Announcing TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY

[k0s0ff]

I will share my vision of what is happening.

Unfortunately, I don't play very often lately. But I have one branch of survival that I have been continuing for a long time. This survival has gone through a lot of updates. I think I bought the game when there were only two episodes ready.

For some reason, I can't calmly start additional branches of survival, knowing that one of my longest stories is not over. I wander around the frozen world, looking for supplies, hunting, making caches, leaving marks just like that and for need, writing notes in a magazine. This is my story of my character. I went through both good and terrible moments with him. He was on the edge many times and survived. I just can't start a new one without finishing his path.

One day I came up with a goal to find at least someone on the island, or at least traces of someone's presence. Went hiking all over the island. I know it's stupid, but I couldn't sit still anymore. It was amazing to come to the far end of the global map after a couple of years of real time. I just forgot that I was there and what I was doing. You could say I found traces of presence, but they were mine. A long dark story of loneliness, it's a long story of endless self-search.

A merchant is at least another reason to move in a frozen world. I don't know if it will be stationary or will be like a moose, which we still have to manage to find. It will still be an incentive to do something. What if he turns out to be a salvation for someone. It is clear that someone likes it, someone does not like it. But it's a matter of taste, besides, the world is big and it's quite possible not to appear where you don't want or don't like.

I confess that I haven't visited two locations in my long survival branch yet. The first is the cannery and the bay itself. Because her update also caught me in my long branch of survival.  The reason is simple. It's stupid to just go for a walk there, you need to prepare consumables for the production of cartridges in advance. But I was able to collect the casings only after the update. And in fact I have no casings. Plus, you have to find the rest of the components for gunpowder.  Well, imagine I have to go around the island again by locations that have already been explored by me more than once. Such, a challenge like that. I won't describe it in more detail, I think you understand what it means to come somewhere and see all the points where at least something can appear, despite the fact that most things have already gone somewhere from there.

The second location is the valley of a quiet river. The reason is simple, To die there after all will be the biggest failure, plus it's a little difficult for me to navigate there because of my vision. Because of this, I didn't spend a lot of time in ash Canyon, although I like this location very much.

It is a pity that my files will be lost for the new update. But this is at least one more reason to return to the game and finish exploring the island. Let's see how it all ends.

Thank you for your attention and forgive me for my English.

Edited October 23, 2022 by k0s0ff

[Sgt Socks]

@k0s0ff

Your English is great!

Thank you for describing in such wonderful detail your views. And I am sad for you, and others like you, who will lose some really long standing runs and characters. I completely understand the wrench this will be - all that time, blood, sweat, tears and fear.

I hear what you're saying about the Trader, indeed it would be a goal, something to "do". I'm not completely opposed to the idea, just somewhat concerned that I don't end up playing "Fallout In The Snow". Providing the Trader and Transponder aren't intrusive, or we get a custom option to turn them off, then indeed they could be a good thing for some/many people as you rightly say.

I don't think Hinterland would make such a radical departure from what most people love about the game without at least offering a custom option, or ensuring they aren't intrusive and do make sense. Or at least I hope so! Whilst I am excited for the new game, I am deeply anxious because of what it means to me and how beautiful it is as it stands.

We will see!

[k0s0ff]

48 minutes ago, Sgt Socks said:

We will see!

We will wait and hope for a better outcome. In any case, the developers did not add the survival settings mode for nothing.

[Luca Loquax]

Captain Raph-Tastic, the giver of dreams, the keeper of hope, the master of ALL things that do not suck, has given us the BEST game ever and I am also very happy to have the opportunity to lend my financial support as a way to say 'thank U!" as well as enrich the TLD experience. 

I was lucky enough to buy-in during early-access and what an amazing ride it has been.  Too all U good folks at Hinterland: U R the best!  

[Guest jeffpeng]

17 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

which should hopefully be evident by now.

It is. At least to anyone paying attention.

[stratvox]

19 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

I promise the "Trader" feature mentioned is not some stealth way to add micro-transactions to TLD. That's not our style and it wouldn't align with our general philosophy about game development or business in general, which should hopefully be evident by now.

