What drew you to TLD?

[brendan_meyer]

I was just curious as to why people decided to support TLD. For myself I was drawn in by the idea behind the game (not your typical survival story), then to see the concept art and then start reading about the back story of the character and the plot I was hooked. No question that this was a game I had to support!

[kevin_tsai]

Actual Survival gameplay without zombies or some sort of crazy monsters lurking about. I used to work in Alaska a few years ago and the quiet isolation of that vast wilderness was something that really stuck with me. I hope that feeling can be rekindled in this game

Also the art style looks awesome, I think one of the art directors is the mind behind The Unfinished Swan and that game looked stunning!

[cyphermagnum]

There is something that has always drawn me to the North. Snow, pines, the aurora ... something makes it magical for me. To set one of my favorite genres - survival - and to make it purely *SURVIVAL*, not survival-horror or survival-shooter or the like, that's what sold me. I hope I get to hear the wind whisper and see the moon rise over the pines ... and make it to see the sun rise.

[light487]

Actual Survival gameplay without zombies or some sort of crazy monsters lurking about.

This is basically it for me.. I don't necessarily mind zombies being in a survival game but so far implementations of that kind have left me wanting. DayZ for example is quite a good implementation but the Zombie AI is just frustrating and unrealistic (as much as zombie AI can be realistic.. hehe).

In any case, I have enjoyed games like Deer Hunter and other survival-like games over the years that went to certain point with the survival aspects of things but stopped short on account of the game being about something first (such as hunting) rather than being about survival itself.

TLD is what I hope is going to be a true survival game that isn't ruined by other focuses.. hunting should be a tool to survival not the focus of the experience.. finding resources should be a tool to survival not the focus of the experience and so on.

[greg_finfrock]

This game, to me anyways, seems to have a lot of focus on atmosphere. Creating a large open world in which the player must survive, and emphasizing that the character is just a normal person with no special abilities.

Plus having Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer involved was a major factor in my decision to back the project.

[juleshawke]

It's different. It's not a 'oh yeah, just pick up a gun and shoot' game, you actually have to survive on your own skills. There is already an atmosphere about it that draws you in. Hopefully it carries through into the game.

Plus Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer - love their work.

[lemming]

I agree that the survival aspect of the game is what is ultimately intriguing and made me back the project.

The Canadian aspect also drew me in. I spent good chunks of my childhood living in the Canadian north, and it's nice to have a game basically set there. It's also nice to support Canadians making innovating games.

[logang]

I love survival based games/movies/books and also love post apocalyptic/disaster games/movies/books so for me this game had its hooks in me from the get go, then I read up on the team putting it together and saw the art style the were going for and fell in love...the rest is history.

[Urist McKiwi]

To me, I'm hoping that the game manages to get that elusive mix between "dang, this place is nice" and "dang, I'm probably going to die here if things keep getting worse" that happens in real survival situations (and I've been in a couple). Having a pure survival game with no added excuse to include generic FPS shooting mechanics is unusual in the extreme (Not that having survival-shooter mechanics is *bad* as such....it's just been done a lot, and a lot of the current Indie offerings in the genre are terrible), and the amount of talent behind this game drew attention to it. Most "survival" games, even the really good ones, tend to include something as their main danger. In TLD....that danger is just the environment. The wildlife is there, the people are there, but ultimately, it's the fact you're in the Taiga (or whatever the equivalent term is for North America) and it's *darned cold* is the big killer, and the main reason why everything *else* is potentially trying to kill you. That's going to be interesting, if it's pulled off well.

The decision to go for a more minimalist/stylised style of graphics is also very sensible.....it's more likely to work on a limited budget, takes less time, and ages better (look at how well graphics in games like Portal and Psychonauts have stood up over time). It also differentiates the game pretty well.

I'm hoping we see some real emergent gameplay, where we *can* end up forced to hole up for a week in an abandoned shack (better yet, spend a night in a snow cave. Those are always "fun" IRL) because we can't survive the trip back to basecamp until the weather clears, where we can use the things we pick up around the place in lots of interesting ways, where we might end with a pitched battle to the death against an enraged wild animal (Moose? Bears? Wolves? Whatever), and where we can generally have an ice time freezing to death in northern Canada.

