How realistic is this world gonna be?

[foxpyt]

I hope TLD will have a realistic world.

Maybe something like in http://www.thehunter.com/. Maybe also hunting - which could be part of surviving - could be similiar. In TheHunter a bow can be used.

But I hope that in TLD the world is much bigger. Maybe grows in a generic way like in Minecraft.

Of course computer power and budget has to be respected.

[kevin_tsai]

What do you mean by realistic? I think it was already implied pretty well that hunting was going to be used a lot.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Hey @foxpyt -- thanks for the post. As @Kevin_Tsai asks, what do you mean when you say "realistic"?

Do you mean, visually? If so, no, we won't be realistic like The Hunter. We have a much more stylized art direction and world design.

In terms of mechanics and gameplay, I think you can consider The Long Dark quick "realistic". It'll certainly be as authentic as possible to the survival experience, provided it's still fun.

[foxpyt]

Yes I meant visually.

Well the success of a game first depends on story and gameplay than visually realistic countryside.

Thanks for clarification..

[Bill Tarling]

Yes I meant visually. Well the success of a game first depends on story and gameplay than visually realistic countryside.

You can see some of the initial and prototype video at http://www.intothelongdark.com/ (just below the 'Stretch Goal' bar.

This video clip (also early work in progress material) will also give you an idea how the game look and feel

[bBvideo 560,340:tunvagel]

[/bBvideo]

[robdoar]

I love that the designers have gone with a more artistic take than realistic. I find myself nit-picking about inaccuracies in game environments that are trying to be "real".

With artistic license, I can dismiss that and focus on content. :-)

[Dalec]

@robdoar

Every game developer has to watch for their "uncanny valley", I suppose.

[mantrakid]

the prototype looks amazing. I totally believe that a stylistic feel goes a lot further to help establish an emotional connection as well.

[david_rickards]

Have you seen the skies! They look amazing.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Yeah, I don't really put much emphasis on photo-realism as a way to deliver immersion to players. Photorealism could be important if it supported gameplay in a meaningful way. In our case, we get more mileage out of a stylized look, helps us stand out, and really fits the overall tone and vibe we're going for. I think photorealism makes sense for some games, but isn't at all important to The Long Dark.

[accurize2]

theHunter has a realistic slower paced feel to it as far as gameplay goes. I really, really like the artistic style they are going for in ILD visually though. I mean WOW!! In my opinion, the technical aspects of the game should be hardcore though. I believe the more hardcore you make the survival (learning how to make fire, using food to eat vs trap, creating a nicer shelter for the night vs a snare with limited cordage, ect...) would help keep the game off the radar of the KoS junkies. This would also appeal to a ever increasing group of more mature gamers. I think that is part of the reason theHunter isn't rife with kiddies, it's simply too technical for them, if they play it like a FPS they never even see an animal. So a mature game technically will draw a mature and dedicated audience. I think there is quite a large market share for gamers like that, me included...

Provide a very, very thoughtful, methodical, realistic survival experience and I'll gladly pay a lot for it. I want to die many times just trying to live. I hope this amazing concept delivers!

[Raphael van Lierop]

Thanks for your thoughts. We're definitely striving for more of a realistic survival simulation than a more arcade-like shooter. In some cases we will abstract more complex interactions simply due to having limited resources and having to sort of pick our battles, but as much as we can we're creating the core systems to be expandable in the future, including how they are presented. So, for example, we may put in a secondary gameplay system built around a survival action and test it out with a simple implementation. Once we learn more about how it fits into the overall, how people use it, and if they like or dislike it, we can figure out what to do with it next. Do we leave it as is? Do we invest more resources in improving the realization of the feature? Do we get rid of it? Etc.

We believe the game's more realistic-leaning simulation focus, and the mature storytelling in the story mode, will attract the type of gamer who is looking for a more realistic, more thoughtful experience.

The art style is stylized mainly because we want to stand out and create a beautiful world, but as I've always said, in some ways the style of the world will stand in contrast to the harshness of the gameplay, and the story.

[ANGRYWOLVES]

From the promotions I have seen this seems to have elements of horror in it and not just survival.

Does the cataclysm, whatever it is, affect the protagonists ability to survive, as opposed to the "he's just lost in the wilderness" scenario ?

I liked it.I read several end of the world books growing up but they took place in towns and cities where the protagonist knew something had happened.

I suppose at some point in the game the protagonist will become aware of the cataclysm. Have you decided how he or she will learn about it ?

[Raphael van Lierop]

From the promotions I have seen this seems to have elements of horror in it and not just survival.

I'm not sure I would characterize the game as having horror in it. Certainly there is a sense of mystery and at times, dread, but not horror in the traditional sense. At least, not the way I see it.

[Kennedy]

Personaly, I see it more like "the grey" movie (the one with Liam Neeson), am I right ?

[ApexPredator]

From the promotions I have seen this seems to have elements of horror in it and not just survival.

I'm not sure I would characterize the game as having horror in it. Certainly there is a sense of mystery and at times, dread, but not horror in the traditional sense. At least, not the way I see it.

From what I have seen I wouldn't either and that is why I signed up for TLD kickstarter. It is really hard to find a survival game that does not have a fantasy/horror aspect to it. I think making a more realistic game is harder in terms of content or ways to keep the average user entertained and it is easier to just throw in zombies to add a sense of urgency.