From the Archives: Old TLD screenshots (2014-era)

[Raphael van Lierop]

Here are some more shots from the Hinterland archives. These are from April 2014.

(These are some of my favourite early shots from the game. Seeing them triggers a lot of nostalgia.)

 

[Sebastian1992]

I like this early graphic, like an oil painting so beautiful , the new had never the same experience....

Edited May 4 by Sebastian1992

[ManicManiac]

I do really love looking deep into the past of Great Bear Island.  

Edited May 4 by ManicManiac

[ThePancakeLady]

 I love the color palette in these. These, with a shot of the same location now- then and now side-by-sides- would be amazing in an artbook. And I will show my age a bit by saying that I would prefer a physical coffee table book, more than a digital artbook. I would buy that if it ever became available.

Thank you for sharing these!

[Sebastian1992]

40 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

 I love the color palette in these. These, with a shot of the same location now- then and now side-by-sides- would be amazing in an artbook. And I will show my age a bit by saying that I would prefer a physical coffee table book, more than a digital artbook. I would buy that if it ever became available.

Thank you for sharing these!

One of the best commentarys I've ever reed on this forum! Also I prefer physical artwork as digital ! I buy this, take my money Raph 😅

Edited May 4 by Sebastian1992

[Leeanda]

I posted a reply but it seems to have gone....

It never fails to amaze me ,the colours are stunning ,then and now..  the skies always look so breathtaking  and  the red sky shows it beautifully...

I never get tired of looking up ,even when it's snowing .but I'm usually trying to catch a snowflake on astrids face😊 hopefully one will land one day.

 

Trappers looks pretty much untouched /unaltered since then..   maybe a shelf near the fire has been added? Unless it's there and I just can't see it

Edited May 4 by Leeanda

[artmunki]

I love the atmospherics of the game as it is now, but some of these older images are just stunning. The overall graphics quality has obviously been considerably upgraded now, and I get the impression that the weather system has seen even more substantial changes, but the vibrancy and range of the colour palette in these older shots is just amazing, and the distance effects look beautiful. It's clear how important the visual styling of this game has been since the very beginning.

[Leeanda]

I've always been curious why some things were changed... Like outside the dam,and why the lookout became destroyed later on.. 

[Raphael van Lierop]

Yeah, it's been an interesting challenge to update the game's look over time, while staying true to the original visual direction. Imagine updating a game over 10 years and trying not to break all the good things along the way. 😅

When we started building TLD, we were using Unity 4 (I think? it's been so long I can't quite remember; Unity is now on 6 and has had many many incremental versions in between). This was a pretty early version of unity when it was still primarily a mobile engine, and the lighting model and renderer were pretty simplistic. As the engine became more powerful, we were able to do different things with lighting, colours, rendering, post-FX, etc etc. And then of course when you start looking at your earliest art assets, you find the textures now look blurry or low-rez, or the models aren't quite right, or whatever, so you start updating those older things. And then you have to update other things to suit, otherwise the new-old things look out of place. Etc etc. Multiply this a million times over for all the stuff in the game. When we launched the game on Xbox in 2015, the Unity renderer on console was slightly different than on PC, so some of the colour and lighting looked different, so again we needed to work on it to try to unify across all the platforms (this is why some of our 2015 Game Preview images for Xbox look a little different than the PC screens). Etc etc.

Although we've never aimed to make TLD look "realistic", I think at some point we realized that some of the earlier look of the game was trending towards overly simplistic with really contrasting palettes that gave it this bright, colourful, surreal look, which made it feel a bit too "fable-istic" and not quite as grounded as we wanted. So we've been trying to balance making it look good and "of this world" without losing the painterly, artistic sensibilities. 

It's always been our goal to contrast the beauty of the world against how dangerous it is, and hopefully we've managed to maintain that balance over the years.

[Raphael van Lierop]

4 hours ago, Leeanda said:

I've always been curious why some things were changed... Like outside the dam,and why the lookout became destroyed later on.. 

