This interview with Anton Bolshakov of GSC Gameworld looks at this history of the company, the inspirations for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the nature and mythology of Chernobyl, and the development of the “A-Life” living world system found in the game.
I originally conducted this interview earlier this year as research for a feature on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. commissioned by PC Gamer UK (click through to read it in full). Although I was pleased with the final, published draft, little of the material from the interview was used, and so I’m republishing it in full here.
RPS: Can you tell me a little about the background of GSC as a company?
Bolshakov: The company was originally formed in 1995 in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. From 1997 we got down to computer games development and forming the team. At this point there started the development of a historical real-time strategy, Cossacks: European Wars, which was released worldwide in late 2000 and sold over four million copies to date.
This was an amazing success for our start-up company, especially taking into account that the main work on the project was made by a team of four. Cossacks served a start to a whole lineup of historic strategy games with over ten projects released in it. In 2005 the full-fledged sequel to Cossacks, named Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars, was released. Additionally, we were behind the strategies Alexander (Oliver Stone’s movie tie-in) and Heroes of Annihilated Empires (self-published worldwide).
Our second, top-priority direction was 3D action games. In year 2000 there started the development of Oblivion Lost, subsequently named S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. We set our mark very high – the game ought to be the best in everything. We targeted creating the best engine, attaining realistic graphics, developing innovative concepts and delivering innovations to the genre.
It took us seven long years to develop and despite all the difficulties, the game came out and was praised by journalists and players. We expect a similar commercial success as with Cossacks.
At the moment sixty people work within the company. It is a very solid and professional team. Now, inspired by the success of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. we work on the development of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. world and the next projects in the series.
RPS: How did the idea for the Stalker project originally come about?
Bolshakov: Splinters of Soviet Empire are plentiful in Ukraine – forgotten productions, catacombs, neglected military facilities and so on. Even our office is located at an ex-military factory with no more active production. When walking around such areas you can’t but think how the time froze at this place of man-made catastrophe. Logically, it struck us as a cool game setting to explore.
Next, the Soviet system was sealed, many facts were kept secret, so even the most harmless objectives or events generated unbelievable rumors and legends. For example, it is still not determined what exactly caused the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Power Plant. The official version claims the regular testing went out of control, however some say CNPP served a battery for secret laboratories, so what happened is an overload during one of the experiments being held. Another example is an existing gigantic antenna located within the Chernobyl exclusion zone. [The “brain scorcher” of the game – RPS]. On some of our photos taken during the trip to Chernobyl, the body of the antenna is seen on the horizon spanning several hundred meters across. As some unofficial sources claim, the waves emitted by the antenna were psycho-active. The antenna was directed onto Western Europe and preoccupied with a long-lasting military experiment on psychotropic influence onto human psyche. Similar examples can be found in batches. It was around this sort of experiments and theories that the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. story was evolving. We’ve got room for both conspiracy theory and the opposition of special services. Our game sort of expands onto what could have happened in reality. It’s a story about a post-apocalyptic world with its own tragedies, heroes and laws.
After that, [our inspiration] was the accident in Chernobyl itself. A murky and terrifying example for mankind of thoughtless use of high technologies.
Living among this all, we came up with the idea of the Zone and s.t.a.l.k.e.r.s. living within. Then we generated the idea of A-life which controls all the characters in the Zone and makes the world a living-and-breathing one. When all these components were imagined together, we realized it was going to be an amazing game concept.
RPS: How important was the book ‘Roadside Picnic’ and the film ‘Stalker’ to the development of your game?
Bolshakov: As important as an inspiration can be. We are old fans of Strugatsky brothers’ creations, however the game in no way repeats the book or the movie. We created our own game world, story, characters and so on, so considering S.T.A.L.K.E.R. an adaptation of the “Roadside Picnic” and “Stalker” movie would be wrong.
RPS: Can you explain a little bit about the decision to set the game within the Chernobyl zone?
Bolshakov: The accident in Chernobyl of 1986 is one of the black pages in the history of Ukraine. When it happened, the entire world was alarmed by the radioactive contamination danger. Unfortunately, many facts about the accident and its consequences were concealed by the USSR government. As time passes, people start forgetting about the accident and the related problems which Ukraine has to cope with, now virtually independently. So, for several reasons Chernobyl has been a very unique and an amazing game concept: global public awareness of the setting, mysteriousness of the place, radioactivity dangers, talks about mutations – all combines into a solid concept of a horror-filled atmospheric shooter. The motif behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was to create a game which would remind people of the Chernobyl accident and at the same time warn mankind against any possible fatal mistakes in the future.
RPS: Do you think that the existence of the Chernobyl has helped to create a more authentic game than you might otherwise have produced?
