Do not prevent activities in the dark, make it fun instead!

[Deliz Seemack]

In the recent alpha build, some players have noticed that you cannot perform some activities that you used to be able to do in the dark. I think harvesting cloth from curtains and harvesting reclaimed wood from crates are some of them. You used to be able to do those activities in the dark before but you cannot do it anymore in the recent alpha.

Instead of preventing such activities, the developers should make it fun™ with choices, risks and rewards. They could give a time penalty when doing those activities in the dark. They could give a risk of injuries when doing those activities in the dark. That risk of injuries could be higher if you need to use a tool. If granular light levels are implemented in the game, those time penalties and injury risks could scale with the darkness level. That would give more choices to the player. Do you want to risk using more of your hunger, thirst and energy and a potential injury to get those cloths because it is dark or do you want to use light to be more efficient and avoid the risk? Do you want to harvest reclaimed wood in the dark with your hatchet with a higher risk of injury or would you rather use your bare hands with a lower risk of injury while accepting the fact that it will take longer and waste more energy, thirst and hunger?

Obviously some good UI communicating those time penalties and potential risks would be appreciated for the player.

Here is an example with some arbitrary numbers. Let stay it take 30 minutes to harvest 4 reclaimed wood from a crate with full daylight using a hatchet. In full darkness, you could have a 60% time penalty making it use 48 minutes instead and a 15% risk of minor injuries.

As an unintended consequence, it would make it more realistic too but let's not delve too much into that rabbit hole.

Let me know what you think.

[Silverhour]

Not a bad idea actually. I've burned out lanterns while repairing/harvesting because I lost track of how much fuel I had left. This would be a good way to balance the conservation of resources against the impractically of doing these manual tasks in the dark.

[MarrowStone]

Im always a fan of risk vs reward, this allows players to do the tasks in an emergency while players that can afford to wait until light wont think of doing it.

[cekivi]

Nice idea

[Wastelander]

I know a few fun activities for the dark....

Like fishing or Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. Also, pillow forts are cool! ... What did

you think?

Jokes aside, solid idea, I like it.

[Deliz Seemack]

Another potential penalty for doing stuff in the dark could be some reduced result. Less cloth from curtain, less reclaimed wood from crates, less repair amount (%) when mending, etc. It could also be a combination of the three: more time, more risks of injuries and less result.

[Casazzo]

Did anyone ever try to do theese activities in the night while on a closed porch? Is that enough light?

Can you do it at night at all?

 

Have to test it as soon as i come home.

[RCCross]

On 12/16/2016 at 2:46 PM, Casazzo said:

Did anyone ever try to do theese activities in the night while on a closed porch? Is that enough light?

Can you do it at night at all?

 

Have to test it as soon as i come home.

Sorry, but don't offend blind people man.

Seriously now... if you lose your eyes you'll get used doing things in the dark.