OCTOBER DEV DIARY

[Karl Grylls]

I hope at some point we get an advanced shelter-building option. Like A-frames for example or that you can use already existing structures (burned down houses, little gaps in the ground) to build yourself a roof with limbs and sticks etc. And when it's not an official update i then hope for mods

[Leeanda]

1 hour ago, Karl Grylls said:

I hope at some point we get an advanced shelter-building option. Like A-frames for example or that you can use already existing structures (burned down houses, little gaps in the ground) to build yourself a roof with limbs and sticks etc. And when it's not an official update i then hope for mods

That might be a way to repair holes in roofs too,like the one in mountaineers hut..

[MikeNick]

Thank you Hinterland for providing a game that you can immerse yourself in and escape this maddening world that we actually live in. Thank you 🧡

[Tolkfan]

Will Perseverance Mills eventually become a survival map? It would be great to have another urban area.

[ManicManiac]

@Tolkfan

1 hour ago, Tolkfan said:

Will Perseverance Mills eventually become a survival map?

For your reference:
(quote has been shortened for brevity)

On 7/4/2024 at 10:32 PM, Raphael van Lierop said:

I'm not promising to put the Wintermute regions into Survival. Yes, we have always done that historically, but this is the last episode in the story and these are very important locations that may be too important to put into Survival mode.  I'm not saying they won't be added to Survival, but I'm not saying they will either.

Edited Sunday at 01:29 PM by ManicManiac

[Pyroxene]

How large will the land around the hamlet be?

[Laika Ivanova]

On 10/17/2024 at 9:35 PM, thekillergreece said:

W00h. Good writing.

Take your time to finish Episode 5.

The customization system looks cool. As for the gameplay centric around in the system... I could only assume we get to place workbenches? 👀

Was about to say the same thing. I am quite shocked by the sheer size of this dev diary, not to mention the amount of stuff in it. Not just all the upcoming content, but also regarding the big question "What now?". I haven't been this excited for an update and the time beyond.

[Laika Ivanova]

On 10/17/2024 at 9:50 PM, HyperLordBender said:

PLS tell me you guys are adding the talking fish. Its very common in rural and old houses where I live. Just feels odd that its not in the game

That would be funny to add. Imagine it starts malfunctioning during an aurora 😂

[Raphael van Lierop]

Re: Workbenches and how they interact with the Safehouse Customization system -- we'll explain more about this when the system goes live. But, you should know by now that we never make things easy for players, so you can extrapolate from that what you will. 😇

[MapleTaffy]

I am beyond excited for everything coming. The Long Dark is one of my absolute favourite games, and I am so excited to see how it will wrap up.
If there is ever more DLC, or something like it, I would definitely be here for it. But, I am also very interested to see a new game from the studio. I am certain it will be amazing.

[Nervous Pete]

Thanks for the update, Raphael. I'm very much looking forward to episode five, and fully appreciate how you want to get it right straight out of the gate. As much as I'm eager to see how Mackenzie and Astrid's journeys conclude, I'm also looking forward to seeing what befalls Mathis who I've found to be a hugely enjoyable villain. Elias Toufexis and your animators really knocked it out of the park for him. I feel he really wouldn't be out of place in a David Lynch movie or Twin Peaks Season 3 - The Return. 

Cougar:

The new cougar implementation sounds intriguing but I'm glad you're keeping the option in to avoid it for all of us who's hearts beat a mile a minute simply hearing the wolves yapping close at hand.

Instant Camera:

Sounds great! As I'm a mildly obsessive photographer in real life it'll be a lot of fun to channel my inner Ansel Adams /  Berenice Abbot / Nancy Rexroth / Walker Evans in game. Although I was kind of eager for the full dark-room experience I had at the back of my mind all this time the nagging notion that it really didn't make much sense for a survivor living on the edge to set up a fully stocked darkroom. I'm hoping that eventually there might be the abiltiy to combine survivor diary and polaroids into an attractive diary-scrapbook hybrid in-game, and one that can be shared with other players. (It would be even better if you could upload a copy and after suitable curation they could be added as an item found when searching bodies.)

Global Wildlife Refresh:

Nice. Any thoughts on adding both past, current and upcoming loot-tables and wildlife-tables as selectable / random? Might be a notion long-term where players wouldn't be quite sure what they were going to get. 