I think Chernobyl was very important to create the kind of environment, architecture and other details S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is particularly known-for. Ruins of old Soviet industrial complexes, blocks of flats, military and civil facilities, vehicles and so on are still plentiful around ex-USSR. However, those traces of old empire can hardly be felt as keen and striking as in the Chernobyl zone. To me it’s living history, as life has been still there for over twenty years now, ending back in USSR times. It was only after visiting Chernobyl that we were able to render the atmosphere of true post-apocalyptic Soviet world which we intended to deliver.
RPS: How did the idea for the Stalker concept change over time? How did THQ influence its outcome?
Until year 2002 the initial concept (back then the project was called simply Oblivion Lost) was oriented on fifteen linear levels, similarly to classic adventure shooters. An anomalous Half-Life, if you like. However in spring-summer 2002 the concept got drastically changed and Chernobyl was made the center of the game. We decided to implement a huge world of the 30-square-kilometer zone around the Chernobyl Power Plant, split it into locations and use a feature nobody ever used in shooters – life simulation. We had a very strong concept to go in line with our robust engine. It was a concept which, in our estimations, would remain relevant and innovative even after a decade.
Then in 2004 there was one more change to the concept when we rejected the fully “A-Life”-driven game without the story and obligatory tasks, where any [NPC] s.t.a.l.k.e.r. could complete the game ahead of the player. When we had assembled a playable prototype we realized that such a concept would barely be understandable to the players. It was either too much or too little of gameplay content, while everything was under the control of A-Life. It was frequent that the players didn’t understand what to do next. Such a concept required considerable improvement and a search for a form both understandable and involving to the players. In May 2005 such a solution was found – we placed the storyline within the A-Life world. It is this very concept that you can see in the game today.
We started working closely with THQ’s Producer Dean Sharpe in early 2006. I respect Dean’s professionalism: when he joined the project he understood that drastic changes to the game at this development stage may completely ruin all the deadlines. Therefore, we focused on finalising the current concept and the features which worked 100%. Some of the features were cut from the game or put aside for the next iterations. We concentrated on polishing up the gameplay, balance, difficulty levels…
RPS: So what were the biggest problems you faced during development?
Bolshakov: There were many tough elements to do, however hardly any of those compares to the AI system implemented in the game. Despite all the bottlenecks, however, the AI done is neat and dynamic. A-Life, as part of the general AI, proved one of the most challenging, of course. At some points we even thought the A-Life was just impossible to do. However, it’s there and now the A-Life can happily control a huge number of characters in the Zone, their traveling, life cycles. The A-life is responsible for creating background events, so as multitude of secondary tasks.
Also, combining the storyline contents with A-Life part wasn’t a trivial job. The thing is, all the story events must be played-through and experienced by the player, but A-Life is a totally dynamic system constantly in motion. We managed to find an elegant solution where the story tasks are put inside the A-Life world, however until the player has interacted with the former, no A-Life events could be happening in the area. Once the player has accomplished his quest, the A-life gradually fills up the spot previously inaccessible to the system. Hence, when you come back to the level previously completed, each time you will find a new A-Life-driven playthrough and new secondary missions.
RPS: And this A-Life/story hybrid is what you are most proud of?
Bolshakov: We are proud to have been able to implement the ideas of a huge living-and-breathing world where the player obtains a great deal of freedom; he is not limited by shooter-standard corridor limits; the player can act at his will and see how the outer world reacts to his doings. We are very glad we managed to implement the unusual mix of FPS and RPG, integrating the elements of stealth, horror, so as provide a unique playthrough to each of the players. This what makes S.T.A.L.K.E.R., undoubtedly, stand out from the rest. It should be noted, the ideas of A-Life, AI independent of the player bear great potential for the future development.
RPS: Will GSC be attempting another project of similar ambition in the future?
Bolshakov: The experience gained while developing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is hard to underestimate. We have learned a lot, made a lot of trial and error – it was an excellent school training for the team. Now we are a solid and professional team. And we already have such an ambitious project in mind – it’s going to be S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2!
We’re aiming to discuss the possibilities of a sequel, GSC’s independent status, and the forth-coming expandalone for S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Clear Sky, in the next couple of weeks.
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I really enjoyed Stalker, as well. It had frantic corridor fights and nice open field fights giving much variety. I played CoD 4 right afterward and just couldn’t enjoy it as much as others apparently do since it was so clearly on rails versus the freedom in Stalker.
My main complaint about stalker is that I had problems with the weight limit. But I have those in most games, especially in Morrowind and Oblivion (though you can just level up strength in them to alleviate the problem), because I am a huge packrat. I wanted to carry as much ammo as there was in the world for the fear that I would run into, and have to fight, mutants who wouldn’t restock my ammo. And I certainly didn’t want to run out of ammo in the dangerous wilderness. Luckily, this was alleviated by modding my weight capacity. (Though I quickly filled up my 90 kilo limit.)
