S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series Megathread: The Zone will stop the Russians - Games

[QUOTE=mikester112;45208505]What was the question?[/QUOTE] "Is it a scam?" I guess.

According to one of the developers at their official forum, Vostok is going to contact GSC's legal team because of the claims that those working with areal worked with STALKER. [url]https://forum.survarium.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3450&start=14[/url] [url]https://forum.survarium.com/en/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3450&start=39[/url]

The idea was really cool, and the concept art was awesome. Too bad it's a hoax. :I

I got into the beta for Survarium. Anyone else here got in?

[QUOTE=CodeMonkey3;45208819]I got into the beta for Survarium. Anyone else here got in?[/QUOTE] Plenty of people here got into. But right now it sucks.

[QUOTE=K1ngo64;45207736]Seriously, your textures are fucking incredible.[/QUOTE] Look at that WOOD

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;45209509]Look at that WOOD[/QUOTE] Did the wood give you wood?

[QUOTE=mikester112;45209557]Did the wood give you wood?[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=294324&dateline=1402734231[/IMG]

i still feel understandably cautious about areal, but i'm retouching this again: alexei (alex is simply a westernized version of his first name) moseichuk is the sole owner of these images. he is cited as being on the dev team. i'm sure he gave his consent for these images to be used on the kickstarter [IMG]http://stalker-wiki.ru/mediawiki/images/thumb/6/68/Cncpt_sc46.jpg/793px-Cncpt_sc46.jpg[/IMG] i don't like the fact that they're using 3d stalker renders but i'm p sure these weren't stolen since alexei is onboard. i think it's wise to give the dev team to explain themselves. do your homework before bandwaggoning

It might not be stolen but if you're excessively using art assets and footage from a different game in order to attract Stalker fans is really unprofessional from a business point of view.

[quote][url]http://www.incgamers.com/2014/06/areal-kickstarter-causes-controversy-over-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-successor-claims[/url][/quote] LOL they just claimed MDT is intentionally calling these guys out to gain publicity. I'm sorry but having a couple artists who did some work for the stalker games does not give you the right to claim your team developed the stalker series.

i had no problem with them using stalker footage to get the point across it's just they didn't put any disclaimers that like said "property of gsc" or "footage from STALKER"

[QUOTE=alundaio;45210754]LOL they just claimed MDT is intentionally calling these guys out to gain publicity. I'm sorry but having a couple artists who did some work for the stalker games does not give you the right to claim your team developed the stalker series.[/QUOTE]Their claim can be intepreted two different ways though: They have, as seperate individuals, worked on the stalker games. Or, they have, as a company, worked on the stalker games. The first one is probably the intended one, but one can easily read out the second one instead.

[QUOTE=Lizzrd;45210868]Their claim can be intepreted two different ways though: They have, as seperate individuals, worked on the stalker games. Or, they have, as a company, worked on the stalker games. The first one is probably the intended one, but one can easily read out the second one instead.[/QUOTE] On their facebook it says this: [quote]The people behind the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series have teamed up to create a new video game called AREAL.[/quote] If they weren't being deceptive they would state specifically that the leading members of their team took part in the development of the Stalker series. Before the kickstarter went live they had a in-game screenshot of marsh on the page. I asked them about this on their facebook and they deleted my comment and removed the screenshot. It is intentional.

GSC and Vostok Games are gonna have a field day.

I don't get the controversy if you scroll down the kickstarter and just check out the names of the devs within the credits of the stalker games they all check out. I knew for a fact Yuriy was legit I'm not sure where these claims have foundation. [editline]25th June 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Lizzrd;45210868]Their claim can be intepreted two different ways though: They have, as seperate individuals, worked on the stalker games. Or, they have, as a company, worked on the stalker games. The first one is probably the intended one, but one can easily read out the second one instead.[/QUOTE] It's pretty obvious reading through the list of devs on the kickstarter that they're just a collective of core development staff I don't actually understand what the issue is here.

