What next for Hinterland?

[conanjaguar]

Forgive me if I overstep my boundaries a bit here, but I recently have been wondering what Hinterland will do after The Long Dark is finished. With the brainstorming process of
Episode 5 already underway, I would expect the Story Mode to be finished with a satisfying conclusion.

Of course, the corresponding survival update will be eagerly awaited, but what then?
As seen on the map, there is room for at least three more regions, one of which should be Perseverance Mills. But, when the map is crowded, the Story is finished, and everything becomes as everyday as bread and butter, what will Hinterland do next?

Now, TLD is a great game, one of the best, if not the best, of the survival genre. But eventually, everyone who wants it will have TLD, and no more sales will come. By then, Hinterland will surely have at least a concept of what to do next. What will it be? I will explore some options here.

• Zombie Survival- While the market is currently drowning in zombie games, I have trust in Hinterland’s ability to make it work.
• The Frozen Forest- Just a conjecture here, but Hinterland could consider teaming up with Endnight (makers of The Forest) in a masterpiece of survival that would combine the best of both games.
• Sci-fi Survival- Just as with a zombie game, a science fiction game can be hard to pull off. The technology, environments, and organisms portrayed must not be too earthlike, but not so alien as for disbelief to no longer be suspended. 
• Old-Timey Survival- I think this has come up once or twice. Currently, the market has no games set in the 18th and 19th centuries. No good ones, anyway. Such a game could provide a fascinating view into the life of a typical homesteader or Trapper back then, while simultaneously being more than a “hunting/building simulation.”
• Korean War Survival- There are almost no games set during the Forgotten War. As a student of the Korean War, I think that this is disappointing. Especially so since the extreme weather conditions and terrain of Korea seem ideal for a game of this nature.

That’s all I can think of right now. What do you think Hinterland should do next?
(Again, apologies to @Admin and the rest of the developers over at the Hinterland Team if I have overstepped my boundaries. I will delete this if necessary.)

[odizzido]

Hinterland's strength is atmosphere. Probably the best option for them would be a mechanically simple game with things that synergize well with atmosphere.

I think ralph+others are already working on what's next anyways so what we say doesn't matter.

[conanjaguar]

6 hours ago, odizzido said:

Hinterland's strength is atmosphere. Probably the best option for them would be a mechanically simple game with things that synergize well with atmosphere.

I think ralph+others are already working on what's next anyways so what we say doesn't matter.

Yes, atmosphere is definitely Hinterland’s strength. I’m sure that whatever they do next will be another masterpiece.

[APixelatedLemon]

If I had to take a stab in the dark, I would say that a TLD 2 is not going to happen as the next project, maybe some time after that however. 

I think the next likely logical step would be a story driven exploration game. Something akin to 'Firewatch' but perhaps a bit more player involved, like you have to solve a mystery or something. Maybe something more like 'Outer Wilds' where it's just exploration and solving smaller puzzles to break a larger mystery.

Hinterland seems to be focused on atmosphere, immersion, art direction, and story, so I doubt it would be anything too action focused.

[Admin]

We'll certainly share more information about future projects as soon as we can. There's a lot to look forward to! Thank you for the kind words, and for your support. 

[MonadoBlade2016]

Don't forget that Hinterland thinks differently than most devs when it comes to updates. They are now at the threshold where they can be more open and explore a wider arrange of subject matter after Wintermute's final episode is completed to their satisfaction. Afterwards, they most likely will have alot more flexibility on how to continue TLD while moving onto the next project at the same time. The information to come out ASAP will be carefully written but put into probably the long-term 15-18 month DLC campaign Raphael talked about in the April Dev Diary. If the track record of Hinterland shows even in the face of the pandemic completely messing everything up, they will continue to provide remarkable updates for us. The price will be reasonable once we grasp entirely what we will get (don't forget non DLC members will STILL get updated content too). Hinterland will not disappoint us, it's had to say that about many companies nowadays but Hinterland's earned the trust of it's player base and fans. Don't forget, there's been no payments required for so many years now when they could've been capitalizing on small DLC additions like other companies tend to do. The next few months will be worth the wait for what's to come soon.

[conanjaguar]

@MonadoBlade2016

I too appreciate Hinterland’s approach to updates. It shows their integrity and honesty; if you pay ten dollars for TLD, even in early access, you don’t pay another penny, because you payed up front for a great game, and Hinterland have created a great game.
I’m sure that they will apply the lessons learned from the creation of TLD to their next masterpiece.

Money and time spent with Hinterland is well spent!

[Admin]

24 minutes ago, conanjaguar said:

@MonadoBlade2016

I too appreciate Hinterland’s approach to updates. It shows their integrity and honesty; if you pay ten dollars for TLD, even in early access, you don’t pay another penny, because you payed up front for a great game, and Hinterland have created a great game.
I’m sure that they will apply the lessons learned from the creation of TLD to their next masterpiece.

