December Developer Diary

[fauxjargon]

I am excited to participate in  the TLD modding community now that there is official support.  My primary interest is making day 50+ on Interloper-like difficulty settings more interesting.  I'm a little language agnostic as the only scripting type language I'm really good at is Python and for whatever reason Python and games just don't seem to go together.

[Stazco]

Well, thx for an update!

Its strange how you work on only one game, and not charge players who paid some funny 10$ 7 years ago.

I paid some 35$ on xbox one year ago (or1.5), and for sure i will pay for any dlc!

This game is just awesome, might be the only game i play till 2030 or 2040.

As for next gen update - strange, the long dark has some indy style light graphics, so imo there is no need to waste time to upgrade from 1080p to 4k.

The only graphcal thing needs to be upgraded IS HANDS! Its so annoying to see default palms and cuffs all the time! 
Please upgrade our hands and cuffs to correspond weared stuff!

[Even Dark]

found me on my loper run 2 new adv rifle books in the CH trailors maybe a bug? there could be more around.... and a bear hide has 21% condition left after curing in a cave now i do this twice same result

Edited December 15, 2021 by Even Dark

[Admin]

On 12/7/2021 at 7:47 PM, Serenity said:

PC, maximum settings. I figured that's just how the game is. It's aesthetically very pretty (especially the use of color), but on a purely technical level some of the graphics are just not that good. Usually that's fine, but it sticks out when you focus on certain details.

I tried to take a screenshot, but it's really only noticeable in video. There is this weird flickering / movement along the edges of all shadows. I originally thought this was related to the game not having AA settings, but while forcing AA improves this, it's still always there.

Sometimes this is also a system issue. 

If it continues, we'd like to learn more about your settings/system specs so we can try to suggest some improvements -- probably best to continue the chat outside of this thread. 

Please feel free to reach out via our support portal: https://hinterlandgames.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

Thanks for your patience! 

[Erroneus]

On 12/15/2021 at 3:27 AM, Stazco said:

As for next gen update - strange, the long dark has some indy style light graphics, so imo there is no need to waste time to upgrade from 1080p to 4k.

The only graphcal thing needs to be upgraded IS HANDS! Its so annoying to see default palms and cuffs all the time! 
Please upgrade our hands and cuffs to correspond weared stuff!

I agree resolution is not that important, but it can add clarity and less jagged edges when upping resolution. But the big thing for me is framerate. I just can't play games in 30FPS any more, as I'm playing on PS5 and PC, where I play in 60, 120 or 144FPS. Now The Long Dark off course doesn't really need 120FPS support, but 60FPS support is highly wanted and personally I'm waiting to play EP4, until 60FPS supports lands. I'm gonna wait patiently for it off course, even though the waiting is killing me a bit 😅

Personally I wouldn't mind paying for a next-gen version. They could update the current backwards compability versions to run 60fps on next-gen consoles, which would be the free option. And release an "enhanced edition" or something similar named with better textures, better lighting, 60FPS support, native support for the nextgen consoles, separate trophy/achivement list (with support for importing old saves maybe), ready for the mod support and similar features. Have an upgrade path for current owners that cost eg. 10-15$ and sell the enhanced edition for new owners for 35-40$.

[Cr41g]

^ this

[stratvox]

On 12/14/2021 at 9:27 PM, Stazco said:

As for next gen update - strange, the long dark has some indy style light graphics, so imo there is no need to waste time to upgrade from 1080p to 4k.

There are things that happen when you move from HD to 4k in the engine that are really good, in large part because of what happens wrt what you can see at long distances. Also, the trees are well made for 4k. The (many!) big vistas in the game look incredible at 4k because of this.

Because you can see so far in the regions when you're at the right locations I think it would be really cool if Hinterland could do something similar to LGhassan's work in scatterer for KSP, which models rayleigh scattering and light extinction at the terminator; being able to see proper directional layout for colour banding in the sky for the sunsets and sunrises would be incredible. I also think that given the art style it would be really cool to be able to exploit some of the ray tracing features the new cards are coming out with; in particular, imagine how beautiful it would be to see a properly degraded real time reflection of the aurora in the surfaces of the lakes, or on other ice-covered surfaces such as near waterfalls? Given the overall art style of the game (which is heavily based on iconic Canadian painters such as Emily Carr, Tom Thomson, and the Group of Seven) I can easily see how some of these new technologies could be integrated into the overall look of the game while remaining very true to the inspirational material it's based on.

[Guest jeffpeng]

1 hour ago, stratvox said:

There are things that happen when you move from HD to 4k in the engine that are really good, in large part because of what happens wrt what you can see at long distances. Also, the trees are well made for 4k. The (many!) big vistas in the game look incredible at 4k because of this.

