News S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 announced

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/07/12/s_t_a_l_k_e_r_2_announced/1

S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 is announced and a few screenshots hit the web. In other news, my full stop key on my keyboard wears out from too much use.

 

wow... haven't finished the first one yet (I'm at the red forest) and they announce the second, a prequel... but Q1 2008...we have time.

inverse kinematics ? what is it ?

 

Aye, very annoying punctuation. Was irritated enough by FEAR which only has four. I'm not sure how good a prequel would be set in the same places. I was really disappointed by the limited size and terrain in the original which is probably its biggest flaw.

 

ragdoll....

 

thanks. I thought about liquid physics (flowing...and so on) but wasn't sure...it's (still) never been made into a real (not tech demo) game.

Didn't STALKER (removing the dots) feature ragdolls already ?

 

Not quite. IIRC, inverse kinematics is the method of matching movements to environments - making sure that a foot lands properly on a step properly and that the body reacts realistically.

 

Yes, à la Crysis . (thinking about some tech demo featuring the guy walking up/down and his body moving differently as he was doing it e.g. leaning forward/backwards.)

 

Eh, taking how the first one went, you can expect this one around 2010

 

in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_kinematics

"Inverse kinematics is the process of determining the parameters of a jointed flexible object (a kinematic chain) in order to achieve a desired pose. Inverse kinematics are also relevant to game programming and 3D animation, where a common use is making sure game characters connect physically to the world, such as feet landing firmly on top of terrain."

 

I have to say that I really like STALKER, especially after that first patch that came out. I love the idea of an FPS with much more freedom and the RPG elements; I'm surprised that there aren't more of those games today. Also, I'm happy to see that they're including features such as weapons repair (great for those rare and unique weapons) and faster travel (so I don't have to evade those bandits for the millionth time).

However, I have really liked the AI in the original - NPCs using tactics like flanking really honed my skills - but improved AI with grenades actually kind of scares me, I hope I'll have allies along the way...

 

the screens look pretty. lets see if they remember to include a plot that isn't a B-movie reject this time.

 

I keep meaning to pick up STALKER, but never seem to get round to it. I guess I should probably play it through before the sequel comes out. At least now I'll actually be able to play with the Vista/8800 bugs fixed .

 

Awesome, I loved the first one.

Maybe they'll get it running a little better this time around.

 

I'm not sure that was IK... Procedural animation I think they called it. wikipedia page

It doesn't mention IK's on that page, but it does sound similar in some respects. More like creating animations on the fly depending on the environment rather than letting the physics sort the whole thing.

 

Great news, although the early guns where utter crap, hopefully they will learn from that. My ending was the whole "I want The Zone to disappear"

 

I wanted money apparently, when actually I wanted a resolution to the plot.

 

Or at least on that didn't require you to find unmarked location 'somewhere' on the map.

 

Loooks amazing. I think I'm going to have to upgrade from my 6600gt and AMD643000+. There's just far too many games that are coming out that I won't be able to play.

 

Taking all bets, when will it be released?

 

looks cool I quite enjoyed stalker despite its flaws