S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Retrospective @ Eurogamer

Eurogamer has posted some discussion with GSC's Oleg Yavorsky which for some reason they've broken up into two articles. The first, about some issues with the long development cycle can be found in this article, First S.T.A.L.K.E.R. hamstrung by over-ambition:

"...there was just this ambitious concept: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was to be the ultimate game, with a mix of pretty much everything - shooter, RPG, survival horror, driving.

"We were inexperienced and took on too much," added Yavorsky. Obviously there's a bit more experience floating around now though, because prequel Clear Sky has only taken a year and a half and will be out on 29th August.

and the second piece concerning it's North American reception is here in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. misunderstood in US:

"We've never had problems with getting Europeans to understand our games, and we have had problems with North America and Asia," said Yavorsky...

"Also, we've always created hardcore games, and the mass-market audience is now pretty much casual. Big companies always want you to make your game as easy as possible, so that any really non-intellectual person can play it. They want all sorts of tutorials to guide the player through, and this is something we've always been very resistant to.

"But then, everything, even up to the colour spectrum and how bright your game is, can be an issue. It seems that to appeal to North America you need really flashy, bright games, and you can see that every Eastern European game is very dark," added Yavorsky.

To round out the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. coverage, Rock, Paper, Shotgun is pointing out some new Clear Sky screens over at Strategy Informer.