Thought this game was FireWatch! Lol - here's my feedback

[Lamoi]

I actually thought FireWatch and this game were the same game! Have to admit they are very similar even the 'Ranger Tower' is almost identical to the one in FireWatch!! Although FireWatch is on PS4 and is not out yet...

I got this game on Xbox One, and I love it, i looooooove the music and atmosphere. It's a surprisingly sophisticated experience, the little details, even down to the blood trails you leave if attacked by a wolf.

Things I would like to see improved or changed are as follows:

1) I would love for the games graphics to be improved so to look more like FireWatch, and to be able to see your body, hands, feets etc.

Here's FireWatch trailer -

You can see the art style is very similar.

2) I would love to have all indoor locations to be realtime, doors, windows (like the Ranger tower) with no load times. It's really useful to be able to see outside the window!

3) be good if there was a basic jump/climb

4) be good if saving was a bit more reliable. When I save it saves the location but sometimes it resets all the items I've found, and the location is reset as well, cupboards, drawers that I've already searched get reset. . . ?

[Bill Tarling]

Welcome to the forum

1) I would love for the games graphics to be improved so to look more like FireWatch, and to be able to see your body, hands, feets etc. You can see the art style is very similar.

The Long Dark was out long before Firewatch was even announced... the art style is intentional, and part of the experience. It won't be changed to copy or look like another game.

2) I would love to have all indoor locations to be realtime, doors, windows (like the Ranger tower) with no load times. It's really useful to be able to see outside the window!

As has already been discussed throughout the forums and interviews, the towers are crafted as part of the landscape, but you can't do that with every building without also running a much higher payload, as well as rendering reuse of buildings non-functional.

It would also delay and restrict a lot of the programming having to recraft the same building for every repeated use. The reuse of loadable buildings saves a lot of programming time, costs, debugging, and easier management.

3) be good if there was a basic jump/climb

Again, issue has been covered for over a year, and explained why it would require rebuilding every map, zone, and many connected mechanics as well.

You can read part of the studio response here:

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=5133#p30484

Bethany can also likely point to the Reddit Q&A with Raph commenting on why jumping isn't planned.

4) be good if saving was a bit more reliable. When I save it saves the location but sometimes it resets all the items I've found, and the location is reset as well, cupboards, drawers that I've already searched get reset. . . ?

If you're playing using a previous save (from a game started from an older version) then yes there will be chances of glitches like that. The devs can sometimes spare some time to try fixing old save versions, but given the game is in alpha it's best to start a fresh game to avoid such issues.

And yes I know players don't want to give up long runs, but that run is also over once you die, so the studio can only afford to spend limited time fixing bugs which are only in old version saves, and not in the clean current version.

SIDE NOTE: Thanks for the reminder about Firewatch - I tagged it in my notes last year to see how the game progresses, and had forgotten to look up how it's coming along

[Lamoi]

I didn't mean for them to simply 'copy' FireWatch- I was meaning that it has more solid, polished looking visuals. My hope then is that eventually the Long Dark would have better, more crisp, sharper visuals, smoother frame rates, shorter load times (although the Load times are actually not too bad at mo) etc.

That's a real shame about the indoor environments!! As not only is it more immersive, but practical as well, given that you can see outside, to see weather change, animals (wolves!) etc. Shame.

[sim6mon]

2) I would love to have all indoor locations to be realtime, doors, windows (like the Ranger tower) with no load times. It's really useful to be able to see outside the window!

As has already been discussed throughout the forums and interviews, the towers are crafted as part of the landscape, but you can't do that with every building without also running a much higher payload, as well as rendering reuse of buildings non-functional.

It would also delay and restrict a lot of the programming having to recraft the same building for every repeated use. The reuse of loadable buildings saves a lot of programming time, costs, debugging, and easier management.

Maybe, a useful game mechanic would be a form of interaction with the window. Simply clicking to check whats going on outside. A short info on fog/snow/blizzard would be great. It would save some effort of going on downstairs, through the door to check on wheather, going back to the building - then upstairs and resting again.

[octavian]

Maybe, a useful game mechanic would be a form of interaction with the window. Simply clicking to check whats going on outside. A short info on fog/snow/blizzard would be great. It would save some effort of going on downstairs, through the door to check on wheather, going back to the building - then upstairs and resting again.

That's already in the game. If ??? hours of daylight/darkness remaining you know it's at least fog outside. If you can hear the wind too, it's a blizzard. If the number of hours is shown and you hear the wind outside, it's not a blizzard, just gale.

[bethany]

Thanks for the notes and feedback, and I'm glad to hear you're enjoying the game.

Firewatch looks very interesting to me as well. I look forward to seeing what Camp Santo comes up with! One of my favourite things about video games is seeing how different studios approach mechanics, art styles, music...Seeing the differences and personal touches are really exciting to me, and I think they're probably what makes this creative space so special to me. Games obviously draw inspiration from one another, and that's another thing that makes the process so incredible -- Just knowing that you could be a part of something that inspired another creative endeavor. I'm not speaking specifically to Firewatch here, just games in general!

The community seems to have covered a lot of your other points, but please let me know if you have any more questions. I'd be more than happy to help if I can!

Welcome to the forums, Lamoi (and sim6mon)!