S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl devs talk

One of the few interesting bits of the rather acronymic S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl game is that it takes place in post-Chernobyl Chernobyl. Not so ironic that the devs, GSC Game World, recently showed off the game in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, home to Chernobyl. The other interesting bit about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is that the nuclear desolation hasn’t killed off all the native life, but rather created a new ecosystem altogether that the player has to survive.

Project leader Anton Bolshakov showed off the engine that runs this ecosystem, the “A-life” system (A for Atomic, Anton?), to Eurogamer during the Kiev outing. “A-Life” is meant to provide a randomized, totally unscripted ecosystem for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., governing the activities of the creatures and NPC characters that reside in the environment.

Aside from creating a dynamic game world, A-life also partners with the Random Task System that apparently provides game missions based on the creatures or NPCs that reside in a given area at the time.

If you think having to deal with a totally random, constantly changing ecosystem is a load on one’s back, try what the devs have in mind for the story. You have sixty hours to solve the mystery of the Zone, the 30km-exclusion zone around the ill-fated Chernobyl reactors. On top of that there are five false endings and two true endings. Talk about replay value – or replay commitments, for that matter!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl is expected to hit stores first quarter next year, a shorter period of time than the half-life of the uranium in nuclear reactor fuel (heehee, we made a Half-Life pun).

One of the few interesting bits of the rather acronymic S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl game is that it takes place in post-Chernobyl Chernobyl. Not so ironic that the devs, GSC Game World, recently showed off the game in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, home to Chernobyl. The other interesting bit about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is that the nuclear desolation hasn’t killed off all the native life, but rather created a new ecosystem altogether that the player has to survive.

Project leader Anton Bolshakov showed off the engine that runs this ecosystem, the “A-life” system (A for Atomic, Anton?), to Eurogamer during the Kiev outing. “A-Life” is meant to provide a randomized, totally unscripted ecosystem for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., governing the activities of the creatures and NPC characters that reside in the environment.

Aside from creating a dynamic game world, A-life also partners with the Random Task System that apparently provides game missions based on the creatures or NPCs that reside in a given area at the time.

If you think having to deal with a totally random, constantly changing ecosystem is a load on one’s back, try what the devs have in mind for the story. You have sixty hours to solve the mystery of the Zone, the 30km-exclusion zone around the ill-fated Chernobyl reactors. On top of that there are five false endings and two true endings. Talk about replay value – or replay commitments, for that matter!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl is expected to hit stores first quarter next year, a shorter period of time than the half-life of the uranium in nuclear reactor fuel (heehee, we made a Half-Life pun).