Money and time spent with Hinterland is well spent!

Thank you. We'll always do our very best to reward that confidence and operate with integrity. 

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

On 7/6/2022 at 5:43 PM, conanjaguar said:

Forgive me if I overstep my boundaries a bit here, but I recently have been wondering what Hinterland will do after The Long Dark is finished. With the brainstorming process of
Episode 5 already underway, I would expect the Story Mode to be finished with a satisfying conclusion.

Of course, the corresponding survival update will be eagerly awaited, but what then?
As seen on the map, there is room for at least three more regions, one of which should be Perseverance Mills. But, when the map is crowded, the Story is finished, and everything becomes as everyday as bread and butter, what will Hinterland do next?

Now, TLD is a great game, one of the best, if not the best, of the survival genre. But eventually, everyone who wants it will have TLD, and no more sales will come. By then, Hinterland will surely have at least a concept of what to do next. What will it be? I will explore some options here.

• Zombie Survival- While the market is currently drowning in zombie games, I have trust in Hinterland’s ability to make it work.
• The Frozen Forest- Just a conjecture here, but Hinterland could consider teaming up with Endnight (makers of The Forest) in a masterpiece of survival that would combine the best of both games.
• Sci-fi Survival- Just as with a zombie game, a science fiction game can be hard to pull off. The technology, environments, and organisms portrayed must not be too earthlike, but not so alien as for disbelief to no longer be suspended. 
• Old-Timey Survival- I think this has come up once or twice. Currently, the market has no games set in the 18th and 19th centuries. No good ones, anyway. Such a game could provide a fascinating view into the life of a typical homesteader or Trapper back then, while simultaneously being more than a “hunting/building simulation.”
• Korean War Survival- There are almost no games set during the Forgotten War. As a student of the Korean War, I think that this is disappointing. Especially so since the extreme weather conditions and terrain of Korea seem ideal for a game of this nature.

That’s all I can think of right now. What do you think Hinterland should do next?
(Again, apologies to @Admin and the rest of the developers over at the Hinterland Team if I have overstepped my boundaries. I will delete this if necessary.)

 

Good topic.

'The Frozen Forest- Just a conjecture here, but Hinterland could consider teaming up with Endnight (makers of The Forest) in a masterpiece of survival that would combine the best of both games.'- I'm really excited for 'Sons of The Forest' coming out hopefully later in the year, and it will be interesting to see if Endnight have themselves been influenced by any other survival games...!

'Old-Timey Survival- I think this has come up once or twice. Currently, the market has no games set in the 18th and 19th centuries. No good ones, anyway. Such a game could provide a fascinating view into the life of a typical homesteader or Trapper back then, while simultaneously being more than a “hunting/building simulation.”'- It's not exactly what you are describing, but there was some talk a while back of a DLC themed around Franklin's lost expedition I believe.  Right period at least!

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

On 7/7/2022 at 7:42 AM, odizzido said:

Hinterland's strength is atmosphere. Probably the best option for them would be a mechanically simple game with things that synergize well with atmosphere.

I think ralph+others are already working on what's next anyways so what we say doesn't matter.

Yeah, I recall a quote from Raph/HL a while back along the lines of 'don't pitch things to us, we have plenty of ideas- do what we did and make it yourselves!'.  And tbf, after TLD, if HL released 'Dentist Waiting Room Simulator' I'd give it the benefit of the doubt.

That said, it's a fun game to speculate or imagine so, if HL had a sudden HR/forum member admin glitch, and I found myself accidentally installed as new project lead, this would be my pitch:

THE HEROIC AGE- A Polar Exploration Story

An linear/episodic polar exploration adventure, with success based on survival, finances and reputation, and earlier decisions compound in the later game.

1. Put your expedition together.  Initial difficulty set by choosing either an inexperienced but wealthy aristocrat, a poor but skilled former expedition member (with few high society contacts), or a disgraced former expedition leader looking to salvage their reputation.

Get your equipment and provisions (type and quantity is a variable), recruit your crew (either old contacts if you have them, or via more expensive advertising and interviews, or even take on a less talented donor who pays their way), secure funders (each with their own conditions for offering support), and set your goals (a race to the pole, wider exploration, lucrative scientific experiments, or a mix).

2. Arrive at the polar region- establish your base, lay depots, integrate the team, test equipment and rations, carry out side missions such as sending a group to get a penguin's egg.  Random events through up unpredictable challenges based on difficulty- mutinous or ill crew, the supply ship retreats before supplies are fully unloaded, a rival is discovered to be ahead of your scheduled departure, a litter of huskies that you can use next year etc.

3. Once preparations are underway, set off! Choose your final elite team, and support groups, battle through terrain, fatigue and weather to try and achieve your goals!

