STALKER NEWS - April 15th, 2021 - Stalkers of the Zone

- More than a month has passed since our last published news report. Today we are yet again ready to share some news with you. During this month of silence from us, we had done a lot of work towards many directions. At this current stage, we still have a user interface in the works, which we hope you will enjoy, both visually and in terms of convenience of use.

The English translation for all the main mod texts was fully completed. In the future, only texts from the side quests ideas you sent us will remain to be translated—only about two dozen of which have been selected. Though, what will remain a question for now is what part(s) of them will make their appearance in the mod itself.

The development of face models for important characters is continued to be worked on, a weapon pack is in the process of work, all the while bugs found in the earlier versions are being fixed—the list of which is gradually decreasing. (Source)

After the indefinite postponement of version 1.0 for 'Dead Air', the player community had seen no contact with the developers for quite some time.

In order to reassure the community that the development's going fine, the developers decided to publish a new small report about the work done so far.

The weapons part of the mod is on its way to being finalized. The list of weapons, their features, optics and other attachments is already final. In particular, plans are to update some of the weapon models. The list consists of the MP-412, PP-19 Vityaz, OTs-02 Kiparis, vz. 61 Skorpion, and maybe even the PP-2000. There are also plans to add the SOK-94 and the IZH-18 in two variants, which will be chambered in different calibers. But despite these two new additions, the assortment of weapons have been significantly reduced - near-identical copies of certain weapons have been removed, while all automatic pistols and most heavy weapons have been cut. Every weapon that still remains in-game had their model, textures and everything bound to the weapon such as animations, sound, technical characteristics and the like reviewed and changed to the best option available.

A few words have also been said about the locations. Cordon has been changed beyond recognition, another location is being reworked from scratch, while a different one is in the plans for a small expansion. As for the graphics, the developers decided on abandoning static lightning altogether. This added more convenience of work for the developers, as it was holding them down in terms of freedom of creativity, the possibility to implement unusual and unique graphic features, as well as a more complex system of changing seasons.

The dynamic effects system was also expanded upon - a video is linked under this post with a demo.
Another direction that's being worked on is the storyline part of the mod. As of this moment, this aspect of the mod was not been given much attention due to it being low priority, but that'll change when work is done on the other directions. A complete reworking of the in-game lore and world building is in the plans as well. It's too early for the devs to reveal their cards now. However, all that can be said is they didn't recruit a bunch of people for nothing. (Source and Patreon page)

OP-2.2 will have less running back and forth and quests revolving going Out of Bounds! This is quite some good news for those who disliked OP-2 due to its quests revolving backtracking and going out of bounds. According to the developers responsible for version 2.2, the project continues to move towards getting rid of storyline inconsistencies, constantly running around like an errand boy and the need to go out of in-game level bounds, where you'd see what you weren't supposed to see. The team likely won't be able to fully cover the legacies of Narodnaya Solyanka and the old versions of OP in the new update due to not having enough time. However they're still going to put a lot of serious work in that direction.

At the same time, steps taken by the developers in making the game harder are clearly visible, all being naturally within reasonable limits. And no, these steps are not expressed with the addition of more mutant spawns, but instead in the appearance of new, unique mutants and the fixing of some cheat loopholes in quests. This will force the player to not only rely on their skills, but also to look for new opportunities, coming up with non-trivial ways to win the situation they're facing in the game. And for when the game seems too hard, version 2.2 has prepared an extended list of options in the main menu that make the game more easier. They can be conveniently turned on at any time without having to resort to installing third-party edits.

With that being said, one of the testers does admit that you'll find yourself fighting more often than in version 2.1. And players who explore every level thoroughly and do small tasks will find the game easier by receiving bonus rewards such as equipment, guns, artefacts, armor and more.

