For many people S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – more than a game. More than 12 years have passed since the release of the first part, but fans are returning to this universe again and again. However, not everyone knows what kind of production hell at one time had to go through GSC Game World studios. Today we will tell you how the legendary franchise was created.
It all started with Olesya Shishkovtsova and Alexandra Maksimchuk – programmers who came for an interview in Gsc game world together with X ray, its engine for video games. Sergey liked the new technology very much, but at first it was decided to use it to create real-time strategies. Work began immediately on two projects: Pilgrimswhere the elements of the shooter were combined with mass battles, and Commandos. Later, both projects were canceled, and instead the studio switched to Oblivion lost, first person shooter.
In the original version of the plot Oblivion lost was supposed to tell about a new way of moving in space through tunnels connecting planets. The soldiers from the elite group “Rangers”, including the player’s character, had to explore new worlds and find out if they are suitable for humanity.
In early 2002, one of the developers recalls the novel “Roadside Picnic”, which the studio wanted to use back in the days of development Venom: Codename Outbreak. Shishkovtsov picks up the idea, proposing to adjust the plot so that instead of the aliens, the accident at a nuclear power plant appears in it. It was proposed to transfer the action to the Crimea, and to make the Crimean NPP the center of the Zone.
Sergey Grigorovich gives an indication Sergey Karmalsky, the leading game designer of the studio, about creating a trial level, and programmers – to prepare a demo based on it. During this period, a location is being developed, which will later be known as Cordon. On this old version of Cordon, the boiler room and the Rostok plant are modeled. Weapons like HPSA (Browning) and a knife appear.
A little later, he decided to change the name of the game to Stalker, but because of the difficulties with copyright, you have to put dots between the letters, turning it into a kind of abbreviation. Collocation Oblivion lost, the promotion of which has already been spent a lot of resources, becomes a subheading.
Game designer Alexey Sytyanov favors an open world with free exploration and a non-linear plot. The studio is thinking about a two-week trip to the Crimea to collect materials. In such trips, which are often carried out during the development of games, the team collects materials on which the textures of buildings and landscape will be modeled later. In addition, developers receive inspiration and the necessary impressions to create the right atmosphere of the game.
However, this journey was not destined to happen. A few days before the trip, Grigorovich saw a program about the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. He comes up with the idea to transfer everything to the real Zone. It is worth saying that not all team members were enthusiastic about the idea. As one of the developers will later say: “Somehow dumb to arrange dances on bones. A lot of people died there, but how much health they lost, at home … It’s better not to touch Pripyat, it’s bad ”. Nevertheless, Grigorovich insists on his own. Work begins on that look “Stalker“Which is so familiar to all of us.
Chernobyl, or there and back
April 2002 Instead of a Crimean trip, it is proposed to go to the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Developers go on a trip on Sergey’s SUV. In the car are game designers Prokhorov, Karmalsky, Sytyanov and, in fact, Grigorovich himself.
The team faces the first problem at the Dityatka checkpoint, where they refuse to allow it because of the lack of appropriate passes. Grigorovich even tries to bribe a duty officer by inventing a legend about his mother allegedly living in Chernobyl, but the guard is impregnable. Igrodelov have to turn back, after which the studio PR manager Oleg Yavorsky entrusted to issue a pass.
Having received official permission this time, the team once again sent off and sent to Chernobyl. In the second journey, they are accompanied by a guide Rimma Kiselitsa. The trip turned out to be important, even extremely important, since the impressions of the developers received in the exclusion zone directly affected the creation of locations and an oppressive atmosphere of the game.
“We are approaching an abandoned village. Along the road are rotten fallen power poles. We are surrounded by overgrown, half-rotten huts. We go out to shoot the material, and we are warned that until we put on overalls and shoes we must not leave the asphalt road, otherwise you can pick up “dirt” from grass or plants. “Mud” here refers to radioactive foci and when they say “dirty car” they mean that it is heavily irradiated … The village makes a depressing impression on us.
