A matter of Time

[taeonas]

I want to say, again, that I love the immersion of the game.

That's why I want to talk about something that screws it up, for me at least.

Time.

That five minute hour is killing me.

I know, I know, if you put a realistic timer on it, people are going to freak. Walking in deep snow is a slow, slow business. Gamers are used to flying around game worlds at about thirty miles an hour, and asking a player to sit there, and walk for hours on end just to get someplace isn't sane. To let people move around at the rates they're used to, an hour has to fly by in all of about five minutes.

That creates a whole host of other problems, like needing to eat what feels like constantly, especially since the game is good enough that the player's sense of time starts to slip. The fact that you can sit there, and watch as your avatar burns through what you know is a good couple hours worth of food in ten minutes is distressing too.

I know there are ways around it in the game, but, honestly, gaming the hunger mechanic like that, in real life, is going to get you killed, fast, in a northern winter, and, why am I even going into this, I don't have a problem with the food requirements per day, just, how bleeding short the day is.

My proposed solution, finally, is this. Variable passage of time, controlled by the game itself, but based on player actions and surroundings.

If you're walking, time speeds up. To the player, the character is just walking faster, but, really what's happening is that time compression gets stepped up. This lets you get from the logging camp to mystery lake in a matter of real world minutes, not hours, but hours still pass in the game.

Then, when you stop to look at this or that, or because, oh, hey, that's a wolf/deer/sand worm/whatever time slows right back down to something a lot more like a 1:1 ratio.

At it's simplest this can be done with a line of code that looks at how long the player has been pushing the W key. Longer duration means more intense time compression. Add in a check for indoor/outdoor status, or anything else that seems appropriate.

If you want to pass time standing still, craft, sleep, forage, do something.

Anyhow, that's my idea. I don't know enough about how the game is programmed to know if it's viable or not.

It won't work so great multiplayer, but, last I checked, that wasn't a thing.

[Trandor]

So you assume that everyone is walking forward with W key, but maybe you get sidetracked and look to the side with the mouse, using the A or D keys. So simply measuring the W key wont work.

Also I don't think compressing the time like that will feel even odder than simply having a 12x time compression that is on all the time while having normal walking speeds. Anyway, it never bothered me, so I don't know. At least to me, time compression in the way you described would not be a feature I'd enjoy.

[Beanie]

Although I would love a slider to allow me to set time to whatever rate I felt comfortable with, I think the only place where the time acceleration really irks me is indoor locations.

For example: If I enter the Camp Office for the first time and am going around, seeing what is there and picking up things at a rate that seems normal, I don't think the time should be accelerated. Likewise when I'm rummaging in my backpack, or standing by the stove but not yet doing anything with it (not cooking or melting snow etc.)

With the last, there is a feeling of panic that I must pick an option to perform or I'm wasting fuel. That, in turn, leads to a quick response which can, sometimes, lead to a boiling, or cooking option that does not complete before the fire goes out.

I'm all for accelerated time, but I think a variable option of some sort is needed. At the moment, there is never a moment in the game where you can relax. You can have ample food, water, firewood and shelter, yet still you are panicked by the time element. The only way at present to offset this is to pause the game whilst you contemplate your next move and that, to me, destroys the immersion to a certain extent.

[Trandor]

hmm... Well as much as i dislike it, I have to agree somewhat with you there. how about this: Outdoors, the 12x Acceleration remains, to "simulate" the greater distances travelled, but once indoors, time decelerates to 1x Speed, so you has plenty of time to do the thinking and preparations?

[elloco999]

So you assume that everyone is walking forward with W key, but maybe you get sidetracked and look to the side with the mouse, using the A or D keys. So simply measuring the W key wont work.

Also I don't think compressing the time like that will feel even odder than simply having a 12x time compression that is on all the time while having normal walking speeds. Anyway, it never bothered me, so I don't know. At least to me, time compression in the way you described would not be a feature I'd enjoy.

Well, the game is already tracking if the player is moving (since it affects the amount of calories you burn) taking into account any way your moving (forwards, sideways or backwards), so that could be used. But I agree that it would probably feel strange to have a variable time compression.

On the other hand, I do agree with @Beanie that time seems to move way to fast when you are looking around indoors or standing by the fire. I feel like I'm wasting precious time and fuel between the moment one action (i.e. cooking) completes and I initiate the next. This makes me try to be as quick as possible with everything while the fire is burning, while also having to keep a good eye on the burn time I have left, making me sometimes do something I would rather not have done (like cooking another piece of meat while only having 15 min of fuel left but still plenty of fuel in inventory).

So maybe a better system would be to have time passing slower (x4?) inside and faster (x12?) outside?

@Trandor: great minds think alike

[snozberries]

If time is at 12x, then the amount of time to look through an empty drawer is insane. It's already a bit long even if time were real time. That should definitely be sorted.

[levism84]

Just because something has been done the same way in all previous games, doesn't mean it is automatically the right or best way to do it.

[a-z-booka]

[...] I do agree with @Beanie that time seems to move way to fast when you are looking around indoors or standing by the fire. I feel like I'm wasting precious time and fuel between the moment one action (i.e. cooking) completes and I initiate the next.

[...] So maybe a better system would be to have time passing slower (x4?) inside and faster (x12?) outside?

I absolutely agree with Beanie. Time should pass slower indoors and when using a stove/fire but not doing anything. Moreover, you should be able to add wood regardless of cooking e.t.c.

On the timescale point I agree with elloco999. It should be x4 or even x3 when indoors/using fire.