Chernobylite Complete Edition News

[h3]Hello Stalkers![/h3]
Boom! February is almost behind us. It flew away quickly, even painlessly. We should celebrate it. For example, with a Chernobylite gameplay captured in a section of the game that isn’t yet available to your eyes. There is action. There are explosions. Adrenaline!



Of course, we had to censor it a bit to avoid spoilers. The effect is a bit like the Doom version for the SNES, only in worse quality.

It’s called “retro”. And it’s art.

[h3]Information on the gamepads[/h3]

Work on the console version of the game continues. Here's another proof of that: PlayStation 4 controler layout. The screen will tell console players which buttons are for what.



By the way, as promised, we remind you of the last big message related to the premiere of Chernobylite on PC and consoles.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1016800/view/3042715219434760154

We do this so that you DON’T HAVE TO SHAKE US EVERY SINGLE TIME!



Joking, we like you writing us 😏

[h3]Toot, toot![/h3]
We have something for the automotive fans. When optimizing all-terrain vehicles of the reliable UAZ brand, we thought it would be good to show you what these cars look like from the inside.

First, the body, where the optimization concerned mainly the roof. But also other, smaller elements.



Then we had to dismantle the UAZ car and work on the insides. Literally.



After optimization and corrections, it was a time to make a few variations - just to have more unpredictable levels. The image below shows some of the vehicles created in this way in all their glory.



And now for a change, something for railway fans. Here, too, we decided to work on optimization, which this time concerns the railroad tracks. Additionally, we put together new track models (approx. 30 km long!) in various combinations.



We haven’t forgotten about their smallest elements.



[h3]Stairs to...[/h3]
While we're on "how it's done" part, let us show you how steps are made. The occasion was perfect - we had to make some necessary corrections to one of the objects. This meant creating it almost completely from scratch.

We put the appropriate textures on the model of stairs and adjust them so that they reflect reality as closely as possible.



Then we test the stairs in a specific space and with specific surroundings. The effect is visible after a few final touches.



They look real, right? How about we show you how serious we are about the realism in the game? On the left, a photo that we took during one of our trips to Chernobyl. On the right - the interior of a cottage created thanks to 3D scanning. Looks great isn’t it? We think so too. That’s why we have tons and tons of scanned objects from the Zone, so that you can really feel as if you were actually there! If some of you visit the real Zone one day, look for the places we put in the game and see for yourself how amazing they are!



And to conclude this wonderful report, another exciting patent that we are working on: DIVERSE FIREWORKS!



Who will provide you with that much emotion if not us?

[h3]That's it for today![/h3]
Take care, Stalkers!

[h3]Hello Stalkers![/h3]
On the occasion of the last report, we forgot to mention the most important event of last week! And it's not about Valentine's Day - after all, you know we love y’all
On Thursday 11 February, we celebrated Fat Thursday in Poland. It’s the only day of the year when everyone can forget about diets and low-carb meals and buy or make their own donuts. Tons of donuts - with jelly, cream, pudding or chocolate filling - and eat as many as they can! Regardless of the calories!

We also crafted a Chernobyl donut specially for you. If you didn’t have one last week, grab one today! It’s a tradition after all ;)



If you want to give a try and taste how a traditional Polish Pączek (Donut) tastes like - try out this recipe.

Ok, enough sensitivity for this year. Here we go!

[h3]Helpful tutorial[/h3]
At the beginning, quite an important change. Those of you, who are just beginning their adventure with Chernobylite, will be definitely pleased. We don't want you to feel lost at the very beginning of the game. That is why, we have included numerous hints and tips in the prologue. However, we got so far with it that we forgot about the most important thing - a tutorial in the mission selection.

As you can see in the image below, we’re working on this issue. The appropriate windows will tell you, what it is for and what those specific icons mean.



[h3]Graphics![/h3]
We don't know why, but we have a lot of fun showing you how the Chernobylite world is made. And literally, even in the smallest pieces. We conclude from your reactions that you like such materials. So we’ve prepared another batch of graphics for you.

Something small to start with. When checking if the crafting tables are at the right height (remember the stair railings we wrote about recently?), we added a few things to them to make them REALLY LOOK like tables in a workshop. For example, mats that cover an ugly, washed-out top.



Now for something a bit more complex. We like to share graphics that show in detail the objects we are working on. Goggles, weapons, armor - it was a lot. Now it's time for something different.

If you thought it would take a lot of rusty pipes to make one, big stacked pipes, then… you’re very, very wrong. In fact, a pile of pipes is one huge asset that takes a long time to design and assemble. But it's still a better and less memory-consuming solution than creating 20 pipes and tying them together. And the final effect is even better.



