May 2024 Developer Diary

[Raphael van Lierop]

6 minutes ago, DaveMcD said:

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. 

I 100% understand where you're coming from with this question, and we did discuss this a lot -- how much the existence of this "out" in your current game might impact how you feel about all your choices from that point onward. But we really want this to be a tough choice for people, and if we remove the temptation, it's not really a temptation anymore, is it?

Let's see how people feel about it once they've been able to play with it for a bit.

[GothSkunk]

Hey Raph! Thanks for the May Dev Diary.

 

I have a question I hope you can answer;

 

Why was Methuselah absent from Wintermute episode 4?

Edited May 13 by GothSkunk

[liam]

I wonder could the number of times you cheat death be related to difficulty? Four for pilgrim, three for voyageur, two for stalker, and one for interloper. It seems like a good way to balance similar to the feats.

[rush247]

I know you probably don't want to give too much away but about the cheat death system.  Is it going to be different for each difficulty?  If so in what ways?  Like less lives or more devastating effects post cheat, etc.

 

If you don't want to answer that's fine, I can wait for release to find out.

Edited May 14 by rush247

[RossBondReturns]

Oh....my...Goodness!

Why can't it be mid June now?!

[ManicManiac]

Thank you Hinterland!

 

It's going to take me a little bit to really read through it all carefully and gather my thoughts.  

[samuellavoie]

I'm excited for my first encounter with the Cougar, and it's a brilliant way to entice players not to camp too much. I’m curious to see how we will be made aware of our encroaching on his territory!

[Semple Fi]

I’m territorial. Send it

 

[RossBondReturns]

I've never been more glad that I'm a nomadic player.

[krikennoxid]

Here's some initial feedback. 

Cougars - When it was first announced, I thought that these critters would get added to the game and only be reserved for mountain regions such as Ash Canyon, Timberwolf Mountain and the new Mountain Pass region. I have to admit that I do like the concept of them appearing in ANY region, and thinking out loud, it sounds like they will reveal their presence through increasing tracks, more ravaged deer carcasses all over the map, and possibly stalk you when you've been at a region for too long. Sounds like a twig will snap and you only got a few milliseconds to shoot at it before their "Struggle" encounter starts. Better have that bow at the ready! It'll be interesting if there will be an actual meter (like cabin fever) to indicate to the player that you've been in a region for too long, or if there will be subtle or obvious clues to alert the player (like urine outside your Safehouse where you normally pick up sticks/wood, or a buck's skull outside your front door).

Mountain Pass region - I hope they stick with that name. I'm digging the artwork for it. I do hope they add new clothing to help cope with the colder temperatures. Surprise us with more Canadian clothing/gear that many of us never heard of.

Misery Mode and Cheat Death - Sounds cool and want to know more so I'll hold off on commenting.

Nintendo Switch - The Nintendo version must've gotten a lot of TLC since we last received an update. Good for Hinterland that they are doing what they can to make this version on par with the other versions. 

Overall: A good update and looking forward to the next one. I do hope they provide an update on console performance improvements sometime this year. I'd love to run the game at 60 fps in 4k on Xbox. And oh more oak trees/acorns please!

[twyn1]

Everything sounds & looks great to me!!

Will definitely be testing out the "how long can I hang out here before the cougar wanders in" scenario! I tend to play a very leisurely, loot and nest type style, so this addition will be most interesting.

I actually like "Cheat Death" as an option, and I feel it may encourage me to step out of my Pilgrim ways and try higher difficulty levels. One reason I don't try those is because I am not very good at weaponry/aiming or "sneaking" past predators. Knowing I can make a mistake and learn from it, without having to start all over is appealing.

Kudos! 

[Africanboi7]

I'm looking forward to facing & hopefully dodging the cougar. I also can't wait to test the cheat death at least once. 

As always thanks for the hard work @hinterland. Can't wait for the update.

[Kranium]

It all sounds great! I just hope the Cougar mechanic works well overall. I want to be able to [see/interact with] it outside of a struggle cut-scene. IDK, can't wait to find out.

 

They're hard to find IRL here; even though I see their tracks here all the time I only actually see one maybe twice a year, at most, and have only managed a picture once. They bugger right off if they think they've been seen. (so far, luckily, haha)

 

Great work, crew.

