Hinterland's future plans

[McThulu]

I found an interesting interview with and Raphael van Lierop on gamesindustry.biz about The Long Dark 2, films and other cool stuff.

So I just put the link in here and hope not having opened pandora's box

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-10-31-hinterlands-future-plans-include-movies-publishing-and-the-long-dark-2

[RegentRelic]

I hope we don't see a spring, summer or fall long dark, mainly because I think the idea of the world entering a ice age or little ice age is one of it's most appealing points. Yes we don't know for certain that this one of those since wintermute doesn't last that long but we defiantly passed the six month mark showing that something is up. I heard something about a long dark T.V series about four months ago but writ it off as a rumor until I looked into it and Raphael saying something to that extent about two years ago so it seems like some thing they are defiantly working on. "We're building an actual business entity around The Long Dark film," "van Lierop said." "We're not doing the traditional IP licensing thing, where we license the IP to a film studio... We all know how that typically turns out." Boldly. That's all I can say. If you going to go, go boldly. Good move hinterland. Just one question are you prepared to go all the way. With absolute surety in your decisions and the ability's of teams, I think you know any half steep or hesitation past this stage in your company is going to cost you dearly. Are you willing to go all the way.

[Guest kristaok]

I can't wait to see what's in store for us fans.  

[McThulu]

Btw, did you notice that the credits of episode 3 have changed compared to episode 1 & 2? It's now called Season 1: Wintermute Ep. 3 instead of just Ep. 3 ...

[McThulu]

1 hour ago, Dum_Gen said:

Overly optimistic plans for those who can not finish the first game for such a long period of time.

Plus I doubt that TV show or movie with such a premise would be popular. Huge part of TLD success comes from immersive experience of players and the fact that they can decide what to do. TV shows and movies are limited from this point of view and are highly dependant on the plot. Which is quite subpar in case of Wintermute IMO.

Of course I haven't experience eps 4 and 5 (and probably will not for like 2 years). But there is so much to be included into remaining 40% of the plot.

In my opinion TLD is already "finished" for some time now (apart from the story mode). There are other games that are supposed to be "done" but still far from the quality of TLD. Of course I would prefer not have to wait that long for new content, but I'm fine with the current "it will be ready when it is ready" - policy. I prefer a good game to one "not-so-good" that is shorter in development. And to me Hinterland had good reason to delay a release. Sometimes things goes wrong, change or new opportunites arise and the worst thing they could have done is just stick to the old plan no matter what. I see a massive improvement of Episode 3 compared to Episode 1 (non redux) and I would suggest that now that certain workflows could have been established, episode 4 & 5 won't be *that* far away.

I can't say if a movie is the best idea but it seems to be only a part of their strategy. So, I'm looking forward to it.

[LucidFugue]

I've seen a few people musing that there seems to be a lot more "story" than what could fit into 2 more episodes. Another way to think about it is to say that all the worldbuilding that has gone into The Long Dark has value well beyond the 5 episodes that the original kickstarter proposed. The idea of Great Bear, the Collapse, the Aurora. All the work that has been done to breathe life into the world. It presents a wealth of opportunity for stories that fans of the game could connect with. 

While a lot of work has been done on the technical front to bring in more mechanics and improve interactions and animations and so forth, there's also been a big investment in setting the scene, so to speak. I don't know what mysteries will be left unanswered at the end of this season, but I am not at all surprised that there would be an intention to tell more stories in this world, in more formats than games alone. 

[turtle777]

On 11/7/2019 at 8:51 AM, RegentRelic said:

I hope we don't see a spring, summer or fall long dark, mainly because I think the idea of the world entering a ice age or little ice age is one of it's most appealing points.

Not for me. What brought me to TLD was playing Firewatch, which is set to play in late summer. I love the vivid colors as much as I love TLD color schemes.

Obviously, a survival game set in summer would have to change the challenges, as temperature wouldn’t be a big concern.

-t

[turtle777]

Oh, and in regards to TLD as iT is now, I feel it’s complete except Ep. 4. & 5.

I don’t expect them to pour more into a Survival Mode or Challenges, at least not for free. I already feel zi have gotten way more out of TLD than I paid for (since I bought in early access).

I’d rather see them assign their resources to a new project than continuing to refine the existing game.

-t

[Guest kristaok]

@turtle777 I think there is a possibility they will go beyond Episode 4&5, and if they do... I doubt they'll be free.  In fact I wouldn't be shocked if they did Seasons or something. 

[turtle777]

 

Edited November 9, 2019 by turtle777

[ManicManiac]

Hinterland is already guaranteed to have my support.  I'd love to see more media set in the world they've created, but I'd also love to see this team explore other ideas as well.  Just seeing what they've crafted out of the initial premise is truly wonderful.  Considering the all the games the various members of the team have been a part of in their respective career's, I think the creative potential here is limitless.
 