The Trader: 

Part of me hoped that the trader would be an approachable campfire dwelling figure in the game world, or located in a house somewhere you could bring items to. I have a feeling this might be more in the nature of a dead letterbox though. However thinking about it that opens a can of worms in that players might want to channel their inner-Mathis and plug them with the revolver, which isn't really the vibe we're looking for, so I can understand this simplified off-screen approach. I just hope they're not creepy! 

Safehouse Customisation:  

Everything about this I find utterly thrilling. Like others I'm hoping to patch up the Timberwolf cabin roof and bury the bodies outside, but even if those aren't options what's on the plate here looks tremendous. I have a genuine emotional attachment to some of the locations in The Long Dark. Jackrabbit Island and Pleasant Valley farmstead feel like real places to me, and I love to spend time there. It's this that excites me the most. 

The Future of The Long Dark / New Project:

I fully understand you'll want to move on from The Long Dark at some point, it's the nature of things. I'll definitely be on board to try whatever you decide to cook up next! I'd also certainly buy any artbook / making-of book you decide to release. 

 

Future Ideas:

I do hope we'll get one other DLC in the future for The Long Dark. It doesn't have to be as substantial as TFTFT, but there's still some lovely additions you could make and I'm sure you've all got some more ideas you're mulling. However if you do decide to end development on The Long Dark next year, I just have to say that the game feels wonderfully polished, deep and complete as is. I've got a few ideas below as to what I think would be wonderful additions. Please feel free to privately scoff and toss them into a wastepaper basket, I still love you like I love finding a nutritous jar of elegant broth. 

1: Readable novels / poetry in game. There's already a mod for this apparently, though I haven't tried it. But it would be wonderful to have those books cluttering the shelves of Great Bear to have actual literature in them. There's a lot of public domain stuff you could use -  Jack London would be perfect for whiling away a night with the wind howling outside. 

2: Sitting down. Coupled with the above in one's cosy refurbished cabin... wow. The atmosphere would be incredible. We your valued customers could then proceed to demand you add knitting as well, just to inflict further misery on your talented animators. You have considered knitting, right? 

3: Burying bodies. These can be picked up, carried and burried. A shovel is needed and some sticks for the cross. It takes five hours in-game time and substantial calories.  Player must bring their own RL whiskey and a Pogues CD for the wake. 

4:  The Canadian red fox. Elusive, friendly, cheerful litlte critter that adds a dash of red to the landscape, bringing to life the one-time Hinterland logo. Mackenzie / Astrid cannot bring themselves to target it, and instead call out a salutation to their furry friend. The red fox appears in game on nice sunny days when the belly is full and the birds are singing and gosh darn it's nice to be alive and not get gnawed on.

5: Fellow survivor. This is a bit of a crazy one that would pretty much define a new DLC, but I always thought it would be great to be find a survivor, nurse them back to health, have them then live at your chosen spot. They would be of reduced mobility so they wouldn't be able to get about much and you'd have to basically hunt for two. Advantages would be the end of cabin fever for that dwelling, they'd do cooking / repair chores while you were out and just have some lovely companionable voice acting when you clicked on them. They'd have the fire going when you got home. As their activities would mostly be off-screen while you were out, you could get away with having them largely sitting / stood at the stove. Fail to maintain them however with dropped off supplies in the supply bin and eventually they'd leave - probably to their doom - making you feel super wretched in real life. If this proved too tricky to implement in game, I'd accept a pet.  No, not a pet rock, a cat. A cat that wanders, sits and stares  and glares at you as if to say, "Where's my damn rabbit, human?"  

Uh, that's it. I think you've added pretty much everything else that I could possibly ever want. Congratulations if you've read this far and thank you so much to you and your team in making this incredible game. All the best!
 

[Raphael van Lierop]

35 minutes ago, Nervous Pete said:

Thanks for the update, Raphael. I'm very much looking forward to episode five, and fully appreciate how you want to get it right straight out of the gate. As much as I'm eager to see how Mackenzie and Astrid's journeys conclude, I'm also looking forward to seeing what befalls Mathis who I've found to be a hugely enjoyable villain. Elias Toufexis and your animators really knocked it out of the park for him. I feel he really wouldn't be out of place in a David Lynch movie or Twin Peaks Season 3 - The Return. 

