Player Made Homes

[Mad Stratz]

So, as far as gameplay goes with The Long Dark, you have pretty much one goal: survive.

I've been playing this game for a while, since the beginning nearly and I've always tried to keep up with the updates. The game has come far and the developers have done very much to bring it to this point. Story mode, challenges, environment etc. At this point it seems like anyone who has a file that they've been playing on for a long time (or even new players) are missing out on one thing. There Isn't much of a total endgame plan, just perpetual survival. In comparison to other survival games like Fortnite, State of Decay 2, Subnautica, possibly Vigor??? there is also the development of player bases; which I hope to be added into The Long Dark as player homes or homesteads.

This is my idea as follows:

* A new area introduced into the game of The Long Dark. An area that is nestled somewhere amid the other maps.

* Only accessible through mildly difficult traveling aka a high altitude, difficult to traverse, path through the mountains. This way the game stays true to it's survival concept and is a goal to be achieved through perseverance and dedication. Not something you can do in the first few days in game. Though, it should be easier to get through the further times around. Maybe there is a white out blizzard taking place to make it harder at first?

* A large, suitable plot of land with varying geography for good building and development.

*The ability to craft your own homestead and develop land within this area, and only here. Don't assume that it should be easy and that you can just mosy on down to the valley and put together a few branches to make a house. I think it should take a LOT of resources. It's not supposed to be easy or quick. It would have to be a very time consuming and laborious process. You should be able to make decorations and functioning equipment: work benches, beds, stoves/fireplaces and the lot. If there was a body of water nearbye maybe even your own fishing hut. All obviously come at a steep price using respective materials. And possibly even required maintainence.

* It's own little story. Not a big deal but fitting with the aesthetic of the game. Perhaps tied in with the actual storymode or an explanation and description to tie in with the game.

*Obstacles to keep you from  just simply staking your claim. Perhaps there are a large population of wolves or bears you have to clear out first before you can even think about it. Maybe you already live here and a bear has taken a liking to the cave nearbye, threatening your survival.

*Limited gardening and farming. A way to create plots of rose hip bushes and other medicinal plants. Maybe even fruit or vegetable, restricted though, as not to make the game to easy.

 

I think player homesteads could be a very large part of the game in the future. Imagine trekking across a dangerous mountain pass in the middle of a raging blizzard and coming to a beautiful valley, something straight out of an Canadian Wilderness wallpaper. Building a personal home for your character, taking on new challenges, working hard all to the effect of doing a little more than just survival in it's most basic form and having pride in your own little touches in the game. Not just shaking up in a dusty old house that doesn't really fit in with true survival asperations. A place to thrive. As a way to add more depth to the game and add new content in a simple but meaningful way in the upcoming updates.

Mu idea is still fluid, things can easily be adjusted and I'm sure you guys have similar or opposing ideas. What do you think of homesteads? Do you like it? Is there anything you would change to my wish? Thanks.

[Spakerman]

I like the idea of staking a claim and building your new life. But I think I’d like to see it in some new game with four seasons and some other potential NPCs. 

[Eranderil Nix Grey]

Welp. I like the idea. It really depends on implementation. Living is the challenge. I think something like this could be an alternate ending? Like, rather than escape Great Bear, you settle? But that's getting off topic. Just surviving is the challenge of this game. No additional barriers required. Spending hours in the snow felling trees, trimming them, shaping them, dragging them, placing them, plus maintaining the tools used?  .... nope. I can't see it. I do have a counter proposal. On any given playthrough, any number of cabins can be ruined or burnt down. What if rather than building your own place, you could salvage things from these to fix one up? Stake a claim on an existing building, then add to/change it? Get together enough glass to make a tiny greenhouse that VERY SLOWLY grows herbs for teas? I don't know. I kind of doubt this will actually be implemented. Actually I really doubt it. Honestly it goes against the spirit of TLD. I still like the idea though.

[White_SnowTree]

I don't know why the people still use the same old map all the time...

 

I agree on long term survival, but this seems to be far from what developers at Hinterland would have in mind. It doesnt matter whever it is easy or hard to do, if you give people the ability to build then they'll abuse it and will ask for the ability to build castles and fortresses, like 7DaysToDie; its just not something that should be in thi sgame

[huntergathers]

I think a lot of this comes down to the late game needing some work, for sure. When you have stabilized and explored most of the world, there isn't much else to do but stockpile massive amounts of resources and kill time for the sake of getting to a higher number of days survived. Maybe there could be an avalanche that opens up a pass to an area you can actually customize a bit after 100 days.

I've wanted to be able to customize a shelter for a long time, more than just placing items on shelves. Being able to patch up the mountaineers hut would be really cool, and add hides to the bed to make it warmer. Add containers to shelters that are lacking storage, things of that sort. Maybe just some misc collectables around the world you could use to spruce up your favorite spot that wouldn't have a huge function, like a clothing rack for a spare set of gear to be displayed once the accurate clothing models are finished.

I can't see any realistic way farming would work without them introducing a new map with a warmer climate, and that would be a bit too out of the spirit for me personally. Plus there are already more plants in the world than someone would end up using in a pretty long period of time if they collected them all.