For that particular change, I wanted to ensure that most of the major landmarks in ML would be visible from each other, wherever possible, as our draw-distances had become fairly long. The game has always been focused on landmark-based navigation vs. over dependence on maps, and wherever we can we try to ensure that something interesting is always visible (or hinted at) from your current point of interest. So, in the "old" Lookout location (which we maintained, but replaced with an older broken down one), didn't really have a view on any major landmarks, while you could see the new location while walking down the railway towards Carter Dam, but you could also see the Camp Office from it. No matter where you spawn in the region, at some point you will travel along one of those routes and you will see one or the other thing, and then that will drive your curiosity and desire to explore, which will then bring you out into the world where you will encounter hazards (wildlife, bad weather, injuries, etc.), which then creates player story and stronger engagement with the world...

There are obviously plenty of places in the world that don't have a view on other cool POIs, but even then we try to build the terrain, or have other natural elements like clearings, or creeks/rivers, waterfalls (and their sound), etc. to pull you forward into the world so that you will want to explore things. Often *not* having line of sight on something is what encourages you to move forward.

But, for the Lookout tower, it seemed a shame that it wasn't really visible from most other parts of the world, given its prominence, and moving it ensured players would see it at some point, and then seek it out...

[ThePancakeLady]

4 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

t's always been our goal to contrast the beauty of the world against how dangerous it is, and hopefully we've managed to maintain that balance over the years.

I will say, in my opinion, the old sunny snow scenes look beautiful, but don't really feel as dangerously cold and brutal as the world does now. The 2014 shots above make me want to go out nd go sledding, build a few snow sculptures, and then make snow angels. The current version of the game does not, lol. I just want to get from one place to another before hypothermia or frostbite hits, though it's impossible in some locations to not risk it just to take a screenshot of a stunning vista before the sky does dark and a whiteout kicks in. Still beautiful now, but the cold cold cold really feels like it comes across in a much more immersive way.

[Leeanda]

4 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

For that particular change, I wanted to ensure that most of the major landmarks in ML would be visible from each other, wherever possible, as our draw-distances had become fairly long. The game has always been focused on landmark-based navigation vs. over dependence on maps, and wherever we can we try to ensure that something interesting is always visible (or hinted at) from your current point of interest. So, in the "old" Lookout location (which we maintained, but replaced with an older broken down one), didn't really have a view on any major landmarks, while you could see the new location while walking down the railway towards Carter Dam, but you could also see the Camp Office from it. No matter where you spawn in the region, at some point you will travel along one of those routes and you will see one or the other thing, and then that will drive your curiosity and desire to explore, which will then bring you out into the world where you will encounter hazards (wildlife, bad weather, injuries, etc.), which then creates player story and stronger engagement with the world...

There are obviously plenty of places in the world that don't have a view on other cool POIs, but even then we try to build the terrain, or have other natural elements like clearings, or creeks/rivers, waterfalls (and their sound), etc. to pull you forward into the world so that you will want to explore things. Often *not* having line of sight on something is what encourages you to move forward.

But, for the Lookout tower, it seemed a shame that it wasn't really visible from most other parts of the world, given its prominence, and moving it ensured players would see it at some point, and then seek it out...

Ah I see.. thank you..   I know the broken lookout was very popular and a favourite of many ,which is partly why I asked .. i can imagine given the terrain that it was difficult to see..    

I did think that places like the dam just kind of got fleshed out more when the interiors were added to,to keep them more balanced I suppose.. 

[Raphael van Lierop]

2 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

Ah I see.. thank you..   I know the broken lookout was very popular and a favourite of many ,which is partly why I asked .. i can imagine given the terrain that it was difficult to see..    

I did think that places like the dam just kind of got fleshed out more when the interiors were added to,to keep them more balanced I suppose.. 

Sometimes things change and get updated to keep them fresh. Sometimes to address player feedback or issues we see that only emerge after tons of players have experienced something. Sometimes adding new regions then changes the way an existing region feels or the purpose it serves, so things need to be adapted.

