Dark interiors

[matchstick]

Some interiors are pitch black, others seem like they're easier to navigate with tiny ambient light. I was at signal Hill and left my lantern to save weight.

A trick l learned was to layout your bedroll like you're going to sleep. I found I could navigate using the green/red outline of the bedroll to indicate walls, shelves, etc. 

You may know this already but l found it useful.

[RegentRelic]

It is a nice trick, but after many years of playing games and never adjusting the gamma I am quit good at finding my way through dark rooms.

[ManicManiac]

I like that most of the interiors are so dark...  I know a lot of folks complain about it, but honestly once we get a lantern it's not really much of a problem.  It's easy enough to gather lantern fuel by fishing (which also conveniently helps take care of the food situation as well).

Admittedly I have occasionally wished that the game would take into account for "adjustment to darkness."  By that I mean, after 30 in-game minutes the characters "eyes" would have reasonably adjusted to the darkness (with the default time scale that would be two and a half real time minutes).  The effect of which would essentially be the brightness scale automatically increasing by a certain amount while we stay in darkness.  I say reasonably because our eyes do this on their own, and I occasionally think it would be a neat feature to include.

However, I so appreciate the game as it is... and the counter-point to this idea remains.  Sure it might be a nice touch, but in the end I suppose it's not all that nessisarry considering that there are plenty of options to light up the darkness.  Needing to make those judgement calls when it's worth the trade off to use those resources is kind of the point of the game, I think.  I suppose it's always interesting to ponder the "what if's." 
 

Edited September 29, 2019 by ManicManiac

[DarkTreader]

In real life, there are ways to artificially force this adaptation to occur faster than usual.

When you're transitioning between a lit / dark location, close your eyes during the transition. For example: When going to a movie and you're walking from the lobby into the theatre itself, open the door, then close your eyes and walk in. Once the door closes and there is no longer extraneous light filtering in, open your eyes. It isn't perfect, as it won't let you have instant night vision, but it does force the rods in your eyes to begin adjusting immediately to the darkness, rather than the gradual ramp up that occurs, and it also prevents you from dealing with that 'blind' state that occurs when entering a dark room.

[ManicManiac]

36 minutes ago, DarkTreader said:

In real life, there are ways to artificially force this adaptation to occur faster than usual.

Yes I'm aware.  However, I wasn't really trying to make a real life comparison per se... I was still just speaking in game terms of an idea that I thought might feel reasonable given the world our character lives in.  I do like to ponder the "what if" and "wouldn't it be nice", but in the end I accept the game for what it is. 

[matchstick]

I agree, the darkness is part of the game and we adapt to it. I'm going to give Hinterland the benefit - it's not real, just a game. However enjoyable!

[peteloud]

I suspect that the darkness in some interiors is a technical issue and not part of the game. 

The are many interiors where there is no reason for the place to be dark.  Experienced players might be able to find their way around, but that is not the point.  This is a technical issue which should be resolved.

[ManicManiac]

41 minutes ago, peteloud said:

I suspect that the darkness in some interiors is a technical issue

If it's a technical issue, then of course I'd be in favor of fixing it... However, if it was a design choice then I'm perfectly fine with it the way it is.  Either way, it's not really much of an issue and easy to mitigate.
 

[devamadhu]

38 minutes ago, peteloud said:

I suspect that the darkness in some interiors is a technical issue and not part of the game. 

The are many interiors where there is no reason for the place to be dark.  Experienced players might be able to find their way around, but that is not the point.  This is a technical issue which should be resolved.

Maybe - I've always assumed that in general, they leave it that way to make the game more challenging. Unless there's a serious bug, like that one that turned everything blue, I would expect them to have reviewed all of the interiors many times. 

As an example, Grey Mother's house in Milton seems like one of the brightest interiors in the game. There's practically no need for artificial light unless you're searching for hidden items. I imagine they designed it that way to give players an extra "boost" at the beginning of Wintermute - so newbies aren't bumbling around in the dark before they've even discovered lanterns exist. 

Also @ManicManiac I've wondered about the "eyes adjusting to the darkness" thing too! I agree with you that dark interiors don't detract from the game, but I think that mechanism would be pretty cool and add to a feeling of immersion. Even though I like the game as-is, I really love hearing how the game triggers everyone's imaginations to come up with stuff like this.