Yeah I pretty much dismissed that idea out of hand.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Every time we talk about making bigger changes to the game, there's a host of people who come out of the woodwork expressing angst about how we might change the game in ways they don't like. This has been the case since we launched on Early Access in 2014. And yet most of you are still here, and the player base has grown steadily, which suggests we might be doing something right despite these fears. 😅

A healthy, vibrant TLD game and community benefits all the fans, regardless of what you think about a specific feature, area of the game, whatever. I understand that the fear comes out of protectiveness for something you love, I really do. And I understand that in some cases, maybe the people who make some the games you love do so thinking of it as a "product" and maybe chase trends or try to focus on features that will make the game more profitable or more popular. We've never done that. In 8+ years of development, we've literally never made a choice that was purely about extracting more money or about chasing a trend. For us, creating THE LONG DARK is probably as close as you can come to being a labour of love as is possible while still having something you are sharing with millions of other people. The first question we ask before we start making anything is, "does this fit TLD?". And when we say "yes, it does", we're coming from a pretty good place of knowledge around how to properly evaluate that question.

For anything in the recent announcements people might be feeling anxious about, like the Trader for example, I can probably find 10-20 other similar things we've added over the years that inspired forum posts that started out with, "well...I sure hope Hinterland doesn't break the thing I love about this game. I sure hope they know what they are doing". Most of those things turned out fine? (You can always find a thing you personally don't like...) I promise you that it's 100% possible to still enjoy a game you love "as it is" and still let it evolve and be interesting for the devs to make and for players to experience. Many of you have been doing it for years. It's also possible to discover that things you didn't think you wanted, might actually add something meaningful to the experience, and give it new life, new meaning. And in our Master Plan for TLD, the things we're adding might actually fit into a Bigger Picture Vision that you just can't see (nor do you need to see) yet.

I guess all I'm saying is, I hope you understand that we love TLD as much as you do. For me, it's gone far beyond just a game I've been making for the last 10 yrs of my life. The team that's working on it loves it to bits. And I mean you can choose not to put trust us, for sure, that's your prerogative. The world's full of exploitative assholes who are only in it for the money and don't really care about their players. All I'm saying is, that's not us, has never been, and never will be as long as I have something to say about it.

So by all means theory-craft away about any feature you like, for sure -- that can be a lot of fun. But please know that nobody in this forum really knows our plans, and never ever doubt our commitment to TLD.

[Karl Grylls]

huh, some steam needed to be released it seems. Which is quite understandable and, if a comment is allowed, just fair.
During my time in TLD, the more i learned about the game and the mechanics, i had sometimes the thought that before anything is added or changed to the game, it must go through some kind of internal process like "does it fit the vision of TLD?", because everything that changed/was added to it made the game straightly better (from my point of view). And i think you made a great job. I guess the hardest work must have been to crystallize the vision you had (you mentioned wandering through the world of Fallout 3 iirc) 1:1 into a new game.
One notices very fast that you, as a studio, are different. But because of the disappointments and exploits from many other studios in the past some players are aggrieved.
Anyway, i already said my 2 cents about the DLC, it's absolute fantastic and i will buy it the second it drops.

[Glacia]

22 hours ago, Sgt Socks said:

For me the nervousness relates exactly to what you've said here, a major part of TLD'S majesty is the "Haunting Loneliness". I'm also nervous about the shortwave radio for the same reason.  Having NPCs within the world just doesn't feel right to me. However I will reserve judgement until I see what the reality is.

We don't know exactly how the trader will work, but im pretty sure this feature will never break the lonely feeling of the game.   

The best example that comes to my mind is Raft, you can find a 'Trading post' on random islands. You can get certain exclusive items or benefits but nothing incredible or game-breaking, the game does not depend on that feature; also you not find any people on the trading post.

I think TLD is going to apply a system like raft and not a trading community with survivors. Im not sure of how this can be possible because great bear island doesn't even have electricity, but i find this exciting!

And for the shortwave.. i think they give us the hints about what exactly this can be used for.  We know the Aurora activates the shortwave, and also we know Aurora activates the radios over great bear island (Playing classic music).  I speculate that shortwave can be used to get 'Special transmisions' during auroras, with usefull info (If not mandatory to trigger) about the far territory and stories of the new regions.