You never know how the game is going to look once it's finished development though, with all the love that's been put in so far it's looking like we have many more surprises and updates to come.

[Eranderil Nix Grey]

I pretty much agree with you huntergathers. Like I said, if glass was a collectible item, you could maybe make a tiny greenhouse. My mother has one, not even a walk-in greenhouse, which she uses to grow things in winter in Wisconsin. It is a pain, but does work. There is at least one major catch- she always has to clear the snow off. In TLD there are more levels of complication, including water being a relatively precious resource. I like a couple of your points, especially the one about furs making beds warmer. Kinda pointless once you are covered in furs, but still. I like it. Would be more useful if this also applied to bedrolls, but made you more attractive to animals. 

You know what would be great? Being able to sit in chairs. Could reduce calorie burn when doing tasks that pass time, such as crafting and cooking (or even just... passing time). Then having the ability to move intact chairs around, even if you can't actually pick them up. Gonna spend 25 hours crafting that wolfskin coat? Pull up a chair. Humans burn less calories sitting than standing, this is proven. It is why standing desks are a thing. This fits nicely with what you said huntergathers. It also opens the door to add things like camp stools (lightweight craftable for sitting?), or a reason to place a fire in a certain place. I always thought it was a bit weird that there is a camp office, a lake covered in fishing huts, each with it's own stove, and a bunch of cabins with no stoves, but not one single fire pit around any of it. If fire pits were added near the cabins, they could have stools near them, making them more valuable as points of shelter. Even just a stump or log could be sat on, encouraging certain places for fires, and making fires more tactical. Need to get warm, also starving- need fire. Will die before food cooks though. Finds stump. Salvation! (very extreme, but you maybe see the point, would also contribute to long term survival) 

I would like to see more camp craft stuff in general. I was exited by the pot and the cans for cooking. Would be nice to have a winter survival tent as an extremely rare spawn. Maybe one spawns in the entire world per playthrough, in a wide variety of locations. Obviously not at all on higher difficulties. These, in reality, can be as light as 3lbs. You could have a tent, a fire pit, a stool, and your pot. I am very keen on this. If some sort of small container were craftable, and placeable, that could be added in as well, allowing you to establish a forward base in places that really have next to no shelter. 

Oof I kinda rambled on there about a related idea that ties in very closely. Bit off topic that^. Anyway, I suspect as subsequent episodes drop we will see more functionality come to certain parts of the game I really love the new cooking system. And I suspect we will see more of this, as it was somewhat hinted at in episode 1 with the Grey Mother making the player soup. What we will see in the future likely depends on where the devs plan on taking the episodes.

[Soul Sojourner]

I didn't read all of the comments, just a heads up. But I did read the entire OP.

My problem with this idea is just that it doesn't mesh with TLD at all. And coming from me, on an idea like this, might not mean anything to you but it's significant. I am that player who loves customization and creating to the extent that I spend 3-4 hours on creating a character for a game where it's purely cosmetic and otherwise has no impact on anything. I build and decorate all the houses and create and customize all the weapons, lol.

Anyway, with that said, the problems I see are this: Like I said before, it doesn't fit with TLD style and I don't see how you can put it in without changing the rest of the game.
The second thing to mention here is the games you listed. Fortnite is a horrible example and not-fitting as a comparison at all. Actually, about the best comparison you made was Subnautica. I can see where you may draw similarities with the survival aspect, but the big deal here is infinite resources vs. finite resources, as well as infinite lives vs. one life. You die in Subnautica and you keep going, or you reload. You die in TLD and you start a brand new game because you're dead. In Subnautica, resources are plentiful throughout and many are infinite with planting and synthesizing, in TLD, resources are scarce and harder difficulties make them scarcer. You have a few resources that are infinite, and only a few, and as time goes on (depending on settings) those few become fewer and survival gets harder.

With that said, I can see some customization/building in some instances. I can see "adding" to furniture like a bed for improved warmth, and being able to remove your addition (to take with you) before moving on. Such as crafting a blanket that can help for warmth in beds, out of fur or just cloth, maybe even works with the bedroll too. Many other examples of things could be done, but that's just a minor one. Nothing too big or major in the case of building and improvements though, imo. They could make it so you could add furniture and curtains and stuff like that may be, but it's all cosmetic and would cost you precious resources. Maybe you get what you put in back, or may be you get less, if you harvest. Either way you burn calories, time and food loss. One example that has practical use that I could see is a container, chest, or storage box/bin. Something that can hold more than most containers out there, allowing you some additional convenience. It's hardly necessary though. Where I could see benefit is in utility items like that container, putting in a workbench, forge, cooking stove, etc. a massive cost of resources to make a base better... that could be cool. Adds a cost/benefit scale to decide on.

Could someone trying to survive in the Canadian wilderness get to a point to decide to build their own shelter/homestead and survive off the land? Yes. While they are struggling to survive with limited tools and dwindling resources whilst the days seem to get colder and colder and nobody else is around? No.

I love customization and decoration, etc. it's one of my favorite things, it's just that with this game it doesn't feel right.

Though I would love to put a fricken door on some of those fish houses...