One Pronounced Problem and Some Considerations

[Lord Mord]

Having played the game for over four hours now, I find the most glaring blemish to be how I have died from performing an action (boiling water, cutting meat, etc.) outside, presumably from freezing or another status. Ideally, a player may fail often, but the failure is fair and one may learn from it, because the factors that determine failure are consistent. Falling from a certain height will always result in an injury, running will always draw more attention from predators than walking, etc., etc. I feel that keeling over after harvesting a kill undermines both the player's common sense (I expected the character to stop an action if on the brink of death) and compromises the consistency of the game's fairness because it's impossible to determine how the weather will change in the middle of an action and it is not possible to exactly determine how much time one has to spend outside before freezing to death. My recommendation would be to

1. Warn the player when their condition reaches a certain percentage during an action, or;

2. Display the condition & statuses when an action is being performed.

[Fluffy]

Hmm... when I am harvesting a kill there's always a 'cancel' button in the centre of the screen whilst I'm performing the actions. On the bottom right of the screen condition messages flash up such as 'cold', 'freezing', 'thirsty', 'dehydrated', 'tired' and 'exhausted'. I can listen out for wind and predators whilst I'm harvesting too, so I know about other dangers.

I can keep an eye on all these things and hit the 'cancel' button whenever I start to become concerned. If you can't see a cancel button on your version then it might be a bug!

I've noticed that there isn't a cancel option when harvesting plants or lighting fires though - I'm guessing that's supposed to happen because you're concentrating too much on what you're doing to notice danger?

[Lord Mord]

Hmm... when I am harvesting a kill there's always a 'cancel' button in the centre of the screen whilst I'm performing the actions. On the bottom right of the screen condition messages flash up such as 'cold', 'freezing', 'thirsty', 'dehydrated', 'tired' and 'exhausted'. I can listen out for wind and predators whilst I'm harvesting too, so I know about other dangers.

I can keep an eye on all these things and hit the 'cancel' button whenever I start to become concerned. If you can't see a cancel button on your version then it might be a bug!

I've noticed that there isn't a cancel option when harvesting plants or lighting fires though - I'm guessing that's supposed to happen because you're concentrating too much on what you're doing to notice danger?

There is a cancel button, but without clear feedback on my condition % it's difficult to determine when to cancel. Also I've yet to hear a predator while performing an action, though I have been ambushed by a wolf immediately after harvesting. In my opinion the pace at which time progresses during an action is too quick to react effectively without clearer feedback.

And indeed, there is no cancel button for fires or sleeping, which can be frustrating if in danger with the former and if oversleeping with the latter. I hope as you suggest it isn't a deliberate design choice, because I do believe this is an issue that can cheat the player out of a play through.

[Lord Mord]

As far as the flash up messages are concerned, they're helpful but they don't substitute being able to see the condition %. If the player character can look it up with the tap of a button, it seems reasonable that it should appear on screen during situations where one is especially vulnerable.

[JoseyWales]

Well noob..[glow=blue]JK[/glow]

It takes some time and exploring to get yourself outfitted to survive for the long haul.

[Bill Tarling]

condition % ... it seems reasonable that it should appear on screen during situations where one is especially vulnerable.

Seems like a reasonable thought, and would make players more responsible for not backing out of activities on time when they decide to select huge quantities to process [e.g. foraging, water, etc.] rather than doing it in steps. Would put more onus on them if they see the condition drop, and just let it run anyhow.

[Fluffy]

I just tried this out for myself, because I couldn't remember whether the condition % was displayed during harvesting or not. I waited until I was almost dehydrated, and then harvested a frozen deer using a knife (because it takes longer) and watched to see what happened:

The condition percentage is displayed on-screen in the very bottom right-hand corner. It's just below the description 'dehydrated', and there's a 'cancel' button in the centre of the screen. So it looks as though the feedback is there, but you have to know where to look for it.

[snegec]

The problem is also, earlier builds had a clock, the latest one doesn't appear to have one, even though there's an option in options to display it in 12 or 24hour format.

Since I started a new game, before I was on a 107 day long survival, the time of day is displayed in the format of:

- XXX hours of daylight left

- XXX hours of nighttime left

- ??? hours of daylight left

- ??? hours of nighttime left

Really killed the atmosphere of knowing that melting 1kg of snow is going to take 20minutes and boiling it will take 6.

[Lord Mord]

I just tried this out for myself, because I couldn't remember whether the condition % was displayed during harvesting or not... The condition percentage is displayed on-screen in the very bottom right-hand corner... So it looks as though the feedback is there, but you have to know where to look for it.

You're correct, it would appear I jumped the gun on my criticism. That being said, some refinement to make it more obvious would have been helpful. Live and learn, I guess.