Also, this article is a lot more fun if you read the responses in an over the top soviet accent.
Favorite stalker moment:
I was trying to get around that bandit outpost in garbage that sits right next to the road. I was doing my best to sneak without getting to close to the annomalies and the radioactive pool, when I heard shots behind me. Certain of my own doom I spin around, draw my pistol, and before I can get a shot off at the bandit scout, the wind picks up, and the bandit is blown off his feet, and is then carried upwards in the air, screaming and helpless. He spirals upwards to about twenty feet, and all the sudden he freezes. A second later the anomally seems to collapse in on itself, along with the bandit, and the ensuing explosion sends what appears to be a peice of an arm hurtling by my head. The pointman had been killed before the other bandits were alerted, and I am momentarily safe due to a freak accident. You were never entirely in control in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. That was a feeling I don’t think any other game has quite captured; helplessness.
I’d tend to agree with Will Thomas on Stalker. It’s a very good game, a unique, atmospheric experience.
But the one thing stopping me from going back to it is a lack of an auto-walk button. Seriously, my middle finger feels like it’ll fall off after playing this game for more than 20 minutes.
I was thinking about the comparisons between this and Oblivion (oh, thanks for the Float32 help Zeh!), and thought I’d weigh-in.
I hated Oblivion, but not for any … well, it’s part preference, part bad design. To sum before I go on for 20 minutes, the opening (’training’) level was really the only part of the game I enjoyed. I was fully expecting A.D.O.M. the FPS RPG. Instead, I got a huge world, full of.. best-armour-in-the-game clad bandits (due to the levelling), a levelling system that required you to NOT choose skills you wanted as your primary (try playing with Stealth as a primary skill…), and more nameless guards than actual people in the game. I remember how absolutely barren the world felt. I also remember how indignant I became after putting (literally) 47 arrows into a wolf, which then killed me.
The game just had so many game shattering faults I couldn’t do it. It was the 3rd game I owned I didn’t beat, and the first not due to my computer crashing.
To compare that to Stalker, every NPC in the game can say something interesting. They all feel different — from Vitya Snot (nice name..) to Ilya Kovalek (or Kovalchuk as I call him), there’s at least a pretend difference. And the guards felt like people, not (whatever the Oblivion capital was) Guard Number 37.
The main draw of Stalker, for me, was the ability to, literally, do whatever the fuck I wanted. I was never at any point completely and utterly incapable of trying what i wanted (I could very well fail, but I at least had a go at it.) If I wanted to kill every single human being I ever saw, I could (except possibly the Barman, I can’t recall if I tried.. although I must have, I try to break games). The only real problem I had was the inability to actually join Duty or Freedom (or: SPOILER-YOU’VE-BEEN-WARNED Monolith)/SPOILER.
From what little I’ve gleaned of Clear Sky/Whatever the patch was called, I might be playing Stalker for years. I’m already on my second playthrough, and I wouldn’t even consider beating Half-Life 2 or (for the first time) Oblivion. Neither game had any one part, or any aspect, that made me want to repeat it.
I love this game. It’s insane. So many crazy moments stand out, where all hell breaks loose, and you are, quite literally, fighting for your life. The train depot outpost in Garbage drew me into a firefight almost everytime i passed through the area, and it got to the point where there were soooo many bandit bodies blocking the exit, newcomers were getting stuck in the gates, hahaha. also, watching a lone stalker being chased by a dog, i thought “i’m going to give him a hand” and i’d not taken two steps when WHOOSH!! Dog and Stalker both sucked up into an anomaly i’d not spotted and exploded in a shower of body parts. wish i’d had a webcam for my expression right then…
And finally, sitting round a campfire enjoying vodka witha few NPC Stalkers at the Cordon exit when a gang of bandits spawned in the entrance, and a HUGE firefight kicked off, the stalkers took totally by surprise resulted in only one survivor-me.
Also, it saddened me when NPC’s i’d met repeatedly turned up a corpse on returning to an area, or finding them dead in a different area (which is most unsettling-these guys actually move areas?) Happily though, there’s a mod that allows you to fix this problem by selling NPC’s better guns and more ammo. Now the bandits are on the retreat, hehehe…
You can find it and other useful mods (artifact balancing, better interface, coloured flashlights, etc. over here:
http://stalker.filefront.com/files/Stalker/Mods/Singleplayer/;3788?sort=rating&order_in=desc&limit=50&descriptions_in=1&summary_in=0#files
enjoy, comrades…
Damn, thank’s for that mod! I kind of understood why they wouldn’t buy some weapons, but if I offer a guy with a pistol an AK74 (and ammo), you’d think they would accept.
