Large S.T.A.L.K.E.R. inspired Island "NOVA ZONA"

I think we would both agree that we would make a great team, but Meshcarver and I have different creative visions, different projects to be working on, and Mesh has a lot less time that I do, we spoke about it last night, had a good chat.

It would be awesome, but I don't think it's viable currently, I respect and admire Mesh's work greatly, I would love the opportunity to work with a professional one day, but we should be focussing on our own projects for the time being.

Hi guys,

@ Alex-X-xSQ- Thanks for the advice man, and you'll find below I've tried to explain a little about the reasons behind NOVA ZONAs demise so to give people a better understanding of what they can expect and why. Also, yes, I do have a design document of sorts- my beloved notebooks..! :)

@ Defunkt- (Lol avatar as always..!) Aye, Kiroy is a fantastic creator and a good guy- if I ever did edge towards wanting to form a team, he'd be one of a few I hold in high esteem for sure as there are some extremely talented and enthusiastic creators in this community.

Saying that, Kiorys post explains very well how I feel about the whole team thing and we do have our own projects and we want to keep it that way mate.

@ Koiry- well said man. :)

Anyway, after eeking away at this, I've finally got my new concept piece done... this one is showing a typical scene you can expect to encounter if you're ever unlucky enough to find yourself in the vicinity of ++ THE FEEDERS ++

This area, which should measure about 3kms by 3kms can be thought of as a perimeter around the centre of NOVA ZONAs affliction, and is directly linked to the incident that unfolded to create a New Zone on the once relativity uneventful Border Island (Kordonu Ostrovy).

If you did manage to somehow pass this "perimeter", your life would be almost immediately on a count down as there is yet no known way for living beings to survive for more than 20 minutes in the actual Ground Zero of NOVA ZONA... hence, there is a lot of interest and exploration attempts to pass THE FEEDERS as who is to say what you could find where few have managed to tread and return..?

The vague similarity to a Concentration Camp is intentional- I visited the Dachau Concentration Camp a few years back and was struck in all sorts of ways, but the visual appearance was absolutely horrific to me.

As for the relevance of the actual spheres themselves- lets just say that there are exactly as many of them as there were civilian inhabitants on Border Island... each one represented a once living person, now long dead.

Where you see a full single sphere- that was an adult.

Where you see clusters atop each other or otherwise joined- that represented a family unit.

Where you see a half sphere- that was an infant.

So from this hopefully you can begin understand the horror of what the Border Island Authorities were actually involved in, and believe me- it's not even close to revealing the enormity of what they were doing over a very long period of time- that part you will have to discover for yourselves.

That's gonna be really creepy! I can't wait to explore the map :)

Nice and creepy.

Maybe you could increase the creepyness by giving it a more industrial look , for example by changing the pipes a bit (rectangular appearance, angled pieces with smaller radii, simple connector indication between segments). Here's an example of what i mean.

and by giving the tanks some support structure (example1 example2 example3 example4 ) Yours are not that big of course but still.

This would also make the structures suggest beeing man-made, atm they look a bit alien.

btw, i stumbled upon this photo, maybe it gives you ideas or inspiration for a location.

An overview of some anomalies in http://stalker.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_anomalies. It would be nice to create a barely visible anomalies, but acting in the physical plane If I go in them.

@meshcarver I'm convinced you know that we need to become better people. We need more patience and humility, and you are graciously giving this to us by dangling this amazing work in front of us. Thank you.

@ Misty Ronin- cheers dude, I am trying to find time for it mate.

@ Fennek- Hey man, thank you for your suggestions and those links..! :)

It's intentional that they look almost alien (Can't believe you noticed..!) as the closer the player gets to the centrer of NOVA ZONA, the more detached from our reality it will get for them visually and in other ways. Believe it or not, I did actually draw in a few separators/fuseboxes but decided it broke the flow of all those curves and round bends so left them out.

The theme of this area is spheres and curves mostly, with those horrible organic growths slowly ingesting all the dead wildlife and human life that strays too close or doesn't get out in time...

Even the little weird bobble headed plants are spheres you see? I want the player to feel like he's trespassing somewhere almost alien to Earth.

In this way, the centre will be in sharp contrast to the majority of the island where things will look suitably industrial don't worry..!

@ Shurka- Cheers dude, I have a STALKER Wiki linked on my iPad for ages now and have come up with a lot of new Anomalies, but thank you all the same..!

@ Soolie- Lol, cheers dude..! I just wish I could dangle it a lot quicker mate (That sounded so wrong on so many levels...) as if it's frustrating for you guys who want to see this happen, how do you think it feels for me..? This having to manage my time malarkey is killing me... concept art is where I need to focus right now I'm afraid as it will pay the bills.

looks nice! About that warning shield on a fence, should something like: "Ñмертельно опаÑно!" Which mean, "fatal danger"! Feel free to ask me for some russian consultation, i try help wher i can (it's my mother tongue) ;)

*awakes from slumber*

Guys, I'm slowly chipping away at this in the wee hours when I can- I've done another house structure, made adjustments (The Island Authority has their say in the "plumbing" on Border Island) to an pre-existing house and am midway through another structure atm.