Cougar:

The new cougar implementation sounds intriguing but I'm glad you're keeping the option in to avoid it for all of us who's hearts beat a mile a minute simply hearing the wolves yapping close at hand.

Instant Camera:

Sounds great! As I'm a mildly obsessive photographer in real life it'll be a lot of fun to channel my inner Ansel Adams /  Berenice Abbot / Nancy Rexroth / Walker Evans in game. Although I was kind of eager for the full dark-room experience I had at the back of my mind all this time the nagging notion that it really didn't make much sense for a survivor living on the edge to set up a fully stocked darkroom. I'm hoping that eventually there might be the abiltiy to combine survivor diary and polaroids into an attractive diary-scrapbook hybrid in-game, and one that can be shared with other players. (It would be even better if you could upload a copy and after suitable curation they could be added as an item found when searching bodies.)

Global Wildlife Refresh:

Nice. Any thoughts on adding both past, current and upcoming loot-tables and wildlife-tables as selectable / random? Might be a notion long-term where players wouldn't be quite sure what they were going to get. 

The Trader: 

Part of me hoped that the trader would be an approachable campfire dwelling figure in the game world, or located in a house somewhere you could bring items to. I have a feeling this might be more in the nature of a dead letterbox though. However thinking about it that opens a can of worms in that players might want to channel their inner-Mathis and plug them with the revolver, which isn't really the vibe we're looking for, so I can understand this simplified off-screen approach. I just hope they're not creepy! 

Safehouse Customisation:  

Everything about this I find utterly thrilling. Like others I'm hoping to patch up the Timberwolf cabin roof and bury the bodies outside, but even if those aren't options what's on the plate here looks tremendous. I have a genuine emotional attachment to some of the locations in The Long Dark. Jackrabbit Island and Pleasant Valley farmstead feel like real places to me, and I love to spend time there. It's this that excites me the most. 

The Future of The Long Dark / New Project:

I fully understand you'll want to move on from The Long Dark at some point, it's the nature of things. I'll definitely be on board to try whatever you decide to cook up next! I'd also certainly buy any artbook / making-of book you decide to release. 

 

Future Ideas:

I do hope we'll get one other DLC in the future for The Long Dark. It doesn't have to be as substantial as TFTFT, but there's still some lovely additions you could make and I'm sure you've all got some more ideas you're mulling. However if you do decide to end development on The Long Dark next year, I just have to say that the game feels wonderfully polished, deep and complete as is. I've got a few ideas below as to what I think would be wonderful additions. Please feel free to privately scoff and toss them into a wastepaper basket, I still love you like I love finding a nutritous jar of elegant broth. 

1: Readable novels / poetry in game. There's already a mod for this apparently, though I haven't tried it. But it would be wonderful to have those books cluttering the shelves of Great Bear to have actual literature in them. There's a lot of public domain stuff you could use -  Jack London would be perfect for whiling away a night with the wind howling outside. 

2: Sitting down. Coupled with the above in one's cosy refurbished cabin... wow. The atmosphere would be incredible. We your valued customers could then proceed to demand you add knitting as well, just to inflict further misery on your talented animators. You have considered knitting, right? 

3: Burying bodies. These can be picked up, carried and burried. A shovel is needed and some sticks for the cross. It takes five hours in-game time and substantial calories.  Player must bring their own RL whiskey and a Pogues CD for the wake. 

4:  The Canadian red fox. Elusive, friendly, cheerful litlte critter that adds a dash of red to the landscape, bringing to life the one-time Hinterland logo. Mackenzie / Astrid cannot bring themselves to target it, and instead call out a salutation to their furry friend. The red fox appears in game on nice sunny days when the belly is full and the birds are singing and gosh darn it's nice to be alive and not get gnawed on.

5: Fellow survivor. This is a bit of a crazy one that would pretty much define a new DLC, but I always thought it would be great to be find a survivor, nurse them back to health, have them then live at your chosen spot. They would be of reduced mobility so they wouldn't be able to get about much and you'd have to basically hunt for two. Advantages would be the end of cabin fever for that dwelling, they'd do cooking / repair chores while you were out and just have some lovely companionable voice acting when you clicked on them. They'd have the fire going when you got home. As their activities would mostly be off-screen while you were out, you could get away with having them largely sitting / stood at the stove. Fail to maintain them however with dropped off supplies in the supply bin and eventually they'd leave - probably to their doom - making you feel super wretched in real life. If this proved too tricky to implement in game, I'd accept a pet.  No, not a pet rock, a cat. A cat that wanders, sits and stares  and glares at you as if to say, "Where's my damn rabbit, human?"  

