my experience

[snozberries]

Edit: let me know if you'd like me to add my log. For science!

I played about 3-4 hours of the alpha (managed to live 3.5 days until being devoured in my bedroll by a wolf) and would like to deliver some feedback--some of it is going to overlap with what you already have (sorry for the repetition):

Please consider selling the game without DRM/steam. Many people who support indie games cannot abide DRM. As a person who has had a lot of trouble with steam, I really wish more developers would sell on DRM-free platforms/platforms that aren't so closed.

The game! I really like the concept and execution. I have to say that I died really fast a couple times until I got the hang of the world, adn then managed to live a while, but at the same time constantly on the edge of calamity and struggling mightily to survive. The game is balanced and internally consistent (I was killed for making a poor decision which was fair), and really felt "right". Amazing job on that for an alpha. The length of the list below is more of a reflection of my enthusiasm about the game than a big negative criticism.

-remarkably bug free for an alpha (actually I didn't encounter a single bug!)

-good atmosphere

-love the art

-love the sound design

-some of the personal utterances seem incongruous (the incredulity when picking up energy bars...etc)

-can openers: there should be smaller ones, and there isn't a can opener on the planet which is limited to 25 (or even 250) cans. Not realistic.

-Why can't I burn the wooden objects in the room! I am freezing to death. I would burn whatever I could!

-Encumbrance should affect max speed more gradually

-Terrain surface should affect speed of movement

-All terrain is covered in snow...this seems unrealistic. Areas under trees would be clear/divoted.

-This isn't realistic, but it would be good to have more visual cues for being cold, not just audio ones (a gradual blue-ing of the screen, for example). Same with hunger/thirst.

-I'd like to see encumbrance affect caloric consumption. If it does not.

-Why can't I fight off wolves with knives/hatchet/rifle-as-club/firewood!? massive omission.

-bears! (are there bears?)

-moose

-rabbits

-more (varied) wildlife in general

-you need more tree size/spacing variations

-if I am freezing to death, you can bet I will be layering socks as much as humanly possible. everything would be layered...I wouldn't ignore the extra sweater in my pack. Maybe it'd slow you down a bit/give diminishing returns.

-a wetness factor for clothes. survivalists know that cotton kills in the wilderness, because it gets wet and stays wet.

-less randomness when foraging for firewood--I can gather enough firewood for a night of camping in about 30 minutes in most places, and I am not a survivalist.

-compass object

-collecting firewood wouldn't wear a hatchet 1%, much less 10%.

-needs a much better menu system with drag and drop

-need to be able to hold breath when aiming (sorry if this is there and I missed it)

-infuriating to not be able to take clothes off a corpse that is clearly covered in clothing!

-gosh there are a lot of corpses

-deer don't seem to leave tracks

-a bow would be a cool addition

-I understand the need for time scaling, but I don't think it plays well to have the time scaled while I am looking at my inventory/standing in place.

-heartbeat in your ears could be a good audio cue for quickly burning calories

-I am a bit torn about knowing exact calorie store/consumption counts. It's handy, but is it at all realistic? Same with detailed statistical knowledge of thermal protections/wear/etc. Something to consider.

-spraining your ankle seems way too easy/common. also it wouldn't be sorted by 4 hours of sleep and some ibuprofen.

-I think getting food poisoning is also too common. but I only got it once...still I am in my 30s and have eaten a lot of food from cans without being poisoned.

-is there too much food around? I guess you'd die faster if there were not. But, that is another nitpick--you can go quite some time without food before dying. Not just a day or two. You do get weaker though...

Anyway, I hope this is of some use. To reiterate--I think you have a great game on your hands here, and I really liked playing it. It worked well and it's got LOADS of potential. I can't wait to see how it evolves.

[Trandor]

You are reposting a lot of suggstions that have been already made elsewhere, some of them are already in development, others are certainly already in for consideration.

A few thoughts on your suggestions:

Heartbeat in the ears seems weird to me, at least I never hear that when I go for a jog. And since I run most of my ways, it would certainly be really annoying to have that as a permanent background noise.

+1 on the food poisoning thing, I occasionally got food poisoning off of eating 90+% foods, which seems highly unlikely to me, I'd recommend only being able to contract food poisoning from foods that are below 50% condition.

I don't know about the spraining ankles thing, I never seem to sprain my ankles. But this is largely due to the way I walk around. I use the mouse to look at things, only using W to walk. Of course, when you're looking up and running sideways with A D on uneven terrain, you are very likely to get a sprained ankle. This is also true for real live. It's just that we're all used to walking with WASD and look wherever we like, that we find this strange. So, use only W and mouse, look at the ground in front of you, and you'll rarely ever see sprained ankles anymore.

On the exact calory count: I don't rely on this, since I don't like having this much knowledge either. I simply disable the HUD and listen to what the character is telling me. He tells me he's freezing, I go inside. He tells me he's thirsty, I drink something. So it all comes down to your playstile.

You can survive fairly long without eating anything in this game. The calorie counter goes down to -1500 calories and stays there. But: You lose condition if you are in negative calories. Still, you can easily live 2 days with eating only minor stuff. Just saying.

Deer and wolves do leave tracks, but only when you see them. I know this seems odd and I would like to see this changed, but I'm not sure how this could be best implemented.

Anyway, I'm glad you like the game. And we're all exited about the update at the end of the month. Maybe some of your suggestions will already be in there.

[snozberries]

I was pretty keen to give a feedback unfiltered by anyone else's experience--hence the inevitable repetition.

I can hear my heartbeat in my ears when I exert myself with ears covered--ie. snowboarding with a heavy hat.

Also we're limited to sight+sound physical feedback, so we have to make some allowances for not sctually freezing to death/exerting oneself.

[Trandor]

Sure, I simply wanted to say, you are not the only one that thinks that way.

Well maybe I never paid enough attention, but I guess if you play a videogame, this will inevitably become very apparent, since it is an "external noise". Much like your brain automatically ignores your nose. Every person that has a nose of normal size sees his or her nose, but the brain chooses to ignore it. BUt if in a game you saw your nose all the time, it would be quite irritating, I think. That's how I feel about the heartbeat idea.

Well maybe you never paid attention, but you have the breath sound and and animation, if you walk, you will breath out every 5-10 seconds, if you run, you will breathe more heavily and a lot quicker, every 2-3 seconds I believe. Maybe it the player should be also made aware by some sentences that are said, like " I don't think I can continue on at this speed", or "I'm starting to sweat" or something, but for me, so far it has always been enough.

[elloco999]

Much like your brain automatically ignores your nose. Every person that has a nose of normal size sees his or her nose, but the brain chooses to ignore it. BUt if in a game you saw your nose all the time, it would be quite irritating, I think.

Yes it would be very annoying I think. And then you'd also see eyelids blinking every 2-10 secs too! And maybe some hair coming into view every now and then...

But yeah, I agree that it would probably be annoying to hear the heartbeat all the time when running. But you don't really know until they try it. But as it is the heartbeat sound is already used to alert you that your condition is running low...