Go blind

[Kornél]

I was wondering: how is that possible that our protagonist spends months around moutain ranges, possibly at a high altitude while most of his/her surroundings are covered in snow and yet, never goes snowblind?

(some info on snow blindness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photokeratitis)

Goggles could help to prevent it from happening, as well as some medicine. Of course it would need some time to develop, just like hypothermia, only this would take a lot more time (but chance would constantly increase while being out in the wild in the daytime without goggles) Getting to higher places (to the Summit for example) would boost up it's effect, making timberwolf mountain a bit even more 'hardcore' region without the proper equipment. After a few hours inside, the chance could return to zero. 

[Velios]

I like the idea, it`s just a matter of how to develop this, just as you mentioned. On the one hand it would make the game even harder, on the other hand they would need a good balance, so that you can realize it and don`t have to consume pills every 10 minutes. Possibly they could add that you become snowblind after 15 hours in the wilderness by a chance of - let`s say - 30% unless you did not find goggles so far but can prevent it by staying inside for 3 hours. The goggles themselves could be kinda scratched so your view is slightly worse at all than without them. Just thinking...

[Dirmagnos]

We are rather far from being at high altitudes and weather is mostly cloudy, so im not really sure how snowblindness would factor in.

[Kornél]

Yeah, as a second tought you are right about the altitude: there are trees even in the summit, so basically everything is under the treeline and the treeline in Canada (or at least in the Chugach Mountains) can be around 500m. On the other hand, cloudy weather will not help out, as UV rays easily travel through any clouds so I still think that it would factor in after some time. 

I was thinking in something like the above mentioned balance: spend all the day out and you become snowblinded by a chance of 20-30% without goggles, maybe 30-40% on timberwolf causing blurry vision just like when you are below 10% health until you sleep it out (10 hours of rest maybe as real life healing time with 24-72 hours would be radiculus). I don't like the idea of the goggles making your view worse, I think it would become irritating after some time, and I would never want to ruin anyway the joy of the sight in TLD. I was thinking in a passive effect - maybe an icon in the corner to show you that you are wearing goggles, or just the absence of the stockpiling chance to go snownlind would be enough.

You might ask: okey, okey but after all what would it add to the gameplay? And I have to admit - not much.

But think of it for a moment the way around: would this game be as great as it is without hypothermia? Certainly. Would it be cool without food pisoning? Yes. Without sparined ankles? 10/10 would still play it. But hey, would TLD world feel the same if I would get rid of them at the same time? No way.

These little things may seem pointless alone, but they create what I think is one of the strongest sides of TLD: detail. So things like snowblindness doesn't have to be a real gamechanger. It's purpose is only to generate more detail and to get another little thing that could cause problems if someone doesn't pay attention to it (and don't get me wrong I'm not aiming to get a 100% realistic game, even if the details make it similar to something like that). 

Also, I like the idea of more types of clothing items and goggles would look nicely

[ArcherAC3]

I agree!

[RighteousFury]

I feel like this is on of those infamous forks in the road for all game developers alike. Does the game take the realistic route, or one that caters to how entertaining the game is. If my character were to go blind I would say "F--- this, *alt f4* " and go write a salty complaint on the forums.

[Dinhammer]

You should only go blind if you spend too much time by yourself in Trapper's Cabin.

[Dirmagnos]

1 hour ago, Dinhammer said:

You should only go blind if you spend too much time by yourself in Trapper's Cabin.

Blind and grow hair on palms of your hands.

[Dinhammer]

Yeah, I regretted that one as soon as I posted it.  /facepalm 

In all seriousness, imposing blindness as a penalty for staying outside too long seems to be a bit in conflict with the recent penalties imposed for staying too long *inside*.  

[Kornél]

I said this already but again: I don't want to have a completely realistic game. If I want have a realistic hike experience I will just go out and hike ^^

I also said that going blind shouldn't be easy: only when you dont have goggles and dont have any meds and stay out the whole day and you are unlucky enough to be in that 20-30% should you go blind. And I dont mean a pitch black screen, just blurry vision with 10 hours of recovery time. I dont feel that too realistic (see above why) or truly hard, its nowhere any close to the point when I would be like "yeah, nah fuck this, f4" but maybe we are just different.

I think that penalties should prevent the player from being too extrame: staying in the cold for too long, not sleeping/eating/drinking for too long, staying inside for too long and yes: staying outside for too long. But anyways you aren't likely to spend  most of the day outside. And if you do you could still find some goggles.