We try not to change things too much because it can feel jarring for people who have been playing these regions for a long time. I don't think we would make a chance like the ML Lookout Tower position at this stage; it felt ok to do it then because the regions weren't quite as "baked" as they are now.

And yes, Carter started out very empty, got filled in more as we had more time to work on it, the "basement" area was added when we wanted to extend through to the transition connecting to PV, and then when we built Episode Two, since Carter features so prominently in it, we made changes for the story.

There are still things I'd like to change about it, but I think we'll probably leave it alone now... 😅

[Leeanda]

11 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Sometimes things change and get updated to keep them fresh. Sometimes to address player feedback or issues we see that only emerge after tons of players have experienced something. Sometimes adding new regions then changes the way an existing region feels or the purpose it serves, so things need to be adapted.

We try not to change things too much because it can feel jarring for people who have been playing these regions for a long time. I don't think we would make a chance like the ML Lookout Tower position at this stage; it felt ok to do it then because the regions weren't quite as "baked" as they are now.

And yes, Carter started out very empty, got filled in more as we had more time to work on it, the "basement" area was added when we wanted to extend through to the transition connecting to PV, and then when we built Episode Two, since Carter features so prominently in it, we made changes for the story.

There are still things I'd like to change about it, but I think we'll probably leave it alone now... 😅

I tend to forget that it only used to be one map.. albeit a very dangerous one..  if 10 days was a record then it must've been😁

I've always thought there was plenty to see and do,and I thought I knew most of the maps very well,until I started doing the cairns anyway.. there are so many nooks and crannies to keep us searching for years..    and it does feel a bit different since tftft was added..

 

I definitely think you have enough on your plate at the moment , and I'm sure the future content will be just as good as all the other content we have had..  I'll get back to you on the cougar though😁

[Leeanda]

I meant to ask,  did you ever think it would be this big?  So many new maps and added content,even the dlcs.   

 

Also please tell me to shut up if I ask  too many questions..  😊

Edited May 5 by Leeanda

[bysinda]

1 hour ago, ThePancakeLady said:

cold cold cold 

 

[Raphael van Lierop]

34 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

I meant to ask,  did you ever think it would be this big?  So many new maps and added content,even the dlcs.   

 

Also please tell me to shut up if I ask  too many questions..  😊

The game world, or the reception to the game itself?

Game world -- no. I found an early "pitch" deck for TLD that I put together when I was first talking to potential financing partners. This is what I had scoped out at the time. And this was the intended scope when we did our Kickstarter as well. You can see that the original plans for story mode were pretty modest. (This is a slide from an early 2013 deck.)

In the end, each of the WM episodes is about 6-8 hours and the entire thing will likely be closer to 40-45 hours once Episode Five is done.

In terms of sales success and audience -- no, I thought we would be lucky to have 100k players. We now have over 10M. There's nothing about this concept that suggests it would have/should have been this successful. I would like to pretend I always knew it would be big, but I honestly always thought about TLD as an "art house" game. That's still where most of its sensibilities come from.

 

 

[Leeanda]

5 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

The game world, or the reception to the game itself?

Game world -- no. I found an early "pitch" deck for TLD that I put together when I was first talking to potential financing partners. This is what I had scoped out at the time. And this was the intended scope when we did our Kickstarter as well. You can see that the original plans for story mode were pretty modest. (This is a slide from an early 2013 deck.)

In the end, each of the WM episodes is about 6-8 hours and the entire thing will likely be closer to 40-45 hours once Episode Five is done.

In terms of sales success and audience -- no, I thought we would be lucky to have 100k players. We now have over 10M. There's nothing about this concept that suggests it would have/should have been this successful. I would like to pretend I always knew it would be big, but I honestly always thought about TLD as an "art house" game. That's still where most of its sensibilities come from.