[Sherri]

This is sounding great! The cougar will be an interesting addition. I don't tend to stay put in a region for too long... I usually eventually have a camp in most regions. That said, it will be pretty pulse-pounding (in a good way) to have that "have I overstayed my welcome?" feeling building the longer you stick around. I like having reasons to go places - which is why I'm loving Tales - and this is less a reason to go somewhere than a reason to leave - but it still works! 

I'm over the moon excited for the new Tale. I've been loving these. I'm a quest oriented player - Wintermute is my jam - but the Tales have felt like a mini Wintermute and I'm loving it.

The Cheat Death addition is utterly genius. It seem to me that when you build a game with permadeath, it's for a reason and it must be a bit sad when players start save-scumming to bypass that. This is a great plan to kind of "roll with the punches" and turn a player work-around into an opportunity. If the costs to cheating death are punishing enough... it still will keep players cautious. Many will still save-scum (heck I do it occasionally, but I forget so often that usually my last save backup is DOZENS of hours old, so it's devastating to die either way), but this gives such an interesting alternate choice.

Really cool to see a new even harder mode for Loper players. Will make for some great videos to watch! And I think it adds some longevity to the game for it's post completion future.

[Sherri]

It does feel though like there is a LOT left to fit into part 6...

[RossBondReturns]

I'd also like to give the benefit of the doubt about Cheating Death, yes it can certainly be said to be a reaction to save scumming or some such- but it can also be looked at as something else entirely.

I've had runs end very early due to incredibly freak, unpredicted weather upon weather circumstances. Or back to back to back wolf attacks in the fogs of Desolation Point.

I've had to abandon  games due to unfortunate bugs...like waking up from a nap in a truck and standing clipped through a roof. Or somehow getting suck between two things I could easily step over in real life, but in the game it saved as soon as I sprained an ankle.

Now you do/manage to die in this kind of situation...and it gives you a chance to cheat death, aka continue the run. Especially if it was a bug that got you in the position when it killed you, you'd gladly take a chance to continue.

I've had people private message me in The Long Dark Community FB group (I am one of the very first founding Admins) who just want to give up the game because of that sort of thing.

All I could tell them is that these things happen and no game is perfect- but now the game itself will give them a chance to cheat death and continue to run.

I thinks this, while highly unexpected is perhaps the most welcome change I can think of.  

[ManicManiac]

Initial thoughts...

 

Cougars:
I'm excited to see this new alpha predator in action (even just as we get a sense of its presence).
I was hoping it might be a bit of an ambush predator... and that seems to be the case.  Frankly, I love that.  
I also really love the description of how it "takes interest" in a region (and us) due to our own actions (or inaction depending on how one wants to look at it 🤭).

Just the brief description of how it "stalks" gives me a very pointed sense of dread and danger that match (of not exceed) when I first experienced The Hunted: Part I (the Demon Bear), Escape the Darkwalker (event), and the introduction of the Timberwolves to Survival Mode from Crossroad Elegy.

Mountain Pass:
No question at all... I'm always excited to discover more regions of Great Bear Island.  I think that every new region has been a joy to experience, explore, and the satisfaction that comes with overcoming new struggles.  The idea if this new region being even more vertical than Timberwolf Mountain, Hushed River Valley, or Ash Canyon...  Honestly, hard for me to imagine.  I can hardly wait to see it.  

The Third Tale:
In all honestly, I've not yet started my first expedition into the Far Territories yet.  However, I'm looking forward to mounting that expedition soon.  Very much looking forward to digging into Signal Void and Buried Echos soon.  I'm very happy that my previous personal challenge took a very long time to accomplish, and now I will soon have a trilogy of tales to struggle through, survive, and uncover the further hidden history and mysteries of Great Bear Island.

Misery Mode:
I've always loved The Long Dark for the struggle.  I look forward to this new mode every bit as much as each of the Survival Sandbox modes when they were each introduced.  Back in December of 2014 is when we got Pilgrim, Voyager, and Stalker... and that was an exciting time.  Then again in September 2016 when we got Interloper.  Custom Survival settings have been a real treat since December of 2017.   ...And as before, I'm delighted that we will have another Survival Mode for me to struggle against.  

Cheat Death:
I did not see this coming at all...  
I am glad that folks who would like this option, will have it.  I do love the idea that there are consequences to it (or a price to be paid, as it were).  Generally, I don't know that I would ever look to use it for my runs.  I really do like and appreciate permadeath.  For me, it's what makes each of my runs feel like a real, perilous, and ultimately precious adventure. 

