Fears, Needs, Exploration and Immersion

[Leonard87]

I think that even the stalker mode is to easy. i think that the immersive atmosphere of the game is based on a few concepts involved. Some are player-wise and some are protagonist-wise. The combination does it.

player-wise factors are:

A1 exploration and memorizing the evironment (maps)

A2 planning (trips, supply & place to sleep)

A3 short-term fear/threat (wolfs & bears (& weather))

(A4 Collecting)

protagonist-wise:

B1 basic needs (hunger, thirst, tiredness, warmth)

B2 skills (crafting, fire etc)

B3 Collections ( Collecting is also a player-wise joy, but i think it belongs to the protagonist as equipment does from this point of view. Here it is something the protagonist has, not me)

Basically inscreased execution of A1, A2, B2 and B3 and decreased A3 makes satisfying B1 easier with time and breaks immersion. Although, but not as decisive, B3 decreases with time because of consumption of not renewable world-items.

My point is: At some point you basically know the maps (ca. 15 - 25 hours), so A1 is no ambition anymore. On the other hand B3 and B2 increases automatically while playing. At some point A3 poses no threat anymore, so A2 is no need anymore. And i think this happens relativly fast and breaks immersion. Then it is much more gamey and repetitive than immersive survival because 'A's are no more involved. Let's say this happens within 7 to 21 in-game days.

Actually A1 could only be prevented from breaking if the maps were generic or consisted of like 8 tiles re-arranged around a centric tile, where the tiles store probably relations between objects (hills, trees and the like). This would renew A1, re-strengthen the need of A2 and harden an increase of B3. Probably this would require too much effort at this stage of the game and programming. Of course, if you played very long and B3 (because of extensive A4) is relevantly decreased, you have to do A2 again. But more of a light variant of it than the fearsome one in the beginning of a game.

Actually i think that beginning a (sandbox-)game is the most immersive part of this game and the most fun. I don't know what could in my point of view prevent this immersion-break after a few hours. I think the only mid-/long-term threat is running out of world-items. Other threats are short-term like a wolf or bad weather. This is why hypothermia with the long recovering needed points in the right direction. Maybe the weather should be more predictable but has severer impacts like 6-day blizzards. Maybe as an in-game event "Great Blizzard" unrelated to the weather system or something like that which happens from time to time. So that there is a constant mid-term fear with the need of storing items somewhere warm, while satisfying the needs you have at the moment. This would make the environment more antagonistic and make it more on par with the wolves. But i can't be constructive there because i don't know a simple solution for this. Probably mid-term fears should become more decisive as short-term fears decrease after, say, 7 in-game days. Maybe also this: long trips are really needed while there are no houses or some kind of indoor-object on an expedition map. But this is not an Alpha-Wish-List Post

After all this is complaining about first world problems. I like this game very much. Especially beginning a new game

[Kraelman]

Adding a win condition and playing with self imposed challenges is how I keep it fresh. Try doing a run where you don't ever enter a building, always outside and exposed. The runs I play like that I do a 50 day win condition, where I have to go to the top of signal hill and light a flare at noon to flag down a passing helicopter for rescue.