Uh, that's it. I think you've added pretty much everything else that I could possibly ever want. Congratulations if you've read this far and thank you so much to you and your team in making this incredible game. All the best!
 

Thanks for all the feedback, Pete.

[Teh player]

First post on the forums, love this game and have 511 hours on record (I would say ~95% of that is on interloper over the years) 

Super excited for the trader, cougar and safehouse customization. It seems like you are saving the best additions for last with the dlc, which by the way I enjoy thoroughly. 

As someone who nearly exclusively plays interloper (and occasionally misery!) I am curious if the trader will give us some of the items that cannot be found on interloper normally (non-crafted knives and the such). I feel like the game design reason for making those items not spawn on interloper is of course to make surviving early on significantly harder since you can't easily get useful tools quickly. With the addition of a trader, I feel it would be nice to finally see these items on my favorite difficulties.

I have always felt a little left out when it comes to some of the content, (it's nearly impossible to get the skilled survivor achievement on interloper, I have played on lower difficulties and the story mode and to be honest the guns are not much better than the bow (weight especially)). The completionist in me also hates doing a custom run, since it does not progress feats (even if my presets are WAY harder than pilgrim). So I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. Giving some of these items to the trader (at a very hefty cost) would not negatively impact the game.

PS. would love to hear about some QOL changes coming in the next update (please add the skillet to the quick menu wheel and let us drink directly from the thermos (stopping to slowly manage its inventory is really annoying if you are frequently drinking its contents to stay warm in cold weather, (seemingly using it to its full intended potential)))

[Raphael van Lierop]

1 hour ago, Teh player said:

First post on the forums, love this game and have 511 hours on record (I would say ~95% of that is on interloper over the years) 

Super excited for the trader, cougar and safehouse customization. It seems like you are saving the best additions for last with the dlc, which by the way I enjoy thoroughly. 

As someone who nearly exclusively plays interloper (and occasionally misery!) I am curious if the trader will give us some of the items that cannot be found on interloper normally (non-crafted knives and the such). I feel like the game design reason for making those items not spawn on interloper is of course to make surviving early on significantly harder since you can't easily get useful tools quickly. With the addition of a trader, I feel it would be nice to finally see these items on my favorite difficulties.

I have always felt a little left out when it comes to some of the content, (it's nearly impossible to get the skilled survivor achievement on interloper, I have played on lower difficulties and the story mode and to be honest the guns are not much better than the bow (weight especially)). The completionist in me also hates doing a custom run, since it does not progress feats (even if my presets are WAY harder than pilgrim). So I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. Giving some of these items to the trader (at a very hefty cost) would not negatively impact the game.

PS. would love to hear about some QOL changes coming in the next update (please add the skillet to the quick menu wheel and let us drink directly from the thermos (stopping to slowly manage its inventory is really annoying if you are frequently drinking its contents to stay warm in cold weather, (seemingly using it to its full intended potential)))

Welcome to the forums! Love the HL2 avatar.

ReL QoL changes in the next update -- I'm not sure what we'll be able to do in addition to the items mentioned in the dev diary. It's already going to be one of the biggest updates we've ever done in terms of system size and complexity, so I'm not sure we'll get much beyond that. But any QoL type fixes will be mentioned along with bug fixes in the release notes.

[Pyroxene]

How big will Perseverance Mills be? I can see from the photo that it's pretty big, but beyond that?

[ElOnTld]

On 10/20/2024 at 5:33 AM, Karl Grylls said:

I hope at some point we get an advanced shelter-building option. Like A-frames for example or that you can use already existing structures (burned down houses, little gaps in the ground) to build yourself a roof with limbs and sticks etc. And when it's not an official update i then hope for mods

Yes! I have a quirky obsession with A-frames and think that would be so cool lol. (I got way too excited when I saw one in the tales part five update video bahah)

I was literally just thinking it would be neat if we could somehow make a little barricade outside of caves so you could use them as bases, lol (without worrying about stuff coming in). 

[thekillergreece]

I almost forgot.