[…]
11:10. The sun is baking. We are driving along a road surrounded by an impenetrable forest on all sides. Rimma tells how immediately after the accident they started cutting down the irradiated “red” forest near the nuclear power plant. In the turmoil, chopped trees began to be buried in the ground. As it turned out, it was much worse than if the forest remained standing. Buried “dirty” trees were close to underwater and radiation could get into drinking water. We are also told the first signs of radiation: if a bitter metallic taste appeared in the mouth, then we urgently need to leave the irradiated area. The next stages will be headaches and nausea. “
From notes from the official site Gsc game world
After the forest, the team was led to a field covered by endless rows of irradiated equipment. Residents of Pripyat were evacuated on abandoned lorries, cars, buses, and even cargo helicopters. The most infected equipment with bulldozers was buried at great depths, dumping into an open reactor blocks of radioactive graphite that was thrown out during the explosion.
Both the equipment cemetery in the village of Rassokha and the Red Forest later appear in the game. Here is what Grigorovich himself says about the trip: “Everything that we saw there and that seemed special, we fully implemented in the game. The size of a fish swimming in a cooling pond struck me as a memory. She was simply swarming there and was gigantic. These catfish were very large. Maybe in nature there are such – about five meters long and with huge heads – but I have never seen them. And there they swam in large numbers, just like a herring aground. A huge catfish emerged, swallowed half a loaf of “brick” bread and dived back into the water. ”
Upon returning from Chernobyl, the developers began to work hard: the artists made the first sketches of opponents and characters, the modelers created many new objects, including zombies, blind dogs, reconnaissance probes and mutant rats. Then begins the development of one of the key features of the game – AI.
By the beginning of April Gsc game world officially announces the change of the concept of the game to “Chernobyl”. A new name appears in the announcement trailer – S.T.A.L.K.E.R .: Oblivion Lost.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R .: Oblivion Lost, 2002
2002 was busy in terms of developing locations. At the end of April, the creation of such places as “Cordon”, “Research Institute“ Agroprom ”is completed, work begins on the Rostok plant, inspired by the plant of the same name in Kiev – it was this place that was rented as an office Gsc game world. Subsequently, the location was cut from the plot of the game, however, one of the multiplayer maps was made on its basis. In parallel with this, developers are engaged in another large location – Dead City. An abandoned town with a monument to Lenin in the central square, shops and ruined five-story buildings, unfortunately, did not enter either as a plot place or as a map for multiplayer.
Active work is underway on the code. The development kit (SDK) is being finalized, and the AI, called A-Life, is gradually turning into an extremely complex system. Better remember this name. Further during the advertising campaign Gsc will emphasize A-Life.
Oblivion Lost, 2002-2003
The essence of A-Life was to fully simulate the life of non-player characters in the game. Not simple scripted actions were meant, but the full development of NPC. For example, a stalker once met by a player during the next interaction could change his attitude or even become a member of some group that had to appear and break up on its own from time to time. At night, the mutants had to become especially dangerous, so the player had a choice – to look for a safe location or still fight with them. Moreover, the wounded enemies at the next meeting had to remember the player, thereby becoming a serious threat.
Basis Gsc took Open Dynamics Engine open source, adapting the engine to the desired requirements. To visualize a realistic fall of bodies, a ragdoll was used, transport physics was implemented, and the team paid special attention to ballistics of bullets and the reaction of objects to the player (things are very new for those times).
The advertising campaign begins. In 2002 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was shown on E3 and Games conventionin 2003 Gsc participates in Game Developers Conference in USA. Simultaneously Sergey Grigorovich looking for a game from a foreign publisher. Giants such as Ubisoft, Vivendi, Activision, Eidos and Thq. Sergey makes a choice in favor of the latter.
Shadow of Chernobyl, 2003-2007
With the advent of the publisher, the name of the game is changing. For changing Oblivion lost another subtitle comes – Shadow of Chernobyl (“The shadow of Chernobyl”). The approximate release date of the project is also approved – mid-2004. However, soon the release date is delayed for 2005. The press immediately points out several possible reasons, but the main one becomes: fears Thqthat appointed for the same year Half-life 2 from Valve could interfere with good sales. Of course, the real reason was not at all in this, but unpleasant details will be revealed only after two years.
Meanwhile, the advertising campaign was underway, not at all planning to stop. By 2004, the game, you can say, gathers around itself already full-fledged fans waiting for new news, screenshots and video with gameplay. In July 2004, the Stalker was carried over to May 2005. Oleg Yavorsky, the head of the PR department, publishes a statement where, as a reason for the delay, he indicates the need to finalize the A-Life system.
In February 2005 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. postponed for an “indefinite period”, and in October the release date is indicated “not earlier than October 2006.” What caused the constant transfers?