4. Aftermath- return home (or not!) to a hero's' welcome, or bankruptcy and infamy...

[conanjaguar]

2 hours ago, Valuable Hunting Knife said:

 

THE HEROIC AGE- A Polar Exploration Story

An linear/episodic polar exploration adventure, with success based on survival, finances and reputation, and earlier decisions compound in the later game.

1. Put your expedition together.  Initial difficulty set by choosing either an inexperienced but wealthy aristocrat, a poor but skilled former expedition member (with few high society contacts), or a disgraced former expedition leader looking to salvage their reputation.

Get your equipment and provisions (type and quantity is a variable), recruit your crew (either old contacts if you have them, or via more expensive advertising and interviews, or even take on a less talented donor who pays their way), secure funders (each with their own conditions for offering support), and set your goals (a race to the pole, wider exploration, lucrative scientific experiments, or a mix).

2. Arrive at the polar region- establish your base, lay depots, integrate the team, test equipment and rations, carry out side missions such as sending a group to get a penguin's egg.  Random events through up unpredictable challenges based on difficulty- mutinous or ill crew, the supply ship retreats before supplies are fully unloaded, a rival is discovered to be ahead of your scheduled departure, a litter of huskies that you can use next year etc.

3. Once preparations are underway, set off! Choose your final elite team, and support groups, battle through terrain, fatigue and weather to try and achieve your goals!

4. Aftermath- return home (or not!) to a hero's' welcome, or bankruptcy and infamy...

This is a pretty solid concept. I’m assuming it would be a turn-based strategy game? Either that, or an RPG-style system? Either way, not half bad.

[Leeanda]

How about a good old horror/murder mystery.  Kind of like alone in the dark?  As pointed out htl are good at atmosphere and tld has those moments of quiet dread . 

Please though.... No zombies!🙂

Edited July 16, 2022 by Leeanda

[conanjaguar]

1 minute ago, Leeanda said:

How about a good old horror .  Kind of like alone in the dark?  As pointed out htl are good at atmosphere and tld has those moments of quiet dread .

Actually, I consider this to be among one of the more likely possibilities.
There are times when I’m walking through Carter Hydro at night and I expect some creepy little girl with long black hair, a creepy smile, and a white dress to come floating out of the darkness.

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

2 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

This is a pretty solid concept. I’m assuming it would be a turn-based strategy game? Either that, or an RPG-style system? Either way, not half bad.

thanks!  I think I'd envisage it as starting out like a bit of an RPG (moving around the city to the docks, storerooms, geographical society etc.) before being a bit more like TLD or something like Valheim when you're actually at the pole- building, exploring an open world area with your limited supplies etc.

[conanjaguar]

@Valuable Hunting Knife

Ah, I see. I haven’t played Valheim, but I get the gist of it.

[ajb1978]

Back in Milton Mailbag 31, Raph was asked if he were to produce paid DLC, what would he produce. And one of the ideas he mentioned was a partially procedurally generated journey down a highway, traveling hundreds of kms to get to your destination. Now I know this was in no way a promise and was just brainstorming, but I really liked that idea. Because how do we currently play? We establish well-fortified bases, and then travel between them as we get bored with one region.

But that means we become super stingy with our resources, doing things that if you think about it in real life, are really goofy. Like cooking up a month's worth of food in advance and throwing it outside in the snow. Or boiling up hundreds of liters of water in plastic bottles that appear out of nowhere. In Story Mode, you hardly have to do any of that because you know you're not coming back. At the end of Episode 1, you just make sure you have all your best gear equipped and some provisions for the road before heading on to Mystery Lake, so you leave behind all the heavy stuff you can't be bothered to carry, hoping you'll find replacements later.

A procedurally generated game, even if it used all the same core TLD mechanics, would be a totally different experience from both Survival and Story mode, carrying elements of both. You'd have to live off the land more, especially if you're 50 miles from the next destination on foot and just ate your last granola bar. And when you do find some abandoned house you can search for supplies, you'd use it as a temporary place to rest and repair your gear with whatever resources you find on site, and leave behind anything you don't have a specific use for. You're never coming back, and you have no base to fortify.

So yeah, I would LOVE to see this implemented as DLC, or more likely as a standalone game with its own story.

[conanjaguar]

@ajb1978

I will clearly have to start reading the Milton Mailbags. Consider me following @Admin as of last week. And, another idea just occurred to me, fleshing out my “sci-fi” concept.

Now, I don’t know if I have been playing too much Dead Space recently or not, but I think Hinterland could do a bit of tinkering with the basic premise, and come up with a whole new game.

Imagine a vast colony ship, kilometers on a side, that has been sent to (INSERT STAR NAME HERE), a system dozens of light years away. Halfway there, they encounter... something. The ship’s AI has reset it’s directives. The crew is expendable, but IT must be studied. Whatever IT is, it is in the middle of an asteroid field that caused massive hull breaches.

