Glacier Location/Environment

[jackattack]

This has come up before in passing (did a search for due diligence), but maybe it's worth a thread of its own.

A glacier.

This might be a great centerpiece for a future map, as it could provide some unique features without breaking the theme of the game.

For one thing, the glacier itself would be devoid of most resources, so no gathering wood or mushrooms or moss while you are on it. Carcasses might be an uncommon item.

I think it would be cool if the surface of the glacier was a maze. Because the character can't jump, the maze doesn't actually need walls, just a very uneven surface with preset trails to get through. Water below the glacier might be a maze of ice floes with a few icebergs.

Just to keep it from being a total waste resource-wise, there might be fissures or ice caves, places where the character can walk down (and back up, but maybe not on the same path) and take shelter. If there are multiple fissures/caves, there might be a random drop (kind of like the bunkers) where someone stashed (or died with) some supplies.

If the surrounding terrain is composed strategically, resource drops (groves of rose hips, dead falls with lots of firewood, rabbit runs, etc.) might be visible across the glacier, tempting players to cross it multiple times. Limiting movement on each side of the glacier with narrow ledges might also require players to think about which path to risk taking. (Cliffside ledges might also allow views of the glacier surface from an angle where paths through the maze can be picked out.)

Don't know if this is doable, but here goes. There might be a zone (possibly split into several areas) where the glacier "calves". (Right term?) When the character enters that zone, the game would start a random countdown before playing a LOUD ice cracking noise and putting up a text warning. The character would then have a short period of time to get out of the zone before ice falls, everybody dies. If there are item drops in the zone (including "containers" like corpses and carcasses and backpacks) they disappear. (If there are multiple items in the zone, taking one might trigger the event, requiring the player to decide whether to risk taking more items before running for their life.)

The calving effect doesn't necessarily have to be represented graphically. Since it would be triggered by the character, it doesn't need to be seen from any other vantage point on the map. If the character doesn't exit the zone in time, the character dies. If the character does exit the zone in time, crossing the edge of the zone could trigger big noise and a brief whiteout (and removal of any items in the zone) but no actual change to the landscape.

On the other hand, could the calving zone(s) be rendered as large "ice items" on top of (and hiding) a finished "post-calving" landscape (water with ice floes and icebergs)? The character wouldn't need to walk on the ice items, just to or near the edge (which could be "protected" with an impassable terrain lip). When the ice item disappears (obscured by brief whiteout) the post-calving landscape is revealed. No animation necessary.

And just for fun, the bears on this map are polar bears.