S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 - Development Continues #2

Dhruin

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Rock, Paper, Shotgun has news of a tweet from the "official Twitter account of the STALKER franchise" (although there seems to be some debate about that) that once again claims development continues:
There are legal reasons why we have not made an "official" statement. But Stalker 2 development continues
Thanks, curious.
More information.
 
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That is good news. The Stalker games are some of the best of their kind i've ever played. The atmosphere and gameplay are amazing. Fingers crossed!
 
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Legal reasons? Ugh, I hope it isn't something like EA being in the middle of negotiating to purchase the IP.
 
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I guess you may wanna deliver that line to that theme :roll:
 
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I guess you may wanna deliver that line to that theme :roll:

You nailed it. Good for you.:pThe comments just fit the theme since apparently everyone thinks EA is the big bad empire. At least they wouldn't have funding problems and can finish a game on time for once.
 
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Yeah true - but usually unfinished products don't get completed when the IP is sold, they get shelved.

My fears are completely unfounded of course, but I get worried when legal issues + financial woes get mixed in with the story about a game I want to get to play some day.
 
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You nailed it. Good for you.:pThe comments just fit the theme since apparently everyone thinks EA is the big bad empire. At least they wouldn't have funding problems and can finish a game on time for once.

Actually they are more like the Borg ;)

And as selfish as it may sound I'd rather the games stopped being made than turned to a consolized generic shooter pumping out sequels in a yearly basis…

I'd rather stay with the memories, sorry (edit: and the mods) :-/ Would stop following the franchise either way…

Yeah true - but usually unfinished products don't get completed when the IP is sold, they get shelved.

My fears are completely unfounded of course, but I get worried when legal issues + financial woes get mixed in with the story about a game I want to get to play some day.

There is that too. I do not really believe that the IP is due to be sold (otoh who can say). May be some issues with the financial state of the company and debts to the state or something (did they go bankrupt i.e)?
 
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I would see Stalker 2 go quietly in the night than see EA police the games release.
 
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Actually they are more like the Borg ;)
There is that too. I do not really believe that the IP is due to be sold (otoh who can say). May be some issues with the financial state of the company and debts to the state or something (did they go bankrupt i.e)?

I've a friend who's been a part of the dev team since before the first game was released. Last time I talked to him was about a month ago and at that time my impression was that the team decided to continue working on the game pretty much as volunteers, without payment or clear future perspectives. They were hoping to find a new investor sometime soon and were working on it and even had some proposals but were not completely satisfied with the terms so kept looking.

The original company doesn't exist. It's over. I'm not sure who's the owner of the IP but almost certainly it's the owner of the original company. Since his reason for closing the company was "lost interest" he shouldn't be very picky about seliing the IP. Though I don't know anything certain about the status of the IP so it's just my speculation.

What I'm pretty certain is there's no debt to the state and no financial state of the company as there's no company. Just the dev team who don't want to abandon the project. I guess their legal status is still unclear and this is the reason thay can't make official statements.
 
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Thank you very much for this information physher. Deeply appreciate it.

I am of course more concerned than ever now :-/

It is very admirable what the guys at the Dev team are doing. Have they considered crowd funding?

(Well I am sure it must have crossed their minds with all the hubub lately but I wonder if its seriously on the table and legally feasible)

I am pretty certain lots of fans would jump at the chance to help an (legit) attempt to keep the series alive and away from companies that are sure not to understand this niche and wash the IP down the drain... They certainly got one here ;)
 
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A bit of info from Alexey Sytianov that pretty much confirms what physher was saying…

About GSC

The company is frozen. It is not functioning, though Grigorovich can at any moment come back and start it all over. A part of the team is still together — some left, some got lost, but the main carcass is in place. We decided to avoid commenting on "Stalker 2" to avoid harming the project. In my opinion, the company was not closed because of any threats or bankruptcies. The studio's owner, Sergey Grigorovich, has distanced himself from game development and was not involved in "Stalker". He only financed the project. It might have been a mental burden for him. Grigorovich still has not told anyone why he did it.


About STALKER 2

As I said, we decided to keep quiet about "Stalker 2". All I can tell you is that it continues the story of "Shadow of Chernobyl" and Strelok remains the main hero. The artwork that leaked into the net after the studio was closed is real work material for the game. There are a few starting locations from the game — the beginner base. The story for "Stalker 2" was done. It was not completely fleshed out, but it was done all the way, from start to finish, with side plots. Three people: Vasilij Prorok, Ruslan Didenko, and I worked on it for half a year. Grigorovich informed the team about GSC's closure several hours before the story's presentation for the entire team. We went through with the presentation anyway, everyone liked it, there was much regret about us not been able to to implement it in a game.


Also:
About his vision

At some point, I got the vision of the game: the elements that had to be in it, what it was all about — such as life simulation. We had to fight for A-Life — no one believed in it at first. I explained my idea to Dima, we discussed it for a long time, whether it was possible, and how it could be done. He took up the cause, and we worked hard to convince Prohorov (one of STALKER's "fathers", creator of the game Metro 2033 - ed.) and the programmers that it was at all possible. In the end, A-Life became one of the game's key features. At one point, they wanted to remove the system, making the game completely linear, something like Half Life.

sheeesh :uneasy:

There are so many things I like from the guy's opinion on games and design. No wonder I like his games...
 
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I loved the original, never played the second, and hated the third. Mostly due to how easy it was to get stuck in the game with no way out on a current save due to those attacks r outbreaks by the environment (or whatever you call them where you have to hide). Also, the missions were hard to figure out and beat unlike the first where they were straight forwarded -- kill some baddies, get loot, etc.
 
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that sucks. in the hundreds upon hundreds of hours spent playing the stalker games in never once played multiplayer. still if their new game keeps them alive and has a stalker feel to it i will most likely try it despite it being a MMO.
 
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Alas I do not do MMOs. at all.

Which is probably a shame because this seems to just be Stalker after the Zone took over the world ;) (great concept)

I wish the guys all the best though and am happy that the team will be able to move on as a whole… Who knows what the future may bring…
 
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I don't do MMOs either.

This is a sad end to a great series. Hopefully the franchise gets revived in the future.
 
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