Game-mode Idea

[PecaPig]

I've been thinking it would be cool to have another game mode where it's basically survival mode but you get to look after some other survivors that are scattered throughout all the maps, not very many, just a few here and there, and not able-bodied enought to fend for themselves on their own.

Each could need this or that, mostly wood, food, reishi shrooms ocassionally, maybe this or that tool and it would fall to the player wether to pursue this side-quests and to what extent take extra risks to look after these fellow survivors. If some or all die, well, they die, game goes on, maybe eventually the player is all on his own after some time. Maybe have one radio on most large maps where the player can listen in to what the survivors need and where they are at, how urgently they do need it etc... 

Maybe their needs should start off relatively low and not so urgent, since early game is tough enough on interloper to go around helping anyone out, but this could be used as a way to keep the game more engaging once the initial hump is over with and the player is tempted to fall into a sense of comfort and lack of really dire urgency to take any risks for a while.

 

In this way some players like myself could justify really putting ourselves on the line for the common good, driving yourself further and faster and less well supplied than most of us normally would lacking an actual urgency of our own. It would also require some route-planning to make ends meet at multiple locations over not so large periods of time if one wants to try and help multiple distress calls.

Some of the calls could simply involve a lack of fire-starting tools somewhere and we get there and light a nice fire, leave some wood and they nurse it for themselves, maybe leave them a couple matches just in case a long storm strikes.

Or maybe elsewhere a few reishi's are needed if you get there quickly, but if you take longer maybe you need to actually prepare them for the ill-begotten survivor and nurse them back a bit until they can at least perform basic self-care.

Maybe elsewhere it's fishing tackle that's in short supply and fishing is all that these survivors are able to do to get by for food. Leave them a couple and expect it to last just a couple weeks, leave some extra and they can hopefully last a lot longer before needing your help again. Maybe they will be kind enough to let you take as much lamp oil as you need since they have an abundancy due to their fishing.

Thanks for reading, I enjoy dreaming up these things enough that I don't actually need any of it to be done, but it's nice to just think about the possibilities and the gameplay it would involve.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by PecaPig

[Guest kristaok]

I'm not saying these are bad ideas, but I doubt it would ever happen because that would take a LOT more work... and Hinterland is already tied up trying to complete the last couple Episodes for the Long Dark. Plus the Story Mode kind of scratches this same itch. 

[PecaPig]

I'm not saying it should happen, but I think it would be amazing, I don't think it's likely to ever exist, but it's fun to think about.

[Daymo]

I’ve often thought it would be interesting to have another survivor to care for/supply, especially on easier difficulties where you have loads of supplies. 
Your ideas are on a whole other level peca and would be amazing 😃

[ajb1978]

It'd be fun as a Challenge mode.  You're tasked with rescuing X many survivors in Y amount of time.  Like go to Pleasant Valley, find 3 survivors, bring them to the Community Center.  Go to Mystery Lake, find 3 survivors, bring them to the Camp Office.  Go to Mountain Town, find 3 survivors, bring them to St. Christopher's Church.  Boom, challenge complete.

[Guest kristaok]

I agree with @ajb1978 It could work as a short Challenge Mode, I just doubt it would happen for Sandbox Mode.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Challenge material indeed. And personally .... I think good challenge material. Might even be a "technically" open ended challenge as your objective is to keep as many people alive and kicking for as long as you can, and you gather like points for every hour each person is still alive. Eventually you'd probably have to let some of them go, which is the kind of hard decision TLD was initially designed to have. No really, I seriously like that idea.

@ajb1978's Interpretation would work as well, of course.

[PecaPig]

Exactly, the idea is not to force you to do anything about these survivors, it's up to you how much to care / cooperate / help and go out of your way to do so... or not. You have to pick and choose how much extra personal risk are you willing to incur to get there in time? on the other hand, if you do die, that kinda dooms the other survivors that are depending on your help every now and then... you can also just place your own safety first and help where you can without going crazy... eventually the game can become a vanilla survival mode if all humans other than the player pass away.

[Daymo]

If you failed to make a deadline and turned up at a location to find the survivor’s corpse...pretty brutal.

wasteland 2 spoilers below...I don’t know how to blank it.

In Wasteland 2 you are forced to make a decision between helping to groups of survivors, it’s impossible to help both. Once you have chosen you have to listen to the unfortunate group’s desperate pleas and recriminations. It’s a powerful moment in a pretty good game.

 

There are radios all over the shop, I think this has the making of an awesome challenge.

No that I would presume to tell Hinterland how to make games lol

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by Daymo

[ManicManiac]

On 3/12/2020 at 7:11 AM, PecaPig said:

I've been thinking it would be cool to have another game mode where it's basically survival mode but you get to look after some other survivors that are scattered throughout all the maps

It's and interesting idea (and one that reminds me of the survivor escort missions from Dead Rising 2 - speaking frankly)

I tend to agree with some of the others, I think that the idea of having to care for another NPC would be an interesting idea for a Challenge Mode (perhaps it would come with a 'Life Saver' merit badge )... but I'm not sure how well that would hold up in the survival sandbox.  I'd say leave the sandbox as it is and use this idea for a future challenge. 

Edited March 13, 2020 by ManicManiac