Skip to main content

Areal adds key S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Survarium designer

But serious questions about the Kickstarter still remain.

There's been a noteworthy update to the controversial Areal Kickstarter (beyond what I dug into last week): the full-time hiring of Alexey Sytyanov, the lead game designer of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the lead game designer of Survarium.

He's confirmed his role as producer (exactly what that entails, it's unclear) in a video update, and his hiring adds weight and credibility to the project as a whole.

(It's worth pointing out that Vostok Games, creator of Survarium, explained that he left the Survarium project because his design work had been completed. Sytyanov is credited as part of the design team for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. rather than one of the key people leading development of the game. Vostok confirmed to Eurogamer that Sytyanov was "at the origins of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game".)

In a video, Sytyanov - positioned apparently 200km away from "a war against Russian terrorists" - explained: "Nobody is right now developing a game that is as close to the concept of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as Areal. This is a shooter about surviving in the apocalypse. Imagine a mix of DayZ and Metroid Prime.

"You start the game all alone, but there are meetings with future friends, enemies, discoveries and mysteries ahead.

"I see a lot of promise with this project and offered the guys from West-Games a couple of innovations that would give Areal something that was missing from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Survarium. For example, a combination of multiplayer with a deep story."

More importantly, he announced: "In the next couple of days we're going to show footage from Areal and talk about a few game features."

Watch on YouTube

A show of game footage is what the Areal Kickstarter campaign has sorely lacked since it begun. Backers simply don't believe there's an actual game there, so many have lowered their pledges to $1. That's why, with 16 days to go, the project has stalled at around $35,000 of the $50,000 it needs to raise.

I quizzed West-Games a few days ago about whether there would be any footage released at all throughout the campaign, because I wasn't convinced.

"West-Games are working about a lot of the things," I was told by a person called Valeria who works there. "The work is going. And we will show everything what we will have.

"They are working in Ukraine, where situation is terrible, and they do all what they can. We never hide anything from the people, and in every update we show everything what we have."

I presume Valeria meant "the work is ongoing" and that if footage was ready, we'd see it. But Valeria's message didn't fill me with confidence to say the least.

Art that's been added to the Areal Kickstarter page.

There's still a big question mark hanging over the game's apparently minuscule budget - $50,000 - too. 'That can't be all of it,' we assumed. 'It must be a sum to pay for a demo to show investors or a publisher.'

Eurogamer Germany asked West-Games boss Eugene Kim some questions of its own, and shared the relevant answers with me.

"First off," Kim said, "we have pooled together a set sum to cover salaries. Second of all, marketing takes a large chunk of the budget, and we are relying on word of mouth instead. So when you take that into account, $50,000 doesn't seem so low.

"If you take a look at Misery LTD's Kickstarter, (the team that first stated that our base goal is too low) then you'll see that their budget is even smaller, with roughly €20,000. And I have heard that Survarium has a relatively small budget too."

That seems to suggest that Kim intends to make Areal with $50,000, plus whatever money the team invested.

But in the comments section of the Areal Kickstarter there's a quote from a Russian website supposedly handling PR for Areal, which (reportedly - this is not verified) reads: "The game's producer explicitly told us that the success of reaching the 50,000 mark is meant entirely to show off in front of investors. Factually, that money is needed only to attract the 'real' big cash, because the development of this game of such a game would cost much more than a million dollars."

They are conflicting statements.

Eurogamer Germany also quizzed Kim about the ambitious - given the lack of game evidence so far - September 2015 release date for Areal.

"There is nothing insane about a two-plus year total development cycle," answered Kim. "Some games take longer to make, and others don't. We feel that our dev cycle is reasonable as is."

Backers are also still concerned about the identity of Leonid Kovtun, the man who pledges are going through to. "Leo Kovtun is a partner," was West-Games' previous description of him. An artist elaborated that "he handles some legal and financial aspects of our game".

Leonid Kovtun lives in the US and it could be that his location made him a perfect partner to set up a US company address for West-Games - something that's required to run a US Kickstarter campaign (usually the most successful).

Whether the County Court cases he appears to have been involved in have any bearing on his legitimacy - or the Areal Kickstarter's legitimacy - is unclear. Extra clarification would certainly help.

Meanwhile, the Areal Kickstarter comments section is full of mistrust on one hand and over-the-top excitement on the other. The enthusiasm is uncharacteristic and somewhat out of place, and has led to accusations that the people posting are involved with the project.

Read this next

seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com