The background and some terminology of the game ( `` The Zone '' , `` Stalker '' ) is borrowed from the popular science fiction novella Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky and the 1979 Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker that was loosely based on it , as well as Stalker , the film 's subsequent novelization by the original authors .
Some phrases used in the game ( `` The Zone '' , `` Stalker '' ) as well as the idea of the game , are borrowed from the popular science fiction book Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky and the 1979 film Stalker , based on the book .