Environment wishlist

[Coccolo]

Hi all,

I thought of some suggestions to improve the environment that I think would add to the experience:

1. some items should just not be reachable (e.g. old man's beard on higher branches or rose hips on cliffs). I'm suggesting this mainly to enrich the environment, but if well placed they would also become an additional danger for falls if one is crazy enough to try to get them.

2. branches and heaps of snow falling from trees when it's quiet could startle the player

3. more variety for sticks... they're all 'Y' shaped!

4. sometimes an animal might still be alive when it's deadly wounded and falls on the ground. As we approach it, it might still be heavily breathing.

5. random noise or visuals of distant avalanches

6. shiny items that sparkle in the distance and might draw attention

7. reflection of sky and scenery on some smooth patches of ice

[Wastelander]

5 minutes ago, Coccolo said:

1. some items should just not be reachable (e.g. old man's beard on higher branches or rose hips on cliffs). I'm suggesting this mainly to enrich the environment, but if well placed they would also become an additional danger for falls if one is crazy enough to try to get them.

 

I can see the appeal, but, eh, meh. The idea isn't bad (at least if I understand you correctly - my apologies, English isn't my native tongue) but the thing is, it takes up programming resources for a minimal bonus to gameplay.

6 minutes ago, Coccolo said:

2. branches and heaps of snow falling from trees when it's quiet could startle the player

 

That sounds cool. Doesn't that already happen though? I remember walking through some woods during a storm and hearing branches fall every now and then.

7 minutes ago, Coccolo said:

3. more variety for sticks... they're all 'Y' shaped!

 

Well... a certainly miniscule amount of gameplay value. But then again, we have three sodas which only differ in skin, name and description, so you might be onto something there. Just please, let them be stackable

8 minutes ago, Coccolo said:

4. sometimes an animal might still be alive when it's deadly wounded and falls on the ground. As we approach it, it might still be heavily breathing.

 

This I like. This I like very much.

8 minutes ago, Coccolo said:

5. random noise or visuals of distant avalanches

 

I understand the appeal, but there is really only a few mountains avalanches could come from in the game area so players would inevitably asked what was actually hit by those avalanches.

9 minutes ago, Coccolo said:

6. shiny items that sparkle in the distance and might draw attention

 

Like, a ring to toss into a fire? just kidding, what did you have in mind? How did the sparkle not get drowned out by the snow piling on it?

9 minutes ago, Coccolo said:

7. reflection of sky and scenery on some smooth patches of ice

Cool idea

[Coccolo]

1. unreachable items:
I was thinking some items might be manually placed by the team, to lure players into danger, others might be automatically placed by some procedure that randomly picks very few suitable places (e.g. one branch every 100), if anything like that is reasonably doable.
English isn't my native tongue either, so no need to apologize: maybe it is my fault the suggestion was not clear enough

2. falling branches or heaps of snow:
I was thinking of making it happen when the weather is fine. When it's stormy I'm usually rushing to the nearest shelter, so I wouldn't care about small things falling. But when the weather is fine I stop every now and then to decide what to do next or to just enjoy the view: that would be the best time to startle me!

3. more variety for sticks:
I know, it's not that important.. Yet I believe having 3 to 5 shapes would already be helpful in making the world feel a little less artificial.

6. shiny items:
I was imagining something that "becomes" visible from 1 Km away or more because of the sparkling. I didn't think of something in particular: it might be a metal container or some piece of equipment.
I just love the idea of looking at a panorama and then have my attention drawn by something shining very far away that makes me want to get there to find out what it is. And before starting the walk to that place I would have to take note of reference objects (trees or rocks) that I can see while I'm far away and that I think will help me localize the item once I'm in it's proximity.
About the item not being covered by snow. Well... it might have recently been placed or dropped by some NPC, or it might be on a rock or hanging from a branch...

[RCCross]

I haven't thought about the no.4 either, maybe because I was content enough with the AI of wildlife (compared to other games).

But the animal breathing is very nice.

Coming to think about it, they either run away or just fall dead flat.

It would be nice to see them lump around or drag themselves after a fatal shot, giving the player that feeling  "I'm so sorry, but I need your meat"

[Coccolo]

10 hours ago, RCCross said:

Coming to think about it, they either run away or just fall dead flat.

It would be nice to see them lump around or drag themselves after a fatal shot, giving the player that feeling  "I'm so sorry, but I need your meat"

Well, wolves do drag themselves already when they're wounded. At first they usually just run away, but if you manage to follow their blood trail eventually you can see them moving slowly, with their head down. After a while they fall dead.
I can't remember now, but I think the same thing happens for dears or bears.

What I was suggesting is that it would feel more realistic if sometimes the animal was still breathing if you reach it right after witnessing its fall.
Like you say, this could give a stronger sorrow feeling.

[ponyhidden]

1. Unreachable Items
I like this idea, medical resources purposefully being placed out of reach for decoration purposes sounds all right to me.

2. Falling Branchs
Occasionally seeing sticks break off of trees in fair weather sounds good. Would occur less often than during blizzards, I'm sure.

3. Stick Variety
Maybe this is a little picky of me, but I agree all the sticks being the same shape breaks immersion a little bit. 3-5 is a good number of different models. They'd probably stack similarly to books.

4. Animals not dying instantly
Would be interesting having animals not always getting knocked out immediately after being shot, especially when they aren't shot in the head. Would also be very sad to watch, so I'd prefer their suffering not being over-the-top, but powerful nonetheless.

5. Avalanche Visuals/Noises
Perhaps in a mountainous area, but you'd have to make sure the player knows what the noise is if they're not looking directly at the avalanche. Would probably not be seen often and could be confusing.

6. Distant Sparkling
You gave an example of metal containers sparkling in the far-off distance. Sounds like a neat idea for a sunny day.

7. Ice Reflections
Again, another cool idea. I really enjoy the environment in the long dark and I'd enjoy some of these being added. I'm not sure what the priority of implementing non-gameplay affecting things like these would be, but I'd be content if environmental features were added alongside gameplay features.

 

[Hotzn]

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1. some items should just not be reachable (e.g. old man's beard on higher branches or rose hips on cliffs). I'm suggesting this mainly to enrich the environment, but if well placed they would also become an additional danger for falls if one is crazy enough to try to get them.

+1

This would add immersion. Just like real life - you cannot have everything you see. Some people have also suggested to introduce items that have no use in the game, but which people would carry around nevertheless. A gold bar, for example, or shotgun shells without a shotgun ever being in the game. I would also like that, because it would make the choice of what to carry and what to leave behind more meaningful.

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2. branches and heaps of snow falling from trees when it's quiet could startle the player

+1

Excellent. I dimly remember this having been suggested before some time in the past. Everyone who has walked the quiet snowy forests knows about the bewilderment the dropping of snow from branches causes. Was that an animal? Or... a person? Nothing to see... no, probably just the snow falling off by itself...

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3. more variety for sticks... they're all 'Y' shaped! 

Nice to have, but really not a priority for me.

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4. sometimes an animal might still be alive when it's deadly wounded and falls on the ground. As we approach it, it might still be heavily breathing.

+1

There was time when the game had some bugs with dead animals. For example, already dead bears would give off another dying moan if you exited a building. This was pretty spooky. Also when the limping sequence for dying wolves was introduced, some people felt more sorry for killing it than before. I would very much like to see the ambiguity of killing for one's own survival to be introduced into the game. Imagine a deer falling down into the snow, still alive. You would have to close in and end its suffering. It would be looking at you, breathing heavily, maybe making noises af anguish and fear. Quite the moral dilemma and maybe a little more difficult to finish the job with a knife or hatchet that just pulling the trigger from a distance. It would fit the tone of the game, and I would find it very impressive.

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5. random noise or visuals of distant avalanches

Hmmm... maybe. But I presume a fair number of players have never experienced avalanches and would therefore be irritated by the noise, not knowing what it is. Also it might be difficult to create the graphics for avalanches. I don't see a great advantage here. 

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6. shiny items that sparkle in the distance and might draw attention

Interesting. Can you elaborate? Do you mean items which are already in the game? Or would it just be sparkle in the snow, and on checking nothing would be there?

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7. reflection of sky and scenery on some smooth patches of ice

Nice to have, but also not a priority for me personally.

[Coccolo]

18 hours ago, Hotzn said:

Interesting. Can you elaborate? Do you mean items which are already in the game? Or would it just be sparkle in the snow, and on checking nothing would be there?

Well, I explained my idea a little more on the 2nd post above, which I quote here:

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6. shiny items:
I was imagining something that "becomes" visible from 1 Km away or more because of the sparkling. I didn't think of something in particular: it might be a metal container or some piece of equipment.
I just love the idea of looking at a panorama and then have my attention drawn by something shining very far away that makes me want to get there to find out what it is. And before starting the walk to that place I would have to take note of reference objects (trees or rocks) that I can see while I'm far away and that I think will help me localize the item once I'm in it's proximity.
About the item not being covered by snow. Well... it might have recently been placed or dropped by some NPC, or it might be on a rock or hanging from a branch...

So, yes, I would use items that are already in the game: when you finally reach the spot you might realize it was a metal container, or a hunting knife, a hatchet, a piece of scrap metal, a storm lantern... whatever can be shiny. And along with it there might be some other loot items scattered on the ground. They could be set up so as to tell a story: maybe it's the place where an NPC spent his final hours, maybe after falling from a cliff above...

It should be far away from normal beaten paths, maybe high on a hill or a steep slope or even a cliff, on places where a normal player would usually not tend to go, unless indeed something aroused their curiosity.

Now that I think about it, even some "beachcombable" items could be shining from a distance...

The point is to stimulate even more the player's curiosity, hinting them to goals that are not immediately reachable.