Dreams & Nightmares

[Cyclone35]

Thought of an interesting idea regarding how sleeping works in TLD. When it comes to getting a good night sleep, its pretty straight forward in a survival game. Just sit in a bed and pass time until your character is rested. But what if there was more to it, what if there was some sort of challenge you have to go through to get a restful night sleep. So I thought on rare occasions, the survivor would have dreams and nightmares. This would only trigger if you rest for long hours (8h-12h), it wouldn't occur if you do short naps.

When a nightmare occurs, the player would be put in a dreamlike scenario. This is a procedural level that doesn't take place in great bear because its the survivors illusionary dream. The player is given an objective to complete. If they fail the objective, they either wake up earlier than expected, and/or recover less fatigue. 

An example of a dream, say the player has a bad experience with wolves, so they have a nightmare about getting attacked by a gang of nightmare wolves. The player has no equipment in their inventory, they have to search the area for a weapon to fend off the nightmare wolves. If they succeed, the level ends and you wake up well rested.

Another example: Your stuck in a wild blizzard in the middle of a frozen lake, you have to find warmth before you freeze to death. The ice is fragile, so if you fall though the ice or take to long to escape the blizzard, you wake up from your nightmare exhausted.

If the player drinks herbal tea before resting, it reduces the chance of the player encountering a nightmare.