Question Thread :: Milton Mailbag


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53 minutes ago, Guenter said:

Can you make a video how it looks to create a game like TLD in Unity, and how a game like this is built?

This seems more like a request for work to be done, and less like a question. To manage expectations these should be questions that @Raphael van Lierop can answer in sessions between other game development work. A decent video about making a game in Unity might take days and video creators. I'm sure there's a way to rephrase this to ask if there were any tutorial videos or resources that he could suggest - as opposed to asking us to create a Unity tutorial video.

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How do you feel, as a developer and creator, about "exploits" that players find in the survival mechanics?

Do you regard them as undermining the experience you're trying to create and feel the urge to code them out of the game? Or do you regard the world of TLD as having it's own "science" separate from reality, and are happy for players to explore its limits? Do you enjoy hearing about players pushing these limits, or does it annoy you that aspects of the survival system are pushed to the point where they run contrary to real-world intuition or possibilities? Or a bit of both? Is there a line somewhere?  Or are you indifferent to it?

 

Edited by Pillock
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I have a question about the scent and wind mechanics.

We know that wind can carry your scent further in that direction, extending the range at which wolves can detect you.. but is the detection range upwind of the player concomitantly reduced, as would logically be expected in that situation?

Thanks to both you and the team, for making the most addictive and absorbing game ever!

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This is half question, half feedback.  I know you briefly touched on this in Mailbag 3, but are there any intentions to expand fishing into a more involved user experience?  The hunting experience is pretty well fleshed out already, and remains a modest challenge even at high levels, especially if you hunt big game.  Fishing in its current state it's kinda like making a trip to the supermarket once you hit level 5.  I for one would enjoy a "minigame" experience.

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On 10.9.2018 at 4:25 PM, BESt said:

How is the work with the bear spear going?

As an addition to that question: Can you share what kind of spear are you working on? Is it more of an infantry spear or a renewable throwing weapon like a spear-thrower?

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22 minutes ago, King Wasabi said:

Hello Raph, and the Hinterland team!

Do you guys think you might add animations for things like eating, drinking, fishing, breaking wood, E.T.C?

Hey @King Wasabi , we moved this question into the questions thread. This way it won't get missed, as opposed to it being off on its own.

Thanks!

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I've seen streamers mention legs and full body awareness like mittens and stuff in this game. And the foot prints in the snow are an awesome sense of immersion. Do you guys have plans to include legs and more full body awareness at either some point in TLD, or possibly your next title? I understand it must be a pretty big feature and design too with crouching and rock climbing animations to consider among other things like sprains and just artwork for legs too. 

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The custom settings are notorious for not working as intended : for example, many players see next to no difference in wolves' behaviour when changing the value "wolf fear". Other settings sometimes just work randomly. Do you intend to fix the custom mode ?

Or, can it be we are wrong and the custom mode is working as intended ? If so, may you someday give us a detailled grid of what every setting  precisely do, please ? We have a really hard time getting the setting as we intend them to be, with a lot of frustrating try&miss. Thank you and keep up the good work !

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On 2018-09-21 at 4:30 PM, Tylor9261 said:

I've seen streamers mention legs and full body awareness like mittens and stuff in this game. And the foot prints in the snow are an awesome sense of immersion. Do you guys have plans to include legs and more full body awareness at either some point in TLD, or possibly your next title? I understand it must be a pretty big feature and design too with crouching and rock climbing animations to consider among other things like sprains and just artwork for legs too. 

For an answer on Full Body Simulation check Dispatch #8.

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On 9/24/2018 at 1:36 PM, TheRealPestilence said:

Wolves are clearly strongly attracted to player characters who are carrying only .01kg of high condition cooked meat, yet such a small quantity of meat results in no scent indicator when the player displays the status overlay.  Many players still don't understand this and claim the wolf AI is just incredibly sadistic, particularly stalker players.

Is this mechanic an off by one bug or an attempt to give players a false sense of security?

This is very much true.  You can find the (relatively) exact scent values here - Scent Mechanics

I don't see any problem with the implementation of the scent meter.  How much help do you need?  If you put any type of meat in your pocket, it will be detectable by predators (both in this game and in real life).

Additionally, I really don't think it makes much of a difference at all, in terms of how much or what type of meat you are carrying.  It is very difficult to determine the distance between your character and the predators, and I haven't observed differences based on what I am carrying.  I am, however, looking into a couple of different methods to possibly determine the distance mathematically.  It is a difficult work in progress.

 

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Last weeks mailbag had a lot of really promising responses about the future of TLD and I think a lot of us were very encouraged by the answers that were given.  Many of the systems you said you felt might still need tuning might, when implemented, go along way toward curing the monotonous nature of the game those of us who enjoy long sandbox runs experience. 

That said, I've read before that Hinterland is aware of the monotony that players face after a certain number of days survived and I was hoping you'd share some of your thoughts on the matter.

To be clear, the monotony I'm referring to occur in  sandbox games that last a very long time.  After a certain point, baring the introduction of a new zone or game mechanic you're stuck, boiling water, hunting and gathering firewood for the most part.  Any hints? 

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On 2018-09-24 at 2:36 AM, Gamer935 said:

Hey I Was Wondering Is There Any Games Or Films That Inspired You And Your Team To Start Making The Long Dark?

Raph spoke a little bit about the inspiration for TLD in Mailbag #1 and #3.

 

 

 

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On 10-9-2018 at 4:28 PM, Luciën said:

I'm referring to a post of our fresh new community member @CGTv here (welcome Sunny!) as I pose the question. There has been much praise about the soundtrack of The Long Dark. Rightfully so. Sunny found out that music from The Long Dark has been used in a popular Belgian tv show, of course somewhere just before the cliffhanger (which happened to me in The Long Dark more than once ;)).

Has the music been used more often in other productions? What's your stance on using the music that helped creating the TLD atmosphere to colour completely different scenes? Does it help generating extra attention towards The Long Dark? Do you put stickers on physical copies promoting 'contains music also known from television series 'Familie'? Just a few ideas.

 

You're flattering me Luciën :P
Thanks for the warm welcome.

I do hope we one day get some clarification on this.
I am now also curious to know if it has been used elsewhere.
One thing is sure, the music composed for TLD is masterful.

~CGTv

~CGTv

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1 hour ago, paulrysavy said:

Do you plan ad more regions to the game, in the Retail Launch Trailer we saw a bridge many cars in front of it, and in the story is a prison in the great bear island, do you plan add this places to the game?

He may decide to speak to the specifics you've referenced by @Raphael van Lierop addressed a bit about new regions in Dispatch 2.

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