 

Anyways and over the years, there was a lot of new announced features that caused a lot of concern on the community, and the game never dissapoint us after all; instead it get better and better after every update.

TLD developers are not only smart and capable of doing incredible content for their game, they also love their game and because of this i have my best expectations for the new DLC and game direction 💖

 

[Raphael van Lierop]

Quote

huh, some steam needed to be released it seems.

Steam being the operative word here. 👀

 

[Glacia]

On 10/22/2022 at 8:19 PM, The Gentleman Bastard said:

@Admin I really hope they don't overdue it on the Safehouse Customization. Like, I'd hate to be able to just make a workbench wherever, as it impedes needing to roam from place to place in order to stay alive. Also, with the Trader, I hope they don't add actual NPCs into Survival Mode. I've mentioned before about how I love the games "Haunting Loneliness" and how it made for great, contemplative gameplay. Anyone feel the same? I'm sure Hinterland knows what they're doing tho, as I've been skeptical of other gameplay additions but they've almost always proved for the best. Also, sooo stoked for the new Electrostatic Fog!! Looks sooo cool! And I love any new Aurora phenomenon in game

I think safehousing is more about details and improvements and not 'Pick a place and make it the best house in the game'; which should be terrible for the game balance.  We already can experience some kind of same housing with the fantastic remove clutter mod, and other features like repair the TWM hut.

 

[UTC-10]

I will ask the question:

Will the Time Capsule version of the current survival game (once TftFT becomes operative) allow for the addition of Episode 5 areas, such as Perseverance Mills or will the (Time Capsule version of the) game as it currently exists be the end of the road?  I really would like to get my existing games to Perseverance Mills as that was one of my main objectives in survival play.

Would players who embarked on TftFT expansion be able to get to Perseverance Mills?  

I am prepared to be disappointed at the answer.  

[dbmurph22]

25 minutes ago, diggity said:

This is all very exciting but ahem the name "Far Territory" is a bit mundane - could HS maybe come up with something a little more creative and inspiring?  Nitpicky ya, but I'm like that.

Are you being serious or is it a parody given some of the posts/events in the thread?

If serious, I think it's alright - gives things an open ended, general, but on the fringes feel.

 

 

 

[Ghurcb]

48 minutes ago, UTC-10 said:

I will ask the question:

Will the Time Capsule version of the current survival game (once TftFT becomes operative) allow for the addition of Episode 5 areas, such as Perseverance Mills or will the (Time Capsule version of the) game as it currently exists be the end of the road?  I really would like to get my existing games to Perseverance Mills as that was one of my main objectives in survival play.

Would players who embarked on TftFT expansion be able to get to Perseverance Mills?  

I am prepared to be disappointed at the answer.  

No, time capsule versions don't get updates (that's kinda the whole point). You can still use it to continue playing your current survival game, but it WILL stay the same.

Also, setting out to reach Perseverance Mills in your survival run before the addition of this region to survival was even confirmed is... bold. 

[Sgt Socks]

7 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Every time we talk about making bigger changes to the game, there's a host of people who come out of the woodwork expressing angst about how we might change the game in ways they don't like. 

For sure Raph, some people do "come out of the woodwork" simply to express angst. However, with such a *massive* change to a treasured game it is understandable people will be anxious, especially when full details are not known.

The less detail the more concern and speculation. This is human nature, and basic change management if you want to look at it in a purely business manner.

It doesn't necessarily mean we don't trust you. On my part I *do* trust you. However I would ask that you don't see expression of concern as a matter of mistrust because in most cases it isn't. 

That however shouldn't preclude understanding that with less information... 

7 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

But please know that nobody in this forum really knows our plans

... comes increased anxiety and speculation.

7 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

And I mean you can choose not to put trust us, for sure, that's your prerogative. The world's full of exploitative assholes who are only in it for the money and don't really care about their players. All I'm saying is, that's not us, has never been, and never will be as long as I have something to say about it

My loyalty and trust isn't in question, you need to see my first post in this thread (to which admin replied) to know exactly how much this game and Hinterland mean to me. And how excited I am about the "new" game.

