My advice to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. developers

[Mack_The_Knife]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R is such a good goddamned game (ART, children, is what that piece of gameplay is!) that I just could not resist the utter presumption of clicking on the mail link to GSC on www.stalker-game.com and send my love and RESPECT to the GSC people, as well as some advice on the trading system and weapon distribution, as well as the overall game feel and ambiance. I basically begged and pleaded for an innovative and organic way to portray trading in the game, a context of eastern contries' crime organizations struggling for a piece of the final frontier that is the zone, and a broader variety of weapons that reflects the patchy character of black marketeering around the zone. I asked for croatian arms dealers operating from Ukranian refugee camps and Bulgarian hoods pushing dope, and the GODDAMNED US of A NAZI CIA dropping in on honest eastern folk and brutally silencing them to hide the embarassing implications of the Bush clan's arms dealing in the Ukraine...

ANYWAY, just read the mail I sent GSC, and comment on my ideas for S.T.A.L.K.E.R...

I am very impressed with the amount of creativity and sheer good taste that GSC is putting into S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Oblivion Lost.
I would be so bold as to assume that even such uncompromising and innovative game developers such as you fine people at GSC would perhaps be interested in the expectations of a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan for gameplay mechanics and overall game "feel".
S.T.A.L.K.E.R is a project that holds great promise. I only wish that everyone in the industry had so much respect for game players as you do.

NEW ASPECT ON TRADING: When I finaly get my hands on S.T.A.L.K.E.R., when I go and barter with someone, I'd be very much disappointed indeed should I click on The Trader only to get a corny little screen with about one hundred weapon and ammunition names and prices, click on a gun name, see my cash level drop and then have the item miraculously appear in Character's my inventory. This makes trading a boring and merely contingent experience, and ruins the having-to-scrounge-for-your-life aspect of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. In such an extreme situation as the one depicted in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. acquiring a firearm should be a VERY big deal. In your average videogame, you can take big guns for granted. S.T.A.L.K.E.R is most definetly NOT your average videogame... so, the trading "experinece should be a lot more organic. You adress The Trader inside a trailer, or a living room, or weed or whatevernot, and after the trader can ascertain you really want to do business, leads you to another part of the house, or to the exterior of the house, to a van, or a truck, or car, or a warehouse, or a garage, anywhere with a canvas stretched on the floor and a few - not many - just a few weapons lying on it. The player would then be able to actually crouch by each separtae piece and examine it while the trader mentions the weapons characteristics, its cost, and possibly any other relevant (or just interesting) piece of information. The player can the pick up the weapon and fiddle with while The trader asks if you really want it. If not, the Player Charater can choose to say it's too heavy and put it down, or accept the price of The Trader, or haggle for the weapon, which may result in saving money or a bullet in The Player Character's spine, depending on how the player handles the negotiations or how much the trader likes you. No 2d screens, just pure organic gameplay.

GAMEPLAY SOLITUDE: S.T.A.L.K.E.R is a lonely game. The nuclear wasteland solitude of the zone is only broken by encounters with terrible craziness and other criminal/mercenary/treasure-hunter Stalkers and bizarre beasts of men, with thoughts like cockroaches, and telepathy. It is one of S.T.A.L.K.E.R's most appealing features. Yet somekind of conatrast should be provided within the game. Being that the zone is the last of the uncharted territories of the Earth and can seemingly offer great opportunities to those who choose to take part in its insanity, the zone should be surrounded by "refugee camps" filled with Russian, Bulgarian and Latvian mobsters, and black marketeers, lured by the existence of artifacts from beyond, and nuclear weapons no-one will miss.
In contrast with the wasteland deep inside the zone, the player would have to squeeze in over-populated camps, where the only thing preventing an all out war between Stalker factions is the presence of the military. But a lot of murders happen every day, and the Player Character may find these camps as dangerous as the zone.

