S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

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Called by Prypiat. Major Degtyarev’s Revelations for GSC-Fan
By SlavaR
Alexander Poshtaruk discovers more about his turning into a protagonist for “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat”. The article is prepared by Vyacheslav Murygin for GSC-Fan site. February 9, 2012.
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Introduction


One of the key goals for the developers at GSC Game World in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series was to give their characters distinct personalities. They first pushed in this direction with “Clear Sky“, where several characters were based on real people. During the development of “Call of Prypiat” GSC team went even further, throughout the game you encounter around thirty unique NPCs. Even the protagonist, SBU major Alexander Degtyarev, was modeled after a real person Alexander Poshtaruk, who shared with GSC-Fan the story of how he became the face of the new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. hero.

Let’s give him the floor :)
Do they dance in the Zone… or How the Cossacks photographed the Stalker


Constantin Stupivtsev (Cardan) and Alexander Poshtaruk (Degtyarev)

Salsa… The Zone… It seems there is nothing in common. That’s right :)


Everyone has their own “Zone”. For me, it was dancing and extreme tourism. Well used to be, these days I’m more involved with an Orthodox Sunday school at the Bucha correctional colony (which, in its own way, is also a kind of Zone). But back then, I was running a Latin dance school where, quite by chance (although as they say, there are no accidents) I met Illya Tolmachov, then art director at GSC Game World, and in general a great guy.

To be honest, I still haven’t played S.T.A.L.K.E.R., though many of my friends finished it and they claim that I’m a lousy shot (in the game) :) But the book series have not passed by me. I read the anthologies of stories from literary contests that accompanied releases of all the games. And of course “Roadside Picnic” by Strugatsky Brothers, that’s the book you should start with if you really want to “get” the Zone.

So it’s absolutely not surprising that I gladly accepted Illya’s offer to take part in a photoshoot for the characters of the third S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, “Call of Prypiat”, especially since it was a wonderful opportunity to visit the GSC office. I knew the company from “Cossacks”, a game my classmates and I played to death back in our student years :)

On the appointed day, I arrived at the office on Lepse Boulevard (editor’s note: now Václav Havel Boulevard) and after a quick tour (by the way, the gym in there is awesome) we actually started the photoshoot along with other fans who, like me, were tempted by the chance to become part of the Zone’s world.



Face modelling of major Degtyarev

The process itself was pretty straightforward: they photographed my face from every angle, mouth open, mouth closed, profile, full face, the back of my head, chin up, chin down. One nice touch: in the game they gave me a height boost, from 176 to 190 cm :)


There were a lot of things we put on and posed for photos with a rifle and without, with a respirator, with a backpack and without. And then I was dressed in camouflage, and I was made to sit pensively at “campfire” with a cigarette and backpack at my feet (sure that it was full of many radioactive artifacts), all that was missing was a heroic music (editor’s note and fun fact: all this stuff used in Alexander’s photo session, it’s an airsoft equipment of Valentine Yeltyshev, PR manager at GSC Game World).



Ivan Khivrenko (2D artist) and Illya Tolmachov are working on Alexander’s image. “I’ll hold him, and you take off his awesome boots!” :D

And then I looked pensively into the distance with a rifle on my shoulder (later, they even turned my old Steal sneakers into proper army boots with a flick of the designer’s mouse).



The whole team was really cheerful so the time just flew by. We even took a few extra photos without any gear, just as souvenirs, before saying goodbye.
Major Degtyarev and stalker Garik :)

Some time later Illya called to tell me that I’d been chosen as the protagonist of “Call of Prypiat” apparently my look was a perfect fit. My friends didn’t find out until the game was released, which made it even more fun :) I still read the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. novels to this day, and I really hope this amazing Ukrainian project will be revived.
P.S. To my surprise, I later learned that the character Beard was based on a real Orthodox priest, Igumen Valerian, a colorful personality. I still often see him at youth tea gatherings at the Trinity Monastery of St. Jonas on Thursdays (shameless plug :)).
Gratitude
The author thanks:
  • Alexander Poshtaruk for the interesting story,
  • Illya Tolmachov and Andriyash Kolzlovsky for support,
  • Maeda K. for help with English translation,
  • Artem Samoilenko aka SamArt for the screenshot created especially for this article.
The article cover uses the author’s illustration.

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2 Comments
SlavaR  [author] 7 Oct @ 12:25pm 
Thanks for reading :)
Borahkreth 7 Oct @ 12:15pm 
Thanks for the article !