Expression of concern is not the same as expression of mistrust. Nor does it mean I am incapable of understanding something new I'm not convinced about may turn out to be just what I wanted.

If you see my comments, yes I may have expressed concern, but I have also said that I will reserve judgement until I see the result. Because I do trust Hinterland and am incredibly grateful to you all for creating a game that helps keep me alive (again see my first post, this is not an exaggeration).

I for one haven't just come out of the woodwork just to express angst. I may not have been on the forum long because of my dislike of "social media", but I have been playing since 2016. I have *wanted* to give you more money because what you have given us for the price is astonishing. You only have to look at my past posts to know I'm not a whining doomsayer.

However it is healthy to question things in life. I will be more than happy to say I was wrong to worry later on. None of my expression of concern was an expression of distrust or ingratitude.

Edited October 24, 2022 by Sgt Socks
Typos

[Ghurcb]

6 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Every time we talk about making bigger changes to the game, there's a host of people who come out of the woodwork expressing angst about how we might change the game in ways they don't like. This has been the case since we launched on Early Access in 2014. And yet most of you are still here, and the player base has grown steadily, which suggests we might be doing something right despite these fears. 😅

A healthy, vibrant TLD game and community benefits all the fans, regardless of what you think about a specific feature, area of the game, whatever. I understand that the fear comes out of protectiveness for something you love, I really do. And I understand that in some cases, maybe the people who make some the games you love do so thinking of it as a "product" and maybe chase trends or try to focus on features that will make the game more profitable or more popular. We've never done that. In 8+ years of development, we've literally never made a choice that was purely about extracting more money or about chasing a trend. For us, creating THE LONG DARK is probably as close as you can come to being a labour of love as is possible while still having something you are sharing with millions of other people. The first question we ask before we start making anything is, "does this fit TLD?". And when we say "yes, it does", we're coming from a pretty good place of knowledge around how to properly evaluate that question.

For anything in the recent announcements people might be feeling anxious about, like the Trader for example, I can probably find 10-20 other similar things we've added over the years that inspired forum posts that started out with, "well...I sure hope Hinterland doesn't break the thing I love about this game. I sure hope they know what they are doing". Most of those things turned out fine? (You can always find a thing you personally don't like...) I promise you that it's 100% possible to still enjoy a game you love "as it is" and still let it evolve and be interesting for the devs to make and for players to experience. Many of you have been doing it for years. It's also possible to discover that things you didn't think you wanted, might actually add something meaningful to the experience, and give it new life, new meaning. And in our Master Plan for TLD, the things we're adding might actually fit into a Bigger Picture Vision that you just can't see (nor do you need to see) yet.

I guess all I'm saying is, I hope you understand that we love TLD as much as you do. For me, it's gone far beyond just a game I've been making for the last 10 yrs of my life. The team that's working on it loves it to bits. And I mean you can choose not to put trust us, for sure, that's your prerogative. The world's full of exploitative assholes who are only in it for the money and don't really care about their players. All I'm saying is, that's not us, has never been, and never will be as long as I have something to say about it.

So by all means theory-craft away about any feature you like, for sure -- that can be a lot of fun. But please know that nobody in this forum really knows our plans, and never ever doubt our commitment to TLD.

I think, the reason why people are so worried is the lack of information. All we know about this "trader" feature is the word "trader". Of course, it's just an initial overview of the expansion, and we shouldn't expect a deep dive into everything, but the addition of an NPC to survival IS quite a bomb to drop with no elaboration.

Personally, I'll reserve my judgment until we know more about the expansion. For now, I'm excited and hopeful. And I'm sure the same could be said about most people here. I wouldn't take all the speculation about what the trader could be and what it shouldn't be as criticism, as there's nothing to critique yet. 

PS: Here's the least controversial way of adding a "trader"

What? We only have one ship on the whole map. A capsized trader would be an interesting landmark to explore... 

[Guest jeffpeng]

As the word "mod" popped up here an there in this thread: is there actually still a plan to officially support mods?

I know that even despite the recent changes (with Steadfast Ranger) there is quite the vibrant mod community out there that has an apparently relatively stable catalogue of well maintained mods in store. However this is limited to the Windows platform only, which as we've seen is only about half of the player base, plus the 4,000,000 Steam players do also include MacOS and Linux/Steam Deck players, for which there also is no working mod loader afaik.