MORE TRADERS: I did mention that having a single trader offer the player an enormous stock of weapons with great variety ruins the ambience of the game. Since weapon trading is still more or less illegal, a huge supply of neatly packed, high powered military weapons is out of the question. A combination of few civilian and military pieces should be available. AND YES, I did say you should have more than one trader. The Trader mentioned in www.stalker-game.com is a very interesting character. Yet he would constitue the only source of trading in the zone along with the scientist camps. But having a dozen traders in the zone's peripheral areas would be much better. Arms dealers would literally flock to the zone. Each arms dealer should only have a very limited selection of wapon types, and would go about selling them in his own particular way. One trader meets you in the back seat of a car and shows you half a dozen handguns + ammo for sale, right there under his coat. Another one takes you the weed of a dereclit small house and shows five AK-74's on the floor. Another one has a single RPG 7V for sale, still inside a crate.

WEAPON VARIETY: The fact that the zone would be the new Wild West, and the need to dismiss the idea of the constant supply of mint condition mass produced weapons arriving regularly at most videogames, leads us to the need to include many more weapon types in the game, each weapon being rather rare in itself. The presence of Bulgarian dope dealers in camp X would account for Arcus 94 pistols and Shipka SMG's. The Czech criminals could bring along their Vz.61 Skorpion SMG's and Vz.58 assalut rifles (being that the Vz.58 is an AK-47 clone you'd just need to take the AK-74 in the game, introduce some minor changes, nominately a new skin and perhaps 7.62x39mmm ammo, and you'd have yourself a story-accurate brand new weapon). The Croatian arms dealers could have APS 95 modern assault rifles and possibly even finnish Valmet Rk.62 and M82 assaultt rifles (AK clones, just add minor changes to existing AK to get new weapons), as well as black market classics as the AK-101,AK-102,AK-104 and AK-105. Russian military satlkers should also sport the AN94 Abakan rifle or the AEK-971. Czech CZ-100, 101, and G2000 pistols are should also be present in limited amounts, as well as croatian HS2000 pistols. Russian military semi-auto shotgun Saiga 12k must be in the game. Also the RMB-93 or the TOZ-194. Some civilian models such as old pump actions or even double barreled shotguns should be present. Being that this is the Ukraine, include cheapass ukranian Goblin SMG's. Finnish Jatti-matic SMG's would also be nice. Sprinkle with Croatian Agram 2000's (eastern gangsta classic) and Russian AEK 919k Kastans and Kiparis. AS far as sniper rifles go... definetly add the VSS Vintorez Russian Army tactical rifle and the Czech RT-20 anti-materiel sniper rifle (firing those great big 20x110mmm Hispano anti-aerial rounds could prove interesting)... finnish Sako TRG-S civilian hunting rifles might also be interesting (or the TRG22 and 42 military/police sniper versions).

By 2016, the Heckler & Koch G11 assault rifle may have already entered production. To be used by foreign powers' special operations within the zone.

Please refer to Max Popenker's world.guns-ru site (there's a link in wwe.stalker-game.com's weapons section)

The variety of guns, each individual kind being present in very scarce amounts, would help to convey the whole scrounge-for-you-life feeling. Also, it would help to de-russify the game. While browsing through your website I got the idea that Russia had annexed the Ukraine in 2006. Even with the radiation killing the Ukranian people, the zone's fiscal paradise and world class nuclear arms market would definetly attract the attention of russian mafia, bulgarian dope dealers and former yugoslavia arms dealers. So, a lot of Russians, but not all that many.

IDEA FOR A MISSION: Dog Fights are popular in the russian underworld. Some mafia honcho wants the player to capture a potent specimen of the blind telepathic dogs that roam the zone. The animal would then get dropped into a pit to much on trained pitbulls and boxers, but later end up devouring all the gamblers, and the military would show up and put the dog to sleep... or maybe not? Big mess... big mess. Which reminds me: the player should be allowed to gamble on dog fights or undergorund naked fist and knife fights in the peripheral camps sorrounding the zone. Should the army people show up, the player could choose to run or try and bribe them.

[Mad Max RW]

Sounds incredibly detailed. Any one of those ideas would be good, especially the trader. Some of them may distract people from the storyline of the game, like the dog fighting and life inside the camps. But I can definitely see them adding a little more depth to traders.

[Mack_The_Knife]

Thanks mad Max RW... problem is, I really don't think the mail I sent GSC will go anywhere except the recycle bin...