Is Hunted part 3 coming in Part 6 too? It's not mentioned here.

[Pyroxene]

15 hours ago, Nervous Pete said:

Thanks for the update, Raphael. I'm very much looking forward to episode five, and fully appreciate how you want to get it right straight out of the gate. As much as I'm eager to see how Mackenzie and Astrid's journeys conclude, I'm also looking forward to seeing what befalls Mathis who I've found to be a hugely enjoyable villain. Elias Toufexis and your animators really knocked it out of the park for him. I feel he really wouldn't be out of place in a David Lynch movie or Twin Peaks Season 3 - The Return. 

Cougar:

The new cougar implementation sounds intriguing but I'm glad you're keeping the option in to avoid it for all of us who's hearts beat a mile a minute simply hearing the wolves yapping close at hand.

Instant Camera:

Sounds great! As I'm a mildly obsessive photographer in real life it'll be a lot of fun to channel my inner Ansel Adams /  Berenice Abbot / Nancy Rexroth / Walker Evans in game. Although I was kind of eager for the full dark-room experience I had at the back of my mind all this time the nagging notion that it really didn't make much sense for a survivor living on the edge to set up a fully stocked darkroom. I'm hoping that eventually there might be the abiltiy to combine survivor diary and polaroids into an attractive diary-scrapbook hybrid in-game, and one that can be shared with other players. (It would be even better if you could upload a copy and after suitable curation they could be added as an item found when searching bodies.)

Global Wildlife Refresh:

Nice. Any thoughts on adding both past, current and upcoming loot-tables and wildlife-tables as selectable / random? Might be a notion long-term where players wouldn't be quite sure what they were going to get. 

The Trader: 

Part of me hoped that the trader would be an approachable campfire dwelling figure in the game world, or located in a house somewhere you could bring items to. I have a feeling this might be more in the nature of a dead letterbox though. However thinking about it that opens a can of worms in that players might want to channel their inner-Mathis and plug them with the revolver, which isn't really the vibe we're looking for, so I can understand this simplified off-screen approach. I just hope they're not creepy! 

Safehouse Customisation:  

Everything about this I find utterly thrilling. Like others I'm hoping to patch up the Timberwolf cabin roof and bury the bodies outside, but even if those aren't options what's on the plate here looks tremendous. I have a genuine emotional attachment to some of the locations in The Long Dark. Jackrabbit Island and Pleasant Valley farmstead feel like real places to me, and I love to spend time there. It's this that excites me the most. 

The Future of The Long Dark / New Project:

I fully understand you'll want to move on from The Long Dark at some point, it's the nature of things. I'll definitely be on board to try whatever you decide to cook up next! I'd also certainly buy any artbook / making-of book you decide to release. 

 

Future Ideas:

I do hope we'll get one other DLC in the future for The Long Dark. It doesn't have to be as substantial as TFTFT, but there's still some lovely additions you could make and I'm sure you've all got some more ideas you're mulling. However if you do decide to end development on The Long Dark next year, I just have to say that the game feels wonderfully polished, deep and complete as is. I've got a few ideas below as to what I think would be wonderful additions. Please feel free to privately scoff and toss them into a wastepaper basket, I still love you like I love finding a nutritous jar of elegant broth. 

1: Readable novels / poetry in game. There's already a mod for this apparently, though I haven't tried it. But it would be wonderful to have those books cluttering the shelves of Great Bear to have actual literature in them. There's a lot of public domain stuff you could use -  Jack London would be perfect for whiling away a night with the wind howling outside. 

2: Sitting down. Coupled with the above in one's cosy refurbished cabin... wow. The atmosphere would be incredible. We your valued customers could then proceed to demand you add knitting as well, just to inflict further misery on your talented animators. You have considered knitting, right? 

3: Burying bodies. These can be picked up, carried and burried. A shovel is needed and some sticks for the cross. It takes five hours in-game time and substantial calories.  Player must bring their own RL whiskey and a Pogues CD for the wake. 

4:  The Canadian red fox. Elusive, friendly, cheerful litlte critter that adds a dash of red to the landscape, bringing to life the one-time Hinterland logo. Mackenzie / Astrid cannot bring themselves to target it, and instead call out a salutation to their furry friend. The red fox appears in game on nice sunny days when the belly is full and the birds are singing and gosh darn it's nice to be alive and not get gnawed on.

