Stalker: Lost Alpha is officially 'frozen' (sounds like a polite way of saying 'dead'

Dia on 15/8/2012 at 13:27

OMG THIS IS SUCH GOOD NEWS!!! Thanks for the info & the update, Axon!

Suddenly today just got a little bit brighter. ;)

Vivian on 15/8/2012 at 13:30

Whoa, are you one of the devs? First of all, great news! Second of all, great work! Interesting that GSC were thinking about commercialising it, I can absolutely see why. People would pay for it. However, that does mean they would have to pay you, right?
Good luck with the final testing, in that case, and thanks for the info! Cheered me right up. Like Dia says.

Axon1988 on 15/8/2012 at 13:41

Sure Dia, glad I could make some fellow fans happy.
I'm sure after this whole GSC fiasco with the Southern Comfort writer and their PR stunts we all need a bit of a distraction:

I'm going to share some extra details with you people. But I do ask that you keep this confidential for now. Won't spoil anything I promise.

1. After extracting the mod it's current size is 11GB. So it's massive, and worth every little bite.
2. So much of the actual engine have been reworked that the Vanilla executable for Shoc won't work for Lost Alpha.
3. It's unlike any other mod, although in some ways it does remind me of Priboi story, except with less weapons and more explorable space.
4. That's right, maps are huge! Vastly different from vanilla and they feel more alive, but not over crowded. You're still a lone gunslinger causing mayhem.
5. Though this time causing mayhem is not as easy as pulling the trigger, factions don't always attack on sight. There are hidden traps around every corner and what NPC's tell you should not be taken lightly.
6. There are so many more things to consider before leaving the safety of a base and going into the wild. Ammo is rare, weapons are abundant but without bullets useless. Armor is extremely expensive and there are gas pockets where gasmasks are a must.
7. The story is great, deep and has some funky twists in it.
8. The NPP... is crazy. It's a battleground. It's hell in the zone.

I wish I could give more details. Maybe I'll share a bit about my testing so far:
I'm currently on the third map in the game, if you follow the story. And I just can't get enough. Been spending almost 12 RL hours on this map and I haven't yet thought about leaving. Even though it is a map we all know and love. ;) <- Regarding this last statement, even though some maps might seem like you know them, be warned they really are not the same at all.

*EDIT*

Nope I'm not one of the Devs. I am a software tester for another company who's very much in love with the Stalker lore and really raced at the chance to test Lost Alpha. Though funny enough I'm not the only South African testing this out. One of the head developers is actually also from here. Which makes this mod even bigger for me. Been on TTLG stalker forums for a couple of years and after almost a year of not coming on I decided to check it out today. I'm glad you are all aware of Lost Alpha.

I might have some sad news: It looks like we won't reach our September deadline, unless it all runs smoothly from here on (never does). Though the dev team is working around the clock to fix whatever bugs or errors we come up with. We're getting updates every day now.

faetal on 15/8/2012 at 14:29

Better late than full of bugs.

Vivian on 15/8/2012 at 14:56

That does sound fucking amazing though.

june gloom on 15/8/2012 at 17:52

Wait what's this about the Southern Comfort writer?

Because Southern Comfort was terrible.

Vivian on 15/8/2012 at 18:46

If they are talking about the film Southern Comfort, it was written by Walter Hill and David Giler, AKA the people who made Alien good and who should have really been contracted to fish Prometheus out of Damon Lindelof's nutsack. They do good, naturalistic dialogue. Well, they can do.

june gloom on 15/8/2012 at 18:50

No. They're talking about this:

(http://www.amazon.com/S-T-A-L-K-E-R-Southern-Comfort-John-Mason/dp/1466220724)

It's a genuinely awful book. I didn't get past maybe 30 pages. I read a lot of nerd shit like certain 40k books on the good side and the old Doom novels on the bad, and I even suffered through the MGS novelization, but Southern Comfort was totally just a fanfic with a fancy cover. Typos, grammar mistakes, and just plain uninteresting writing and characters, the works. It was aaaaawwwfuuuul.

Vivian on 15/8/2012 at 18:57

the cover art being a screenshot is not the best sign, I must admit. He's not even... what is that, the Berill? He's not even wearing decent armour, the dickhead.

Axon1988 on 16/8/2012 at 06:38

Quote Posted by dethtoll

Yeah that's the one, he's also released a sequel apparently. Well there's been a lot of public bickering between him and GSC. They want Royalties he promised them. He tells them there was no such agreement. You know, the usual.
They've also let a lot of people go behind the scenes. That CEO of GSC doesn't have a FPS department any more. He's only working on his RTS games now. And looks like recently he became desperate for more cash that's why he's only complaining about the Southern comfort royalties.

Also GSC now have a official Book Department. Tracking books with the Stalker universe in them. They also released their own book now, which is apparently even worse then Southern Comfort.
Glad I never bought that.