Multi-player in Blackfrost

[Termin8or_2000]

More of a question than a post: I know from the steam page that this new game will obviously feature multiplayer, but also will be perfectly playable solo. My question is, will it be almost a rust-like experience, where playing solo is just PVE, but attempting to play with others  forces you into a large multiplayer server? I'm extremely excited for this game, just a little worried. I understand that solo will for sure be completely thought out, as to cut that section short would let down such a large amount of the player base, but I'm also hopeful that things like two-player co op will be completely thought out as well. I don't want to be in a one hundred player server battling for resources with people I don't know, I just want to live out the quiet apocalypse with a friend or two. So to reiterate, will small multiplayer (2-3 people) be just as thought out, playable, and fun, as solo or large player servers?

[ehevutov]

This game could go so many ways. For instance, there could be A.I. players and what you control is a group of A.I. players; not just you playing a single player. Maybe your friends can "hot drop" in to one of your games? Seems immersion breaking. Maybe they don't want it to be as immersive as TLD though?

[Termin8or_2000]

2 minutes ago, ehevutov said:

This game could go so many ways. For instance, there could be A.I. players and what you control is a group of A.I. players; not just you playing a single player. Maybe your friends can "hot drop" in to one of your games? Seems immersion breaking. Maybe they don't want it to be as immersive as TLD though?

I guess we'll just have to see, though I hope they don't go with the route of you controlling a group of character's- just seems really immersion breaking.

[hozz1235]

Quote

As solo players, decide how much you’ll learn to live with NPC survivor communities struggling to find their way in this harsh world.

 

[Termin8or_2000]

1 hour ago, hozz1235 said:

 

I am fully confident in hinterlands ability to make both solo and massive multiplayer serves fun, but a small multiplayer player game of 2-3 people is just something I’m unsure about.

[kb_friesen]

The biggest thing for me is private servers. I want to be able to survive with a group of my buddies, us against the world, without griefers or hackers ruining immersion. Though if they do things right, I could see this community pulling off cool roleplaying servers... 

[Lexilogo]

1 hour ago, Termin8or_2000 said:

I am fully confident in hinterlands ability to make both solo and massive multiplayer serves fun, but a small multiplayer player game of 2-3 people is just something I’m unsure about.

Could I ask why? From my POV, a small multiplayer game of 2-4 people is my sweet spot for survival games if I want to do multiplayer. And it's a good sweet spot that can fairly easily allow for translation to solo play. I really don't have the patience for Rust-likes at all

[Termin8or_2000]

 

3 hours ago, Lexilogo said:

Could I ask why? From my POV, a small multiplayer game of 2-4 people is my sweet spot for survival games if I want to do multiplayer. And it's a good sweet spot that can fairly easily allow for translation to solo play. I really don't have the patience for Rust-likes at all

No like I WANT to play with 2-4 people, rust sucks, I just hope that playing with a small amount of people will be possible, and just as thought out as solo or massive multiplayer serves.

Edited December 13, 2024 by Termin8or_2000

[Termin8or_2000]

4 hours ago, kb_friesen said:

The biggest thing for me is private servers. I want to be able to survive with a group of my buddies, us against the world, without griefers or hackers ruining immersion. Though if they do things right, I could see this community pulling off cool roleplaying servers... 

Absolutely agree

[FrozenRat]

Either way, I have faith it'll be well done if not right away then eventually! I would love for private and open servers to be a thing, but as I'm currently unaware of the people limit so I don't know how things will be but I'll likely be happy with a group of at least 4 people but something akin to red dead online I would LOVE as I love red dead

[Rusty]

I’m quietly hoping for something like players having a particular instance of the game that they can either play solo or invite some limited number of others (I agree 2-4 sounds like a sweet spot) to drop into. Managing items could get tricky but I think not impossible to make work. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Hinterland implements it. 

[FrozenRat]

15 hours ago, Rusty said:

I’m quietly hoping for something like players having a particular instance of the game that they can either play solo or invite some limited number of others (I agree 2-4 sounds like a sweet spot) to drop into. Managing items could get tricky but I think not impossible to make work. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Hinterland implements it. 

That's probably how it's going to go down honestly, but maybe we should check the trailer and see how many people are around the fire?

[duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuusty]

Definitely prefer drop-in/drop-out cooperative play with small-scale lobbies, but I'm also hoping for a more generous player limit. An unlimited lobby size is unrealistic to expect, but I haaate introducing a game to my friend group and realizing it'll only accommodate four of them at the most.

[Koruandthistle]

I definitely don't think it's fun to have big open servers, I get stressed out with random folks. I'd prefer to play with 3 other friends and meet NPCs in the world as needed, etc. Excited to see what they come up with.

[ThePancakeLady]

Yeah, I prefer singleplayer, and the rare times I play co-op in any game that has it, I do not play with randos, and I do not play any PvP servers. I really dislike edgelords joining the server and griefing everyone already on it. Only family members or close friends I can trust not to do anything but goof off (unless we mutually decide we want to just goof off). Since they are releasing this only on Steam to start, I think it's likely they will use Steam servers, and I am not sure what capacity (how many players) they let the devs set the server to. Makes sense to use Steam servers to start, rather than going through the time, effort and expense of setting up and maintaining their own, until HL can see how many people are playing co-op, what server size is most popular, and get their feedback on how it's set up and what they like/dislike. 

Edited Thursday at 12:32 PM by ThePancakeLady
Typonese, always typonese.

[AFSStudio]

I think for sure the different for both games are time consume and discipline. There is no way to put processing time on multiplayer. And imagine discipline kind of that for the exchange. Something that I don't experience in any other videogames. I hope they have some really good idea.

[ManicManiac]

On 1/8/2025 at 7:58 PM, ThePancakeLady said:

Yeah, I prefer singleplayer, and the rare times I play co-op in any game that has it, I do not play with randos, and I do not play any PvP servers. I really dislike edgelords joining the server and griefing everyone already on it.  Only family members or close friends...

^ 100% Yes.  This is right on target for me too.
I don't play video games to have deal with other people's nonsense.
I play games to escape from other people's nonsense.  

Edited Friday at 07:13 AM by ManicManiac

[Supernova36]

I'd like it if when you spawn in with friends your spawn in completely different areas and you have to find each other, maybe spawning in with two way radios that are affected by the weather. finding radio tower/firewatch stations that allow communication from further away, kinda like a we were here type of communication system on top of the harsh survival of the long dark. I think then there would still be an aspect of loneliness maybe even stronger then the long darks at times knowing friends are out there but unable to contact them like running out of batteries or sheltering deep in a cave would feel so isolating and the relief of finding a signal and being able to check in would be so cathartic.

anyway this is a energy and feeling of gameplay I've had since I first played the long dark on the Xbox preview

I even emailed hinterland about it at some point early in development lol 

[ThePancakeLady]

11 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

^ 100% Yes.  This is right on target for me too.
I don't play video games to have deal with other people's nonsense.
I play games to escape from other people's nonsense.  

Just to make sure folks noticed- I edited my original post, which apparently the quote did not update to show- PvP, not PvE. I don't have issues with having to deal with NPC/ bot opponents, but I do have issues with dealing with people who just drop into servers while running every cheat they can, just to ruin the day of everyone playing in good faith. Grim Dawn's co-op option deals fairly well with this- if the person hosting the server is using mods, everyone who joins the server has to be using the same mod or mods- so no one has an unfair advantage or ability to just gank everyone and steal their BIS gear or socketables. Different genre (hack & slash aRPG vs. tRPG/ Survival RPG), but the "everyone has to be running the same vanilla game version and the same mods" setup prevents *most* shenanigans.

[ManicManiac]

@ThePancakeLady
I updated my post that quoted yours.

[J.W.P]

On 12/13/2024 at 12:44 AM, Termin8or_2000 said:

More of a question than a post: I know from the steam page that this new game will obviously feature multiplayer, but also will be perfectly playable solo. My question is, will it be almost a rust-like experience, where playing solo is just PVE, but attempting to play with others  forces you into a large multiplayer server? I'm extremely excited for this game, just a little worried. I understand that solo will for sure be completely thought out, as to cut that section short would let down such a large amount of the player base, but I'm also hopeful that things like two-player co op will be completely thought out as well. I don't want to be in a one hundred player server battling for resources with people I don't know, I just want to live out the quiet apocalypse with a friend or two. So to reiterate, will small multiplayer (2-3 people) be just as thought out, playable, and fun, as solo or large player servers?

I agree