New Hunger Mechanic, Deeper Animal Interactions

[Otternaut]

First of all, this my first post to the forum. Big shout out to the devs.  I think part of the magic of this game stems from how a meaningful, personal, complex narrative can emerge organically bottom-up from functional mechanics and pure necessity.  Visual aesthetics aside, I think the harmony between narrative form and mechanical function makes this game beautiful.  It's beautiful on a very deep level. I know artistic endeavors can be as unforgiving as they are rewarding. Thanks for all that you do. You made something amazing that I believe will influence the genre forever.

I wish to share some of my suggestions for the game, some of which I think are fresh, and a few have been discussed before but I want to expand on them.

I. A Suggestion for a New Hunger Mechanic

It's been said before on this forum and other places that the amount of food the player consumes is not realistic. It's not. But of course we all know that the reason for this is because the game would be pretty boring if a single deer kill could last us weeks. And this makes sense. I have another idea that would make the game more realistic while keeping things interesting: What if the character's constant high demand for food is not because of an insatiable out of proportion appetite but because animals big and small are liable to steal the food you try to store? For anyone who's been camping, you know this is a very real problem. Playing in the game, I shouldn't be able to keep frozen meat on the porch of a cabin, go to sleep, and expect it to be there in the morning. I don't think that's realistic. Furthermore, indoors, rodents like mice, voles, and rats should be liable to nibble at anything not in a can or a fortified container - things in your backpack not excluded. Outside, if I sleep in a cave, I should assume the risk of waking up in the middle of the night to see my the items in my inventory scattered everywhere, half my food gone, and a fox darting into the woods with a candy bar in its teeth. Or a wolverine not too quick to run and not too eager to share. The constant threat of scavenging animals would add another dimension of realistic problems for the character to solve, which transitions into my next suggestion.

II. Deeper Animal Interactions

What? More animals? I know, what an original idea. I'll just say this, more animals is good, but deeper, more complex, more layered animal interactions is even better.

In terms of the previous suggestion, scavenging animals provides a whole new set of problems. One solution could be traps. Another solution could be searching for better containers. Another solution could be a pet that keeps the scavengers at bay. Now I know everyone has an opinion about pets, but I think the choice to take care of say, the abandoned Maine Coon or Norwegian Forest cat or the Malamute or Newfoundland you stumble upon in the kitchen of a farmhouse next to torn bag of half empty pet food may be logistically beneficial if said animal was independent enough and tough enough to be more endearing than annoying. If anything, deciding whether or not to adopt/abandon/eat the Bernese Mountain Dog would present the character with a meaningful ethical choice in the game.   

Even if there are no domesticated animals that make it into the game, I have one big message to the devs: investing in animal AI will pay dividends. Always. You can't make the animals too smart. You can't make them too deep. Give the wild animals personalities. Give them traits. Make them individuals. Treat them as characters. Make each animal remember the player. The player will remember them. I was very impressed with the THE FOREST and just how dynamic its NPC behavior is. The player is not alone. The player is one actor among many on stage in a drama of life and death. The game should feel that way. 

Here are some links that inspire me:

 

[Ruruwawa]

Welcome to the forums, @Otternaut.  And thanks for such a wonderful post.  I love both of your suggestions, and I think you're spot-on about how improvements in these two areas could add welcome depth to the game.

[LizardScript]

@Otternaut I love your scavenging idea. I am an AI programmer and my favorite part when playing video games are experiencing cool AI behaviors, more specifically AI animal behaviors. So the idea of scavenging behavior in The Long Dark is a very very intriguing idea to me. This idea would also like you mentioned work really well with foxes, which is an animal species I have wanted to see in The Long Dark for a while now.