My question is this- is there currently anyone still interested in this enough to want to see progress shots? By that, I mean in the modelling software view port? I won't be sticking them ingame this time around as I need to concentrate utterly on just modelling the bastards because of time constraints.

Or is it simply taking too long..?

I'd like to see some. Throw em up!

Yes please.

I'm always amazed at the screen shots, tempted to use some as desktop wallpapers, they're that good :D

So can't wait for this map, it just looks stunning.

we're all still hanging on Mesh.... :-)

:now:

Hi guys,

sorry I took awhile to get back to you and thanks for your interest- as always a motivational shot in the arm..! :)

As I said earlier, these are just print screened from the 3D app, as time is short and I will put them all in the editor once I have a sizeable library of objects so excuse the quality.

This is one style of many houses constructed by the Island Authorities to contain the new arrivals to Border Island.

They are made of more modern materials than the older wooden and dilapidated structures that still remain scattered across the island, but were nearly all abandoned midway through construction as by the time the population growth warranted this extra expense of more housing, the Event occurred and put an abrupt stop to any and all further research and development.

In reality, the IA were always planning on constructing more "suitable accommodation" for the arrivals, as they needed an embedded framework to more closely monitor and record the daily activities and behaviour of all of Border Islands inhabitants.

You can see built into the walls of most rooms metal panels with connecting pipes that would go underground- the explanation given to arrivals was that this would be a form of clean air filtration and for maximum benefit they should not place objects over or cover the panels.

As the general dictum of attracting citizens to Border Island was based around embracing a new way of life and technology to advance the Motherland, there were no voices of dissension or even suspicions.

Then there are these huge, high tubular pipes which were known as "Tributary Arteries" by the IA. (See feint human figure at base for scale ref)

As will become apparent, the entire landmass of NOVA ZONA is comparable to a living organism- and in so has a central source of energy and "will", which radiate out like the spokes on a wheel to nourish and replenish its outer extremities and perceptions.

The IA were aware of this, and in trying to set up and encourage a symbiosis, they replicated where possible a similar framework across the island to contain and ultimately control what they thought was an attainable goal.

As these were known as Tributary Arteries, then it stands to sense that there were also "Veins" that ran across the landscape- these will be documented soon, but suffice to say, the Arteries carried substances from the centre and the Veins would return it.

What those substances were you'll have to wait and discover for yourselves.

As the original Stalker series had the iconic pipework across its landscapes, I had to try a new take on the idea. There will be some similar, but for the most part I'm not trying to just reproduce what's already there as it was perfect as it was.

I thought I'd go a bit outlandish with these high tubes, and made them from a sort of heavy and tough material so as I could have them hanging like massive organic weights overhead so as to add to the oppression and otherworldliness. That's a theme I want to encourage for NOVA ZONA- huge over bearing structures high over head so as to make the player feel smaller and more insignificant in this bleak and hostile place- and utterly out of his depth.

The resemblance to a phallus is also intentional- again, I wanted to have these huge almost obscene designs show up more in silhouette, and you can see from one of the variation pieces (Of which there'll be much more than this) that there's a huge hole where the piping should normally insert- again, phallic refs abound..!

If you take DEV_SHOT_60 and make it into a silhouette, hopefully you can see how organic these outlines can seem.

Ok, that's it for now chaps..!

Hope you like the update and I'm desperately trying to cram in more time when I can on this so thanks for your massive amounts of patience... I just can't stay away from NOVA ZONA- she's unavoidable to me..!!! ;)

PS- Incase you don't see them all, there are four links in the above text.

Beautiful. I really enjoy seeing how much thought and feelings you're putting into the map. NOVA ZONA is without a doubt my most anticipated map.

Definitely looking forward to it, man.

The resemblance to a phallus is also intentional

I think that sort of stuff is worth doing. HR Geiger made it work to good effect in Alien as it makes the viewer uncomfortable. Not consciously uncomfortable but uneasy, without knowing why.

I am MOST interested in your work. Particularly on the pipes. I have been trying to create a sewer system using pipes much like yours. What are the dimensions of the pipes? Inner and outer dimensions. I want to embed the pipes/sewer system into the heightmap.

Beautiful, amazing quality!

This looks awesome, good luck with it mate

Testing testing

meshcarver, is there any chance you could give us your "ColorCorrections" for NOVA ZONA? I'd really like to try them in regular Epoch, the atmosphere in your vids is so awesome imo.

meshcarver, is there any chance you could give us your "ColorCorrections" for NOVA ZONA? I'd really like to try them in regular Epoch, the atmosphere in your vids is so awesome imo.

Oh oui! I too have been trying to catch a post-apo atmosphere with CC but the result feels not so natural...

Might start fiddling with the lightning config...

Hi guys,

quickie reply as RL crap again getting in the way of NOVA ZONA dev time... :(

I didn't use any CC as I remember..? Just basically set the time to 1986, made it December at around 4pm (ish) and ramp the rain up and also added the FOG command thingy..? That's it for a lot of them... I don't even know if I'll be able to get this kind of look in the final map (absolute noob in that regard) but if I can do it in the editor, then SURELY I could replicate it in the final map settings..? Yes, no..?