Something to actively pass time


Crakkerjakked

Recommended Posts

I'm sure we've all been in the sandbox situation where we have a stockpile of meat, stockpile of potable water, got hides curing, we've explored and gathered everything we need to get by for a while, and there's really nothing we need to do at that moment that's crucial to our survival...and then we sit and think to ourselves "Okay...now what?". I've been in the situation a lot, and that's usually when I save game by using the "Pass Time" button for an hour and quit the game until I feel the compulsion to play again.

I propose a little minigame. Something active for the players to do that passes time. Maybe you come across a deck of playing cards while you're out gathering and you play klondike solitaire when you get back to your camp/cabin. Maybe you draw a bullseye on the wall of a cabin and play a game of darts with an arrow, or throw your hatchet in the wall (obviously affecting the durability of both stated items). Something that happens using in-game time, not accelerated time. It could serve as both a means of keeping the player actively playing the game, but could also serve as a means of staving off cabin-fever. Keeping the character's mind sharp, you know? 

Too many times I've wandered out to go roaming around for no other purpose than to keep from being bored IRL and come face-to-paw with a bear that ended my sandbox run. Sometimes I think I do it subconsciously just to start over because then I've got a million things I need to go collect and start stockpiling all over again. I feel like a little minigame like this would be something that would improve the overall game, wouldn't be too difficult to implement, and would be something that a stranded person would find themselves doing if they were trapped on an island with no one around and hostile wildlife.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Something I've always thought would be a nice idea would be drawing. It would require attaching a basic programme to the game that could convert screenshots into charcoal-sketch images. Then, instead of passing time, we could make little bits of art (while also using up some of that excess charcoal we collect from fires and never get around to using for maps!).

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like it if they added an actual solitaire minigame.  The rub that I see is determining in advance the amount of time that would be spent so that one wouldn't wind up perpetually burning things on the stove.  With the "pass time" dial, you can desigante that you're going to pass a maximum of X hours and then interrupt it if you want to actually pass less time in the end... while the sound of cards shuffling causes you to imagine that Will/Astrid is playing solitaire.  If you're actually playing a hand of Klondike though, I'm not sure how they would work in that sort of maximum time for it to take... arbitrarily set that one hand of klondike takes 15 minutes of game time?... don't know.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Crakkerjakked said:

I'm sure we've all been in the sandbox situation where we have a stockpile of meat, stockpile of potable water, got hides curing, we've explored and gathered everything we need to get by for a while, and there's really nothing we need to do at that moment that's crucial to our survival...and then we sit and think to ourselves "Okay...now what?". I've been in the situation a lot, and that's usually when I save game by using the "Pass Time" button for an hour and quit the game until I feel the compulsion to play again.

I propose a little minigame. Something active for the players to do that passes time. Maybe you come across a deck of playing cards while you're out gathering and you play klondike solitaire when you get back to your camp/cabin. Maybe you draw a bullseye on the wall of a cabin and play a game of darts with an arrow, or throw your hatchet in the wall (obviously affecting the durability of both stated items). Something that happens using in-game time, not accelerated time. It could serve as both a means of keeping the player actively playing the game, but could also serve as a means of staving off cabin-fever. Keeping the character's mind sharp, you know? 

Too many times I've wandered out to go roaming around for no other purpose than to keep from being bored IRL and come face-to-paw with a bear that ended my sandbox run. Sometimes I think I do it subconsciously just to start over because then I've got a million things I need to go collect and start stockpiling all over again. I feel like a little minigame like this would be something that would improve the overall game, wouldn't be too difficult to implement, and would be something that a stranded person would find themselves doing if they were trapped on an island with no one around and hostile wildlife.

chess carving pieces is what i suggested ;) prb not the best but yeah, or maybe we get to collect each piece to make the set. Other than that what do you do in your free time? pass time?

 

 

Edited by nicko
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Fallout-esque base customizing feature would be pretty solid, and a great way to pass the time both in real-time and in accelerated time.  A nightmare to code I would imagine, and I am certainly not expecting it to be done, but if it existed I'd be all over it.  Craftable trophy mounts, wall coverings, craftable storage containers, the ability to repair damaged objects, or at least flip a chair upright.  I have kind of a joke in my head, where if I see a piece of furniture tipped over in real life, I think to myself "Well, it's finished.  Nothing we can do now but bust it up with a hatchet."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a thought...  Many will disagree, but I'm not going to engage in an argument.  This is just another point of view to consider.

The situation with "Okay...now what?" is the player's responsibility...  This game was seemly built on the idea that it wasn't going to hold our hand, and if we are talking about the Survival Sandbox... well it's a sandbox.  The Hinterland team provides the world and it's up to us to decide what we are going to do with it; and how long we are going to live there.  That is player responsibility.