 

+1

Edited November 13, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ajb1978]

I for one would be very interested to play a non-winter version of TLD, or a sequel.  So many things we take for granted in the current game would no longer apply. For example summer nights would be very dark.  In the winter, snow reflects star and moonlight very well, so you can find your way around just with that.  But in the summer, when all the foliage has sprung to life, the ground is no longer reflective, and the treetops occlude the moon...forests would be very dark indeed.  Something a simple as walking on a flat surface without a light at night would be a "sprain risk" so to speak.  Or in the springtime maybe you get some freezing rain that takes your clothes from dry directly to frozen with no middle ground, and puts out your campfire just to add insult to injury.

So many possibilities!

[ManicManiac]

On ‎11‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 3:27 AM, Dum_Gen said:

So now I have constant fear that the devs won't like feedback to the new episodes and redo them as well.

...if folks don't come here just to crap on their hard work, then that won't be anything to worry about.  

Edited November 13, 2019 by ManicManiac
Corrected Typographical Error

[Guest jeffpeng]

Dunno why the feedback here for a possible movie is so negative. I mean, yeah, sure, it has no super heros in it and isn't some Nth adaptation of some comic or the umpteenth installment of a franchise that is 50 years old, but there used to a be a time in an age long before ours where movies were made to tell a new and original story, not to sell merchandise. I know only the oldest among us can remember this time of marvel (not Marvel) and wonder, but trust me, it happened. With the great adventure movies all but extinct TLD would fit the bill of a movie for which I would gladly get my ancient bass into a cinema again.

Edited November 13, 2019 by jeffpeng

[Hilayla]

Pepperage Farm Remembers. So do I.

[ManicManiac]

26 minutes ago, Dum_Gen said:

I don't see a problem when people complain about it in a constructive way.

 

That isn't a problem... that's not even what I said.  I was addressing your worry that negative feedback would prompt them to redux more/again.  To your comment I simply pointed out that:

4 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

...if folks don't come here just to crap on their hard work, then that won't be anything to worry about.

so... I'm not sure what you're on about.  However I'm not interested in arguing it in this thread.  If you feel the need to discuss it further, feel free to message me personally and I'll try to explain.

  

[RegentRelic]

7 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

 I for one would be very interested to play a non-winter version of TLD, or a sequel.  So many things we take for granted in the current game would no longer apply. For example summer nights would be very dark.  In the winter, snow reflects star and moonlight very well, so you can find your way around just with that.  But in the summer, when all the foliage has sprung to life, the ground is no longer reflective, and the treetops occlude the moon...forests would be very dark indeed.  Something a simple as walking on a flat surface without a light at night would be a "sprain risk" so to speak.  Or in the springtime maybe you get some freezing rain that takes your clothes from dry directly to frozen with no middle ground, and puts out your campfire just to add insult to injury.

I found this funny because yes it is true, but I play the long dark with the brightness at about one quarter so every thing is always dark and the gamma at night is ranges form zero to one.

 

6 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Dunno why the feedback here for a possible movie is so negative. I mean, yeah, sure, it has no super heros in it and isn't some Nth adaptation of some comic or the umpteenth installment of a franchise that is 50 years old, but there used to a be a time in an age long before ours where movies were made to tell a new and original story, not to sell merchandise. I know only the oldest among us can remember this time of marvel (not Marvel) and wonder, but trust me, it happened. With the great adventure movies all but extinct TLD would fit the bill of a movie for which I would gladly get my ancient bass into a cinema again.

If there was a long dark movie chances are it would end up like most video game movies. Bad because they licensed the wrong studio. Bad because they tried to do it them self and underestimated how different a visual story is from a interactive one. Bad because it's the wrong genera or bad because it wasn't supposed to be good.  I don't think hinterland will end up the last category. It isn't that I am against a long dark film. It's that I don't want another Warcraft, Mario, need for speed, sonic, legend of Zelda, tomb raider, mortal combat, prince of Persia, assassins creed, ratchet and clank, angry birds, etc...

[Guest jeffpeng]

4 hours ago, RegentRelic said:

If there was a long dark movie chances are it would end up like most video game movies. Bad because they licensed the wrong studio. Bad because they tried to do it them self and underestimated how different a visual story is from a interactive one. Bad because it's the wrong genera or bad because it wasn't supposed to be good.  I don't think hinterland will end up the last category. It isn't that I am against a long dark film. It's that I don't want another Warcraft, Mario, need for speed, sonic, legend of Zelda, tomb raider, mortal combat, prince of Persia, assassins creed, ratchet and clank, angry birds, etc...

Did you even read the article posted in the OP? Isn't that verbatim what @Raphael van Lieropsaid he wanted to prevent by NOT licensing the IP to a studio? It's an approach I'm not aware has been done before with video game IP. So maybe before dumping all over the idea read the interview first and maybe let them at least try. It can't be worse than what's in cinemas right now.

I mean I could watch stuff like this for an entire Netflix Season: 

Also even that would probably surpass most current movies:

 

[RegentRelic]

8 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

they tried to do it them self and underestimated how different a visual story is from a interactive one