Where's Great Bear Island?

[hozz1235]

1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I rather doubt that they sought permission from the owners of every landmark they've used in the game.  It would be an impossible task even for larger companies.  I suspect there's some allowance for using landmarks that are well known by the general population and that their appearance in general is not a copyrighted thing.

The games that do replicate a (city for example), may only need to get "permission" from the city itself (a single entity).  Now, if they wanted to include private businesses in their games, I'm guessing that is a different matter.  Seeing as how we don't really know this aspect of game development, all we can do is give our best guess/opinion.

Edited November 22, 2023 by hozz1235

[ManicManiac]

Quote from Raph from Milton Mailbag - Dispatch #26

Quote

In terms of locations that served to inspire *our* Great Bear Island, mostly it's been inspired by my living on Vancouver Island.
...but in general it's inspired by living on the Canadian West Coast, the Pacific Northwest, and in Canada in general.

[UpUpAway95]

6 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

Quote from Raph from Milton Mailbag - Dispatch #26

Thanks for digging that up.

[xanna]

46 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

Quote from Raph from Milton Mailbag - Dispatch #26

Nice work, thanks for that

[Third Try]

Thanks you guys, this is really good input!

  I currently don't have access to The Long Dark on my computer, but I was wondering if there's any signs of position in the story mode scene at the very beginning with Will in the plane.  Do you guys think that any of those numbers and dials and what-not actually mean anything?  (take a screenshot if you find anything!)

  The general consensus seems to be that it is off the coast of British Colombia somewhere on a fictional island.  And we can all agree that it is not based on the arctic, just the 'north.'

  The prisons have an almost eerie resemblance (just make the real one more... gray), and some of those bridges are also pretty accurate.

  I think that Will is near, but not in, Vancouver while Astrid is actually working in the city.

  If the island is an actual place I think that it is Banks Island, due to it's size, lack of population, shape and it's mountain(s).  At least I like the idea of it being Banks Island.  I don't think it's Bakers Island just because it's too close to Vancouver and I don't think it's Queen Charlottes island because it's really big (but then again, Great Bear Island might be a scaled down version and we only know of the southern tip, so maybe)

  Thanks again, y'all.

 

[Kranium]

I'm not surprised that Hinterland would take cues from Vancouver Island. It's the most accessible of them all, so the most likely for any of the folks on the Hinterland team to have been there before. The Metro Victoria area has a population of around 400,000 and across the strait there's the Vancouver area (population 2.5 million) which is connected via ferry. The ferry ride is roughly 1½ hours and is used by thousands every day. And as far as what the island's remote areas are like, it's the same/similar to most of all the other islands on the BC coast. Just way way easier to get to.

 

So, as per the above, it's both expected to be used as inspiration for the concept, but not rooted enough in reality to be the best actual IRL similar location. Unless it's revealed in The Long Dark at some point that there's a city on Great Bear which has/had a similar population. Thus far it's been very small towns, that's it, with no indication of anything much bigger on the actual island. Haida Gwaii, Banks Island, or one of the other islands would be a better "fit". (I personally like Haida Gwaii)

Edited November 25, 2023 by Kranium

[UpUpAway95]

10 hours ago, Kranium said:

I'm not surprised that Hinterland would take cues from Vancouver Island. It's the most accessible of them all, so the most likely for any of the folks on the Hinterland team to have been there before. The Metro Victoria area has a population of around 400,000 and across the strait there's the Vancouver area (population 2.5 million) which is connected via ferry. The ferry ride is roughly 1½ hours and is used by thousands every day. And as far as what the island's remote areas are like, it's the same/similar to most of all the other islands on the BC coast. Just way way easier to get to.

 

So, as per the above, it's both expected to be used as inspiration for the concept, but not rooted enough in reality to be the best actual IRL similar location. Unless it's revealed in The Long Dark at some point that there's a city on Great Bear which has/had a similar population. Thus far it's been very small towns, that's it, with no indication of anything much bigger on the actual island. Haida Gwaii, Banks Island, or one of the other islands would be a better "fit". (I personally like Haida Gwaii)

Haida Gwaii does at least have an airport on it, so I also favor it over Banks Island.  I'm not sure if a railroad was ever built though and the railroad on GBI is central to the lore of the game..

Pure myth and almost an impossibility; but a popular one I've seen circulated around for some time is that Vancouver Island could "split in half" around the Alberni Inlet when the Cascadia  subduction zone lets loose.

https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/cascadia-megathrust-fault-map

If the game lore taps into this myth, then GBI could also represent the north end of Vancouver Island after having been cut off from the city of Victoria.

[ManicManiac]

Some good theory work going on here. 

[Third Try]

I have learned more about BC by starting this topic than I have in my entire life (embarrassingly, I thought Vancouver was on the east coast *face slap*)

Also, @UpUpAway95, I like that map you posted in the link, if that happened it would be pretty hardcore, but makes a little sense that the northernmost part could be Great Bear Island if the game takes place a bit in the future and it's not just earthquakes, but entire tectonic plate shifts.  (phew, we finally got rid of California! 😅)

[Kranium]

8 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Haida Gwaii does at least have an airport on it, so I also favor it over Banks Island.  I'm not sure if a railroad was ever built though and the railroad on GBI is central to the lore of the game..

There's been a few logging railroads built on Haida Gwaii, apparently (I had to look it up). All were for mining & logging. So that fits! I've added some historical pics which I've dug up, posted below. I think that 2nd last pic is them building the railway across Forlorn Muskeg!

I think that northern/rural Vancouver Island residents would be pleased if the island split in half; I am well acquainted with some of those folks there haha.

 

[UpUpAway95]

3 hours ago, Kranium said:

There's been a few logging railroads built on Haida Gwaii, apparently (I had to look it up). All were for mining & logging. So that fits! I've added some historical pics which I've dug up, posted below. I think that 2nd last pic is them building the railway across Forlorn Muskeg!

I think that northern/rural Vancouver Island residents would be pleased if the island split in half; I am well acquainted with some of those folks there haha.

 

Thanks for digging that up!  Everything I found seemed to be indicating that 3 railroads had been proposed for Haida Gwaii during the 1910s, but that all the ventures had fallen through and I couldn't find anything else (i.e. more recent).

[ManicManiac]

@Third Try

You know what else is close to Vancouver Island?

Great Bear Rainforest - Wikipedia

[Third Try]

That railroad info is really interesting, thanks!

On 11/27/2023 at 5:06 PM, ManicManiac said:

@Third Try

You know what else is close to Vancouver Island?

Great Bear Rainforest - Wikipedia

The Forest Talkers finally got there way. (lol)