Of course, at some point I would certainly give it a try... even if just for a side run to get a sense of those how those consequences feel and impact the overall experience.  I'm always up for a little arcane science. 🤭  

Edited May 14 by ManicManiac

[Pyroxene]

Wow!

How do I add a gif?

[Ghurcb]

I love the cheat death mechanic, can't wait to find out what the trade-offs are. However...

I feel like this should be a settings option that is disabled by default. Like an assist mode in some other games. Whatever the trade-off is, why wouldn't I cheat death? The worst thing that can happen is I die again. This way, having only one life seems like a self-imposed challenge, not a part of core gameplay that it was for years.

Of course, I can see the counter-point that this change is mostly targetted at maybe newer players, and hiding this cool addition to the gameplay in the settings would be odd.

[gotmilkanot]

9 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Misery takes Interloper and ratchets up the difficulty by adding six new Afflictions that are applied over time.

Sounds like Misery is just Interloper + 6 new afflictions?

If so, any word on if "misery" (basically the set of afflictions) will be a toggleable option (like "endless night") for custom so masochists who play on custom settings harder than Interloper can become even more... miserable?

[RaukGorth]

Up to this point you have done a stellar job balancing the game - keeping it difficult while adding items to the game that make it easier.

I have some thoughts on the cheat death system

• Are play testers good enough at the game?

• People were backing up saves to save themselves from random events like instant death wall they didn't know about or a wolf spawning really close out of view and charging.

• The cheat death system sounds like building a hospital right on the corner where there is a lot of accidents on the road - I'm referring to this video by Tim Cain:

 

Edited May 14 by RaukGorth
Set the video to start at 5:15, skipping where he starts dicussing the issues

[Raphael van Lierop]

13 minutes ago, RaukGorth said:

Up to this point you have done a stellar job balancing the game - keeping it difficult while adding items to the game that make it easier.

I have some thoughts on the cheat death system

• Are play testers good enough at the game?

• People were backing up saves to save themselves from random events like instant death wall they didn't know about or a wolf spawning really close out of view and charging.

• The cheat death system sounds like building a hospital right on the corner where there is a lot of accidents on the road - I'm referring to this video by Tim Cain:

 

1) Yes, they are "good enough" at the game (whatever that means to you). They are good enough for us to believe they are the right people to help playtest the feature.

2) You don't know all the reasons why people choose to back up save files.

3) Tim Cain is a great game designer! And the analogy doesn't hold water here. We didn't add Cheat Death *because* people are backing up saves. We added it to play with the Permadeath formula in a way we thought would be interesting. The "save scumming" behaviour has been around for years and suggests strongly that there are some players who, given the option, would love to avoid losing their Saves. Lots of those folks will still continue to back up their Saves because "Cheating Death" still won't be as good for them as just reloading a save they backed up. This system doesn't replace Permadeath or try to fix a problem. It just adds a new dimension and what we believe will be an interesting choice for the players who choose to use it.

[RaukGorth]

2 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

1) Yes, they are "good enough" at the game (whatever that means to you). They are good enough for us to believe they are the right people to help playtest the feature.

2) You don't know all the reasons why people choose to back up save files.

3) Tim Cain is a great game designer! And the analogy doesn't hold water here. We didn't add Cheat Death *because* people are backing up saves. We added it to play with the Permadeath formula in a way we thought would be interesting. The "save scumming" behaviour has been around for years and suggests strongly that there are some players who, given the option, would love to avoid losing their Saves. Lots of those folks will still continue to back up their Saves because "Cheating Death" still won't be as good for them as just reloading a save they backed up. This system doesn't replace Permadeath or try to fix a problem. It just adds a new dimension and what we believe will be an interesting choice for the players who choose to use it.

Thank you! I look forward to seeing this in action, as it looks great.

[Vinceofpyrenees]

I am worried about how cougars will be implemented.

As they are described, it mean that if I keep moving relatively quickly from region to region, I'll never see one. But I am already a nomad. 🥲 I won't be able to enjoy of this great addition to the game.

I'd much rather see cougars implemented as "normal predator". Maybe he could have the behaviour of a silent hunter that seeks the prey out if we are near its territory, also maybe hiding on trees and attacks by jumping without any warning. As opposed to the wolves or bears which alert you to their presence, we'd hear a twig snap only if the cougar runs over a stick.

Edited May 14 by Vinceofpyrenees

[Vinceofpyrenees]

Will cougars be able to climb or jump on trees?