Plus, and maybe I'm a bit strange in this regard, but I don't really like adding mods to a game that does not "want" to be modded. On the other hand I feel like there are a few great concepts out there that would deserve being played by more people than just the tech savvy Windows crowd.

[Mistral]

4 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

As the word "mod" popped up here an there in this thread: is there actually still a plan to officially support mods?

I know that even despite the recent changes (with Steadfast Ranger) there is quite the vibrant mod community out there that has an apparently relatively stable catalogue of well maintained mods in store. However this is limited to the Windows platform only, which as we've seen is only about half of the player base, plus the 4,000,000 Steam players do also include MacOS and Linux/Steam Deck players, for which there also is no working mod loader afaik.

Plus, and maybe I'm a bit strange in this regard, but I don't really like adding mods to a game that does not "want" to be modded. On the other hand I feel like there are a few great concepts out there that would deserve being played by more people than just the tech savvy Windows crowd.

Didn't they say in the previous diary (April?) that full mod support is coming up, maybe they just didn't want to repeat themselves.

I wish Relentless Night was part of the core game... the rest of the mods I don't really care for but that one, I feel is essential...

[Luca Loquax]

NEW REGION NAMING CONTEST!

[twyn1]

Totally understand the nervousness & mild angst mixed with plenty of excitement & anticipation!

As for me ... Travois?? New Territories to explore? YESSSSS!

Take my money, please!! $$$

--------------------------------------

P.S. .... I can't be the only one who, on occasion, stops at the roadside and looks both ways in case a car is coming ... or occasionally glimpses a figure moving on the foggy horizon that looks like there's another person out there ... somewhere.

[Raphael van Lierop]

My comments re: trust aren't targeted at anyone in particular, so please don't make it about any individual and certainly don't make it about yourself. It's just a comment, and an opportunity for reflection about how you respond to developer updates.

(Ducking back out now, so don't look for further responses from me.)

[hozz1235]

5 hours ago, Mistral said:

Didn't they say in the previous diary (April?) that full mod support is coming up, maybe they just didn't want to repeat themselves.

I also would have hoped for an update to mod support from 6 months ago.

[conanjaguar]

My personal take on the trader is this:

He is Methelusah himself. Why not? The guy shows up everywhere!

Every thirty days (give or take a random number), he will make his way to Great Bear Island and set up shop at the Thompson’s Crossing Community Center. He will shoot a flare to announce his arrival, and will stay for three or so days.

If you can make it to his “shop”, he will be sitting out in front, with a hot cup of Joe for you, as is his custom. He will invite you inside, and maybe share some news from the outside world.

The currency will be matches, and maybe such luxury items such as canned caviar, cigarettes, cards, and booze. You will be able to buy clothes, canned food, medicines, arrowheads, and ammunition, and maybe some skill books. Nothing fancy; some helpful goodies, but nothing game-breaking.

As I was saying, this is just my personal take, and what I see to be the most likely implementation of the Trader.

[Luca Loquax]

Agree 100% !  Shut up and take my money! 

[Guest jeffpeng]

9 hours ago, Mistral said:

Didn't they say in the previous diary (April?) that full mod support is coming up, maybe they just didn't want to repeat themselves.

I must have missed that. Thanks for pointing this out.

4 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

My comments re: trust aren't targeted at anyone in particular, so please don't make it about any individual and certainly don't make it about yourself. It's just a comment, and an opportunity for reflection about how you respond to developer updates.

I was under the impression that the overwhelming majority was very much pleased, with a few voices among them that issued uncertainty at most, directed at specific topics, plus a singular dissenting opinion concerning the state of Wintermute . Sure, this might be a language barrier thing and I might not get the sub-sub-text. And I might be mistaken being under the impression that an honest and at times constructively critic feedback is something an open community values. However, if this is the kind of reflection expected from "us" I am somewhere between confused and saddened.

Still, whether it is valued or not: keep up the good work, I'm happy the game is alive and thriving, and I am amazed about the things to come, which I am confident won't be the last.