5: Fellow survivor. This is a bit of a crazy one that would pretty much define a new DLC, but I always thought it would be great to be find a survivor, nurse them back to health, have them then live at your chosen spot. They would be of reduced mobility so they wouldn't be able to get about much and you'd have to basically hunt for two. Advantages would be the end of cabin fever for that dwelling, they'd do cooking / repair chores while you were out and just have some lovely companionable voice acting when you clicked on them. They'd have the fire going when you got home. As their activities would mostly be off-screen while you were out, you could get away with having them largely sitting / stood at the stove. Fail to maintain them however with dropped off supplies in the supply bin and eventually they'd leave - probably to their doom - making you feel super wretched in real life. If this proved too tricky to implement in game, I'd accept a pet.  No, not a pet rock, a cat. A cat that wanders, sits and stares  and glares at you as if to say, "Where's my damn rabbit, human?"  

Uh, that's it. I think you've added pretty much everything else that I could possibly ever want. Congratulations if you've read this far and thank you so much to you and your team in making this incredible game. All the best!
 

Yes!! Sitting down!!

[Africanboi7]

Lots to ponder over in this dev diary. I'm looking forward to TFTFT part 6 & also excited to see how wintermute will conclude.

I'm so happy that I'm a part of the TLD community & look forward to future projects from hinterland! 

Edited 23 hours ago by Africanboi7

[The Feng Hunter]

On 10/19/2024 at 2:57 PM, The Gentleman Bastard said:

Not sure I like being able to craft a crafting bench in any interior to be honest. Having only the few that players know of in the world just sounds better to me. Anyone else feel similar?

Don’t do it. 🤷

It’s your game.  

[rush247]

On 10/19/2024 at 11:57 AM, The Gentleman Bastard said:

Not sure I like being able to craft a crafting bench in any interior to be honest. Having only the few that players know of in the world just sounds better to me. Anyone else feel similar?

Maybe it's not what you think it is, maybe it's actually a new furniture only crafting table that we'll find in certain places like the ones we have now that are for tools/clothing.

Additional:  Of course I could be entirely wrong unless they make it so our crafted furniture can be transported in a similar way to the travois or on it.  I don't see getting it where we want it to be easy at all that's for sure.

Edited yesterday at 01:22 PM by rush247

[Bloodskye]

I'm so pumped for this!!

[Semple Fi]

On 10/17/2024 at 3:31 PM, Raphael van Lierop said:

The emphasis will depend somewhat on how many folks buy TALES and whether players are excited about these new systems.

So buy the darn DLC people! 😅

 Knowing full well that HTL runs on sales of TLD and TFTFT, likely the best way to get ALL WINTERMUTE MAP LOCATIONS included in Survival, would be to show the Devs that it’s worth it to the community; in the form of cold hard digital cash!

I digress….

 Sounds like a great update and clear path forward for TLD and HTL, I look forward to playing your games for many more years to come.  
 

P.s. @Nervous Pete Great idea about the Red Fox!

[Sherri]

On 10/20/2024 at 7:13 PM, Nervous Pete said:

4:  The Canadian red fox. Elusive, friendly, cheerful litlte critter that adds a dash of red to the landscape, bringing to life the one-time Hinterland logo. Mackenzie / Astrid cannot bring themselves to target it, and instead call out a salutation to their furry friend. The red fox appears in game on nice sunny days when the belly is full and the birds are singing and gosh darn it's nice to be alive and not get gnawed on.

Speaking of foxes... or any of the existing predators actually... I think a really great addition would be to have them steal any food items left out in the snow when the user is away from the area. It would really push the value of building the stone caches to prevent these wild 'looters' and also be a way to nerf the piles of meat that build up after a bear or moose kill. Force users to have a strategy for care of meat/food outdoors. Also create a feeling of the wildlife messing with you when you aren't around. It could be accomplished by just having a % of outdoor food items vanish over time with drag marks and/or paw prints left behind. Or even convert them into 'scavenger scraps' that are inedible by the player but maybe still usable as bait.

Might also lead to a crafting item that lets you build a food storage up in a tree...

Edited yesterday at 03:03 PM by Sherri

[Semple Fi]

8 minutes ago, Sherri said:

I think a really great addition would be to have them steal any food items left out in the snow when the user is away from the area.

Great idea!