Development problems
According to words Dina sharpaappointed by management Thq To supervise the project, things weren’t wondered literally from the very beginning. GscIn an effort to attract maximum attention, she chose tactics Peter Molyneuxpromising a bunch of everything and overestimating their own strengths. At that time, developers simply could not realize many features of A-Life. Sharp’s words are echoed by Yavorsky: “Putting all the elements together, we realized that this does not work. Development has become a painstaking process of trial and error, a naive and constant redesign ”.
Or destroyed the dream game – it’s more convenient for you
The publisher did not like this layout, and Thqthreatening to stop payments, she lowered the schedule, which in Gsc strictly had to adhere. Subsequently, many elements of the game … just were. Others were less fortunate: most of the features of A-Life were unfulfilled or removed; whole locations, monsters and many functions went under the knife. For example, the ability to control machines was removed. Plus, there have been massive reductions in Gsc.
In 2006 Gsc Shishkovtsov, Maksimchuk, Tkachenko and Prokhorov leave to open their own studio – 4A games (series of games Metro 2033)
2007 release
Cutting out many elements Gsc miraculously manages to go to optimization and beta test – the last stages of game development. Finally, the release date was announced – March 2007.
However, the unexpected happened: the completed version of the game somehow leaks onto the Internet, giving many the opportunity to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. before the official release. The publisher and the developers are actively trying to find the source of the leak, but this is not possible. Finally, on March 20, 2007, the game arrives both on store shelves and in the hands of gamers.
This is the game we know and love.
Addons
Release date S.T.A.L.K.E.R .: “Clear Sky” Held in August 2008 Work experience with Thq was taken into account, and this time acted as a foreign publisher Deep silver. The developers have significantly improved the engine. For example, support has been added for all the goodies that come with the DirectX10 API like volumetric smoke and light. An attempt was also made to improve A-Life, side quests and existing locations, for example, “Swamps”, where the game begins, were finalized. We did not forget about dynamic music along with new maps for multiplayer.
“Call of Pripyat” went on sale October 2, 2009. This time Gsc concluded an agreement with Russian 1Cin order to promote games in Russia and the CIS countries. During the creation, the developers went to Pripyat, where they explored the city marina and the Pripyat cafe, visited kindergarten, numerous shops and the local police station, so the new eastern part of the city was created in incredible detail in the game. The developers even thought about re-creating the whole of Pripyat, however, for a number of reasons they abandoned the idea. After the release of the first part, many users complained about bugs, so this time Gsc approached the matter very responsibly. Only for the final testing was allocated $ 500,000.
Announcement of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, 2010-2011
Official announcement S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 held in mid-2010. In a press release, the studio announced the complete remaking of its own engine, and Chernobyl, Chernobyl-2, the over-the-horizon radar station (ZGRLS) Duga, and Chernobyl itself were confirmed from the locations. In addition, the developers reported a completely seamless world, that is, there should not be loading screens between locations.
December 9, 2011, fans of the universe were struck by the unexpected news that Sergey Grigorovich decided to cancel the game and close Gsc. The head of the studio at that time did not explain the reasons for such a decision, only referring to certain personal problems. In an old interview given during the creation of the first part, he said: “Development is an exhausting process. You can’t do this all your life. I have been wanting to retire for so long. ”
We recall that the founder of GSC spoke about the continuation of Stalker less than a year ago
In the 2017 book “Chernobyl Zone through the Eyes of a Stalker”, he commented on the cessation of his activities in the development of games: “For twenty years I’m tired of doing game projects, any. Including publishing, parallel business, publishing books and so on. That is, this is all the mass of projects, and the most diverse. I am busy from morning till night. ”
Closure and rebirth
In 2011, employees from closed Gsc move to other studios. Someone goes to 4A games develop games series Metro 2033, others find a spot in 2012 Vostok games. For example, they went there Oleg Yavorsky, re-occupying the chair of the head of the PR department, and game designer Alexey Sytyanov. The first project of the newly made studio was a shooter Survarium, which reflected many of the ideas from the second part “Stalker“.
At the end of 2014 Gsc suddenly resumes activities, but now at the head of the studio becomes Evgeny Grigorovich, brother of Sergey. May 2018 Sergey Grigorovich announces again S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The estimated release date is 2023. To date, the developers have not shown anything but a model of the loaf.
