Well, you gotta admit that you never saw that coming. After Vostok Games’ harsh comments about West Games and its Areal Kickstarter campaign, everyone thought that this whole thing was a hoax. Apparently that’s far from the truth though as Alexey Sytyanov – STALKER and Survarium Lead Game Designer – has just joined West Games.
Alexey Sytyanov has been in the industry since 2001, was the lead game designer of Survarium, and has developed concepts for STALKER 2 until that project was closed for inexplicable reasons.
Alexey confirmed that West Games’ team has worked in the STALKER series, and shared some new details about the game.
Areal – according to Alexey – is the closest thing to STALKER, and is described as a mix between DayZ and Metroid Prime.
West Games will show footage from Areal – in the next couple of days – and will talk about some new game features.
Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
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It’s been known that it is not a hoax for a long time just like we know the team are real games developer’s, The issue is with the claims on how far development has gone and how they appear to have broken Kickstarter rules about how much you ask for and what it’s for. They said the 50,000 will allow them to complete the base game on several platforms and they offered kickstarter investors incentives based on that when in fact it seems they need that money to develop enough for a pitch to take to a major investor.
There is plenty of evidence available to back this up so maybe if you want to report on something you should act like a reporter and do some research first.
Then there’s the pictures some of which were marked as screenshots by West games and used to imply the development was going well on there own proprietary engine.
http://imgur.com/a/wLRVG
The list of questionable items continues to be ignored by both West games and people who do not research the project.
Wow! they even made a bot to promote their “campaign.”
bot?
Natasha, on the internet nobody knows you are a dog.
Unless you tell them.
I’m unsure who natasha is, Are you misreading the name?
Nasha (Gnasher) was Dennis the menaces dog. It may be a bit before your time. It was in the eighties for me.
It still does not explain what a bot is.
Whoa, they even stole Stalker 2 assets
I don’t know if being stolen is correct as they may very well have developed certain things and be legally able to use them but the shots there used in are meant to be on there own engine but are clearly manipulated shots from elsewhere, Such as Unity. Which brings into question how far along they really are, They claimed to have a good engine developed, maybe not finished but working hence the in-game screens.
It’s bad enough that they are showing so little progress, but the fact that they are misrepresenting things like the Unity assets as their own work is disgusting. I mean, if it was one screw up I’d give them the benefit of the doubt. But they have repeatedly said or implied assets/work they showed were from Areal that turned out to be from other projects.
Their secretive investor Leonid Kovtun has been involved in multiple lawsuits and was behind other failed Kickstarters. It’s a scam, and even if it wasn’t, all their updates with “poor me” attitudes shows how unprofessional they are.
I almost wonder if *they* are being scammed themselves
Are you guys retarded? This project is a scam.
Way to go promoting this scam.
So you delete my post?
Saw what coming? wtf are you talking about? They aren’t releasing anything… it’s all a big joke. the only thing they can release now is a comic book. You still think that they have anything to show? Even if they will show footage, you can bet it’s 90% Unity and 10% areal modifications…
It has been general knowledge for some time that this is not a scam, Just like we also know there real games developers, Such theories were made by a few individuals and proven false long ago. The problems that need to be focused on are many, One of which is how West games asked for 50,000 on the basis that it would allow them to complete the game on several platforms, They even offered incentives to Kickstarter investors based on that happening. Evidence has surfaced showing that is not correct, When asked about this Eugene Kim said “why do you presume that’s all we can raise”. What they appear to need is the money to develop a model to make a pitch to other investors.
Another problem that needs answering is how they’ve provided what has been promoted as artwork and screenshots for Areal some of which are not and have since been hastily deleted by West games leaving it only accessible via means like google cache.
I hope this post reads better.
I am still not sure , how they are going to release it on so many platforms at once , when they have limited budget . Also , how controller will work for a game which is designed as spiritual successor to STALKER .
This changes nothing. I don’t know that Areal is a scam, but they are not being open enough and haven’t shown any work or progress. So far I’ve seen a bunch of “borrowed” Stalker footage, some illustrations from a book, and some stock Unity assets. Pretty much nothing of the actual *game*. Even if I did trust these guys, they haven’t shown enough work or preparation to justify giving them money.
If I was them, I’d cancel the Kickstarter and come back in a year when I had something to actually, you know, *show people*.
???? :3
It’s not a hoax….. It’s a scam. The person who receives the money from this Kickstarter, if successful, is behind other scam projects like Space Pioneer