The players would take the role of one of the crew members, and try to find out what happened, while simultaneously living off the land (hydroponics?) and avoiding alien horrors.

I don’t know, this is just an idea, but I think it has promise.

[Guest jeffpeng]

6 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

And one of the ideas he mentioned was a partially procedurally generated journey down a highway, traveling hundreds of kms to get to your destination.

Considering that Raph is a big fan of "The Road" I always thought this to be something we'd likely see at some point. It would indeed be a pretty interesting spin on the survival genre.

[Kranium]

RE: Old-Timey Survival

That could work, just do it like you're a pioneer. Coming over on a ship to start a new colony > ship goes down > you're the lone survivor washed up on shore in the wilderness of an unexplored continent, just you & whatever else washed up from the ship.

[conanjaguar]

Recently I have been thinking that Hinterland could do some kind of Lovecraftian horror game. The Darkwalker challenge has that feel, as do many of the buildings, Carter Hydro in particular, during an aurora.

There is an adventure for the Call of Cthulhu role playing game called The Walker in The Wastes, or something like that. It takes place in a very cold environment, and has that TLD feel to it. Perhaps Hinterland could do an adaptation of that?

[odizzido]

On 7/16/2022 at 3:54 AM, Valuable Hunting Knife said:

Yeah, I recall a quote from Raph/HL a while back along the lines of 'don't pitch things to us, we have plenty of ideas- do what we did and make it yourselves!'.  And tbf, after TLD, if HL released 'Dentist Waiting Room Simulator' I'd give it the benefit of the doubt.

That said, it's a fun game to speculate or imagine so, if HL had a sudden HR/forum member admin glitch, and I found myself accidentally installed as new project lead, this would be my pitch:

THE HEROIC AGE- A Polar Exploration Story

An linear/episodic polar exploration adventure, with success based on survival, finances and reputation, and earlier decisions compound in the later game.

1. Put your expedition together.  Initial difficulty set by choosing either an inexperienced but wealthy aristocrat, a poor but skilled former expedition member (with few high society contacts), or a disgraced former expedition leader looking to salvage their reputation.

Get your equipment and provisions (type and quantity is a variable), recruit your crew (either old contacts if you have them, or via more expensive advertising and interviews, or even take on a less talented donor who pays their way), secure funders (each with their own conditions for offering support), and set your goals (a race to the pole, wider exploration, lucrative scientific experiments, or a mix).

2. Arrive at the polar region- establish your base, lay depots, integrate the team, test equipment and rations, carry out side missions such as sending a group to get a penguin's egg.  Random events through up unpredictable challenges based on difficulty- mutinous or ill crew, the supply ship retreats before supplies are fully unloaded, a rival is discovered to be ahead of your scheduled departure, a litter of huskies that you can use next year etc.

3. Once preparations are underway, set off! Choose your final elite team, and support groups, battle through terrain, fatigue and weather to try and achieve your goals!

4. Aftermath- return home (or not!) to a hero's' welcome, or bankruptcy and infamy...

I am not quite sure yet, but it sounds like this

 

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

37 minutes ago, odizzido said:

I am not quite sure yet, but it sounds like this

 

Wow- close enough that it's going straight on my wishlist! thank you  

[odizzido]

Yeah the game looks interesting and I know it's a story based game where you need to survive in the arctic but I don't know what the gameplay focuses on really. Whether it has resource management(it might, you see inventory), or if you need to set up the camp(maybe? you can see the camp) or what else you do in the game. It's on my list of games to check out once it's out and finished.

[conanjaguar]

22 hours ago, odizzido said:

I am not quite sure yet, but it sounds like this

 

I will admit, that looks pretty good. I will have to check it out when it is finished.

[Pillock]

I read novel a while back called "Out in the Open" by Jesus Carrasco. It's about a young lad who goes on the run from his village in central Spain (early 20th century-ish?), and is constantly being chased down by the evil local magistrate/sheriff. The setting is kind like an antithesis to The Long Dark's: hot, dry, arid plains. The kid has to survive by staying cool rather than warm, water is difficult to come by, food is scarce; and he has to keep moving on while staying out of the way of civilization, in order to avoid the lawman. He finds a donkey, which helps him carry stuff. And he acquires a goat, which provides him with small amounts of milk (as well as bruises when it's not in the right mood to be milked!). Both need to be fed, watered, rested and kept cool as well (or eaten?), posing him dilemmas.

It's very bleak, as a story. But while reading it I was constantly thinking of TLD, and how the book's premise would be a good basis for a similar game. I mean, I'd love to take Hinterland's advice and make it myself, but that'd be a bit like asking me to build myself a new car from scratch! Here's hoping the idea finds its way somehow to someone with the capability to do it, I guess.