Implementing anything remotely like the vast array of estern european military and civilian (gangsta) weapons I suggested is probably impossible in an first person perspective game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R... think of the amount of detailed gun-in-hand models GSC would have to create...

I wonder if there'll be an option to get the game in third person perspective... I feel more immersed into gameplay when I get to see my character slumping around,and striding, and shaking his heavy, dusty gear about... Just looking at the painful-end of the gun I'm holding isn't enough...

As for the weapons and the traders and and the peripheral camps... isn't S.T.A.L.K.E.R. a story of eastern europe in the last days of the USSR (even though it takes place after 2006)? The whole eastern european crime and corruption context could really benefit form a broader perspective... S.T.A.L.K.E.R is in serious danger of becoming "over-russified"...

Anyway... S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a deep game... a revelation is aesthetics... the ambiance, the visuals... the story... S.T.A.L.K.E.R seizes all about Russia and the Ukraine in the eve of perestroika (and even after it)... It is at the same time very specific about the part of the world it takes place and at the same time deals with the universal tales of eking out an existence in a wasteland (which is what most of mankind has been doing most of the time throughout human history)... The last game that was as deep as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was Fallout itself... Fallout did to the american dream and 1950's Cold War paranoia what S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does to the Soviet Revolution is its days of multiple sclerosis (late 70's and the 80's)...

Gentlemen... I believe we've found fallout 3...

[axelgreese]

amount of detailed gun-in-hand models GSC would have to create...

The ones they have look like crap anyway.



See how the gun looks like it's too much to the right? And the hands look too close together...

[Mad Max RW]

The game still has a full year of development ahead of it. Also, in one of the movies it shows the player in a 3rd person perspective while running. If it isn't an option in retail you can most likely activate it through cheats.

[Briosafreak]

Here`s what i posted a few days ago in this forum:

I bought a french gaming magazine today that has a newsbit about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. . Besides looking incredible on the GeForce FX pics i saw, and i`m not usually impressed with fancy graphics, the way the developers described the game was also nice: "it has more to do to Fallout or Daggerfall instead of a classic doom-like".

It`s not Fallout3, but it`s looking really impressive in the gameplay departement. Oh and Paynetothemax the pics they showed in that magazine were visually incredible, Nvidia got a license to use the game as a demo to the capabilities of their new cards, and it shows why, but unfortunately i don`t have a scaner.

[axelgreese]

The game still has a full year of development ahead of it.

Well I hope they fix that, normally I'm not bothered by such things but ugh!

[Kashluk]

Uh, concluding from the posted screenshot, I'm going to guess this is a FPS? :-/

[BlackDog]

The game still has a full year of development ahead of it. Also, in one of the movies it shows the player in a 3rd person perspective while running. If it isn't an option in retail you can most likely activate it through cheats.

a full YEAR? I thought that shit would be out THIS year? Eh well, guess I'll have to settle for Devestation.

[Mad Max RW]

Give or take a month. The release date is sometime at the end of 2003, and now there's rumours it's gonna be early 2004.

[Mack_The_Knife]

I think I'll die if I don't get my grimmy little paws on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. before... say, September THIS YEAR...

I need it! I really do! AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTT!

As for the weapon models... I miss the old doom weapons that were right in the middle of the screen...

I think third person perspective, or a free camera perspective would be the best for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.... anyway... these should be available through in-game qucik acess - easy and sure switching bttween all three perspectives...

But, if S.T.A.L.K.E.R. must be first-person...

One idea would be for the gun to be in a normal close-to-the-hip hold while being carried on the player's hands (you only see the tip of the barrel while looking straight ahead, but if you pan the camera down, the gun is there is all of its visual high-end graphics glory... if you run without firing, the gun his held in a sideways position that really allows for you to see all the details): you click MOUSE 1 (left click mouse) and the gun is fired from the hip (poor range, rapid fire)... Press and hold MOUSE 1 or MOUSE 2 (right click) or any other button you feel is adequate and the gun is shouldered and fired in correct aimed military fashion (good range and accuracy, takes time)

My idea of a perfect FPS would be for the player to be able to pan the camera down and look down at his body and legs through the eyes of the player character... right now all you get is a blob shadow... but no body casting it...

