Signs of Survivors

[ajb1978]

(This idea was inspired by a glitched Snow Shelter in survival mode that respawns every time I re-enter that map.)

We can't be the ONLY one out there. The island is huge. HUGE. Even if we made it a 2-player game, you and I could drop in at random spawn points and if we had no way of coordinating a meet-up we could very easily go months in-game without ever seeing each other. But we would probably see SIGNS of each other.

Now of course, I'm not advocating having parts of the game spontaneously auto-loot and have everything neatly stack itself up in safehouses, that's insane. But things like the mysterious respawning snow shelter are quite in line with things like Beachcombing, that could be used to tell a little story. Maybe a snow shelter appears in a random spot. Searching the area, you find a Ravaged Deer Carcass, and an eagle-eyed player might notice a Frozen Corpse (the hunter) not far away, dead on the ground at the base of a tree after trying to retrieve an arrow lodged in the trunk. There's a blood trail leading to a fresh not-yet-frozen Wolf Carcass a dozen meters away, a low-quality Improvised Knife still protruding from its neck. Maybe if you'd gotten there five minutes sooner.... The whole scene lasts a few days and then despawns whether discovered or not.

[hozz1235]

This already exists to some extent.  Look at all the frozen bodies, some with pills, knives or "crime scenes".  I think if we added more of these, it would make those we do find less "special".

Just my 2 cents.

@piddy3825's post showcases them well.

 

[Fuarian]

On 11/22/2023 at 1:13 PM, hozz1235 said:

This already exists to some extent.  Look at all the frozen bodies, some with pills, knives or "crime scenes".  I think if we added more of these, it would make those we do find less "special".

Just my 2 cents.

@piddy3825's post showcases them well.

 

The idea is that they'd be changing, not something you come across and always see. But something appears that wasn't there before. 

[Fuarian]

Some ideas I've had that compliment this well are:

• Smoke plumes in the distance
• Burnt or ember campfires that weren't there before
• Footprints in the snow that aren't yours
• Dropped items in the snow that weren't yours
• Dead animals/carcasses that weren't there before
• Blood trails 
• Distant gunshots/flare shells in the air (rare)
• Random voices on the shortwave
• Light in the distance (a lantern, flare, etc...) that disappears after looking at it

[FlamingFuball]

On 12/6/2023 at 8:30 PM, Fuarian said:

Some ideas I've had that compliment this well are:

• Smoke plumes in the distance
• Burnt or ember campfires that weren't there before
• Footprints in the snow that aren't yours
• Dropped items in the snow that weren't yours
• Dead animals/carcasses that weren't there before
• Blood trails 
• Distant gunshots/flare shells in the air (rare)
• Random voices on the shortwave
• Light in the distance (a lantern, flare, etc...) that disappears after looking at it

I love these ideas, and I think they should be especially common in HRV. The mysterious signal fire is already evidence that there’s someone else alive in HRV and I think if that idea was leaned into for the region it could turn a somewhat unremarkable region into a much cooler ambiance that would encourage players to stick around for a bit longer and see what they could find out. Maybe there’s some mountain hermit who’s been living in HRV for years and didn’t even know the collapse occurred. It would also explain why you would never actually see them: they don’t want to be seen.