May 2024 Developer Diary

[Pyroxene]

Epic scenery!

[Sebastian1992]

Wow! So many surprises, of course I try another save file for the misery mode! Seems like a fun update. Cougars, Mountain Pass, tales part three and misery mode?

 

[thekillergreece]

12 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

There will be multiple methods of feedback, not just auditory. But of course if you feel this is insufficient based on accessibility needs, please share that feedback when you've had a chance to play with it.

I appreciate that and I would like to use this as an opportunity to point out my new suggestion about revising the closed-captioning system because I once suggested it (albeit, in not a nice way!) in 2020 and it didn't seem to get a look into since then. As of result, as I mentioned above, I had to approach a modder to implement a motion-tracker system instead.

[Leeanda]

10 hours ago, GothSkunk said:

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?

As raph asked,please keep this thread for dev diary questions and comments... Thank you.

[Laika Ivanova]

I forgot to mention it in my original post, but I do appreciate the usage if Noisemakers to temporarily "disable" the Cougar. It gives the Noisemakers more use outside of their pretty much limited timberwolf deterrent (I know they can be used against normal wolves as well, but common 😂). 

On another note tho: I won't ever do that. I'll let that big kitty come to me so I can show it who's boss 😎

[Nervous Pete]

Hi Raph!

Hope you're all doing good, and that you have and the team are enjoying nice pancakes this morning.

Having had a good morning coffee to mull over the Dev Diary I'm happy to say that it sounds good to me! It's a big one so I'll offer my reactions piece by piece...

1: Cougar

I like! One of my fears upon hearing there was going to be a Cougar was that it would be a ramped up predator inflicting fearful perpetual misery on players like myself who squeal and leap about at the sound of the merest distant wolf yap. Even though I tell myself it's just a game at each wildlife encounter I still stress so much that I find it hard to land a shot on my furry assailant, so I was dreading the cougar.

But I really like what you've done here! First of all you've given a good opt-out mode. That's good for those of us who just can't hack it, though I'm going to do my best to try. (Maybe I'll pretend it's Hobbes from Calvin & Hobbes, come to bring me some tuna.) I also think it's a stroke of genius to build in a sort of active in-game opt-out by forcing the player to move along, as if running away from a picnic spot from an angry wasp, only, y'know, not as annoying. It shouldn't even be too much of a burden if you have two good nearby camps. (I always tag-team my Jackrabbit with my Pleasant Valley Farmhouse, and my Ash Canyon Fishing Cabin with the Mountaineer's Hut.) In the end I can even imagine a sort of wary respect for my elusive but ever-threatening furry companion, as if it is another character living in the region. And as you say, there's always the noise-makers.

Although why you don't give us the option to craft a big colourful ball of yarn to distract it I'm not sure.

So high marks on your cougar implementation.

2: Mountain Pass

Sounds good. Ash Canyon surprised me by being one of my very favourite regions and I was equally surprised how it became one of my 'home away from homes' in its bleak cosiness. I'm hoping for a region where the threat is from weather, not predators, and where it is possible to cling on a marginal existence. Whatever we get I expect it'll be the usual thing of beauty. I like the idea of the Weather Station.

3: The Third Tale

Final? Noooo! Oh man I've been loving these tales. If you do release another pack in the future I'll be all over it, even it's more limited in scale and just a set of story driven maps with no real new mechanics. But yes, I've been enjoying it so far and sounds like it'll dovetail nicely with the main story.

4: Misery Mode

I would have gone for having Annie Wilkes move into your safehouse, but this is a better idea. I'm primarily a Voyageur player but I love reading and watching tales of other players suffer in The Long Dark. This seems like a very nicely balanced 'reverse feat badge' system. Good that it's a free update too.

5: Cheat Death System

A surprise this one, but by and large I think it's a good idea. Interesting that there's a trade-off too. In a way it's an added game variant, depending on the level and nature of extra difficulty it loads on you. I think it's good for console players as well who don't have the option to 'save scum', or us craven moral cowards who have the backup folder of shame lurking on their desktop somewhere. (I've only done it once! I swear!) 

The only difference I'd make is to have an option in the main Options Menu to deactivate this feature for those who don't want to be tempted and prefer cold, utter, finality. I don't think it should be an option of 'Enable / Disable' every run you start, and can be on by default, but I think a checkbox in options allowing those who really don't like it to disable it and then forget about it would be a good thing.

6: Switch

I'm primarily a Switch gamer but The Long Dark has me coming back to the PC. I do love playing it on my Switch on the road or in lunch breaks though, so I'm glad for myself and very glad for my Switch-only friends that the update is coming. To be honest I thought it would be a difficult one for you to pull off as you were kind of pushing the limits by nature of its RAM hungry open world, so I expected a good long wait. Glad things are promisingly near completion. Any extra FPS smoothness squeezed out would be lovely, but it's the lovable creaky old Switch, so I understand it is what it is. Here's to the Super Nintendo Switch next year, eh? 