SITUATIONS: the player is holding his gun at the hip - you look down at yer hip, you see the gun, you look straight ahead, you see the tip of the barrel...

you look up (when you do this in most FPS's the hands and the weapon model "act" exactly as if you were aiming forwards) and the Character's hands change their grip on the gun to aim it upwards (might have a left click-hold function to it... if you just aim up with mouse, your gun leaves the screen and stays aimed at the ground ahead of you... hold left mouse button (mouse 1) and you hold the gun in front of your face - the player assumes the player character doesn't throw his head back to gaze at the sky, while at the same time bending his back towards his ass to mantain the perfectly normal gun grip, but rather cautiously rolls his eyes up and tilts his head just a little bit back to look up, and changes his hold on the gun to allow rapid, accurate upward fire without need of of lying on your back to shoot...

A grenade blows up... the player character get thrown back at the ground violently... slides a little ways... the player can actually sse the player character's legs getting thrown upwards as his ass hits the floor... Same goes for abdomen, hands... the weapon or item being held suddenly flying off the character's hands... (and unlike most "heroic" FPS's, I fully expect my character to get tossed at the ground with the impact of small arms fire...

WALLS... might be a nice thing to see an FPS where the character actually extends his arm when he gets to close to a wall and puts his palm against the wall, pushing his body back, so as not to get a face-full-of-wall situation like in your average FPS... Basically it is impossible for the character to do the yoga master gimmick of eliminating all space between himself and the wall... You try to face the wall on the right while too close to it, and your character either leans against it peering forwards or backwards in a kind of "cornered" stance, or you get your back against the wall and you also lean, this time looking at in the direction opposite the wall...

In conclusion... a more organic FPS experience... In which you have weapon models in-screen, hands , arms, legs, gear, etc... and when your character looks around or approaches objects, you actually interact with them: you hands let go your gun for a while and fell the walls, you lean against them; you crouch, you use your left hand to push yourself against the ground for the first half a second...

I mean... a few FPS's of the past had a "scratch your groin key"... I don't want to have to get to a damned mirror or otherwise reflective surface to watch myself scratching, or adjusting the straps on my combat gear, or reloading my gun in A NORMAL position to realod guns, or my feet kicking the dirt, or rats scrurrying past the space between my boots, or a dog biiting my leg (a big deal in FPS's with dog-type enemies is that the dog, or at least the dogs head, disappears when it bites you), and so on and so forth...

With an organic first person perspective, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. may very well make Unreal 3 a rigid, and quaint little game, that everyone hates because S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is so much more immersive and sincere... and... and... REAL!!!

[Mack_The_Knife]

Sorry for the double-post, guys...

It's just that I forgot one thing: language... sure, I don't speak russian or ukrainian (yet!), but it would be nice to switch the international, UK or US or whatever version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. from english (perhaps english with a corny local accent, in a desperate attempt to add "feeling", like the chinese in Deus Ex) into russian or ukrainian with english subtitles (or keep the english with subtitles in russian, available in cyrilic and "westernized" type) with a quick trip to the in-game options screen... being able to switch the voice recordings to russian right in the middle of a conversation would aid in making S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the most immersive and rewarding gampplay experience EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[requiem_for_a_starfury]

There's a danger though that the more stuff, like what you're suggesting, they spend time on implementing the less time they'll end up spending on gameplay and plot. While fancy options and breathtaking graphics are nice at the end of the day it's a game to be played not a movie to be watched.

Due to budget constraints and deadlines, I think we're still a few years away from designers being able to implement one without sacrificing from the other.

[BlackDog]

Sorry for the double-post, guys...

It's just that I forgot one thing: language... sure, I don't speak russian or ukrainian (yet!), but it would be nice to switch the international, UK or US or whatever version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. from english (perhaps english with a corny local accent, in a desperate attempt to add "feeling", like the chinese in Deus Ex) into russian or ukrainian with english subtitles (or keep the english with subtitles in russian, available in cyrilic and "westernized" type) with a quick trip to the in-game options screen... being able to switch the voice recordings to russian right in the middle of a conversation would aid in making S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the most immersive and rewarding gampplay experience EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

why...? i'd not buy it then.

[axelgreese]

I don't really mind when "actors" in a game speak their native tougue.


Like Nazis speaking german... I don't really feel like i need to have everyone and their brother speaking english in a game.


Course in an rpg dialogue is important and unless you have text boxes I just might need to know what their saying... from time to time.

[Kashluk]

I really HATE when in Hollywood movies germans, russians and everyone between speak ENGLISH! God damn it, it doesn't make sense!

Make everyone speak their native language, or in some cases (if they're educated enough), they could speak *bad englesio* but otherwise the only source of translation should be DIALOGUE TEXT BOX.

[Megatron]

Why? Just because I'm not russian doesn't mean I have to play the game like I'm deaf. For the sake of gameplay they should be english.

Mabye some of the zombies could speak bad english like:I really HATE when in Hollywood movies germans, russians and everyone between speak ENGLISH! God damn it, it doesn't make sense!

See how the gun looks like it's too much to the right? And the hands look too close together...

My only problem with that screen is the gun looks very small compared to his hand. But a majority of fps use the 'fire your gun by holding it at shoulder height and to the right' and looks stupid. I think moh and vietcong did teh weapons well.

[Mack_The_Knife]

Pyro! Pyro! Pyro! Take it easy! I'm not saying the game should have only russian dialog! I'm just saying that if the player could play through the game with all the characters speaking a neutral kind of international english with no distasteful funny accent bullshit, and then occasionally get a small taste of fine acting russian talk with an ukranian accent, the game would TASTE MIGHTY FINE! HMM!

Anyway... if you had read the post without trying to immediately nail my scrotum to the ceiling and bash my brains out, you might have spared yourself the panic of "OMG! WTF! A GAME THAT FORCES ME TO READ SUBTITLES"!

Computer games and cinema are over-americanized! There is a whole wide-world out there that cannot be too well-explained by means of the english language... wake up and smell the asphalt! I trust you are at least capable of speaking a little spanish?

Would it kill you to listen to a foreign language for one single minute without immediately switching to a dubbed version?... Russian is a beautiful and SUCCULENT language and I'm really sorry I can't speak it yet...

Anyway, if I had that kind of attitude I'm-not-buying-this-game-cuz-I-don't-speak-the-lingo , I wouldn't be speaking English right now... Do you honestly think anybody can pick up english at school? Har Har!
I speak english because I had the HUMBLETY of listening to it without being able to pick up every word since I was like six... I had to bare with the subtitles at first, but then around twelve I started speaking clear-cut, perfect english...

Why did you pick on Kashluk's english?... his written english seems ok so far...

Damn 'mericans :wink: ...can't read no subtitles... no damned respect for anybody... reactionary creeps :wink: ... no sensitivity... no taste... mumble... grumble... gripe... think they've got a lease on creation... right-wing scum :wink: ...

Oh! Wait a minute! Aren't you an Australian? Sorry! ehr... still... READ MORE SUBTITLES! FOREIGN LANGUAGES MAKE HAIR GROWN ON YOUR BUTT! AMEN!

[requiem_for_a_starfury]

I'd hope that all new games feature subtitles, for one thing I'm informed that there is a large gaming community amongst the hearing impaired, for another sound cards aren't always compatible with every game. My system really had problems with Deus Ex, listening to people talk was almost painfull, if it wasn't for subtitles I'd still not know what was going on.

Plus I play a lot of games late at night, since I live in a block of flats that's not properly sound proofed *embarassed* : ) I tend to turn the sound right off, I can't always be bothered to go did out my headphones.

Damn 'mericans :wink: ...can't read no subtitles... no damned respect for anybody... reactionary creeps :wink: ... no sensitivity... no taste... mumble... grumble... gripe... think they've got a lease on creation... right-wing scum :wink: ...

Well for a start they don't speak proper English anyway : )

[axelgreese]

I trust you are at least capable of speaking a little spanish?

I can count to five, is that enough?

BTW, I'm an american and I don't throw a fit when I have to read subtitles. Hell I turn subtitles on when their speaking english just to make sure I hear'em right...

But in games usually it's the little things that count, so making someone speak their native tongue is generally a good thing. Like Nazis speaking german. But, as I said, in an rpg, dialogue is important, so unless there are subtitles or text boxes, I'm gonna need them to speak a language I can understand.