Now a small sample of how we use our resources from our Chernobyl trips. You know, scanning buildings is not a piece of cake. Often there are some areas that are missing, destroyed or different than we need them to be. That is when our 3D artists step in. For example, in one of the cellars, we had to "patch up" small holes in the mesh of the cellar. On this mesh, we put textures from 3D scans of rooms that we took in Chernobyl.



[h3]Pictures from the past[/h3]
In the last report, we wrote about the notes and documents that can be found in the game that tell a lot about the Chernobylite world. Of course, we didn't show them all due to spoilers. But we promise there will be plenty to read about. Plus, the notes themselves look so good!



But you will also find a lot of old photos. Some of them will contain handwritten notes about something strongly related to the plot.

Can you recognize who these men are in the photos?



[h3]Raindrops[/h3]
And finally, a moving picture. For good reason, as we want to show you how we improved the falling raindrops on ALL levels. This is especially visible on the surface of the puddles.

Very relaxing...



[h3]That's it for today![/h3]
Take care, Stalkers!

Screenshot in banner by Hannahnasje

[h3]Hello Stalkers![/h3]

The questions about the launch of Chernobylite both on PC and consoles just keep coming back. If you’re eager for information about this, we refer to the news from a few weeks ago, where we’ve laid our cards on the table and explained everything.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1016800/view/3043838585268106021

In the meantime, we invite you to read the latest report. This time, we devote a lot of space to the bug fixes you report to us on Steam and Discord, as well as the ones we found ourselves. The closer to the premiere, the more attention we will pay to them.

[h3]Bugs, bugs, bugs[/h3]

And that's no wonder. We emphasize many times that we want to deliver the game to you in the best possible condition - free from most of the bugs. And these can appear even in moments that are very well known to us. Here’s an example: while recording a video for the presentation of new voice-overs, at the very beginning of the game, we encountered an error that caused the Anton or Olivier dialogue window to be blocked on the screen. That window followed us on the screen until the end. And video recording had to be started again...

However, we’re focusing heavily on fixing those bugs that we find in the final stages of the game, including our mission "The Heist". Probably it won’t be a big spoiler when we say that the errors concern displayed dialogues, teleporters or save points.

And of course optimization, optimization and optimization. The main emphasis was on optimizing materials so that they won’t load unnecessary textures. As a result, they won’t take up more memory than they really should, and the game will run smoother.

[h3]Items on the train seats[/h3]

And now for fans of our graphic works. We’ve improved the brightness and quality of the textures placed on various objects you can find in the trains. We were especially delighted with the mouse. Or at least we hope it's a mouse...



A little fun fact related to these items. As you know, the Chernobyl power plant employees travelled to the power plant by train on several routes, usually in the early morning hours. In these trains it was customary to "reserve" a seat. People threw random items on the seats - a glove, a hat, keys, even money! If there was anything on the seat, it meant that nobody could sit on it. You couldn’t even sit on the opposite seat! This way one person could have reserved a space normally four people would use. Look at the items that can be found on the train in the prologue - they didn’t end up there by accident.

[h3]Stairway to heaven[/h3]

In recent reports, we devoted a lot of attention to elements of nature. As you know, we make sure that Igor spends a lot of time in the fresh (?) air. However, the world of Chernobylite is also made of numerous buildings from the Soviet era that give the whole game its unique atmosphere. Concrete apartment blocks are one of the typical, monumental structures characteristic for those times. They already look very convincing - both from the inside and outside. But according to our philosophy, there is always room for improvement.

We looked at some photos and plans of old buildings and also took into account our experience of living in blocks of flats. Thanks to this, we were able to make a small correction of the height of the railings in the staircases.



As you can see in the photo above, the rails were originally set a bit too low - at the height of the buttocks, and they should be above the waist. In the real world, they would be inconvenient for people who need such barriers. And of course, it's easy to fall through them.

We’ve made changes to every building with stairs.



In the photo below you can see what it all looked like in the game itself before and after the changes. There are definitely differences.



[h3]Notes and documents[/h3]

At the end we left the most interesting, in our opinion, things - one of the best narrative elements of any self-respecting game. In Chernobylite you’ll find a lot of KGB notes and documents, reading which will tell you a bit about the Chernobylite world. Of course, we won’t reveal all of them (because of spoilers), only the most interesting ones in our opinion. Do you like the way they look? Are their visuals convincing to you?



[h3]That's it for today![/h3]
Take care, Stalkers!

