[Suggestion] Difficulty sliders to customize the experience

[Arcontis]

The more I read feedback from other gamers, the more I realize that tweaking the difficulty is a very difficult thing. The reason is because some people are looking for a hardcore survival challenge, while others prefer a more casual approach to experience the game in a calmer way. In the end, it's almost impossible to appeal to everyone...

But maybe there is a solution: Difficulty sliders. They can let us adjust the game to our desired level of challenge. If you think about 4X games, you can see that most of them let you tailor the shape and conditions of your world/galaxy/whatever. Perhaps TLD could use that approach too. So, what could be adjusted here? First let's analyze what things are adding difficulty to the game, and then we can think about ways to modify them:

- Temperature adjustement

This slider would be an amount of degrees ranging from +X to -X. The idea is to add or substract that number from the final temperature given by the game. This way we could have colder temperatures that would drive us faster into freezing status, or we could configure the winter to be a bit warmer.

- Temperature "damage"

This slider would be a multiplier (x0.5, x2, etc.) that would let us change how much damage is done to our condition once we get the "Freezing" status.

This slider, coupled with the temperature adjustment would let us tailor extreme harsh temperature conditions, having to focus on our body temperature, and planning ahead short trips because of the weather. On the other side, if we prefer to focus more on the loot survival side, we can simply tailor down these two sliders and forget about cold weather affecting ourselves.

- Caloric consumption

This would be another multiplier slide that would let us alter how much calories are we consuming with each of our actions. For instance, if the standard caloric consumption for an hour foraging wood are 400 calories, if we set this slider to x2, they would really cost 800. If we set the slider to half of it, then it would cost 200.

- Food amount

This would be a slider that would let us specify the amount of food that is present in the world, either for looting, or obtained by hunting.

- Food "strength"

Our main way of recovering calories is eating food. This multiplier slider would let us alter how much calories we regain from eating.

We find here another interesting sinergy with the previous difficulty slider, as we can set very small amounts or food, but making also them more strong, making every single item we find a precious treasure. On the other side, if we prefer to focus on looting and scouting, we can make the food weaker, forcing us to move and scavenge more often.

- Food/Tools/Clothing decay rate

Another set of multiplier sliders that could let us alter the standard rate of decay of each set of items. Maybe we want to make food degrade quickly, to force us to go more often on hunting, or make the clothing decaying slower so we can focus on the survival part (food/water/temperature).

- Amount of fauna

This slider would let us increase or decrease the amount of animals present in the game. Maybe we can add more aggressive animals if we want a challenge, or lower their quantity if we prefer to focus on other aspecs of survival

- Animal damage

This multiplier difficulty slider would alter the amount of damage dealt by aggressive animals. This way we can set lower quantity of wolves (or other creatures), but making them much more deadlier. On the opposite we can make them easier to defeat.

Final thoughts

Most of these sliders are merely multipliers that could be applied right before affecting the character or the world, so perhaps they might be "relatively" easier to make (I don't know). If it is something that could be assumed by the devs, it would let everybody tailor their TLD experience to their liking.

Want to focus on temperature managing, hunger and thirst control? Check.

Do you prefer focusing on exploring with lighter survival mechanics? Check.

Do you prefer to fight against the cold instead of food scavenging? Check.

Do you want a more action oriented game (within limits)? Check.

Do you prefer a more throughtful approach? Check.

Do you prefer a short but intense game? Check.

Do you prefer a long and resource management strategic-wise game? Check.

[Beanie]

I might add to this a time passage slider, or ingame button.

I admit, my reasoning for this is entirely non-gamey and personal. I'd just like to be able to be in my little trapper hut with a fire going whilst outside a blizzard is raging and be able to leave it on as a sort of screensaver for my PC!

Also, the ability to just stand and enjoy the scenery whilst outside for a few minutes without worrying about the calories etc might be nice. There are plenty of very nice vistas to enjoy, but I always feel like I'm stabbing myself in the back if I hang around for long.

I kind of think when I'm sorting through my pack I should also be on "real" time as well. I understand the accelerated time helps create a sense of urgency about your characters's plight, but some variability might be nice.

[Arcontis]

I might add to this a time passage slider, or ingame button.

I admit, my reasoning for this is entirely non-gamey and personal. I'd just like to be able to be in my little trapper hut with a fire going whilst outside a blizzard is raging and be able to leave it on as a sort of screensaver for my PC!

Also, the ability to just stand and enjoy the scenery whilst outside for a few minutes without worrying about the calories etc might be nice. There are plenty of very nice vistas to enjoy, but I always feel like I'm stabbing myself in the back if I hang around for long.

I kind of think when I'm sorting through my pack I should also be on "real" time as well. I understand the accelerated time helps create a sense of urgency about your characters's plight, but some variability might be nice.

I really love that idea of a time passage slider!