May 2024 Developer Diary

[Laika Ivanova]

2 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

Oh, dear Gawd. 

My nightmares about being jumped by a Cougar on the Lake Trail in ML... coming true.

 

Just the possibility of that being able to happen, anytime. Anywhere. Oh god I love it.

[xanna]

4 minutes ago, Laika Ivanova said:

Canadian Uber Eats is finally gonna be canon

😂

[stratvox]

This all looks great, well, except maybe for the cheat death option. I mean, I totally understand the rage one gets when you punch out of a hundreds of days run (no rage like nerd rage, amirite or amirite?) but it's also a big part of what makes the feels so strong (to misappropriate HST, 'why'd they have to make it so puuuurrre') in this game. I guess I'll check it out and see what I think, but I have to admit I felt a great deal of love for the crystalline simplicity of it. However, new region? Always a plus, plus it looks great if the concept art is anything to go by; nothing like hundred meter drops with no rails in a whiteout to make life interesting. 

I know that the time of active development of this game is drawing to a close this year, and it has been a hell of a ride. In all sincerity I seriously hope you'll recreate this world, art style intact, in UE5, so we can continue to enjoy continued development in the years to come in TLD II: The TLDening. The game is fantastic, and while it's true that some of the limitations of Unity have really shown themselves over the years, it'd be so cool to be able to continue to visit this little corner of a post-civilization world. 

Actually, while I'm at it, one thing that would be great would be to permit people to host shared gameworlds, with say up to four players; I think the idea of having four people start at random locations around GBI and need to find each other, perhaps by tracking, would be very cool and in particular I think something like that could make for a really great couples game.

Looking forward to when this comes out in six weeks or so!

[ThePancakeLady]

Just now, Laika Ivanova said:

Just the possibility of that being able to happen, anytime. Anywhere. Oh god I love it.

Yeah, I have to say though I am terrified of all of the places it can happen in... I am actually kinda thrilled too. I feel like my nomadic playstyle will be a very good thing once Part 5 drops. 

[Crabby_Mudcrab]

I am excited about the cougar, but I was expecting it to be a more aggressive "static" element of wildlife - dotted around the maps, like wolves and bears. 🤔 I also express my initial apprehension regarding 'cheating death'. Is the consequence of choosing to 'cheat death' a permanent affliction to your character(?) - and each time in choosing, are there additional permanent afflictions added? Also, will there be new music from either Cris Velasco and/or Sascha Dikiciyan? 👀

Edited May 13 by Crabby_Mudcrab

[ThePancakeLady]

37 minutes ago, Captcavey said:

I love the idea of cheat death (but not for free). I've made some stinker mistakes in the past that have left me cursing at the screen. If cheat death is available I'd be happy to continue with some kind of penalty, knowing that penalty was my own dumb fault. Instead of "we go again".

I am curious to see how it works. I have played all of the Fate aRPG games, multiple times. And it has a "cheat death" system with multiple choices if you die during a dungeon run. So this new feature has me really interested.

[xanna]

This is brilliant. You've looked at community feedback that seems contradictory and insoluable, and found such creative solutions. Amazing work.

Can't wait to try misery mode!

[Deer RudolF]

Hello! What about graphical changes for new generation video cards and consoles? I could be very wrong, but something like this was mentioned in one of the previous diaries.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Hey all -- just a suggestion. Why don't we talk about the things that ARE coming in Part Five and not the things that *aren't*' being added in Part Five. I think that will still leave a lot of cool things to talk about!

[Soldat-Cookie76]

Thx hinterland ❤️

[Daymo]

This sounds great!

[Raphael van Lierop]

Re: Cheat Death -- you always have the choice to not use it. That's part of what makes it work. It's a faustian bargain and you are fighting with yourself.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Re: new music -- yes, there will be new music (mood pieces or stingers) for:

* New region

* Third Tale

* Cougar

* Cheat Death system

[Yjorgen]

8 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Hey all -- just a suggestion. Why don't we talk about the things that ARE coming in Part Five and not the things that *aren't*' being added in Part Five. I think that will still leave a lot of cool things to talk about!

Is that not what everybody is already doing? 