So all in all good stuff indeed! Can't wait for the Safe House in future and really looking forward to this update. I've got a couple of other suggestions outside of this but I'll keep it for another topic post. 

 

Edited May 14 by Nervous Pete
Grammar. Honestly.

[bysinda]

All of this, honestly,  is way more than I was expecting to get for the money I paid! 

The roadmap that was released when the campaign started covered mostly the highlights. As the updates progressed at first I was like "I guess I'll get my money's worth🤔" , then "okay, I'm definitely getting my money's worth" and now I'm like " there's even more???" And it's just keep coming! Feels like a steal 😃

[ThePancakeLady]

I am thinking about the Cougar and how we will detect if it has moved into the region we are in (if we have Cougars toggled "On" in our save).

Of course- tracks might be seen.

Of course the very distinctive cry of a Cougar might be heard:

Of course more dead deer and rabbits might be seen (or blood-soaked snow where one was killed, with drag marks leading away from the spot?).

But I also wonder if there will be a meter similar to the morale meter for timberwolves. Not an actual morale meter for the Cougar, but more of a proximity meter that will fill or empty as you come into attack range or leave it.

Just speculating and wondering how it will work, and preparing myself to need to change my undies when it does happen. 😳

[Leeanda]

4 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

I am thinking about the Cougar and how we will detect if it has moved into the region we are in (if we have Cougars toggled "On" in our save).

Of course- tracks might be seen.

Of course the very distinctive cry of a Cougar might be heard:

Of course more dead deer and rabbits might be seen (or blood-soaked snow where one was killed, with drag marks leading away from the spot?).

But I also wonder if there will be a meter similar to the morale meter for timberwolves. Not an actual morale meter for the Cougar, but more of a proximity meter that will fill or empty as you come into attack range or leave it.

Just speculating and wondering how it will work, and preparing myself to need to change my undies when it does happen. 😳

Maybe the wolves will scatter and run yelping too..    

Interaction with moose and bears I don't think will be likely though..

[odium]

14 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

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

its actually not clearly answered in the dev diary.  you say 'destroy the den' with noisemakers, never is it specified that the cougar is inside and gets killed in the process but 👌🏻

[ThePancakeLady]

8 minutes ago, odium said:

 you say 'destroy the den' with noisemakers, never is it specified that the cougar is inside and gets killed in the process but 👌🏻

Destroying the den seems to be described as a way to delay the Cougar's appearance in your save, while it finds and establishes a new den. 

Quote

The Cougar’s attack is vicious (with its own new Affliction) and can end the game for you, but if you’re fast and lucky you’ll get a chance to counter-attack, and if you’re very lucky, you’ll kill it. Otherwise, it will escape to continue to hunt you down in a region it occupies.

So, if you kill it during a counter attack, it doesn't come back, maybe? Kind of like how killing one of the Special Wolves removes them from your save completely (barring that bug with Fluffy 2.0 in the Cannery).

Though I will admit this:

Quote

 If you want to buy yourself more breathing room, you can seek out the Cougar’s den which exists somewhere in the world (a different place each game), and if you destroy the den with Noisemakers, Cougars will leave you alone for a long time. Eventually, though, they will return.

...does confuse me a bit, since it seems to imply that there may be more than one cougar? "The Cougar" vs. "Cougars"?

[piddy3825]

6 hours ago, Vinceofpyrenees said:

I am worried about how cougars will be implemented.

As they are described, it means 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 think you make a valid point here.  I play fairly similar in that I am pretty much constantly moving from region to region typically only staying as long as it takes me to loot the area and to set up a couple of camps.  Usually not longer than a few weeks.  Based on the description of the cougar's behavior I'll only run into the cougar if I choose to "camp out" for longer periods of time, basically using my presences as "bait."  I was kinda hoping that there might be some random encounters where I might just come across a big cat while it is feeding on a deer or something like that.  

I guess we won't be using the cougar to run down a deer and steal his dinner like we can do with the wolf pack.

[conanjaguar]

Hm... Misery mode after cheating death three times... might be fun .

[rush247]

9 hours ago, Pyroxene said:

Wow!

How do I add a gif?

There's 2 ways.

1.  Use the "ADD FILES" button and choose a gif you may already have on your device.

 

2.  Click "OTHER MEDIA" and choose "Insert Image From URL" then type in the url of the image in the box that appears.

Edited May 14 by rush247

[stratvox]

17 hours ago, Crabby_Mudcrab said:

Also, will there be new music from either Cris Velasco and/or Sascha Dikiciyan? 👀

Oooh yes please.