In the end, the reason I actually shelled out money to help fund this game was that it's got an ambitious idea, the talent to see it through, and it's not a game that I think would ever be made without this method of funding. And its the sort of game the industry needs, rather than increasingly bland modern military shooters and the like. I'm looking forward to watching how this goes. The only thing I regret is not being able to afford the beta access pledge.

[pixelatedsand]

The fact that

1. It's a Survival Game

2. There not going for maxed out crazy graphics but more gameplay experience and probably much better storyline.

3. Looks cool, man.

[peter]

For me it was a few things. The Art, It being survival that doesn't include zombies, and my obsession with the Oculus Rift. I think this type of game would do amazingly well on the Oculus Rift and I can't wait to try it out on this game.

[ngejo]

The art style looks great and I'm a sucker for survival themed games.

[kickthebunny]

It's my favourite genre and the art is fantastic.

[logang]

Of course I have to add that although the genre, team and art drew me initially, the audio in the demo video was superb and that helped keep me very interested in this project.

[keeshia]

I don't consider myself a big fan of survival games, but the artwork for this drew me in to take a look at the actual story. Like @pixelatedsand said, I like that they don't seem focused on graphics but on the actual game experience and story. The story matters far more to me in this sort of game. And of course I backed it because of it's unique approach to the genre.

[robdoar]

I'm a pilot, survival instructor, hunter, and live in the snowy north.

TLD and I are soulmates.

[Don Reba]

I am an old fan of STALKER, having been moderating GSC's forums for nearly a decade. I adore the exploration aspect of those games, but am not so much for shooting. So, TLD's proposition was right up my alley.

[light487]

Yup yup yup...

Now that I think about it, the thing I enjoyed the most about the Deer Hunter games was sitting there in the environment enjoying the nature, the sounds, the sights and so on.. I actually don't like killing things and especially inocent animals etc for sport.. but it was all the other stuff that I enjoyed about Deer Hunter.. even the early ones that didn't have proper 3D graphics.. it was like living in a postcard In Deer Hunter, 95% of the game experience is spent exploring the environment and sitting in your blind.. waiting and waiting for the prey to come along.

There was another game by Cabella, I forget which one, that actually did more than Deer Hunting and had you basically kitting yourself out for survival and driving across the map to locations in real-time etc.. but it never really took it to the next level and incorporated survival into it.

[msquared]

I like the idea behind the game, and the gameplay previews look promising. However, the main reason I backed TLD was because the game will run under Linux. Great work!

[karissa_barrows]

The devs involved! Great people. The addition of such amazing voice actors were a perk for sure.

[indianajonas]

I agree with @Karrissa_Barrows. The people are awesome!

A small news article of my favorite gaming website (gameone.de) brought me to the KS campaign. Survival, nice environments and mostly the people behind the game, Hinterland, have made me stay and since then I get into it deeper and deeper.

[dinospy]

Well, the Penny Arcade Report linked me to the KS, then I saw the talent behind the development. I had just finished Saint's Row The Third, so I backed before reading much about what the game would be - the team was my biggest draw. Of course, following the campaign I've become increasingly excited for the realistic survival gameplay and the art style that reminds me of LoZ: The WindWaker - in terms of cel shading/painterly graphics.

[alex_leach]

For me I just love the romantic notion of being alone crunching through the cold wilderness snow with a single purpose, to survive. I think it stems from a few things, when I was young I read and loved the novel Hatchet, as well as I am an Eagle Scout so organized camping and spending time in nature are natural things to me. Obviously with something of this nature it is better experienced from the safety of our couch, I love something like the movie Cast Away, or survival shows like Survivor Man, or Dual Survival. It's a lot safer and without any hardship to experience these things from afar.

[TarjaS]

For me, it was about childhood memories the game images brought back: living in the countryside, surrounded by forests, and cold, dark winter nights with starry skies and occasional auroras. I've lived all my adult life in cities and wouldn't go back to the harsh life in the countryside, but it'll be interesting to experience it through the game. And of course there are other reasons: no zombies or monsters, no driving cars (I suck at it IRL and in games), no shooting around at everything that moves. I don't mind shooting (I've even done some target practice for real), but I really prefer games where I can take my time to evaluate the situation, and I prefer to sneak around the danger instead of tackling it head on.

[oskari_k]

For me it is the subject matter in the game as well as the presentation is what I found extremely interesting. The idea of a post-disaster survival game but without zombies is what makes it truly interesting.