Stalker: Clear Skies expansion!

[kiwi_2005]

Well i can say Stalker is one game i did complete, loved it even tho it had some annoying bugs. Now the Clear sky expansion is on the rise...

Anyways through my Russian uber dodgy contacts from the Men in Red they manage to slip this interview with the Devs to one of my komrades who passed it on to me

Oh for MMOG fans They are seriously considering it for Stalker.

We received quite a few questions from fansites of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and this is really great. We want to thank you for your interest in the game. In this series of answers we have decided to bend the rules a little and reply to more questions than we planned originally. First we have answered questions that have been asked several times, meaning that they are especially relevant. And so, here is the first portion of answers:

1. Will a Singleplayer SDK be released?

We really did plan to release an SDK for the singleplayer part of the game, however right now the whole team is busy with development of "Clear Sky" and cannot devote enough time to the SDK. We cannot release our tools the way they currently are, since they are meant for internal use and would be extremely complicated for other people. So, the answer is - certainly not at this time, but maybe sometime later.

2. Will there be S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Online?

We do not quite understand what you mean by "online". If it is the cooperative mode, then no, there will be none. Even at the time of development of the first part of the game we said that a cooperative mode is impossible, since Life Simulation would be different at each computer. Synchronizing it would be practically not doable. If you mean an MMOG, then we are seriously considering it.

3. Will there be support for DX8, or only DX9 and DX10?

Yes, we leave support for the DX8 renderer, which will let users of weaker machines into the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The game allows sufficiently flexible configuration for the player's computer.

4. "Clear Sky" is based on the updated 1.5 engine. Should we expect additional optimization and improvement of performance, or only addition of new features? Will the new engine be added to the original game, are new editions planned?

The X-Ray Engine underwent fairly serious changes. Not only did it gain a set of new features, a higher level of detail, but has also been optimized quite a bit. Development of DX10 is currently going ahead full speed; it will give owners of newer video cards a better picture.

As for moving the original game to the new engine - it will not be done. "Shadow of Chernobyl" is a complete and finished game, which in future will only get patches, fixing discovered errors and improving multiplayer.

As for system requirements, some features of the game, such as volumetric light, are quite demanding and require a newer video card. Of course, as we said, the game is quite configurable.

5. Do such characters as Voronin, Lukash, Sakharov participate in the plot of "Clear Sky"?

It will not do anyone any good to uncover the plot of the game, so we will limit ourselves to a dry phrase: "the player will meet characters he knows."

Other notes:

What should you expect from the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? Of course, the new part of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s world history, the Zone and the characters within it. Gameplay will be closer to what we originally meant it to be. There will be proper factions, with possibility of joining them and playing for them, with live bases, with leaders, traders, barmen, repairmen, and unique buildings. NPCs will behave more like stalkers within the simulation, searching for artifacts, controlling territories, working together in the war of factions. There will be new concepts of artifacts and anomalies, where artifacts cannot be found without a detector, and anomalies are vast areas with harmful effects that cannot be entered or escaped without protection. There will be blowouts shaking the Zone, as well as much more.

In creation of graphical content for Clear Sky we try to strictly adhere to realism and utmost authenticity - that quality of visual style and atmosphere of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that players have liked so much. We are making the Zone even more detailed, even more spacious. While travelling new locations of the Zone, be it abandoned villages in the vast swamp areas or a narrow street in Limansk between old houses overgrown with wild grape vine, you will again experience the feeling of immersion in the atmosphere of the Zone — wild, dangerous, melancholic, and very real!

Thank you for your attention to our project, your ideas and advice, help in fixing errors... It all helps us create an excellent game and better convey the atmosphere of the Zone. See you next year...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. development team

Stalker Clear Sky
http://www.stalker-game.com/clearsky/

One thing i was hoping is that they add in drivable vechicles, nothing worse having to run back through zones just to drop off your items. Maybe you could steal a vehicle at the end of the zone your in to drive back to base.