Development of Harvest/Forage/Repair elements

[LucidFugue]

First up I'd be interested to know if Hinterland have a vision for these beyond what's currently in alpha. I note there are some basic skills for repair & fire-lighting and that could be the start of a broader set of rpg skill mechanics that differentiate characters. But thinking on what are some of the most repeated activities in the game, I'd love to discuss some of the options for what interactivity would be added to these actions.

1. Mini-games

This is probably the most obvious choice and has been suggested before, though I didn't notice too much discussion on the concept. I personally haven't given too much thought to it beyond assuming that any mini-games would have to be relevant to the environment to avoid breaking immersion. What I mean by that is, not an abstract match 3 game. Use the actual environmental variables as inputs for the challenge, which keeps the mini-game dynamic as well as relevant to what you're trying to do. A "fire lighting" challenge might consist of placing the wood, tinder, and accelerant, then attempting ignition, and factors such as fire location (stove, campfire, fireplace) wind, player skill adjusting the difficulty.

Ultimately, mini-games would have to meet a lot of criteria to be successful... They'd have to not be too punishing on new players, and not a mindless chore for experienced players. They'd have to add something to the game.

2. Expanded RPG/Skill setups

Another common idea - we currently see skills for fire lighting and repair. Foraging, Harvesting carcasses and clothes could all potentially be separate skills, and could move beyond a 0-100 number that increments on success, to something that incorporates books, a wider range of tools to assist in ensuring success or reducing time investment, a scaled skill gain (e.g. making it easier to hit 50 skill points, but much harder to hit 100), or even a perk system.

3. Just polish what's there

I'm open to the idea that what's already developed is considered pretty much where it needs to be. The time investment and chance of success factors make acquiring tools and equipment vital in the early game, yet allow a fair degree of longevity once those resources are gone - and I'm cognizant that people don't necessarily complain about these elements when getting into super long term survival mode - it's more that there is nothing else to do and they can survive just fine doing all this with their bare hands. This type of play might not be what is planned for the story mode and moving through what will eventually be quite a large game world means that the challenges planned for the final sandbox could be something other than shacking up with hundreds of litres of water and tearing into carcasses with your bare hands.

[TLDFAN]

How about instead of lame mini games, pardon my negativity, how about some actually very satisfying mechanics to manual primitive fire making being modeled into the game?

Where you could make a fire without matches like you know, the post-cave men did.

[TLDFAN]

I like the idea of varying options with degrees of success and conditions. The magnifying glass is great. I have never successfully been able to ignite a fire with one in the real world but I can see how it could be applied to work. I have burned ants (in my sick youth) though and some leaves to the degree that I am convinced it would be possible. The whole idea of not being able to start a fire late game unless it is sunny out is really scary. Not being able to every start a fire indoors is ridiculous though. You could get a roaring fire going and simply carry one burning piece of wood inside and stick it in a wood stove in real world and in TLD you simply can't do that. You also can't start a fire without matches, if you don't have the fire striker or magnifying glass, and it is not a guarantee that they will spawn in every game am I right?

So long story short there is lots more development that needs to happen yet.

[TLDFAN]

It can and it should be. It is certainly more realistic than 12 hour long burn times for fires. They could make it much more difficult to utilize, lower success rates, longer start times but it is all about getting that burning ember, and that first flame. It is kind of surprising we don't have a lighter to be found in game either. Millions of water bottles but not a single lighter. I guess nobody smokes in Canada?

[LucidFugue]

How about instead of lame mini games, pardon my negativity, how about some actually very satisfying mechanics to manual primitive fire making being modeled into the game?

Where you could make a fire without matches like you know, the post-cave men did.

What sort of mechanics would be satisfying, though? Something for magnifying glass where you're holding the focal point on your tinder? A craftable bow drill that requires some kind of QTE to ignite embers? Those are minigames, basically. WIthout the minigames you have what we have now - progress bars with a skill variable to emulate becoming more experienced at survival over time.

This is why I brought the topic up - as much as I think on it I struggle to envisage something to replace the click-click-watch-progress-bar stuff that is there. I'm open to the idea that progress bars or a fade to black and bing! you have 4 extra firewood and it's an hour and 300 calories later is what we'll see in the final product, perhaps with some activities replaced by animations or whatnot. But are the progress bars placeholders and the dev team have something more interactive in mind?

[serahlicious]

How about instead of lame mini games, pardon my negativity, how about some actually very satisfying mechanics to manual primitive fire making being modeled into the game?

Where you could make a fire without matches like you know, the post-cave men did.

What sort of mechanics would be satisfying, though? Something for magnifying glass where you're holding the focal point on your tinder? A craftable bow drill that requires some kind of QTE to ignite embers? Those are minigames, basically. WIthout the minigames you have what we have now - progress bars with a skill variable to emulate becoming more experienced at survival over time.

This is why I brought the topic up - as much as I think on it I struggle to envisage something to replace the click-click-watch-progress-bar stuff that is there. I'm open to the idea that progress bars or a fade to black and bing! you have 4 extra firewood and it's an hour and 300 calories later is what we'll see in the final product, perhaps with some activities replaced by animations or whatnot. But are the progress bars placeholders and the dev team have something more interactive in mind?

When I first started playing and found the hatchet, my first instinct was to go up to logs and dead or fallen trees to try and harvest wood. I think this would be a lot more fun than foraging from the safety of whatever building or cabin I'm in, watching time pass, and coming back with some wood. Thoughts?

[TLDFAN]

How about instead of lame mini games, pardon my negativity, how about some actually very satisfying mechanics to manual primitive fire making being modeled into the game?

Where you could make a fire without matches like you know, the post-cave men did.

What sort of mechanics would be satisfying, though? Something for magnifying glass where you're holding the focal point on your tinder? A craftable bow drill that requires some kind of QTE to ignite embers? Those are minigames, basically. WIthout the minigames you have what we have now - progress bars with a skill variable to emulate becoming more experienced at survival over time.

This is why I brought the topic up - as much as I think on it I struggle to envisage something to replace the click-click-watch-progress-bar stuff that is there. I'm open to the idea that progress bars or a fade to black and bing! you have 4 extra firewood and it's an hour and 300 calories later is what we'll see in the final product, perhaps with some activities replaced by animations or whatnot. But are the progress bars placeholders and the dev team have something more interactive in mind?

When I first started playing and found the hatchet, my first instinct was to go up to logs and dead or fallen trees to try and harvest wood. I think this would be a lot more fun than foraging from the safety of whatever building or cabin I'm in, watching time pass, and coming back with some wood. Thoughts?

Agree. Has been discussed without much comment by the Devs. I assume this type of change is coming in Beta. I think the trick will be assigning a value to an object that doesn't appear to have any at present. The abstract element isn't bad just Id rather see sustainable fire building more than clickable trees.