[h3]Hello Stalkers![/h3]

The first month of the new year is behind us. Work on Chernobylite is in full swing. Which means that a lot is happening here. And we're not going to slow down.

As proof, here, take this gif showing a scrap of something big that we are preparing for you in the game. Memized.



The previous report contained a huge amount of text. It is thanks to our special guest, Ian Russell, who told a lot about his job as a voice actor. Today, for the sake of balance, we have numerous pictures for you. We know from the signals we receive on our social media that you like them very much.

[h3]Sounds of Chernobylite[/h3]

Before we get to the pictures, a few words about sounds. You already know that we have re-recorded all dialogues of the key Chernobylite characters. However, we are also working hard to fix the bugs you report to us on Steam and Discord. These most often concern the sounds of the character's footsteps on the ground - they are either barely audible or there is no sound at all. And some sounds don’t play where they should be.

[h3]Shots fired from everywhere[/h3]

We’re working on the effects of bullets hitting physical materials. As a result, everything will sprinkle harder and splash beautifully. It is especially visible when hitting materials such as stone, brick or metal. ✦MAJESTIC✦

Look at these effects after shooting at the wall...



…as well as other elements of the environment.



[h3]The life cycle of the goggles[/h3]

Now to the point. In today's episode of our "how it's made" series: goggles. The entire stage of their creation is presented below. From initial design ...



...by detailed modelling…



...texturing and matching to characters…



...until the end result.



Another interesting fact - in the photo below you will find a large armor cross-section. Pay attention to how many elements were used to create it. Just print, cut and glue, like models of old cars. Fun for the whole family!



[h3]Achievements, part 2[/h3]

In one of our previous reports, we’ve revealed that we’re working on an achievement system. You can see in the graphic below that all the magic begins with the preparation of concept art.



The next step is to take a few screenshots of key objects and characters, and then transform them into their "drawing" equivalents. Then comes the preparation of the background texture of the icons.



The effect is already stunning. Although at this point it is worth mentioning that this is just the beginning - there will be more achievements. And the ones you see above still need some corrections and polishing.

[h3]It's what's inside that counts[/h3]

The last portion of pictures for today, but meaty. Literally. Below - Chernohost's physique.



Say what? That this one looks different than the one we showed a month ago? Oh, geez. We wonder why this happened?

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[h3]Shake, shake[/h3]

Finally, something for the laughs. We had a lot of fun creating a gif with Black Stalker. Below are examples of our joyful creativity.



That’s why we give you this template that you can use yourself. Go crazy and share your creations on your social media, tagging us, e.g. on Twitter.



[h3]That's it for today![/h3]
Take care, Stalkers!

[h3]Hello Stalkers![/h3]

The end of the previous week was full of emotions. Not only we’ve miraculously delivered the Friday report on time (we deserve a medal, or at least a cake!), but we also informed you about something very important.

We’ve postponed the PC premiere of Chernobylite to a later date. Thanks to this, we’ve got more time to polish the game, translate it into more languages and add additional content, which was originally supposed to be released as DLC. Everything can be summed up by the slogan "bigger, better, stronger"!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/3043838585268106022

We hope to present you the progress of our work soon. In the meantime, you can read this report, where you can find our talk with Igor Khymynyuk, who told us about his work on the game... Wait, what?!

[h3]Little talk with Igor[/h3]

Recently, we were proud to unveil the news about re-recording all the dialogue lines of key Chernobylite characters. We even showed it on the gameplay we recorded. The response was largely positive, for which we thank you. It’s great to see that players like what we’re doing. In case you’ve missed it, have a look now!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1016800/announcements/detail/3043838585267170745

But this is not the end of surprises on our part. We decided to show you what the magic of voiceovers is all about. And who can do it better than a professional voice actor.

Meet Ian Russell - award-winning voice actor, audiobook narrator, and most importantly, British. It is his voice that accompanies us throughout the entire game of Chernobylite, because Ian plays the main role of Igor Khymynyuk.



Ian began his adventure with The Farm 51 almost two years ago. As he says, for him, it has been challenging but an enjoyable and rewarding one.
‘The horror/survival genre is one in which I have some experience (eg: Remothered-Broken Porcelain, The Haunting - yet to be released) so having been cast in Chernobylite I could tell, early on that it was going to be a wonderful project with which to attach my name. I loved the mystery, the atmosphere and the music’ says Ian.



