Nieuwe S.T.A.L.K.E.R. screens
Bij de vrijgegeven screenshots zat ook nog een verklaring waarom de game is uitgesteld. Een stukje hieruit wil ik jullie niet onthouden:
Men wil blijkbaar geen enkele compromis doen wat betreft de beloofde features, maar ze moeten natuurlijk wel met de hevige concurrentie van onder andere Half-life 2. Daarnaast is dit de eerste game die gebruikt maakt van de X-ray engine en deze willen ze tot in de puntjes perfectioneren voordat de games in de schappen ligt."[...]
As it is well documented, one of the key game features is its ambitious 'life simulation' system, which controls the entire populous of the open game world. Due to its complexity, this appears to be the most time-consuming feature to implement and perfect as well as being time intensive to test, taking into account that the game monsters not only have full life-cycles working (including hunting, feeding, resting, sleeping, combat etc), but also migrate from level to level, all independently of the player's actions. With NPCs it all goes on at an even more complex level, by which they not only live in the game, but also accomplish quests, communicate, trade and fight, in the same way as the player.
[...]"