OP-2.2's release might happen in the coming summer, according to the tester. (Source)

The author of the previously released 'Bad Company', 'The Messenger', and 'How to join Duty' story mods announced his new project, named 'Bad Company 2: Mason', which in an advanced stage of development as of now. The main goal of the project is to show a completely new approach to creating story-based mods. The uniqueness in the plot will present itself in the form of an enormous variability: the player will not be limited by anything, and will have the freedom of choosing which path(s) to go by. The only obstacles will be the endless traps and tests given to the you by the Zone. The script has been written with every action or inaction by the player in mind. This achieved the result of every playthrough being practically different to each other. When taking any type of action, the player must be aware that each of their actions will have consequences in the future, therefore they must think of a solution to the problem they're given before acting on it. You can simply follow and trust whatever instructions you're given by the game and progress through the plot naturally. Or, you can attempt to find a different path and learn the events you're presented from a different side. The story will often not be as straightforward as it might seem at first glance.

In the course of the entire game, the player will have to make a long journey through the Zone, where every location will welcome them in its own way and hand a whole string ball of problems that'll have to be unraveled. The more closer the player gets to the center, the more harder and confusing these 'strings' will be, especially when there is not a single person around - only mutants and a mystical force pursuing lonely travelers. That being said, there's always gonna be a place for what many stalkers go to for their raids every day: the opportunity to hit the jackpot, find a whole klondike of artefacts, or perhaps, maybe even make a wish at the 'Monolith'.

The player won't be left without the opportunity to gain fame and fortune. There are many ways to get up from the dirt and become a known stalker: become a professional killer, start your business or take somebody's, join a faction or help the scientists, or do fuck all and remain a Loner searching for the way to the center of the Zone.

At this current stage, work on the plot has been completed and testing is underway. The gameplay component is also being finalized. As for how long this will take - the Author couldn't really say. But either way, the project will be released one day or another, and be at a fairly high level, the author states. (Source)

Hello guys.

This update is a bit special, as there won't be another one soon.

The progress has been really slow lately, as I have been plagued by bugs of all kinds.
Compiling bugs, logic bugs, it seemed that every time I tried to add something it came with a new bug attached.

I was planning to reach release candidate in April, but I am far from this.
Problem is that I will have no time for the mod in the coming months. So whatever work left will have to wait .
I finished a bunch of tasks though, included the full textures update for NPC and most of mutants.
You have a preview of the two main stalker groups and the updated flesh mutant below.
NPC also have new faces, and all have at least updated outfits, some have brand new ones.
Flesh mutant is now a very dangerous beast, much faster and very strong. I always found that mutant a little lame, very weak and quite useless.
It has really sharp pointy limbs (I think the original uses lobster claw texture and shape!), and it should be a lot more dangerous with these huge weapons.
So now if it hits you, you get a lot of damages. And they run pretty fast too. Beware.
As dogs and boars, there is 3 variations. Different sizes, two different skins, and different skills. The bigger ones are more resistant and more deadly.

So now the big question.
What about an open beta using the current version of the mod?
As I won't be able to work on it for a while, I was thinking that may be having a detailed feedback from you guys would help me a lot when I'll be back to this. I would have a good idea about how to improve and update the current version in addition of having mod bugs identified and reported.
The downside for you is that as it's a story driven mod, once the plot is spoiled by playing the beta, would it be interesting to play the final version?
Tell me what you think about that in the comments.
Getting a beta version ready for the public would be quite easy, I just want to be sure it's the right move.

I was reading Roadside Picnic recently, and it almost made me scrap the current mod and move to a new one closely based on the novel. Almost all assets are ready for such a mod, and in fact I am surprised we don't have one yet.
I know there is a couple of mods already trying to be more faithful to the novel/movie, but they still are very far from it.
I would really like a mod with a zone without humans, a lot more dangerous and distorted. And also an outskirt where humans live, where life is quite normal, with an underground economic system where a few stalkers are paid good money to scavenge weird items from the zone.
But well, I have no time anyway.

So here is some previews of the new updates, cheers!