His first contact with the game was during the early trailer in which he provided a Russian / Ukrainian accent.
‘I thought that would be my only input into the game. But as the months went by, I was asked to voice a second trailer with the Russian accent and then some early access trailers in my natural British accent. All as Igor, the main character in the game’ recalls Ian. ‘Then came the Beta work, in which I was asked to provide the game voice for Igor. I took this as a real honor. It was clear to me, following the progress of the game, that a great deal of thought, dedication and commitment had gone into the environment (mapping Chernobyl), the storyline and the characters. The scripts were also beautifully written and dramatic.

‘In the Beta, I also voiced many other characters including Tarakan (watch him - he is a bit unhinged!) and various British, Russian and American NPC’s. I think it was 23 characters in all. I wanted the voices to be sufficiently distinct that if a player is in an encounter with two or more of my characters that they would not immediately know it was the same voice actor. I feel that can become distracting and even irritating if two characters are interacting and they sound the same. As an established gaming voice, these are the challenges I relish.’



One of the most important questions we asked Ian was how he was preparing for the lead role, Igor. He admits that Igor's voice in the game is close to his natural voice.
‘This means I can focus on his personality and storyline, which have evolved through the Beta and into the final version of the game. I can’t really say what has and evolved because I don’t want to spoil, too much changed for the players that might read this!’

At this point, we are giving a very important piece of advice to anyone planning a career in voice acting: stay hydrated!
‘You can lose a lot of water during a session. My recording booth has 3-inch-thick walls and is lined inside and out with sound treatments (foam, felt and in the case of the one window quadruple glazing) It can get extremely hot! In fact, during one particularly energetic session (for Tarakan) I had to take a break to shower and change my clothes’ says Ian.



Often, actors are asked if they identify with the characters they play. We asked the same question to Ian who answered like this:
‘Igor is a unique person; he is intelligent and has some survival skills, but the characters he meets along the way can help him, or hinder him, depending on the choices he makes. It was important for me (and will be for a player) to understand his motives and his relationships with other characters in the game. I am indebted to Wojtek and Lucasz for their time and insight into the inner workings of Igor's mind. Indeed, outside of the hiring process, we connected for about an hour just to discuss and practice his voice and character’ says Ian. ‘With a large role like Igor, it’s important to ensure your performance remains consistent. Like any muscle, your voice and vocal chords get tired so we tried to spread the workload across several days and weeks and had our sessions at similar times of the day. We typically kept sessions to a maximum of 2 hours. For the final game I think we had 10-12 sessions’ he adds.

How does the voice over recording look from his perspective?
‘It was a very refreshing decision for Farm 51 to bring multiple Voice Actors into the session together, albeit remotely, allowing the dialogue to evolve organically and the characters to interact. I feel the performances will be better and more realistic for it. In most cases, Voice Actors record game characters in isolation and are therefore ‘performing’ the other person too. That will almost always be a different interpretation than the one given by the other actor, so working in pairs and threes will benefit the game experience.’



At this point, we have to pay attention to one thing - 2020 brought a global pandemic that made our work very difficult. Especially in terms of organizing recording sessions. Ian felt the effects of this as well.
‘I’ve committed a lot of time and effort to ensuring my recording environment is excellent for my clients and consequently was ahead of the curve when in early 2020 the pandemic hit’ he says. That is why it was important to organize work on your own and in the privacy of your home. ‘Suddenly game makers needed talent with home recording capabilities. I have, for several years, had a dedicated 6 'x 4' recording booth in which I work. The main impact of the Pandemic for me, has been my ability to carry on when others that needed to go to a remote studio, could not. It certainly made working with Farm 51 easier, avoiding the need to travel to a studio. That said, I do enjoy the opportunity to work in a studio where you don’t have to be concerned about recording levels and whether local Gardeners or my dog ​​might interfere with sessions.’

Of course, the work of a voice actor, like any other, involves various unexpected situations. One of them was attended by Iana's daughter herself.
‘Chernobylite has also been significant for me in a couple of other ways. In an enormously 'proud father' moment, I had a recording session with my daughter, who also plays a character in the game, and her character and Igor have a lengthy dialogue. I think performance was wonderful, and it was such a highlight to work with he’ he recalls. ‘There was one session in which we needed to record what we call 'effort sounds' Typically these will be sounds a character makes when they are hitting something, being hit, running, walking and so on. Igor had the honor of being the first character for whom I needed to record vomiting sounds. The sound engineer was delighted with my efforts describing them as 'world class' We all had a good laugh and I hope players who experience this part of the performance agree.’

At the end of the conversation, Ian has a message to you
‘I hope playing Chernobylite gives you as much pleasure as I had working on it.’



[h3]That's it for today![/h3]
Take care, Stalkers!