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

Amazing that the new article on Eurogamer about Areal and whether it's a scam or not scrutinises the Kickstarter video and says it shares similarities with the STALKER games - if the author had played the games he'd know that the entire video was basically footage straight from STALKER :P

I don't care about what other people write about Areal. I still think it's scam and as fake as my neighbor's tits. It will remain as a scam and fake as long as they decline giving us some real answers and footage. Why would anyone even defend the West Games at this point? They don't even care to prove our claims wrong.

After looking at Areal as well, I'm staying on Scam until proven Legit.

Using Stalker assets, lying about their engine, insanely low funding goal, stockphotos used for the devs, stolen concept art, if anyone actually still believes that it isn't a scam they will believe anything.

I'm playing SGM 2.2 and I suddenly got this quest: [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8512731/Stalker/xrEngine%202014-06-26%2020-58-29-91.png[/t] I think it may have triggered once Chemical and Radioactive fallouts began. Could it be the mission for "Find shelter", but got corrupted because I was already in shelter?

My biggest problem with Areal, assuming they're legitimate and that this isn't a fraud, is that they don't really have a team capable of even making a game of this scope. They have one programmer. Speaking as one programmer, making an complete engine like this from scratch, alone, is nearly impossible. I've tried. But let's say this guy is a genius. They have no modelers, just one animator. Well, let's say he can handle the modeling, too. They've got plenty of artists, so textures wont be an issue. Let's say they pull this off. Let's say Eugene #2 manages to code the whole engine, and it somehow works. Then Eugene #3 manages to model, rig, and animate every single thing in the game. And Eugene #4 and company texture it all. When will they be done? It will take several years, at minimum. I'm thinking closer to a decade. I'm thinking they give up before it's even close to done. Of course, that's assuming it's not a scam.

Yeah well if it's legit then either that's the case or they've seriously fucked up on 'how to run a kickstarter 101' It's kinda amazing just how much money they've made already give me that sort of cash and I'll make you STALKER 2 in the CoP Engine [editline]26th June 2014[/editline] they've just put up a video update, gonna watch it now and we may have some more info [editline]26th June 2014[/editline] oh god it's very amateur, and it's literally 'hi this is eugene, this is blah', along with a bit of a rant about how MDT is flaming them, nothing really to convince us it's any more legit

lol, just what the fuck was that video? "He's our lead game designer, he's responsible for the gameplay and... eh and all sorts of things" My gawd :suicide:

they're not really helping themselves are they

I almost pity them. [I]Almost[/I]

[QUOTE=Beacon;45221298]they're not really helping themselves are they[/QUOTE] Nope, that video just makes them look even more suspicious. Where are they anyway? That's the whole team who are creating this video game from scratch for five different consoles in a year with only 50k dollars. :dance:

[QUOTE=Furioso;45218296]Drama aside, this blown-up artwork is awesome. How cool are those mutants? [t]http://erastalker.ru/img/publ/areal-tarmashev.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Not really, its stolen from a book, check the Misery page.

Is there really that much controversy here about whether Areal is a scam? I mean, look at this absolute gem from their 'dev team' section. Here's their "lead game designer." [img]http://i.imgur.com/6B9uuzf.png[/img] Nice pic, right? Except that you're looking at a literal stock image. [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/YgiWxBm.png[/img_thumb] I highly suggest anyone in this thread who's pledged to these guys to cancel ASAP. I have no doubts whatsoever that this is fraudulent and I'd hate for the STALKER community to be taken advantage of so cruelly. [editline]26th June 2014[/editline] And honestly, I can understand why the MDT are getting so heated about this. I mean, I'm getting pissed about this and I'm nowhere near as involved with the STALKER fanbase as they are. "West Games," whoever they are, are capitalizing on a fanbase's sincere wish to see their favorite game franchise resurrected to make a quick buck (and really, people should realize that $50K is nowhere near enough to run a full-size professional dev team). It's disgusting.

I'm pretty sure all Facepunch users have already taken their pledge off. Or at least changed it to $1. The problem is all the other people who don't read forums like this. They need to somehow get the word too... And of course there are always the guys who are such [I]fanboys[/I] that they don't believe in such things as fake and scam. bwt: Have "you" guys reported the Areal project to Kickstarter yet?

I'm just mad at one thing: [B]Bad PR for future S.T.A.L.K.E.R. related / inspired games on KS.[/B] Things like [I]What if its the next 'AREAL'?[/I] or [I]I've seen this before[/I]. I wouldn't want that to happen, at all. [editline]26th June 2014[/editline] [B]UPDATE[/B] The woman in the video is an actress without background in the games industry lawl. [url]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1577656602/areal/comments?cursor=7109982#comment-7109981[/url] Link: [url]http://www.acmodasi.ru/a_72149.html[/url]

lol just lol. This is such a fiasco. I can't wait to see their next update >_> What are they, trying to fool themselves or what? This thing turned out to be pretty amusing after all (and it doesn't cost us anything :zoid:) *grabs moar popcorn*

[QUOTE=LoNer1;45222875]I'm just mad at one thing: [B]Bad PR for future S.T.A.L.K.E.R. related / inspired games on KS.[/B] Things like [I]What if its the next 'AREAL'?[/I] or [I]I've seen this before[/I]. I wouldn't want that to happen, at all. [/QUOTE] Exactly. These guys are running an extremely visible scam that will leave a lot of people feeling burned and actively damage the brand we know and love.

