiation that the player will not be able to cure after the contact.
Radiation will affect health, strengths, and will leave visual impacts on the player. But this is yet to be defined.
Q14. We also saw on screenshots that mutant rats follow the player in a quite impressive number. Will they influence the player's irradiation, or are they just waiting for him to die ?
Andre: The rats are unlikely to wait for the player to die, even if he's affected by the radiation. They will pursue him if they think they can kill him. Radiation might affect some of the parameters of the stalker and make rats' job easier J.
Q15. How does the saving system work, can you save anytime you want ? Is it limited ?
Andre: We plan several difficulty levels. The difference between difficulties will not be just about complexity of accomplishment and monsters aggressiveness. On the easiest level, some endings will be unavailable, the player can save any time and any place, NPCs won't try to solve the ultimate task instead of the player. On the most difficult level, we plan to leave only auto saving. It will work when exiting the game, when at the dealer's, when moving from one level to another and in certain periods of time. There also will be a "custom game" mode when you can customize the game you feel fit.
Rigamix
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Q16. In some previous interviews you talked about "artefacts". Could you give us some exclusive infos about the artefacts which will be available ?
Andre: Artifacts are the primary income source for the stalkers. After the blowout, random objects (stones, nails, pieces of metal) may obtain an anomalous power and become artifacts. All artifacts are split into groups according to their anomaly nature. The stalkers may find the artifacts with the help of the anomaly detectors. For example, Gravitational artifacts - These are the artifacts with directional magnetic and gravitational anomaly. Some particularly powerful artifacts may puncture or damage some materials. Price: 10 to 100 roubles depending on the size and anomaly concentration Peculiarity: artifacts with a powerful gravitational anomaly. Must be stored only in special containers.
Q17. What do you think about the recently released FPS, such as UT2003, NOLF2, BF1942, Unreal 2. Did they learn you something ?
Andre: They are showing very positive technical progress, the engines are becoming way more sophisticated. There are things that are good with these games, but they're not flawless of course.
Q18. An average game programmer earns around 40.000$ in the USA and in EU. What about the Ukrainians ? How much do you pay yourselves in your devteam ?
Andre: We don't have average programmers or any other staff members that are average, we have very high job application standards and are trying to stick to them. Ukrainian professionals are like other professionals paid well, but it's slightly under the sum you indicated.
Q19. Is there some kind of message in your game ? Do you accuse the communist authorities or protest against the ecological disaster caused by Chernobyl ?
Andre: There is a message, but we are not trying to impose it. We are not putting the blame on any political factions or parties, we are simply trying to show that a human negligence and carelessness can make mistakes that will echo the whole world for a long time afterwards.
Q20. Is there a character creation system where you can choose your sex, the color of your skin, etc ?
Andre: Yes, when you start a new game you will be able to tweak many parameters of the appearance like skin, face, body, clothes, colors. Gender still remains under consideration, so we may make it optional or we may not.
Q21. Will we have to do some crucial choices during the game ? For example, will we have to choose between working for the military or against them ?
Andre: This is still under construction. There's a Morrowind-like idea of joining clans or groups of other stalkers pursuing different goals and preferring allies to the other groupings. By enrolling to one of these the player will develop an attitude of other groupings that could be very dangerous.
Q22. Is there only one ending to the game ?
Andre: There will be over 8 endings to the game. The game will progress and culminate depending on what the player is doing and what difficulty level he picked. On more difficult levels other stalkers will pull out all the stops to solve the ultimate riddle of the Zone and the player will have to choose a faster pace.
Andre: Artifacts are the primary income source for the stalkers. After the blowout, random objects (stones, nails, pieces of metal) may obtain an anomalous power and become artifacts. All artifacts are split into groups according to their anomaly nature. The stalkers may find the artifacts with the help of the anomaly detectors. For example, Gravitational artifacts - These are the artifacts with directional magnetic and gravitational anomaly. Some particularly powerful artifacts may puncture or damage some materials. Price: 10 to 100 roubles depending on the size and anomaly concentration Peculiarity: artifacts with a powerful gravitational anomaly. Must be stored only in special containers.
Q17. What do you think about the recently released FPS, such as UT2003, NOLF2, BF1942, Unreal 2. Did they learn you something ?
Andre: They are showing very positive technical progress, the engines are becoming way more sophisticated. There are things that are good with these games, but they're not flawless of course.
Q18. An average game programmer earns around 40.000$ in the USA and in EU. What about the Ukrainians ? How much do you pay yourselves in your devteam ?
Andre: We don't have average programmers or any other staff members that are average, we have very high job application standards and are trying to stick to them. Ukrainian professionals are like other professionals paid well, but it's slightly under the sum you indicated.
Q19. Is there some kind of message in your game ? Do you accuse the communist authorities or protest against the ecological disaster caused by Chernobyl ?
Andre: There is a message, but we are not trying to impose it. We are not putting the blame on any political factions or parties, we are simply trying to show that a human negligence and carelessness can make mistakes that will echo the whole world for a long time afterwards.
Q20. Is there a character creation system where you can choose your sex, the color of your skin, etc ?
Andre: Yes, when you start a new game you will be able to tweak many parameters of the appearance like skin, face, body, clothes, colors. Gender still remains under consideration, so we may make it optional or we may not.
Q21. Will we have to do some crucial choices during the game ? For example, will we have to choose between working for the military or against them ?
Andre: This is still under construction. There's a Morrowind-like idea of joining clans or groups of other stalkers pursuing different goals and preferring allies to the other groupings. By enrolling to one of these the player will develop an attitude of other groupings that could be very dangerous.
Q22. Is there only one ending to the game ?
Andre: There will be over 8 endings to the game. The game will progress and culminate depending on what the player is doing and what difficulty level he picked. On more difficult levels other stalkers will pull out all the stops to solve the ultimate riddle of the Zone and the player will have to choose a faster pace.
G
Grimsrud
Guest
Just watched the new trailer. HL2 may be the only single player game I play this year... but STALKER may very well be the mplayer game I will play. Though, it does not seem to kick BF1942's ass when in it comes to vehicles.... which is the main reason I still play Desert Combat.
I just saw the Stalker trailer, and, I have to say, it looks like it's going to rock Half-Life 2 in almost every way.
Graphics: Push
Gameplay: Stalker
Single player: Stalker
Originality: Stalker
Multiplayer: HL2
Do you guys disagree? The agruement "you can't compare them" is almost an admission of defeat. :dozey:
Well, anyway, I'll be buying them both. :afro:
Graphics: Push
Gameplay: Stalker
Single player: Stalker
Originality: Stalker
Multiplayer: HL2
Do you guys disagree? The agruement "you can't compare them" is almost an admission of defeat. :dozey:
Well, anyway, I'll be buying them both. :afro:
