S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is vaporware?

Over at the Shack there is an article talking about how S.T.A.L.K.E.R. may be some sort of DNF like vaporware.

There is an article here that says S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was mostly just a bunch of good ideas and intentions but not much of a game. It also has a couple of other points:

- THQ (the publisher) may try and have another developer finish the game
- Though if THQ tried to give the game to another dev there would be problems because the documentation for the X-Ray engine is either poor or non-exsistant
- Many of the original devs have left the company (GCS Gameworld)
- There was another engine being developed to replace the currently used X-Ray engine
- Seems there was also maybe some infighting at GCS

This is odd because the technology seemed to be there (the leaked alpha was supposedly somewhat stable) and there were a lot of hands on previews that said the game was working.

Maybe this is just a bunch of BS rumors. I just hope that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is released at some point in some kind of decent shape. Though that is becoming less than likely as time goes on.....

Damn I hope this isn't true although it wouldn't suprise me. That sucks, I was hoping for good things from this. Seemed to have promise.

Yeah man, I hope they end up getting it done, It would be a real shame if they ended up canning it, or severely stripping it down, since I was really looking forward to this game as were a lot of others. It isn't looking good though, then if they end up handing it over to someone else, you know it just won't be the same game. Anyway, here's to being really patient.

MH Knights said:

This is odd because the technology seemed to be there (the leaked alpha was supposedly somewhat stable) and there were a lot of hands on previews that said the game was working.
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yup i played 2 single player alphas and 1 multiplayer alpha. they seemed to work fine, although the AI sucked.

its going to be a launch title for the phantom console

logan1 said:

yup i played 2 single player alphas and 1 multiplayer alpha. they seemed to work fine, although the AI sucked.

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I realise we can not talk about those leaked alphas (against the forum rules) but I think the AI is one of the major problems they are having. Maybe the life simulation engine (A-Life) was too much for them to handle. This is what has me worried about ES4: Oblivion as its life simulation engine (Radient AI) sounds a lot like A-Life. Though maybe Radient AI works because it only operates on the NPCs in the current cell (FYI: a cell is a section of gamespace the the gameworld is divided into).

Bo_Bice said:

its going to be a launch title for the phantom console

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Ahh clever you are.

TekSomniaK said:

Ahh clever you are.

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*cracks knuckles*

It's the next Daikatana

3D Realms does weekly development updates on their site, its not vaporware and it'll come out.

Unlike DNF, we have actually seen screen shots, viewed videos of it. Hell, some of us have probably even played early versions of it.

So, no, not vaporware, just delayed like a mofo.

Bad_Boy said:

Unlike DNF, we have actually seen screen shots, viewed videos of it. Hell, some of us have probably even played early versions of it.

So, no, not vaporware, just delayed like a mofo.

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they been saying bad things about stalker for awhile, what they showed awhile back looks good, what the hell they are up to now, who knows for sure. Id like to see the game but its been a long time in the works, and possibly will never come out. whatever happens its not as long as duke nukem, and even if the game comes out unless its the best game ever played, bar none, duke will not live up to any of the hype. they overode the band wagon i think. if either of these games are damn good, all will be forgiven.

Alright fellas, this is now a frontpage thread, be on your best behaviors.

WOOO BRING OUT THE STRIPPERS!...

Well anyway, I would like to see this game come out soon (its new projected release is October correct?). I have been watching it for awhile and the things they are trying to implement in it seem really neat, the anomalies that pick up monsters and crush them look to have some potential to play around with

I honestly heard very little about it, but after seeing you guys discuss it so much, and reading more, I thought it looked pretty cool.

I was kinda excited to try it.

Last I update I heard (within the past month) they were 95% done with the game and just needed to create the video cut scenes and squash bugs and that it would be out in 6 months.
Sounds like it's coming, but with their track record of missing dates I'm not holding my breath. Even if it does eventually ship, it's probably not nearly as good as the hype made it out to be. Too amateurish of a software developer. Or else they ran out of money.
It sucks how good innovative creative titles have such a hard time getting made, when EA can pump out those garbage titles in less than a year.

I think they got shafted becasue it took too long to finish the game. I mean come on this is goin on close to 4 years now...maybe someone will actually finish it for them.

Or not.

Stereophile said:

when EA can pump out those garbage titles in less than a year.

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True, but EA usually never makes anything "different" 95% of their games are just upgraded models and textures from a previous release. Madden for example is always the same with slightly upgraded textures and models and new player stats etc. The base coding of all their game is always the same. Basically they are just making a mod for a current title and releasing it as the next best thing.

On another note, I've been following the release of this game for over a couple years now and it angers me to no end that this might be the end. This game showed so much promise. Even in the early stages of developement it looked awesome. I guess we'll see what happens.

Good fire them and get it out finally

Stereophile said:

Last I update I heard (within the past month) they were 95% done with the game and just needed to create the video cut scenes and squash bugs and that it would be out in 6 months.
Sounds like it's coming, but with their track record of missing dates I'm not holding my breath. Even if it does eventually ship, it's probably not nearly as good as the hype made it out to be. Too amateurish of a software developer. Or else they ran out of money.
It sucks how good innovative creative titles have such a hard time getting made, when EA can pump out those garbage titles in less than a year.

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Don't worry - EA will buy them out soon enough.

They did have a beta out a while ago that looked awfully like HL2 or rather when HL2 came out i thought it was a straight copy of the stalker demo (textures,engine etc). Very sorry to hear that its folded.

Didn't they release a beta MP of this game a long time ago? Honestly, is the game vapourware, woudn't they just release it make a little coin off of even if it sucks? Hey, Shiny has done that with both matrix games and look were they are now!!

This game will come as a complementary add-in with DukeNukem 2.

The game will be especially tuned for use with the Phantom LapTop controller system.
The final financing will be supported in whole by Infinium Labs courtesy of Goloden Gate Investments.

The stock currently sells for 2 cents, but has been temporarily frozen by the SEC.

Its too bad, the screens and the story sounded pretty good.

They don't have a viable game here people.

Now, before the flame starts, actually take the time to read what I'm going to post. Let me repeat. READ WHAT I'M GOING TO POST.

I've been PC gaming since the PCjr back in 1984, and have played great games and crap games, and feel pretty confident in identifying the difference pretty quickly. Hence ...

STALKER appeared on the scene a few years ago as nothing more than a graphical demonstration for the ill-fated GeFORCE 5x00 FX series from nVidia. Everyone remembers the peeling paint and lighting effects. But when asked about the game the developers gave the standard demo response ... "Its secret for now." Right. Secret. Uh-huh. If any of you bought that, you were drinking Kool-Aid. Translation: "We don't actually have a game in place yet." Not a problem. No reason be suspicious. Yet.

So then the next time it surfaced at a E3, we had more screenshots, and some more information about the engine. Not the game engine. The graphical engine. When asked about the game now, they say, "Well it takes place in Chernobyl and you're a mercenary." This made my eyes roll and I though, 'Gee, another game where you're a mercenary. Ingenious.' But that's all we got.

We got some more info a little later about how there's a "thing" that your hunting. There's other mercenaries in the area hunting too. You have to find it first or the games over. Its randomized to be different each time, yada yada. And I thought ... 'Gee, that's pretty thin. There must be more.' Nope, "That's all we can say right now."

Some time later, we get more info on the Mercenary angle. "Yeah, you get missions from a guy just outside the zone. And you can upgrade your equipment each time you bring something valuable back from the zone. You get more money, better gear and so on." WHAT? I'm a badass mercenary hunting some dangerous prey and I'm running missions to upgrade my gear? Are they kidding me? Does this now sound like every other game you've played? "Oh, and the AI, you'll be able to team up with other mercenaries if it suits them, yada, yada ..." Uh-huh.

So, now we have everyone and their mother going goo-goo over the graphics (which are slowly starting to get dated as of two years ago) and this wonderful "AI" with particle effects and so on. Everyone's excited! Waiting with baited breath!

And I'm thinking ... okay, but is sounds like the actual game sucks. "YOU'RE A HATER!" They screamed. No, I'm a lover that wants to play a game that's fun.

So, lo and behold ... last summer the explanation after STALKER being a no-show at 2005E3? "Uh, we weren't happy with some of the gameplay mechanics and we're kind of revisiting the setup." Gee, really? It took them almost three years to admit they didn't have a game? But somehow. SOMEHOW! Everyone seems to have ignored that admission from the devs. ITS A GREAT ENGINE! GRAPHICS RULE! AI WILL BE DOMINANT!

Yeah, but they said they don't have an actual game people. THEY SAID IT!

This is why the game is on the brink of death. How much money has been poured into this project? I'm sure nVidia padded them nicely in the beginning because they showcased their clay pigeon on a GPU. Well, I'm sure that well dried up a long time ago. Whomever is footing the bill currently is probably getting cold feet. But, they've already dropped so much cash! They've got to break even!

They'll try. Watch 'em. How many times did we see this with Eidos (RIP!) and Interplay (RIP!)? They'll bring someone in to "finish" the game and hope it rides the last bit of cresting hype remaining and enough of you will buy the "product". They might make marketing costs back.

I hate to say it, but this isn't surprising. We can all hope and pray and have faith, but in the end if there isn't any actual gameplay to speak of after a year or two in development, then that's a red flag. Oh, I hear you out there in Internetland ... "They had a multiplayer beta! How can you say there wasn't any gameplay?" If you need this explained to you, then I'm really worried about your level of sophistication. Multiplayer beta only = NO GAME. A MP beta has YOU doing all the work. This is basically an engine demo all over again.

Valve dodged a huge bullet when they basically did the same thing ... but guess what the difference is between STALKER and Half Life 2? HL2 was funded from within. Well, that and Valve actually had some experience behind them. They knew what they were doing. Kinda.

I'll willing to bet, that if STALKER ever makes it to retail its going to be a clunker. And that's too bad, because this industry needs MORE hits and fewer misses.

Here's a 20+ year gamer hoping he's wrong.

I hate to burn stones but I remember a while back now some code from staker leaked out on to the web and a friend of mine actually showed me it working on his PC. We played around in the one level, it was buggy since it was an alpha leak but I can say for sure it did in deed play.

In case no one believes me here is a linky to the news post Click Here
KM

I started getting suspicious when all we had were "fan fiction" contests on the main page, not to mention that right from the get go, the ingame modelling/texturing was atrocious. The environments looked great 4 years ago, when "vertex shaders" were a big deal.

Once the updates stopped (the REAL updates), and the devs said "um, we're pushing it back", it was obvious they weren't ready. And now here we are 4 years later, and we have a dated dx9 engine demo, still bad looking models, and "no word from our sponsors"

Here's hoping for the best.

Yea..4 years ago the story sounded good, with totally unscripted AI and no discreet levels...sounded great in concept and I guess thats the whole problem, it was just a concept, one that desperately needed people to code into a game. Guess that hasn't happenned.

the developers are probably just lazy or uncapable

First off, this is just a RUMOR, we have heard nothing from either THQ nor the developers.

I've been following this game for years now and I have a little more faith in the developers then this.

First off, they already said they were almost finished with the game and it was THQ, not them, that were "holding" it up for so long.

Second off, a merc? You're a stalker...it's your goal to find various artificats and things throughout the zone, along with a storyline, other Stalkers, soldiers, npc's, animals, etc in an open landscape.

All I know is, this is a very innovative game with tons of potential. It looks like it would be extremely fun and have a intriguing and engaging storyline. I wouldn't want this game to go away.

provoko said:

All I know is, this is a very innovative game with tons of potential. It looks like it would be extremely fun and have a intriguing and engaging storyline. I wouldn't want this game to go away.

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I too have been following this title for YEARS and am little impressed with anything about the game (or any other game) for Single Player -- I want Multiplayer titles. After reading (nearly two years ago) that the title would be supporing only DX8 for Multiplayer, I really thought that the development team had lost focus! Their reasoning behind the DX8 was to ensure that there was greater global compatibility. GIVE ME A FLIPPING BREAK! DX10 will be out before this game is finally released! And to be honest, I want to tax my system as much as possible -- I am not into competing and adjusting my settings to minimalist mode (read: /cg_simpleItems).

Great idea, poor execution (honey, where's my Viagra?).

They would have released the game already, but F.E.A.R. beat them to the punch of being first game with too many damned periods in the name! Now S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is waiting for the market to forget about F.E.A.R. so that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. seems like an original and cool name again.

(hows that for most periods in a post!)

well this is crap.

This game would be awesome.

If it came out last year, and did everything they showcased.

I wouldent "wait" for it, there plenty of great games out right now you can play

I stopped paying attention to stalker when they announced the lack of co-op play (which they swore would be in the game...)

The leaked Alpha a while back kicked ass. I remember dling it from IRC, and it actually ran on my r9500 at 1280x960, and still looked great. It crashed a lot, but it was an alpha...

Sc4freak said:

Don't worry - EA will buy them out soon enough.

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If the game will come out and will be a hit than bet your money on it that EA will buy them out.. I mean look at CryTek, their next game Crisis will come out under EA's umbrella.

Stiler said:

First off, this is just a RUMOR, we have heard nothing from either THQ nor the developers.

I've been following this game for years now and I have a little more faith in the developers then this.

First off, they already said they were almost finished with the game and it was THQ, not them, that were "holding" it up for so long.

Second off, a merc? You're a stalker...it's your goal to find various artificats and things throughout the zone, along with a storyline, other Stalkers, soldiers, npc's, animals, etc in an open landscape.

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I'll start with your last point. A mercenary is a person that executes tasks for money. So, if you want to argue symantics, be my guest. Stalker, Mercenary, Gun for Hire, whatever. Its all the same thing. If you can adequately delineate between these terms, I will accept your point.

Next, I think we still have quite a few people who are ignoring the stated truth ... The Devs couldn't come up with an actual "game" for a long time. Yes, there was an engine. Yes there were character models. Yes there were weapon models, and AI modeling and so on. But all those things together do not make a game. You have to have a viable framework for all these things to function in, and that is apparently where they failed. They've practically admitted this. It just didn't work.

The best they could come up with at the end was some nonsense about running missions and collecting these "artifacts" or other items of scientific value. Oh, and then there was the mysterious "it" that was the big hook. Every artifact/mission got you a pay day, where you could upgrade your gear and go for more artifacts. Does this sound like stretching the game out to you? It does to me. Its a thinly veiled method of creating "gameplay". No thanks.

All the features in the world do not a good game make. Do we really need to trot out Daikatana, for crying out loud? That game had a feature list a mile long ... and it was mediocre at best.

Frankly, I'm not the least bit angry at the devs ... I'm sure they had every intention of releasing a monster game. I don't think anyone intensionally dropped the ball. These things happen. It really is too bad.

But lets not pretend the project was flawless and simply held back by behind the scenes wrangling.

I played a leaked beta (more like alpha) of this waaaaaaay back, and I've seen some impressive screenshots and videos of the features.

Its old tech now, but if they revamped it with the same kind of effort it could be a fantastic game, I certainly have high hopes for it.

But this constant application of only a little bit of work, making a game slow and steady doesn't work, the guys working on the next duke nukem title is enough proof. Either make the game or dont, if you mess around only giving them half the funds now and half later or keep cutting the team in half then it wont ever be a great game, the industry just moves too fast.

HighHardOne said:

I'll start with your last point. A mercenary is a person that executes tasks for money. So, if you want to argue symantics, be my guest. Stalker, Mercenary, Gun for Hire, whatever. Its all the same thing. If you can adequately delineate between these terms, I will accept your point.

Next, I think we still have quite a few people who are ignoring the stated truth ... The Devs couldn't come up with an actual "game" for a long time. Yes, there was an engine. Yes there were character models. Yes there were weapon models, and AI modeling and so on. But all those things together do not make a game. You have to have a viable framework for all these things to function in, and that is apparently where they failed. They've practically admitted this. It just didn't work.

The best they could come up with at the end was some nonsense about running missions and collecting these "artifacts" or other items of scientific value. Oh, and then there was the mysterious "it" that was the big hook. Every artifact/mission got you a pay day, where you could upgrade your gear and go for more artifacts. Does this sound like stretching the game out to you? It does to me. Its a thinly veiled method of creating "gameplay". No thanks.

All the features in the world do not a good game make. Do we really need to trot out Daikatana, for crying out loud? That game had a feature list a mile long ... and it was mediocre at best.

Frankly, I'm not the least bit angry at the devs ... I'm sure they had every intention of releasing a monster game. I don't think anyone intensionally dropped the ball. These things happen. It really is too bad.

But lets not pretend the project was flawless and simply held back by behind the scenes wrangling.

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As far as mercenary/Stalker goes, it's what they are called in-game, Stalkers, not mercenaries. The reason is, in the lore behind the game/book/movie Stalkers are people who travel into the "zone" for various things.

I suggest you check out the book, A roadside picnic, or watch the film "Stalker" (by Tarkovsky)
http://imdb.com/title/tt0079944/


As far as the game goes, where are you getting this supposed "truth?"

All you have is the equilivant to the "Inquirer" (that's what it is in Russian) stating something that neither THQ nor the devs have said anything about.

The game has a storyline to it, with multiple endings to it, it's not simply "go here and collect artificats."

Think of it as an open-ended rpg, like Morrowind or Gothic, but an fps. There's a storyline to it that you follow, with different paths to go, aswell as a world to explore/side quests and other things.

also, heres a post on the offical forums about this news, might be helpful.
http://www.gsc-game.com/index.php?t=community&s=forums&s_game_type=xr&lang=en&offset=300