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

2 hours ago, rush247 said:

There's 2 ways.

1.  Use the "ADD FILES" button and choose a gif you may already have on your device.

 

2.  Click "OTHER MEDIA" and choose "Insert Image From URL" then type in the url of the image in the box that appears.

[Semple Fi]

@RaukGorth Like throwing sticks at a bear…. Are the play testers good enough? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@Vinceofpyrenees In just a month and a half you’ll get a solid answer to that question and more

@Pyroxene depends on what platform you are using but essentially, look up a gif on Google or whichever search site you prefer, 

right click/press and hold the favored gif and select “copy”

 return to your forum comment and somewhere in the text box of your comment right click/press and hold and select “paste”

 wait for upload…..

 Second option-

save a gif to your photos or desktop, select the “add files” option in the comment block, then select which file to browse “photos” or similar, then select the appropriate gif and press “upload”.  
 

after uploading you may have to select the “insert” icon on the gif.  
 

hope this helps

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

I'm interested by what the 'cheat death' penalties are- I'm guessing some sort of permanent affliction such as frostbite or loss of buffs to start with, then building up to things like being unable to run, raging thirst etc. by the end.

As someone who gets really annoyed by frostbite (despite it having no massive impact on gameplay, it's just that constant affliction warning!), that would be an interesting choice.  I think in practice it will also depend how I die.  For getting trapped in a crevasse that probably wasn't intended to be a trap, or through a real life distraction whilst crossing a rope bridge, for example, I think I might use it, especially to save a long run.  For acts of stupidity caused by overconfidence or bad planning, I'll have to remind myself the high stakes are why I love the game in the first place!

Also, I'm assuming having undead characters means we are finally getting zombies and vampires in the game now?! 😉

Edited May 14 by Valuable Hunting Knife
missed a bit

[Cr41g]

21 minutes ago, Valuable Hunting Knife said:

I'm interested by what the 'cheat death' penalties are- I'm guessing some sort of permanent affliction such as frostbite or loss of buffs to start with, then building up to things like being unable to run, raging thirst etc. by the end.

I'm guessing you lose gear and pack contents... like say 90% of what you are carrrying...seems fair

[Pyroxene]

Let's try to add this little GIF:

[Leeanda]

1 minute ago, Pyroxene said:

Let's try to add this little GIF:

Awww... Cute little fella😊

[rush247]

32 minutes ago, Cr41g said:

I'm guessing you lose gear and pack contents... like say 90% of what you are carrrying...seems fair

"You’ll also have the opportunity to retrieve your pack with some of what you were carrying at the time of your death,"

 

Seems that is indeed part of the penalty but not all of it is what I got the impression of.

[nyfo29]

I'm loving the introduction of the cougar and how it forces players to keep on the move. I think this will be an interesting addition for sure. Finding a valid use for the noisemakers is pure genius. I've personally used them only a handful of times and honestly they blow up in my hand more than actually help me so this gives me a reason to not only collect the ones I find but use them and get good with them.
I've never had a problem with permadeath but I do like implementing a cheat death option. Will be interesting to see what choices you have to continue. Will definitely have to try this out just out of curiosity. I do like as well that it allows players to keep a run and not feel any guilt as it comes with a penalty. One thing I've always loved about this game is any positive comes with a negative.
How can I not be excited about a new region? This one will be interesting as I personally don't like ropes but making it colder the higher you go is a nice touch.
In all I think this update sounds great. I'm excited to get at it

[Semple Fi]

1 hour ago, Pyroxene said:

Let's try to add this little GIF:

Achievement Unlocked!

[Looper]

23 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

We’ve been working on a new Experience Mode, specifically made for Interloper players who have maxed out that mode and are looking for a new level of challenge. Misery takes Interloper and ratchets up the difficulty by adding six new Afflictions that are applied over time. The purpose is to survive in the mode for as long as possible after all six Afflictions have come in, and while we’re not 100% sure yet as the mode is still being playtested (with some help from some of our Interloper players from the community), we suspect the Days Survived counts will be in the dozens and not the hundreds like some existing Interloper players are able to achieve. Just trying to keep the game fresh and challenging for a group of players in our community who really like punishment! Of course, this mode isn’t for everyone.

Hurrah ! best news since DMC🤘 Think of the long reads, tips sharing, youtube hype.

I remember when somebody came up with Dead Man Challenge. It was thought impossible to reach 30 days and some only got through by some wierd sickness trick. Then it became a way to always play. But encouraging new use of ressources (stims, coffee, hot drinks).

 

 

Edited May 14 by Looper