I've seen the game on 4K, and I can only echo this. There really is "no substitution for resolution" as the saying goes, and TLD is one of the prime examples of where it really makes a difference. But even just on 1440p (which is the display I'm using) the game is a massive step up from the 1080p antique I used to have.

1 hour ago, stratvox said:

I also think that given the art style it would be really cool to be able to exploit some of the ray tracing features the new cards are coming out with; in particular, imagine how beautiful it would be to see a properly degraded real time reflection of the aurora in the surfaces of the lakes, or on other ice-covered surfaces such as near waterfalls?

This. Finally an actual use for all that hardware. I mean who plays DOOM or Battlefield, and gets shot while admiring the reflections? TLD just "makes" you do some sight seeing (need to get those 100 cloth home, urgh).

[stratvox]

On 12/22/2021 at 1:49 PM, jeffpeng said:

(need to get those 100 cloth home, urgh)

I feel this.

[Erroneus]

Happy new year 😊

Any hint on when we are hearing more on updates for 2022? Next-gen, paid update path and so on.

Cheers.

[Muestereate]

With regard to paid upgrades. Every time I look AT THE HOURS i SPEND ON THIS GAME IT AMAZES ME. Many sites would give their eyeteeth to have a customers attention for this long. I have an idea that may monetize this in a fashion that will not kill the game like so many ad based monetization schemes. 

I propose that you have to search the long dark for the CHANCE to get a paid upgrade.  Something that is actually hard to find like our caches but in addition to a couple bullets etc., you get a link. Now that link leads to an item, or mod or even a real life Long dark memorabilia like a coffee cup or an axe, or game wise, I like our achievement badger mechanic to deliver upgrades also. I think I would put a constraint on the store that this link goes to one item only and NOT the whole store. Without the constraint it turns into a pay to play money grab.

In Minecraft a Server I went to allowed you to buy rank or special tools. For a hundred bucks I could fly! All the stuff I bought was persistent. Ranks also got me improved odds on randomized happenings.

Along the lines of ranks, their may be a few grades of tools, knives guns etc. and any rank could improve your odds of rolling a link to a higher quality tool or mod.

I'd like to re-toss out the achievement badge mechanic because you already have it, Ranks could allow you to select more than three and I suppose an extension of that mechanic could allow you to equip yourself with at the beginning of each game.

I think this could breath fresh life into the play by giving us an excuse to rework mastered regions and search for new things. Pricing wise, very cheap entry level broadens the player engagement but I found that 3, 5, or 10 bucks was a lot of fun, once I became convinced that it wasn't an unfair scalping scheme like some pay to play games, eventually I worked up to big tickets. Establishing trust was an important part of higher ticket items. You guys have earned mine but not everyone else's.

Perhaps mark the map when links discovered so people can go back when they can afford to? Not so sure about this except for high ticket items.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Muestereate

[SpanishMoss]

1 hour ago, Muestereate said:

With regard to paid upgrades. Every time I look AT THE HOURS i SPEND ON THIS GAME IT AMAZES ME. Many sites would give their eyeteeth to have a customers attention for this long. I have an idea that may monetize this in a fashion that will not kill the game like so many ad based monetization schemes. 

I propose that you have to search the long dark for the CHANCE to get a paid upgrade.  Something that is actually hard to find like our caches but in addition to a couple bullets etc., you get a link. Now that link leads to an item, or mod or even a real life Long dark memorabilia like a coffee cup or an axe, or game wise, I like our achievement badger mechanic to deliver upgrades also. I think I would put a constraint on the store that this link goes to one item only and NOT the whole store. Without the constraint it turns into a pay to play money grab.

In Minecraft a Server I went to allowed you to buy rank or special tools. For a hundred bucks I could fly! All the stuff I bought was persistent. Ranks also got me improved odds on randomized happenings.

Along the lines of ranks, their may be a few grades of tools, knives guns etc. and any rank could improve your odds of rolling a link to a higher quality tool or mod.

I'd like to re-toss out the achievement badge mechanic because you already have it, Ranks could allow you to select more than three and I suppose an extension of that mechanic could allow you to equip yourself with at the beginning of each game.

I think this could breath fresh life into the play by giving us an excuse to rework mastered regions and search for new things. Pricing wise, very cheap entry level broadens the player engagement but I found that 3, 5, or 10 bucks was a lot of fun, once I became convinced that it wasn't an unfair scalping scheme like some pay to play games, eventually I worked up to big tickets. Establishing trust was an important part of higher ticket items. You guys have earned mine but not everyone else's.

Perhaps mark the map when links discovered so people can go back when they can afford to? Not so sure about this except for high ticket items.

Or... y'know, make a DLC