Falling Out

Anton Bolshakov, project lead on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, laughs sternly at the question. How exactly did Ukrainian developer GSC Game World feel when publisher THQ stepped in two years ago to "rescue" the shooter's development?

"All developers are dreamers by default," he says. "So having a publisher look into things helps a lot to speed things up, to move properly along a development schedule: it's very important to have this cooperation. Especially for S.T.A.L.K.E.R."

Appearing at an event in Ukraine's capital, Kiev - at least the second time the world's press has visited the developer at THQ's expense in the last three years - Bolshakov is showing the game in its final structure for the first time.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a big title, mapping the entire 30km exclusion zone around the fated Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The player takes on the role of a mercenary working within the area, collecting radioactive artefacts for sale to the outside world, and is tasked with unravelling the mystery of the Zone itself. It doesn't take much digging to find out what's taken so long.

"The original idea was to create a totally randomised game, but it took us time to realise that it's just impossible to do," says Bolshakov. "We then had two options: either we did a totally scripted game or we tried to preserve this life simulation. We found a way to combine the two elements in the right way."

Ambition, the ruin of many a great game, has been checked by the increased involvement of GSC's publisher. The developer's "A-Life" system - a piece of AI code which governs the movement and behaviour of over 1,000 individual monsters and humans in the play-area - has now been trimmed down and fitted into a story-led whole.

"This feature has never been done before in a game," Bolshakov adds. "It took a lot of experimentation. This, of course, caused the delay for the game's release. It's a critical feature."

It sounds like common sense arrived in the nick of time. THQ basically saved GSC from a grandiosity-induced demise. It's not specifically spelled out, and the company does have other projects in the bank - it released fantasy RTS title Heroes of Annihilated Empires only this month - but Bolshakov's under no illusion that a project of the size and complexity of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. could have easily spelled the end for the Ukrainian outfit if it span off course.

He wears the mocking expression of a politician when we ask whether or not THQ's involvement was essential to GSC's "survival".

"The time when development here was cheap is now gone, so our budgets for development are now comparable to European or American budgets," he says. "For any developer it's important to have a big, well-established partner like THQ to work with. Including us."

"Unique positioning"

The original release date for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was the end of 2004, but when the game failed to materialise many wrote the project off. At the time, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s graphics engine was cutting edge, and the demos shown to journalists that year were awe-inspiring.

Two years on, when the game showed up unexpectedly at Leipzig's Game Convention, the game didn't appear to be quite up to scratch with the leaders in the FPS field. The obvious question is whether or not the game can cut it in a world full of on-rails technical marvels, such as F.E.A.R. and Half-Life 2. Bolshakov simply points out that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a different game.

"We have RPG elements, communication and trade," he says. "There are seven different endings and depending on how you play you'll reach a different one. It's a pretty much open-ended game. A bunch of these features put together I think will determine a unique positioning for S.T.A.L.K.E.R."

With the game heading for a first-quarter release next year, we won't have to wait long to see if he's correct. GSC's PR manager, Valentine Yeltyshev, agrees with Bolshakov on the separation between S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the rest of the 3D action pack. He tells us that THQ's close management of the game hasn't detracted from the original vision.

"We are making the game that we understand it to be, a game that we want to play ourselves," he says. "So we're making a good game for us, for our taste."

That doesn't mean they're not nervous, though. Given they've been working on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for five years, it'd be difficult to blame them.

"It's a little bit scary for us because we're making the game that many players dream of," says Yeltyshev. "We're scared of not giving them the game they expect. We're interested in adding sounds and making a great atmosphere, so the atmosphere will be completely OK. It's outstanding.

"But there will people that will not like, for example, the gameplay, and there will be people that like it completely."

The latest changes, says Yeltyshev, will open up the game's target audience, and he admits that the idea of having a controlled storyline is now a key hook for the game.

"We've made the gameplay more active, more unpredictable, interesting, not just boring surfing through the Zone," he says. "We've implemented a great storyline that will always surprise the player with interesting turns and events."

Will S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s tale then be of a perfect relationship between an ambitious developer and a trusting publisher, the involvement of which saved the company and brought a winner to market? Here's hoping. Because GSC certainly is.

"We're planning to develop games in the future, so S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s not the end," laughs Yeltyshev.