Whats a real mystery is that all these people are real: [url]http://ua.linkedin.com/in/ekimdev[/url] [url]http://ua.linkedin.com/pub/peter-dushinsky/2a/956/244?trk=pub-pbmap[/url] [url]http://ua.linkedin.com/pub/yuriy-negrobov/49/431/683?trk=pub-pbmap[/url] [url]http://ua.linkedin.com/pub/igor-buryak/80/481/255?trk=pub-pbmap[/url] [url]http://ua.linkedin.com/pub/jes-obertyukh/50/28a/205?trk=pub-pbmap[/url] [url]http://ua.linkedin.com/pub/sergey-suzdalskiy/53/217/a3?trk=pub-pbmap[/url] [url]http://ua.linkedin.com/pub/ievgeniia-luthien-lakosnyk/37/694/12?trk=pub-pbmap[/url] Why the f they would mess up kickstarter project likes this? Who knows? And yes almost all of them worked at GSC/4A. It's not bullshit. Stock photo doesn't matter, its him. Girl is also real, yes she worked in the game industry and studied in London. Unless you fake hundreds of connections on LinkedIn these people are real.

aww yiss i got into survarium closed beta! err...why most of it is in kind of broken english?

[QUOTE=JoeSibilant;45222659]Stock image[/QUOTE] Holy shit, I can't believe this.

[QUOTE=werewolf0020;45223620]aww yiss i got into survarium closed beta! err...why most of it is in kind of broken english?[/QUOTE] Vodka? :v: [editline]26th June 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=junker154;45223656]Holy shit, I can't believe this.[/QUOTE] Its him man.... he just isn't wearing a hoodie. Take a look. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GK3baH33os[/url] Its terrible kickstarter but people are real. They did take art/videos of stalker around the web, plastered it together.... Oh no... its all her fault. ahahahahahahahahah hahahahah hahahah stop hiring rookies. And seriously Misery team get your shit together before blasting real projects and selling your "art book". Seriously guys. I can see why some people left that project. Still don't believe this "AREAL" project is going to do ANYTHING near whats promised.... with so little funding/time and team size... oh well. Remember these guys could not deliver even a proper game for GSC Game World, Grigorovich FIRED them but hes a d anyway so i'm not worried. Cheeki Breeki i guess. Also if you don't know guys about STALKER being sold to Bethesda. Its actually this - Bethesda got rights to MAKE a game, franchise is still GSC Game World's. So its still possible that Bethesda's STALKER is coming??? Maybe??? Still only confirmed by 1 guy - Sergiy Galonkin, former Nival and 1C-Softclub Ukraine Marketing Director. This guy: [url]http://galyonkin.com/en/[/url]

[QUOTE=ThaOneDon;45222537]Not really, its stolen from a book, check the Misery page.[/QUOTE] I assumed as much, but it's still kickin' rad.

[QUOTE=ThaOneDon;45222537]Not really, its stolen from a book, check the Misery page.[/QUOTE] you realize that the dev team got the rights from the author to set the game in his fiction, right? he's also responsible for the main story of the game

The video made me cringe so hard. (The one where they introduced themselves.)

Those are indeed real ex-GSC guys. I don't know why people continue to think it's a scam. I never thought it was a scam, my issue was they were being intentionally misleading about their product. [quote]And seriously Misery team get your shit together before blasting real projects and selling your "art book". Seriously guys. I can see why some people left that project.[/quote] It is a silly accusation of them to make. Questioning their ethical practice of misrepresenting their product using Stalker footage is one thing but to outright call them scammers is nonsense. How the hell is an artist going to know technical issues about the X-Ray engine? The guys making SEED are talented people, they are making a product that utilizes their skills: art and writing. I'm very proud of them for deciding to work on an original project instead of taking donations for a Misery 3, which would be ethically wrong. Misery 2 not only has original works it features work from over 30 individuals, so don't let the popularity of Misery 2 go to your damn heads, you didn't create it alone.

[QUOTE=Ownederd;45224448]you realize that the dev team got the rights from the author to set the game in his fiction, right? he's also responsible for the main story of the game[/QUOTE] Tha f, then its ok. :zoid:

Shit is about to hit the fan. Misery LTD got a notice from West Games. They are going to take legal actions against them

[QUOTE=LoNer1;45226831]They are going to take legal actions against them[/QUOTE] WG is taking legal action against Misery LTD? Why?

It happend again, I keep asking myself why. [video=youtube;UeXsOdoiRp4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeXsOdoiRp4[/video]

[QUOTE=rikimaru6811;45226865]WG is taking legal action against Misery LTD? Why?[/QUOTE] Because the recent article posted on the MDT blog was potentially libellous. (Again, not a lawyer.)