I’ve been replaying Stalker lately and just had some great experiences. Sometimes, the stuff is clearly scripted but still…
(Minor Spoiler)
I was out scoping out a building full of bandits, looking for a better way in than the one the game hands you on a silver platter, and noticed a yellow dot (neutral NPC) in a building across the street along with a cluster of dead bodies. It just so happens to be a big storm outside and right as I go inside the building lightning flashes. Heart rate definitely jumped there. I find the pile of bodies with one guy wounded but alive, and then the roar of a bloodsucker behind me. Thank god for the plentiful NATO ammo, because I wasted a ton. I saved the guy too, so I felt good afterwards.
In the same section I found a really cool thing that just doesn’t seem to be present in other games. Borov’s office is chock-full of locked lockers, cabinets, drawers etc. I get pissed at finding every thing locked, and so I shoot a drawer thing. It swings open, so of course I proceed to shoot out all the locks. Was very satisfying to pop open some guys desk with his own pistol.
I saw A-Life in action more than once too, though I think it was in a mod so some of the stock game’s restrictions may have been lifted. I go up to the collapsed bridge (military held) to find some private rushing at me crazy as hell guns blazing, rather than the cool sergeant asking for a bribe. I pop him in the head and walk past to find everyone else in the little roadblock, along with a good ten bandits dead.
I disagree with whoever said characters die too easily. Finding my old Cordon buddy Wolf headfirst in a fire pissed me off, I ended up killing everyone there the first time I found him I think. And the times I’ve seen Nimble die were frustrating. Once killed by his hostage-takers, another time to soldiers, etc…. I felt bad about leaving “The Dutyer” behind in Borov’s warehouse, but one look at the number on the compass that told me there were still a dozen bandits in there and I ran for it (and this is after I promised him I’d get him out, talking through a cell window)… That the characters *can* die, that they are no better than you, said a lot to me. Whereas watching Alyx get taken out by a lone hunter when I’ve seen her survive thousands of combine AR rounds, zombie swipes, etc…. It just seems too fake compared to how easily characters in Stalker fall.
“That the characters *can* die, that they are no better than you, said a lot to me. Whereas watching Alyx get taken out by a lone hunter when I’ve seen her survive thousands of combine AR rounds, zombie swipes, etc…. It just seems too fake compared to how easily characters in Stalker fall.”
That’s a really good point, I actually reloaded that (Half-Life) scene because I couldn’t understand how I can force her to solo two of those things (I was hiding in a way that made it so she had to fight – what can I say, I like my ammo), it was.. kind of disappointing that she’s useless and can’t fight for shit rather abruptly. Hell, until I went about finding out (read: fucking her over) I didn’t even know she COULD die – she has retarded amounts of health.
(In Stalker) Whenever I find an NPC I was amused with dead, I pretty much rampage about the area killing anything that may have done it.
I’m also a little surprised no-one has mentioned the A-Life of the Dogs in stalker. They can be found, quite often, pulling corpses off of roads — and if you approach and there’s a group of them, they’ll attack. If it’s one dog, it’ll run away. I’ve never seen another game that didn’t either have suicidal-rush A.I., or never-move-from-behind-cover A.I.
On Alyx: I didn’t know she could die either until I let her fight off the entire zombie horde while waiting for the elevator in Ep1. Never had her die before or since then, I think. Even then, she did rather well…
Oh yes, those dogs… How I hate them. Though watching a three-way battle between some loners, some bandits, and a pack of dogs was very entertaining. It’s really hard to tell sometimes what is scripted and what is not in Stalker.
One of my favorite things I think is how there is no “XP”. You do side things and the missions because you want to, not because you need that last bit of XP. You pull up your map and notice a stash nearby, and you just go for it, not knowing if it’ll have some bandages and food or mint condition armor. The game feels so real, especially if you have mods to make it more difficult. This is the first game I’ve ever really planned out each excursion for, the first game where I get really into the atmosphere and experience. And now I’m going back in to make the run to Lake Yantar.
I already have my next playthrough planned. Just going to see what happens if I don’t do what everyone tells me to do. Every time I’ve played I’ve done basically what you’re ’supposed’ to do… For example, that scientist being attacked by mercs can just fend for himself, I think.
I liked it, but I never fell in love with this game the same way that I did Half-Life 2 or Oblivion, despite completing it. I agree that the atmosphere was fantastic, and it certainly had some great moments, some A-Life inspired, some not, but ultimately it just didn’t have enough to keep me wanting to play it. Too much treking, too little to buy, and not enough variation in the characters to give me anyone to be interested in (except, tangentially, the story of Strelock, [SPOILER] although I found the twist to be fairly obvious – not really a spoiler but some people get antsy about such things…[/SPOILER]).
Good, and certainly unique, but it didn’t do enough to make itself feel consistently fun and surprising (I know, the setting didn’t really allow it, nor was it supposed to), but it was an “I’m glad I played that” rather than an “I desperately love this game.”