Hello all :)!
First of all - thank you very much for the overwhelmingly kind reception that our recent pre-alpha gameplay trailer has received.
We never imagined that our work is going to be appreciated that much. Please rest assured that we are going to continue the development of the product with the same passion that we did so far and will do our best to deliver a gaming experience that is truly unique and of highest possible quality.
That being said there have been some recurring feedback points brought up in the comments section here and in some other places that we’d like to address now - to alleviate some of the concerns of the community. Please know that we in fact read all the feedback that comes to our attention and will definitely be applying as much of it to our future work as possible. Now - without further ado let's get to the list we prepared:
1. The ‘infamous’ microwave - well in accordance to the research that we did, the microwave technology was in fact present on the USSR consumer market, with ovens being produced in Belarus among other places. One such notable example can be seen here (made by Elektronika brand):
Of course - the microwave prop that we have used for the demo is not the proper one. We are a relatively small team and not all models in the trailer build we’ve managed to do as they will be in the final game. However we’re putting a lot of effort to make the environments as authentic as they can be.
So tldr: the microwave is going to be replaced with the proper soviet model from the era that we’re gonna model to 100% accuracy.
Also the particular apartment where the kitchen shots takes place belongs to higher-tier CNPP engineer thus we assumed that he might have had such equipment in his household.
2. The cigars - we are of course aware that cigars were not a common commodity in 80s Soviet Union (even is such a relatively wealthy ‘model’ town that the Pripyat was).
However please note that our character picks up the cigars in a very specific spot - basically it’s a cabinet of a higher-tier party official and we’ve specifically put quite a lot of visual cues that indicate that (such as a full-frame Lenin painting on the back wall).
Thus we’ve deemed the presence of cigars in such a place justifiable and fitting.
3. The lighter - well, here we can ask for only one thing: understanding of our creative process. When one of our 3d artists first came up with the design we also thought about it as a tad too much. However after seeing it in the game all of us quickly fell in love with it and it became one of our favourite props. We even asked our team writer to create a special bit of story justifying the presence of this item in the hands of our hero. We shall reveal this story a bit soon in one of our weekly dev-logs.
That being said - we will also create a separate set of animations with player lighting up cigars, smokes and rolled cigarettes using the matches taken out of one of the lovely USSR boxes that we also love :). Appropriate assets to support this are being prepared as you are reading this :).
4. The scaling of the dosimeters - all I can say here is that the trailer comes from our pre-alpha version. We were simply unable to have all the pieces fall into the right places within it.
In our game the ionizing radiation will be provided to the player in mSv units and we will be working a lot to model it with as much accuracy as possible. So simply - please bear with us on that one.
5. The appearance of the burning reactor - we’re aware that we have not modeled this scene with exact accuracy of the looks of the destroyed block IV (for example in regard to the primary coolant pumps being scattered around).
Please however know that we are - among other things - artists at hearts. We love to get inspired by reality but then interpret it in a way that we find the most impactful and fitting our game. We’ve actually put tremendous effort into the design and construction of the reactor fire and we’re quite proud with how it ended up. Even if not 100% the same - we think that it will manage to convey the proper feelings to the players participating in the action (which is very much the ultimate goal of this project).
To put it short: please allow us some creative liberties here and there and we promise to only use them where we find it very, very justifiable.
6. Lonely exploration of the apartment complex - all we can say here at this point: our game - although not story-driven - will have some story in it.
So please rest assured that presence of the liquidator in such circumstances is justifiable (and we also find it fitting the gameplay that we are building).
We will provide more details regarding this aspect of our game as soon as possible.
OK - that’s all for now :)!
Thank you very much for interest in our game and all the positive (and negative) feedback that we got from you all!
Cheers!
Chernobyl Liquidators Simulator Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1113010/Chernobyl_Liquidators_Simulator/