snail development team

[Tohono O'odham Man]

why didn't wintermute development team not just finished wintermute? Wintermute should of been finished before the dlc. Hinterland should of just made the long dark 2 because the long dark 1 has passed it peak the dlc really didn't help the game

[manolitode]

It's a long-lived and popular opinion that the protracted release of Wintermute has been too long, I get that it feels like a long wait. To answer your question I believe they have prioritized survival simply because it's much more popular than storymode. What would you like to see in a TLD 2 that you think would make the game better?

Edited January 22 by manolitode

[odizzido]

I could come up with a good long list of improvements to TLD that I would like to see in TLD2 if that ever was made.

I am also someone who has no interest in the sandbox mode and no interest in the DLC. Hinterland's reasons for what they did have been explained, but the TLDR is that they have split the project into two parts. One team is working on the story mode, the other is working on things that will bring in revenue.

Wintermute will likely be finished in early 2025(at least the patched and less buggy version).

[hozz1235]

On 1/22/2024 at 12:25 PM, odizzido said:

Wintermute will likely be finished in early 2025(at least the patched and less buggy version).

For the record, this is from the Dec Dev Diary:  

Quote

Episode Five is slated for release in late 2024

 

[Semple Fi]

LOL

 I think there was a survey that answered this recurring question. 

[Damondium]

"Episode Five is slated for release in late 2024"

And in 2022, it was late 2023 and in 2021...

The game was released nearly 10 years ago now. The first indication the full game wouldn't be out any time soon was when they looked at the art of the game right after the initial release (which was already awesome, I mean lots of people purchased the game!) and said "hmm, let's completely redo it."

My guess is it will be released in 2027 if we're lucky.

Grumpy Venter

[Leeanda]

The dlc was bought out to help fund the company..  they can't produce work for free..    

I want to know the ending as much as anyone but I'm happy to wait and pay for more content if it helps them ..  theyve already given more than i paid  for ..

Edited March 3 by Leeanda

[hozz1235]

On 3/3/2024 at 12:23 PM, Leeanda said:

The dlc was bought out to help fund the company..

You know this for a fact?  Last I heard, they were doing fine with existing sales of TLD base game.

[Leeanda]

7 minutes ago, hozz1235 said:

You know this for a fact?  Last I heard, they were doing fine with existing sales of TLD base game.

I thought it was mentioned somewhere on the forum, but no I'm not totally sure..   I could have misread or misremembered .  I suppose, I'm only human after all😊

[ManicManiac]

I think it's bad form when folks try to speculate and make assumptions about Hinterland's health as a company... or trying to insinuate things because some folks are not pleased about the release pace.   ...or trying to make declarative statements about the intentions of the Hinterland team.

[This is in reply to the first round of posts on this thread]

Edited March 5 by ManicManiac

[Moosemaster]

I think we should all accept that it iz what it iz

[Stuffed Plush Chainsaw]

I guess one could have this discussion indefinitely. So yeah, why have it? It's not like anyone would actually care at this point. But hey, it's better than doomscrolling, so ...

What's a fact - and sorry, there is no elegant way around this - is that TLD was initially advertised as a story rich, narrative driven survival experience with an apparent mystery to solve. This still has not been delieverd on, and I think people begruding this fact should neither be belittled, nor "educated" that this all happend for a good reason. One must absolutely understand that after this ridiculous amount of time a certain subset of buyers feel scammed.

I'm glad the majority of the player base has found the survival part of the game since then to be more than enough compensation for the missing story mode, and I personally always was a stalwart defender of Hinterland because of the outstanding quality of the game (at least between patches ...). Yet I cannot fathom this kind of moose crap to fly with a normal company that has a normal community.

I think it's pretty much unheard of that a game is nearing completition while at the same time already being considered a classic, and while it clearly isn't obsolete by any means, it's dated in a lot of ways. A modern smartphone could run this game ezpz simply because it is that old. (I still believe they should port it to iOS btw... freezing Apple TV could run it) So if people wanna vent about that - let them. It's hilarious.

Edited March 8 by Stuffed Plush Chainsaw

[stratvox]

I understand the studio's moving to UE5. Personally, I'd like them to finish up because I would really love an amped out version with no loading screens. No need to change the gameplay, the maps, the graphics and resources, just have it so it's all a big seamless world inside the region. You can see they're going that way to a certain extent with the cottages in FA. 

I would hope that they're considering re-implementing the world in UE5. Being able to get the kind of LoD qualities that UE5 would bring into TLD, plus the ability to potentially build much larger worlds that are level complete in all one map for each region (i.e. no loading screens, you just open the door and walk in, and can look out the window in the morning to look at the weather and be able to maybe look out through that side window in the camp office to see whether that deer's in the yard again). I'd pay money for that.

Oh, and better animal AI.

I love the world they've built. It'd be great to see what they could do with some of the new capabilities in their new engine.

Plus not only would I buy it but I'd also uninstall the old one so that Unity couldn't try to charge 'em for it retroactively with that hare-brained scheme of theirs.

[odizzido]

On 3/3/2024 at 11:44 AM, Damondium said:

"Episode Five is slated for release in late 2024"

And in 2022, it was late 2023 and in 2021...

The game was released nearly 10 years ago now. The first indication the full game wouldn't be out any time soon was when they looked at the art of the game right after the initial release (which was already awesome, I mean lots of people purchased the game!) and said "hmm, let's completely redo it."

My guess is it will be released in 2027 if we're lucky.

Grumpy Venter

I just wish to say the game wasn't really released until it went out of early access(recently?), at which point it released as an unfinished buggy disaster but hey, it was their choice.

 

As to people complaining about the release schedule, it's well within their right. HL gave a time frame and an opportunity to invest in the development of the game which many people did. If HL fails to meet the expectations they gave us of that purchase it's well within their right to complain. If you hired a company to redo your kitchen but they took 6 years longer than they said they would and tried to sell you addons, you would rightly be pissed.

 

However that's not exactly how it happened. HL decided to upgrade the game beyond what they originally offered. That's great and personally I am pleased with the decision, but it has come at the cost of time well beyond their initial time frame. Some people will be angry with that and it's perfectly justifiable.

 

All that being said, HL doesn't do themselves any favours by having terrible communication. Without good communication people are left to fill in the blanks.

 

 

Also since it came up I think game companies should change per install of unity games, making it very clear that it's because of unity. Unity deserves to die.

[stratvox]

22 hours ago, odizzido said:

Also since it came up I think game companies should change per install of unity games, making it very clear that it's because of unity. Unity deserves to die.

Oh I think that product's on its way out.

[Pyroxene]

Happy Easter!

[hozz1235]

6 hours ago, Pyroxene said:

Happy Easter!

Which time/planet zone are you in?!   Still got 2 days to Easter here, but happy pre-Easter

[Pyroxene]

Swedish time (Stockholm time)

[Pyroxene]

It was the Maundy Thursday when I said it, so yes, we will have Easter in just two days 🐰

[Leeanda]

Happy Easter all..🐇🐥🥚.    

[Pyroxene]

Raph just posted in another topic that they are working hard on TFTFT. Not sure about Episode 5 though. But there's action behind the scenes.

[Pyroxene]

Ooh I'm so excited! I hope for any news.