As we mentioned earlier, The Zone is a single large area, and movement within is not limited in any way other than by environmental conditions (i.e. level of radiation the player can currently withstand etc). This "open world" concept is certainly not new, but the game world always "came to life" only when the player was in the immediate vicinity. The critical difference with STALKER is that life within The Zone never stops or slows down, even if the player is in an area many kilometres away.Graphically, The Zone and everything in it is only drawn in the area around the player, i.e. within a certain radius of the player's position. BUT, once outside this radius, an NPC or monster does not just magically disappear into thin air, but rather continue to live and act just as before, although now in a somewhat simplified, purely mathematical world. Here, events happen just as they do around the player: stalkers meet, trade, battle and go on quests, monsters migrate in search of food, sleep, and fight. Any and all events leave their mark on the world. It is perfectly possible to come upon the body of a stalker killed by a rival group, or see the aftermath of a battle between a stalker party and a monster horde. You could find the weapon and equipment dropped by a stalker killed and eaten by a pack of blind dogs.

Of course, given the complexity of such AI, we had our share of problems and general weirdness. During early development and testing of combat intelligence, one stalker went mad and began to consider himself as an enemy, trying to dispose of this "enemy" as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, our good-for-nothing animators did not plan for the possibility of putting your own gun to your temple, so the poor stalker had to instead shoot the only part of the "enemy" body he could reach - his own feet. For a good 10 minutes the entire design team, while rolling around on the floor from laughter, watched as the stalker-wannabie desparately battled with his own limbs. In the end, having used up two full magazines, the NPC died, submitting the diagnostic "Enemy successfully terminated" before terminating.

In order to test some of the simulation system elements we built a special level, which was just a huge field covering several kilometers square. The testing basically consisted of dumping a whole zoo of monsters and stalkers onto this field, and the entire development team sitting by the screen and watching what will happen. In order to give the whole thing at least the illusion of a proper test, the game output gameplay statistics onto a second screen at the same time, which mainly looked something like this:

Evnt119: Stalker 'Gosha' #84 was bitten to death by pigs
Evnt120: Stalker 'Gosha' #132 shot and killed a dog (I don't think Greepeace would've liked our testing sessions)
Evnt121: Stalker 'Gosha' #43 picked up the assault rifle belonging to 'Gosha' #84, and is now standing around with two assault rifles like a god damn fool
Evnt122: Stalker 'Gosha' #7 stomped on several rats
Evnt123: The dead rats' mates celebrated by feasting on a dead pig
Evnt124: The pigs didn't like that and wasted 'Gosha' #43
Evnt125: Stalker 'Gosha' #61 is standing over 2 assault rifles scratching his head, because he doesn't know which is better, and cannot use both like 'Gosha' #43 for religious reasons
Evnt126: Stalker 'Gosha' #17, however, is not a religious man
Evnt127: Stalker 'Gosha' #17 killed 'Gosha' #61
Evnt128: Stalker 'Gosha' #17 picked up everything on the ground, including a grenade dropped by 'Gosha' #94, killed earlier by 'Gosha' #84
...

The level was restarted many times, which allowed us to figure out that similar "mad" situations ensued roughly 10-15 times out of every 100. We had instances when a single assault rifle changed hands over 20 times during one round. The Life Simulation System worked, thank God, and we all celebrated our good luck.

Originally posted by Ric_Olie
I really want to play this game NOW.

Originally posted by A_Big_Fat_CoW
Stalker looks like it's going to kick everyone's ***. Here's hoping they include Co-op. (Supposedly they were going to, but I heard a rumor that they were having problems with it, so I'm not sure if they canned it or what)

Originally posted by Firestorm
Can't praise the AI until i see it in action. Alot of games in the past made these types of promises and didn't deliver so I'll just play the skeptic in case it doesn't live up to expectations.

Originally posted by Mort-Hog
...Only a freeform FPS like the GTA games, or an RPG like Morrowind, would need an AI system like this.

Q: Was there anything difficult in trying to design the new characteristics?

A: Developing on the bleeding edge of technology is never easy, and we’ve certainly had our share of difficulties wrestling with our new ideas. The AI system has been a particular challenge, and we’re constantly finding and closing the holes in the system. We’ve had guys going through towns slaughtering everyone. We’ve had guards getting into giant street battles because one of them got hungry and ran off to poach some deer. We’ve had people wander off to try and start conversations with sheep. I once had an entire town show up in the same lower-class two-room tavern for lunch one day, all at the same time. And one of the guys was going around pickpocketing the food off everyone before they could eat.

So the entire thing has presented quite a few interesting design challenges, particularly with us being one of the only games that allow you to attack anyone and everyone you possibly come across. At the end of the day, no matter how deep the AI is, it’s still got to cater to the player. You can’t have an important quest NPC get killed off-screen because some bully in town wanted her bread. So we’re constantly banging on it, working out the kinks, and thinking up new and better way to exploit all the possibilities the system offers us.

...Full facial animations and lip-synching, combined with full speech for all dialog, allows NPCs to come to life like never before.

Originally posted by A_Big_Fat_CoW
Official site says the game was delayed until May only two months ago, so I'd say that's the best date to follow for now. It'll probably be delayed more, but it sounds like it's worth the wait

...Full facial animations and lip-synching, combined with full speech for all dialog, allows NPCs to come to life like never before.

Originally posted by Emon
Far Cry's AI can be amazingly smart and amazingly stupid, and too smart. They shoot at rocks that you throw out of hidden areas, and suddenly know where you are...

Originally posted by jEDIkIRBY
Exactly.

And this doesn't say anything against Farcry's AI. Seriously, they're saying the AI acts when the player isn't around: Big deal. Do they flank the player? Set up traps? Move in file and duck down behind objects when they know they're beat? No.

Originally posted by jEDIkIRBY
Exactly.

And this doesn't say anything against Farcry's AI. Seriously, they're saying the AI acts when the player isn't around: Big deal. Do they flank the player? Set up traps? Move in file and duck down behind objects when they know they're beat? No. It said nothing of this sort. It only said that they added some cute variables to the AI that make the world feel a bit more realistic. Only icing, if they don't get the *actual* AI right.

JediKirby

When it becomes necessary to reload, NPCs retreat behind cover before changing out, returning only once they're ready to fight again. NPCs backpedal, use corners for cover, enter buildings to attain a better firing position, as well as many other fascinating things.

We have worked out all the possible actions of the player and prepared natural reactions by characters towards them. A character reacts in the game as he would do so in real life. If the player, for example, attacks and kills one of the guards, the rest will first seek a hiding place, radio the headquarters to order backup, and not stand still, or what's worse, run out towards the player

Originally posted by Mort-Hog
I don't know why, but lip-synching never impresses me.

Originally posted by nottheking
You expect a 3D model to actually speak with its own vocal chords? :p