build stuff/bury stuff

[Marmo]

Bearing in mind how big Minecraft is I would like to be able to build your own cabin. Also, how about a shovel so we can bury the dead/dig for stuff?

[DarkUncleBoh]

Bearing in mind how big Minecraft is...

Sorry, but this feels like a horrid statement. TLD is not, and is not trying to be, a Minecraft like game -- and while I'm sure it would gain many new followers if it did move in that direction, it would also probably lose many if not most of those it already has.

For what it is worth, I personally am in favor of the ability to build small outdoor structures (I'd like to see the ability to construct a lean-to) - as well as the capability to bury the dead... but don't really care for the idea of building anything as large as a cabin. There are plenty of other games that combine survival with building mechanisms - much of what makes TLD so special is that it isn't one of them.

[SteveP]

Bearing in mind how big Minecraft is I would like to be able to build your own cabin. Also, how about a shovel so we can bury the dead/dig for stuff?

The original version of the game envisioned building snow shelters; it was in the menus. It may have been abandoned later for technical cost reasons, software component limitations (external?)

To be completely frank, I think there might be a few systemic QA issues that lengthen the test cycle and which might be addressed by several techniques for instrumentation of code, recovery of save files for lab analysis and other tricks of the QA trade. It's not a failure of the QA staff to act within their defined roles, it's more of a Technical Director need. The best reference I can think of is the MS Press book Writing Solid Code which covers such tricks as memory fill patterns and finding wild data references. Lint was another great validation tool for discovering pointer abuse or dereferencing local (transient) data. Debug [glow=red]validation of data[/glow]is also handy when code can be compiled using the assert macro. The bane of transient bugs is unrelated code or data changes can mask or move things around making detection the primary goal. The reason I suggest this is that certain rendering components are third party so a temptation is to dismiss problems as "not my problem". In such a case one needs to narrow down the problem to a small repeatable data set and work with the third-party high level support to resolve the problem or identify the limitation or error in data.

I think adding a shovel and broad axe for hewing trees and logs, a sledge, craftable fishing gill nets, snares and pits, more critters and more uses for the forge, would all be great features. I wonder how long we can ask the game investors to let the devs stay on this release? Interviews have indicated plans for Spring, Summer and Fall Seasonal sequel versions of the game; that's how successful and popular TLD is.

I don't think the problem is a lack of desire to incorporate new features; maybe it's just lacking some new ideas or a new hand. I like using the meta-learning approach to solving problems. There is an endless source of ideas out there; it's a trick to refine the best using Google search terms to prune for the right ones!

I truly hope these ideas are useful. Forgive my diversion into the arcane world of software development & QA. I hope it is also insightful to all parties! :ugeek: