My take(s) on the game

[vgunn]

I'm really enjoying this game!

That said, there are some issues. First and foremost is caloric intake and the matter-of-fact way it is placed upon the character. Believe it or not (and I've got quiet a bit of outdoor experience) it is difficult to starve yourself to death. Make no mistake it can happen, but the rate it occurs is entirely too quickly. You're far more likely to starve later, rather than sooner after depleting your resources and begin the slow burn of starvation. Another issue comes from not only how much you consume--but what you're eating. For example, there is what is known as "Rabbit Starvation" which is caused from eating any lean meat, coupled with a cold and dry environment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

Still (assuming you are not severely injured or suffering from a lack of water) it is going to take a while to die from starvation--running into weeks rather than days. During World War II and in horrific conditions for the Jewish population surviving in the Warsaw ghetto (and other horrific camps) the average daily diet was limited to just 184 calories. People suffered and died, no mistake about it. However it did not come in day one or two. Starvation was slow and cruel, taking weeks if not months to inflict its toll on the population. People suffering in the camps endured not only harsh working conditions, but extreme cold weather as well. So even while exerting energy hunting and foraging, you'll not die rapidly. If fact, you are more likely to die from a heart attack or suffer a stroke before succumbing to actual starvation. Dying of thirst or exposure is a different matter.

Some other issues with the game. Food poisoning occurs way too often. There is also no variance to the severity of the poisoning. Canned items degrade (or have been degraded) way to rapid. Canned food live well beyond their expire date and are generally safe to consume. Again I go back to diet and food POWs ate to survive on in wartime conditions.

You should be able to break down wooden crates and other items found within cabins and sites to utilize as fire-burning sources. This aspect of the game is really lacking.

Bodily functions, yep I said it. A survival game that focuses on realism, yet leaves this out. Not only when you've got to go, but where as well. Again your as likely to die of dysentery as you are starvation.

Why no doe's? Much less likely to see stags rather than female deer. Also no smaller game--which is unfortunate.

I like the fact there are wolves in the game. Really just a few reason they'd pose a danger to humans. Starvation/desperation--which means the deer/animal population must be much more scarce; they've been fed by humans and thus lost the fear of them; or they are sick/injured and cannot hunt for normal game diet. A timeline of events and just how depleted the resources would help with this--so scattering some "flavor text" around would help with emersion and realism. This pilot would be scouring for any clues to how/when this occurred. He/she need hope and a reason to continue to struggle on in this environment.

So that's a quick write up for now--I'm sure I will have more as I go along.

PS -- you can walk, run and crouch. How come you cannot jump?

[oversoul]

Food poisoning occurs way too often. There is also no variance to the severity of the poisoning.

hear! hear!

Canned items degrade (or have been degraded) way to rapid. Canned food live well beyond their expire date and are generally safe to consume. Again I go back to diet and food POWs ate to survive on in wartime conditions.

This is a GIANT hole in the game, IMO.

- home canned goods: 2 yr

- commercially canned goods: 2-5 yr

- MRE, C-rations, etc: 8-10 yr

- as we all know how cold it is outside, you should be able to hang meat

- this has been brought up in other threads. I'm sure it's on their radar.

http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/canned-goods

You should be able to break down wooden crates and other items found within cabins and sites to utilize as fire-burning sources. This aspect of the game is really lacking.

If you select "harvest wood" from the survival menu while indoors, the game simulates you ransacking the place for chair legs, crates, etc. to obtain the fuel "reclaimed wood."

Also no smaller game--which is unfortunate.

I'm pretty sure this is on the road map for beta/release/story.

How come you cannot jump?

I think this has been addressed in other threads.

GL out there...

[Beanie]

Believe it or not (and I've got quiet a bit of outdoor experience) it is difficult to starve yourself to death. Make no mistake it can happen, but the rate it occurs is entirely too quickly

Yep, on board with this. I'd rather see a drawn out starvation mechanic. Maybe starting off when you have negative calories by ramping up the exhaustion meter. No energy = getting exhausted more rapidly. Then after a while you just move slower and get cold quicker etc.

Food poisoning occurs way too often. There is also no variance to the severity of the poisoning.

No argument here either. Every bout of food poisoning I've had has been different. I've been lucky (or resilient enough) to never need hospitalisation, but it has come close once. In none of those instances did I take antibiotics. Usually they were categorised by the following occurences:

1. Feel increasingly bad.

2. Vomit.

3. Drink water.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 a number of times depending on severity of the food poisoning.

5. Sleep.

6. Feel better.

Again, rather than always be a life-threatening occurence, I'd rather see the bout of food poisoning limit what your character can do - slower movement, quicker exhaustion, increased dehydration rates etc. Those kind of effects would be far more brutal in a survival situation than popping a couple of pills and sleeping the day away, I think.

I'd also rather not see it crop up as frequently as it does. But that ties in to the food degradation rates, which I'm hoping will be eased. It's hard to take those seriously when your character is essentially living in a giant fridge/freezer.

[vgunn]

Thanks for the responses!

Here is another example on a survival/starvation situation.

In 1991, Australian medical student James Scott was volunteering at a hospital in Nepal. In his spare time, James developed a love of trekking through the Himalayas. Shortly before Christmas, he was heading toward the popular Helambu Trail when he encountered a party of Germans who told him about another, hidden path. The new trail, the Germans assured him, was far more scenic than the overrated Helambu, and it only took a few hours to walk. They even offered to give him their map. But before they left, the Germans gave James a warning: “If it snows, you must turn back.”

As James and two companions set out on the trail, they were greeted with a light dusting of snow. James remembered the Germans’ warning, but the snow was so light that there hardly seemed any risk. He resolved to press on, although one of his companions complained his knees were giving out and had to turn back. Somehow, none of them realized that the man who had turned back had been carrying the map as well as the group’s only lighter.

They climbed farther along the trail, and the snow grew thicker. Soon, it was so heavy that visibility was almost zero. Alarmed, James decided to turn back, but his remaining fellow traveler decided to press on. Before long, James was completely lost. He spent the night under a small rock overhang.

When he awoke, he found himself near a small creek, surrounded by virtually impassible mountains. He had two chocolate bars, a small notebook, and a copy of Great Expectations. He had no compass, map, or way to start a fire. His clothes included a light ski jacket and tennis shoes. It was certain death. He ate the chocolate bars sparingly over the first few days, a quarter at a time, trying to make them last as he searched for a trail.

Once they ran out, James had no food at all, except for a caterpillar which he found crawling across the rocky ground. He didn’t find another. For water, he ate snow, which also helped with the hunger pangs. He had to force himself to eat only enough snow to avoid dehydration, since every mouthful risked dangerously lowering his body temperature.

Once, he saw a great black bear, but by that point, he was too weak to do anything but stare as it wandered away. His only advantage was that his love of karate had left him with thick muscles around his legs and back. As his body began to eat itself, these muscles withered away.

Meanwhile, James’s sister Joanne had flown to Kathmandu to coordinate the rescue effort. Experienced climbers fanned out across the mountains and posters of James were widely distributed, promising a reward for whoever found him. The trackers Joanne hired assured her that there was no need to check the southwestern region. There was no way James could have made it down there, they claimed—the route was completely impassable. In desperation, she decided to visit a famous lama. To her surprise, the holy man assured her that James would be found. Asking to see her map, he pointed to the southwest region. It took 43 days before James was found. For 43 days he ate nothing but snow, two chocolate bars, and a caterpillar. When he heard the helicopter overhead he was almost too weak to crawl out and wave to it. Almost, but not quite.

http://listverse.com/2014/07/08/10-epic ... -all-odds/

I really like the game and I think drawing out the starvation will make it much more interesting--especially as finite resources are depleted.