The only core member is Yuriy, who started out as an artist on SoC and then became lead artist. Peter was just a lua/XML monkey. Eugene doesn't count, he worked only on Stalker 2. That is not a huge pro in my eyes considering all the bad things Grigorovich said about the stalker 2 developers. The fourth guy was just a concept artist. If you look at X-Ray source code you will see everything aside from the core engine itself was entirely written by Dimitry Iassenev of Vostok. He and Stohe wrote a majority of the lua scripts (The scripts that aren't complete trash) and they both now work at Vostok. The X-ray engine itself was made by the guys who run 4A games. From the looks of it, the Areal team does not have any professional programmers that are capable of replicating A-Life as it is in Stalker. Dimitry studied Artificial Intelligence and programming in college. He and Craig Hubbard were the pioneers of using GOAP and STRIPS planning in video games, something that was unseen before F.E.A.R and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. So for them to make claim they will have their own A-life called 'X-life' is a HUGE promise to me. Having a couple artists who made some assets and concept art for Stalker does not mean they are the "Developers behind the Stalker series". But since the complaints they have removed all the statements (except the one on facebook) that their team developed the stalker series instead of the now "made up of stalker developers."

What if GSC and Vostok sued them and then took the money and made an official STALKER 2? Genius. :v:

[QUOTE=Dub!;45211868]What if GSC and Vostok sued them and then took the money and made an official STALKER 2? Genius. :v:[/QUOTE] Doubt they would even get anything from them considering this all looks like some shoddy money grab attempt from West Games.

[QUOTE=Dub!;45211868]What if GSC and Vostok sued them and then took the money and made an official STALKER 2? Genius. :v:[/QUOTE] Brilliant!

[QUOTE=mikester112;45208505]What was the question?[/QUOTE] From the page: [QUOTE]Thanks to Stalker gamers with numerous links and messages there is no longer a reason to believe that AREAL is anything but a scam. I have direct email correspondance with their CEO 'Eugene Kim'. So far he has been unable to answer to any of our direct questions regarding tech or administration. Please share this notice. We don't want people to blindly waste money on impostors[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]I (Aaroe) too would welcome a new Stalker game if presented well. But this Kickstarter is shallow as a lantern! Any project on Kickstarter should at least show some solid content or fail miserably. A low criterie for project creators to be honest. But maybe many gamers wasn't aware of the fact that everything shown is third party content. This is where I find it MDT duty to safeguard the STALKER brand and trademark credibility.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]I (N.Aaroe) am also on LinkedIn with several GSC employees. None of them have claimed for the AREAL project to be valid or legit.[/QUOTE] Some other interesting links [url]http://www.vg247.com/2014/06/25/s-t-a-l-k-e-r-2-areal-vostock-sparks-legal-and-fraud-threats/[/url] Most notably [url]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1577656602/areal/comments[/url] Matthew's comment makes sense [editline]25th June 2014[/editline] [B]More news[/B] [url]http://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/291nt4/project_ariel_uses_template_unity_map_asset_to/[/url] This link is especially interesting

[QUOTE=Dub!;45211868]What if GSC and Vostok sued them and then took the money and made an official STALKER 2? Genius. :v:[/QUOTE] Nope. Most likely Grigorovich will buy himself a new Ferrari.

well shit, here's an *actual* ingame test image of areal from vk.com [img]http://i.imgur.com/FlxKvLZ.png[/img]

Looks extreamly dated

You just overhyped it for no reason. Give it some time and we'll see.

I remain skeptic at all times. Too much hype indeed.

its kind of a shame how this is shaping up to be a scam. some of the concept art looked rather interesting, and I like the idea of a post-apoc setting with bright and garrish colours. It makes everything feel so much more alien, as if something did happen that completely changed the world for good, instead of just everything getting smashed up. And as far as Survarium, even though the pvp looks pretty generic, I'm worried about the free play aspect turning out like Global Agenda or Firefall where its just a map for you to grind missions.

At first everyone is like "omg, omg, omg new stalker omg" then they are like "faaake, faake, faaaake". Perhaps give it some time and we'll see how things go. I'm still more excited about Survarium co-op than this whole Areal fiasco.

I think the only Stalker coop we can get is the one made by a bunch of wizards. This is why I'm keeping my eye on Ray of Hope.

[QUOTE=Ownederd;45212201]well shit, here's an *actual* ingame test image of areal from vk.com [img]http://i.imgur.com/FlxKvLZ.png[/img][/QUOTE] looks like motherfucking far cry 1 on medium