My wish list

[bloodismetal]

I'm quite new to TLD, and I am already hooked. Big time. I've seen quite a few suggestions on the wish list forum and thought I'd put in my two-cents.

1. It's been mentioned over, and over, but a "hand-drawn" map that automatically fills in as you explore (and maybe gets more accurate as you continue exploring an area). Maybe have it set to a hotkey, but not on-screen. A compass would be helpful too, but not really necessary.

2. The ability to find and read books/journals to get more background lore on the "event", and possibly gain more crafting recipes, which goes into the next wish.

3. The ability to craft stone tools like a hand ax, a basic knife, a fishing pole, a spear, a permanent bonfire pit, equipment upgrades etc. Maybe have the ability to build a basic shelter as well, and as your crafting ability goes up (through experience or reading) you gain the ability to make better tools and semi-permanent/permanent shelters. Also the ability to craft different bags, water skins, quivers or a sled to help carry more supplies as you explore, or snow shoes to help increase travel speed/reduce fatigue would be cool too. I know people tend to like the sparseness of the game, but in a real, long-term survival situation, wouldn't these be things people would actually try to create? I've seen this sort of thing in "The Forest" on Steam and, while making gigantic forts would be ridiculous, I like the idea of being able to use the environment to create more (without the damned cannibals obviously) since scavenging will only take you so far.

4. I know others have beat this to death, but I agree that some character animations (instead of ghostly floating lanterns, rifles, etc.) will be fantastic. A character model in the menu that shows the character and the equipped clothing would be kinda cool too. Maybe even show some damage to the gear as condition goes down, or scars as wounds are accrued and healed.

5. Some more animal variety and loot offerings. The big one I saw, that I thought was perfect, was someone mentioning raccoons that could be used to made coonskin caps.

6. The ability to manipulate items in the world would be cool too. If you dump a bunch of skins on the ground, it'd be nice to be able to move them up on the table. Or use shelves to store food cans. I know it's a minor gripe but being able to take a can of peaches off the shelf, and not be able to put them back, is a little annoying.

I'm sure there's more I'll come up with later, but this should suffice for now. I know there's a lot here to ask for, but I really think it would add some real depth to long-term survival. Bottom line, I think this is a fantastic game concept. Ever since I found this game in the Xbox marketplace, all I could think of is...MORE. I don't know about anyone else, but I will gladly contribute more $$$ to help develop and expand this game further. Keep up the good work Hinterland!

[sir ice]

pro: I WANT TO READ INFO! it would be awesome. it would be best if the devs asked real journalists to write these magazines and stuff.

con: crafting weapons. to easyyyyyyy. searching for a weapon is tense and makes the game fun.

[Maninpants]

I agree with Numbers 2,3,5 and 6 nice ideas

1 - If we are given a map that develops by itself, I want to be able to turn the whole map feature OFF. I do not want it. The best part of this game was when trying to get my own bearings. Knowing that I successfully mapped out Mystery Lake was a pretty funky feeling and it also made the game seem more real. I got an A4 piece of lined paper (all I could find) and after 3 attempts and a lot of walking, I eventually got it pretty spot on.

I was so annoyed at myself when I downloaded maps for Coastal Highway + Pleasant Valley as it took away ALL of the exploring & discovery, (I did this before the bow and arrow were available and I was low low low on ammo and desperate).

So although it would be a brilliant feature (and I like the fact it could slowly get more detailed) personally I think it might take away surprise elements of the game rather than add something.

I would however like a really simple version of Paint though, and we ourselves draw out the map with some in-game paper and a pensil/pen etc. Maybe it fades over time and we could find some laminate or something to protect it (or we constatly re-draw it)?

4 - It would be good but I'd rather have the story and PLENTY (20+) more areas as 3 areas are already warn out

[kamajutsu]

Interesting ideas!

I think they should add a "stone" as another ground item, similar to "sticks". You can then build a stone campfire (maybe requiring 6 stones or something) which would increase the duration of the fire, and can be rekindled multiple times.

Stones could also be used to sharpen tools (repair), such as the hunting knife for example, stone arrowheads, and (maybe) it could be throwable to piss animals off

[bloodismetal]

I agree with Numbers 2,3,5 and 6 nice ideas

1 - If we are given a map that develops by itself, I want to be able to turn the whole map feature OFF. I do not want it. The best part of this game was when trying to get my own bearings. Knowing that I successfully mapped out Mystery Lake was a pretty funky feeling and it also made the game seem more real. I got an A4 piece of lined paper (all I could find) and after 3 attempts and a lot of walking, I eventually got it pretty spot on.

I was so annoyed at myself when I downloaded maps for Coastal Highway + Pleasant Valley as it took away ALL of the exploring & discovery, (I did this before the bow and arrow were available and I was low low low on ammo and desperate).

So although it would be a brilliant feature (and I like the fact it could slowly get more detailed) personally I think it might take away surprise elements of the game rather than add something.

I would however like a really simple version of Paint though, and we ourselves draw out the map with some in-game paper and a pensil/pen etc. Maybe it fades over time and we could find some laminate or something to protect it (or we constatly re-draw it)?

4 - It would be good but I'd rather have the story and PLENTY (20+) more areas as 3 areas are already warn out

Being able to turn off the map function would be PERFECT. It gives players the option to increase the difficulty at their discretion. I've seen lots of people that have actually grabbed some paper and a pencil and created their own maps and, while that is really cool, not everyone really has the artistic chops for cartography. Also, while in one way this kinda immerses you in the experience in one way, having to put down the game to keep going back to your pencil an paper would take me out of the experience too. But that's just me. Having the option, one way or the other, I think would help everyone experience the game however they want.

I also agree that, toss up between more realistic animations/UI and more story and expanded environments, I'll take the story and environments any day. I like the suggestion that some people have brought up about being able to explore the plane crash site. That would be pretty epic.

Edit: I also retract any support of the compass. Being a geomagnetic event would probably negate any compass use and I think it just adds to the cool challenge of the game.