I read about this game only this morning. Sounds and looks a lot like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as you'd expect with the dev's they have. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1577656602/areal
Something there seems a little strange. Why only $50K? That's a pretty ambitious looking project. Maybe more like $2M?
My Dark Souls single player sensibilities are protected by a +10 GfWL Firewall of Ineptitude
Saw a bit about this a week or so ago, I think the general consensus is that it's a scam of some sort. Everything they show is from STALKER, there's nothing that's actually from the game they're claiming to made. Even the "engine" scenes in their video aren't from their own work, they're just shots of a free resource pack that comes with Unity. Oleg Yavorsky from Vostok Games - where most GSC Game World people wound up - has called their use of STALKER assets illegal and the claim that it's "from the people who made STALKER" highly misleading. I was definitely intrigued by it until some of the irregularities began to show.
As you point out, the biggest warning sign to me is the $50K ask. Even an optimistic person would call this a three or four million dollar project, and their excuse that they've sunk all their own money into it is dubious.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
I like how their $100,000 stretch goal is that "a bunch" of their friends that are "experienced in the video game industry" will join the team. Assuming the first $50K is dedicated to something else, I guess that means that they have friends who are willing to work for minimum wage? Or less?
"Home is not a place. It is wherever your passion takes you."
Maybe for $50K it's a smaller group of their friends... a "passel" or a "gang." For a hundred grand you get a "bunch," for fifty you only get a "bevy."
Tell you what though, I hope that Sergey Tarmashev guy isn't reading this thread. Dude looks terrifying. He could beat us up single handed, wouldn't even need an "assemblage" or a "party" of friends to help him.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
Nyet. Helmutbabushka would be deliver a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. type grenade to region approximately of Sergey's butt.
I believe there was thread that detailed Helmut's speak with Boris, of Pripyat, who was able and willing teacher of grenadiership leading to exceptional quality of fastball, slider, curve, and changeup deliveries. I can't find that thread, but did find Botch's first post ever, so that's something.
https://tap-repeatedly.com/forum/never-mind-the-bollocks/stalker-shadow-of-chernobyl/page-2/
My Dark Souls single player sensibilities are protected by a +10 GfWL Firewall of Ineptitude
I saw this on RPS just now:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.co.....ore-221271
Lots being said in the comments too.
I remember Boris, Helmut!
Hard to believe the 12 members of the kickstarter would make themselves basically unemployable for what would amount to a $4200.00 share. But the original art assets they show are of the most rudimentary proof of concept level, I can't imagine they wouldn't present something more complete if they had it.
My Dark Souls single player sensibilities are protected by a +10 GfWL Firewall of Ineptitude
...but did find Botch's first post ever, so that's something.
Oh it feels like only yesterday...brings a tear to me eye it does.
Oh, about the Kickstarter - I'm shocked, SHOCKED, at the incredulity on display here. Where is the unbridled enthusiasm at what is obviously and completely ON THE LEVEL? I am disappointed in you, Tappers. Shame!
Rule #2: Double-tap
Was my joke not obvious enough or was everyone just playing along? I'll assume the latter - either way I just ruined it. Sorry!
It is interesting how just a casual look at this kickstarter may not be enough to show the cracks, at least not for those not deep into the STALKER history. What were some of the less obvious tip-offs?
Rule #2: Double-tap
The most immediately suspicious thing - and the thing that could also be quite deceptive unless you're a STALKER whore like me who has the whole game memorized - is that practically none of the assets they showed in their videos were their own. Everything was STALKER footage or stuff you can get free with Unity. To the casual observer, it'd be easy to assume that the STALKER footage was Areal, because they didn't bother to call out the difference.
Another eyebrow-raiser was the fact that West Games is based in Ukraine but the entity that would've been getting the Kickstarter lucre was incorporated in Las Vegas. The CEO of West has said this was simply an effort to bypass potential issues with the political landscape in Ukraine, and under normal circumstances I'd overlook it because that makes sense... but on top of the other suspicious stuff, it's, er, suspicious.
I tend to take a dim view of people when it comes to knowledge of the games industry. In my experience everyone in the world is basically my aunt Katie. She's a nice person, but she has no clue at all what goes into making a game. She genuinely believes that making games is no different than playing them; that they spring by magic into their boxes. She certainly has no idea what it costs in terms of money or infrastructure to create a game, and to me that was the biggest red flag with Areal. As Helmut pointed out when he started this thread, $50,000 is is about $35,450,000 less than would be necessary to create a game like Areal - and that's assuming a large team with a stable workflow, not a dozen-person startup. Ironically enough, they might have gotten away with it if they'd asked for a million bucks and been a little less egregious with that video.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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