 

 

I've never seen winter mute played that early on,and given comments on the forum ,I presumed it was added later...  Wrongly obviously..

You've certainly delivered more than originally intended..  

I've watched quite a few survival games but they've never had the appeal that tld does..  it's a unique game in so many ways..  so 10 million doesn't surprise me..

[Max21]

Are there any early concept art of the game? It would be interesting to see them. @Raphael van Lierop

Maybe concept art of ML or animals.

Edited May 5 by Max21

[Raphael van Lierop]

16 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

I've never seen winter mute played that early on,and given comments on the forum ,I presumed it was added later...  Wrongly obviously..

We released the first WM episodes in August 2017. I had the general story outlined before we launched on Early Access but it changed/expanded over time as the audience grew and our resources increased. The original plan had you only playing Mackenzie, looking for Astrid. We were able to add Astrid as a playable character, expand the story, expand the world, and eventually, build up a world and fiction that can support multiple games (which was always the dream).

I know many people are (entirely fairly) disappointed with the pace of WM episode release, but I'm not sure how many realize that each episode has a game's worth of content on its own. One of my regrets is ever calling them episodes and not Parts, like TLOU did. Episodes sound "small" by nature, and IMO our episodes are not small. Fully voiced acted, with cinematics, music, etc. Each are good sized productions.

[Raphael van Lierop]

10 minutes ago, Max21 said:

Are there any early concept art of the game? It would be interesting to see them. @Raphael van Lierop

Yes a lot! I will continue sharing more stuff since these threads seem to be getting some traction. 😇

[Max21]

1 minute ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Yes a lot! I will continue sharing more stuff since these threads seem to be getting some traction. 😇

😀🙂thank you very much

[Leeanda]

5 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

We released the first WM episodes in August 2017. I had the general story outlined before we launched on Early Access but it changed/expanded over time as the audience grew and our resources increased. The original plan had you only playing Mackenzie, looking for Astrid. We were able to add Astrid as a playable character, expand the story, expand the world, and eventually, build up a world and fiction that can support multiple games (which was always the dream).

I know many people are (entirely fairly) disappointed with the pace of WM episode release, but I'm not sure how many realize that each episode has a game's worth of content on its own. One of my regrets is ever calling them episodes and not Parts, like TLOU did. Episodes sound "small" by nature, and IMO our episodes are not small. Fully voiced acted, with cinematics, music, etc. Each are good sized productions.

Ah I see..  thank you...  I'll have to scout around and see if there's still some older versions out there..

I realise even though Im no expert(understatement 😁) that it's a complicated business and it's way more time consuming than we think..  episode 5 though,I imagine anyway is a lot more complex ,given the unanswered questions it's left so far..

Like ...what's in the briefcase😁

 

[Raphael van Lierop]

9 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

Ah I see..  thank you...  I'll have to scout around and see if there's still some older versions out there..

I realise even though Im no expert(understatement 😁) that it's a complicated business and it's way more time consuming than we think..  episode 5 though,I imagine anyway is a lot more complex ,given the unanswered questions it's left so far..

Like ...what's in the briefcase😁

 

You can play the original two Episodes (we call them the "Predux" versions) on Steam using the Time Capsule.

https://www.thelongdark.com/time-capsule/wintermute-1-0-launch/

And yes, Episode Five ties up all the loose ends, or attempts to (we'll see if we succeed). There are many! 

[Leeanda]

4 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

You can play the original two Episodes (we call them the "Predux" versions) on Steam using the Time Capsule.

https://www.thelongdark.com/time-capsule/wintermute-1-0-launch/

And yes, Episode Five ties up all the loose ends, or attempts to (we'll see if we succeed). There are many! 

Ah I see.. thank you.. I do have a pc but I can't use it, at least until I can change the contrast,and a few other things on it.. especially the fps, I can't get it past  maybe 30.. 

 

As expected with all finales though..there's always a lot to tie up.....  Unless there's going to be a sequel...tld 2 maybe one day?😁