Our Kickstarter was suspended without any warning. As per Kickstarter's policy, we cannot contact them to find out why. Areal is the spiritual successor to STALKER, in terms of our vision for it and in terms of the team that we have (which includes Alexey Sytyanov, the lead game designer and screenwriter for STALKER). You can find out more about us and our team on our website: http://areal.west-games.com/
From the very beginning, we showed what we have accomplished, and showed the atmosphere for what we want to accomplish (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTMtpViPhhc&list=UU7j5-kx3Mk4rtG6q_SfsOYQ).
The fact is that there are a lot of companies that make their livelihood on STALKER, so when we showed up on the scene, they saw us as a threat and did everything that they could to stop us.
People also need to take into account that Ukrainians and Russians are in an information war right now, and as a Ukrainian developer, we were subject to constant hostility from Russian Kickstarter accounts (we even got death threats). There are over 16,000 comments on our Kickstarter, which is unprecedented for the amount of supporters that we have, and a lot of our comments are hate filled. Some sites, in light of this, chose to report based on sources from direct competitors or from the myriad of comments based on lies. Others chose a neutral ground, because of the confusing situation around us, and still others wrote positively about us. All in all, more than a 1,000 news results come up when you type in "Areal Kickstarter" on Google.
After vice news wrote an article about us, people started contributing every minute, but Kickstarter was afraid of the controversy surrounding our project, so they suspended funding. We set our base goal at 50K; even with 2 days left, we raised more than 64 thousand dollars, and our competitors were doing everything that they could to stop that. Kickstarter is a business, and that was their decision. We were not warned, we do not have a say in the matter, we cannot notify our backers, we cannot message our backers, and we can't post updates anymore. That is how Kickstarter chose to act.
We are the creators of STALKER, and we know that we can make Areal even better than that series, because of advances in technology, gameplay mechanics, and story. We need your support to make that happen, so we have opened up a website wherein we will continue to raise funds. We ask all supporters of Areal who read this, to please head over to our site and contribute there. PayPal is used for safe checkout, but you do not need a PayPal account to donate. Thank you for your understanding.
fiftykyu wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 18:59:Icewind wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 17:25:
Creators of Stalker? Wasn't it revealed that very few of these guys were on GSC's team and those that were just happened to be there in the very early stages and left years before the release candidate was even ready to be burned to discs?
If anyone company is "the creator of stalker" out there, it's Vostok or 4A.
This whole mess caused me to reinstall Metro Last Light. God that game is good, even if it is linear.
Aha, thank you for mentioning Metro: Last Light! Reminded me that somehow I never finished the Metro 2033 novel. The Steam page says Metro: Last Light owners can download a free copy of Dmitry Glukhovsky's international best-selling novel "Metro 2033", the epic story that started it all. Don't know if the "?cc=us" trick lets you add the book to your account if you're not in the correct region, though.
Hmm, now that I think of it, never started Metro: Last Light either. Curse the endless steam sales, keep buying new games before I can finish the old ones...
Icewind wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 17:25:
Creators of Stalker? Wasn't it revealed that very few of these guys were on GSC's team and those that were just happened to be there in the very early stages and left years before the release candidate was even ready to be burned to discs?
If anyone company is "the creator of stalker" out there, it's Vostok or 4A.
This whole mess caused me to reinstall Metro Last Light. God that game is good, even if it is linear.
Alamar wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 12:01:Jerykk wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 11:21:
The fact is that there are a lot of companies that make their livelihood on STALKER, so when we showed up on the scene, they saw us as a threat and did everything that they could to stop us.
Really? Like what? I can't think of a single company whose livelihood depends on STALKER. Unless you count modders as companies. Even then, their mods don't make them any money so... yeah.
Really?
I haven't paid much attention to this fiasco, but the first news item I remember about it, was a competitor (another STALKER 'spin off' developer) calling it out...
-Alamar
The fact is that there are a lot of companies that make their livelihood on STALKER, so when we showed up on the scene, they saw us as a threat and did everything that they could to stop us.
nin wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 10:57:It's so shame for him.
"Yes man, it's so pity, but it's a true."
Jerykk wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 11:21:
The fact is that there are a lot of companies that make their livelihood on STALKER, so when we showed up on the scene, they saw us as a threat and did everything that they could to stop us.
Really? Like what? I can't think of a single company whose livelihood depends on STALKER. Unless you count modders as companies. Even then, their mods don't make them any money so... yeah.
Jerykk wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 11:21:
Really? Like what? I can't think of a single company whose livelihood depends on STALKER.
Jerykk wrote on Jul 23, 2014, 11:21:
The fact is that there are a lot of companies that make their livelihood on STALKER, so when we showed up on the scene, they saw us as a threat and did everything that they could to stop us.
Really? Like what? I can't think of a single company whose livelihood depends on STALKER. Unless you count modders as companies. Even then, their mods don't make them any money so... yeah.