While I agree that adding more options for the player is more often than not, a good thing (I think some form living space customization would be a wonderful addition).  However, there is also a point where it becomes up to us (the player) to figure out how we are going to prep for the many possible situations we will likely find ourselves.  We land in the world provided, and it's up to us to figure out what we are going to do with it. 

If one does find that they tend to "go roaming around for no other purpose than to keep from being bored"... then perhaps they need to consider if this is the right game for them (the survival sandbox is largely driven by self-actualization).  If all one does want to do is pass the time without using the "fast forward" mechanic... one can always just step away from their system (be it PC or Console) and go do something else for a few minutes. :D 

Edited by ManicManiac
Gramatical Correction :)
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

The situation with "Okay...now what?" is the player's responsibility...  This game was seemly built on the idea that it wasn't going to hand our hold, and if we are talking about the Survival Sandbox... well it's a sandbox.  The Hinterland team provides the world and it's up to us to decide what we are going to do with it; and how long we are going to live there.  That is player responsibility.

Yeah ultimately I'm in that camp.  If I get to the "Okay...now what?" stage, I'll play Wintermute again, or the Challenge Modes.  Sometimes the urge to pick my survival game comes back.  Sometimes it doesn't, and I start over.  Or just take a break from TLD entirely and play Doom, GTA, Skyrim...whatever.  I've got a big library.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ajb1978, right on... you always have to do what's right by you.  I have a pretty deep library too.  I tend to rotate my games every now and then as well.  I generally play this game as my mainstay, but rotate the others just to keep things mixed up or if I'm just not in the right mindset for TLD.

There was only one time I got bored in The Long Dark, and that was way back when the various difficulty modes were being introduced.  Back then I was having a really hard time (because I was playing too conservatively, as a result I could never get ahead of the hunger), and so I thought I would try this new "Pilgrim" thing.  I had incorrectly assumed it would just be a more relaxed version of voyager... (I assumed that wolves might run more often or something like that).  I eventually got tired of hiking between Mystery Lake, The Ravine (which was just the truss bridge in those days), and Costal Highway; and once I found out that there was no hostile wild life at all... I did eventually end my 50 day run by walking off the truss bridge.  I never gave Pilgrim another look after that.  :D 

I do really like your ideas about being able to customize our living space, I feel that would be a good addition... at least for the sandbox where the story we experience is crafted by us, the players.   

Edited by ManicManiac
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really try to keep my sleep schedule. I try to get indoors before dark and sleep/pass time until the sun is completely visible on the little clock to avoid the morning cold. This obviously leads to a lot of extra passing time. I like to think of days where I end up passing time more as "rest days", where the character gets to recover from pushing the last 3 or 4 days, even though my condition or fatigue does not need to be replenished. So my point is, the extra passing time does not really bother me most of the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/13/2019 at 3:31 AM, ManicManiac said:

Just a thought...  Many will disagree, but I'm not going to engage in an argument.  This is just another point of view to consider.

The situation with "Okay...now what?" is the player's responsibility...  This game was seemly built on the idea that it wasn't going to hold our hand, and if we are talking about the Survival Sandbox... well it's a sandbox.  The Hinterland team provides the world and it's up to us to decide what we are going to do with it; and how long we are going to live there.  That is player responsibility.

While I agree that adding more options for the player is more often than not, a good thing (I think some form living space customization would be a wonderful addition).  However, there is also a point where it becomes up to us (the player) to figure out how we are going to prep for the many possible situations we will likely find ourselves.  We land in the world provided, and it's up to us to figure out what we are going to do with it. 

If one does find that they tend to "go roaming around for no other purpose than to keep from being bored"... then perhaps they need to consider if this is the right game for them (the survival sandbox is largely driven by self-actualization).  If all one does want to do is pass the time without using the "fast forward" mechanic... one can always just step away from their system (be it PC or Console) and go do something else for a few minutes. :D 

+1 I agree with this.

New features are great and all, but I think what ultimately gets programmed into the game are features that enhance the "survival" aspects in this survival game. I learned that quickly observing discussions in the forums. Writing in journals and taking notes is one way to pass more than enough time in-game and  helps you learn to observe and form hypothesises (kinda like research) then look back on those notes to form your daily survival strategy. It's what I think is a feature that's included in the game because maybe the devs thought it could be actually useful to your survivavility.

I've learned to use notes to observe curing of deer hide for example, and just writing down my observations pass a lot of time in-game. It's just one of the many way to pass time, you just have to be creative 😉

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now