[Lunerse]

my thoughts on this. i hope the cheat death option and misery mode are free addons, with the rest being acceptable to be payed. will it be?
I think it helps get people to try the game and more likely to purchase the addon when its a mix of free and payed like it has been...and helps people like me who want the addons but currently cant afford them (will get in future)

i personally like the cheat death penalty option. many people are reckless first few days anyways cause "if i die, i'll just start over" while this could make an interesting challenge (purposely cheat death a lot as quickly as possible and see how long you survive with all the penalties), and its an option, and the penalties is a constant reminder of hey, i messed up and this is my penalty for doing so

and misery mode sounds real fun

i will ask, is the cheat death on all modes, or not on certain modes?
 

[Raphael van Lierop]

Also, just thinking out loud here, but some people might really like the thing you don't like about the update, so maybe try to keep that in mind before you say things like "feature X is a waste of dev resources". We're making a game for a really big audience, and trying to take all their different tastes into account. Sometimes that means we'll make something that isn't perfectly aligned with your personal tastes or playing style. Let's be happy for other people who are excited about something we aren't excited about!

[thekillergreece]

So, with the new tale/region, I foresee a few new clothing items/utilities.

With the new cougar, I foresee wildlife spawn refresh and a new crafting item for the hide.

[Lunerse]

i also think the cheat death will bring in more variety of players to try the game. i know people that like various aspects/ideas about the game but hesitant to try it cause "even on lowest difficulty there is permadeath" so the idea of you have a few more lives if you mess up but with a penalty i think will get more people willing to try it, see if they like it. and i personally welcome those players if this change encourages them to try a game i love

[Raphael van Lierop]

1 hour ago, Quinine said:

This question is answered, it will be gone for a while but not forever !
Edit : I'm sorry, this is not exactly true, I guess we'll have to see what actually killing it does
--
I feel that this cougar is targetting slow players like me, I don't know if it's good or bad yet, but it will definitely shakes the game for me.

No, you are correct! It's answered in the dev diary. 👍🏻

[Max21]

Is it possible to get these arts in good quality? @Raphael van Lierop

[Fozzy]

Did you fix the loot table to bring back batteries in cars ?

 

you’ll have the choice to include [cougar] in your game (or not) when you start a new one... You should also put an option to let us choose to include cabin fever in our games or not. Cabin fever is too much unrealistic and it's the main reason why I play only custom games...

 

Still no way to move furnitures ? You said it would be in next update, right ?

Edited May 14 by Fozzy

[Pencil]

This is incredible stuff!

My question though: Will the misery mode and cheat death options be part of the free update? Obviously cougar, region, and tale are all DLC additions. Is everything else listed here for free?

Love that the cougar is like a well implemented cabin fever. I always liked the idea of cabin fever but not the execution. But the cougar sounds like a really thoughtful way to keep people on their toes. I wonder if places like Forlorn Muskeg will be safer simply because it's flat and wide open. If you have a base in Ash Canyon or Hushed River Valley, I would probably pack up while you can lol. 

[ArchimedesLP]

Wow, this looks excellent!

Cougar: Really love the idea of a punishingly tough enemy needing multiple encounters, but there are ways to avoid confrontation until you feel ready.

Cheat Death: I think this a great idea to help people learning the game. If you forgot to drink water or didn't check fire duration before sleeping, it can be a bit overwhelming that you have to start completely over. This lets you learn about a few more "run-ending" mistakes per save, reducing restarts.

Misery Mode: Great to see more official support for us masochists! Hmm, I wonder how hard this will be if we immediately cheat death 3 times on spawn(yes, there may be something wrong with me...)

[Raphael van Lierop]

Here's the plan for the Part Five goodness:

* Cheat Death and Misery Experience Mode will be added to Survival for free, so you don't need to own TALES to get these.

* The Cougar, Mountain Pass, and Tale Three will all be part of TALES, so you will need to own the DLC to get this stuff.

I'll update the original dev diary post here to highlight that.

[DaveMcD]

1 hour ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Re: Cheat Death -- you always have the choice to not use it. That's part of what makes it work. It's a faustian bargain and you are fighting with yourself.

Curious if there will be an option to opt out BEFORE starting a run (much like choosing to enable feats) rather than being only tempted upon death.

While I think it sounds like a neat mechanism, for me this is a massive change to TLD that goes to the heart of the experience playing this game. If you can't opt out before then your experience has still been changed drastically by being presented / tempted with the option upon death.