Feedback after first few playthroughs

[matter]

I apologize in advance if some of this is duplicated, I didn't want to read other reports to avoid spoilers.

I've played to my demise about 5 times now, longest I made it was ~2.5 days, shortest was a couple of hours. The only way I've died is by wolf.

Issues/oddities/thoughts:

- I generally like the UI as-is, however the one issue I have is it not pausing when I open it. This is only really an issue if I get attacked by a wolf and need to get something in my inventory quickly, and then I really notice the sorting of the inventory, two clicks to get to it, and then having to escape back out. I think either pausing it, or if that doesn't work for other reasons then some way to quickly switch to items would be nice.

- Wolf attacks are instant death without a weapon, and the one time I had a crowbar I still died, but it was my first time fighting a wolf. Not sure if it's supposed to be this hard, although I guess it's realistic.

- Went into the dam twice, and was killed by a wolf both times. The first time I hadn't checked all the rooms and was attacked, but the 2nd time I checked all the rooms (fool me twice and all that) to make sure they were empty, but was still attacked by a wolf. They can open the front door?

- I think both soda and food should help with thirst, just in varying amounts (a significant amount of our water comes from food intake normally).

- Calories in general seem a bit extreme, and it's assuming that when I run out of food I'm dead within a few hours, which isn't very realistic. Normally I could go without food for days if not > 1 week, I'd feel like crap and lose weight, but I wouldn't die as long as I had water. That would obviously be worse in a cold environment, but I'm assuming I start out reasonably healthy, and 20% body fat on a normal man is a lot of stored energy I could use instead of food (roughly 100k calories in stored fat!). It would actually be an interesting addition to track my weight (or some proxy that isn't a number) over time as I burn off that, and as I burn it all off I need more and more food to survive. Obviously you'd need to speed that up or else hunger isn't a real threat.

- With the exception of the calories issue above, the balance between the various ways I suffer (cold, thirst, fatigue, hunger) seems right, but I do think it's dialed too extremely to survive for long enough to do anything other than survive. Unlike Don't Starve, which has a similar vibe, there's no way that I've found to get ahead in any of these areas, they pretty much always go down, and therefore you're constantly in scavenge mode just to stay even. If you make a wrong turn and go to an area without anything to scavenge, or find a location that is isolated and requires lots of travel you're probably going to be mostly dead by the time you get back to base. This is made worse because carrying more stuff makes you more fatigued (or at least it seems to). Maybe if the hunger thing was adjusted this wouldn't be so bad, because I don't feel like I'm short and need to scavenge constantly for anything other than food, so I could do other things if I wasn't looking for that. (Maybe it's actually a lot like Don't Starve, as that's the only real threat.)

- In my opinion, I would remove the wind speed meter and rely instead on visual and audio cues, which are excellent, to convey that information. It also removes the trick of sitting indoors watching that to see if the blizzard died down.

- I don't personally like the clickfest of fighting wolves, because I physically can't click that quickly and so don't do that well on it. Maybe make the decay slower, or have a hold and release method?

- The manufacturer of the can openers should be shot. Making can openers degrade is fine, but it seems to be too much so. This is probably exacerbated by the food issue mentioned above.

- I'd love to see a weather pattern with heavy snow that limits visibility but without the wind. I grew up in upstate NY and this was pretty common.

- Blizzards should erase footprints.

- Would be nice to see different types of snow on the ground. For instance, blizzard with wind creates very hard packed powder that you can generally walk on easily, but blizzard without wind creates powder that's very tiring to walk through until some time has passed, or wind compresses it. Similarly, open areas are more likely to be compressed than areas next to trees/rocks/etc, which cut the wind.

- Would be neat if temp varied more by location (e.g., in sun v. shade, valley v.exposed rock v. on frozen lake) and also wind could be mitigated by cover, like behind a rock.

- Given that they kill me all the time I shouldn't be asking for this, but the paths that wolves follow is typically so predictable that they're too easy to avoid if you see them. They also don't really see you unless they're pretty close.

- Walking over tiny obstacles, like a board half embedded in snow, should be possible.

Hope this helps, and I am loving the game so far. The first night I spent in the watchtower during a blizzard and it was pitch black everywhere was nearly as awesome as after the blizzard stopped and the stars came out.

[TattooedMac]

Im going to delve into only a couple of these. A lot of them are more for the Devs and feedback to them, so . . . .

Would be neat if temp varied more by location (e.g., in sun v. shade, valley v.exposed rock v. on frozen lake) and also wind could be mitigated by cover, like behind a rock.

This does happen. If you get closer to the rock face, and out of the wind, you will see warmer appear in the bottom left, then you move out, you will see colder in appear in the bottom left.

Same with the wind howling at 100kms/hr or 20kms/hr, you notice your warmth metre drop quicker in the 100kms/hr wind.

So there isn't a need for tuning here, because this works as designed.

Given that they kill me all the time I shouldn't be asking for this, but the paths that wolves follow is typically so predictable that they're too easy to avoid if you see them. They also don't really see you unless they're pretty close.

The Devs are forever fine tuning the Wolf/Deer behaviour. Its something they are working on every build, trying new things, then putting them back the next build, so you will see changes almost every build with this.

Would be nice to see different types of snow on the ground. For instance, blizzard with wind creates very hard packed powder that you can generally walk on easily, but blizzard without wind creates powder that's very tiring to walk through until some time has passed, or wind compresses it. Similarly, open areas are more likely to be compressed than areas next to trees/rocks/etc, which cut the wind.

This is on their todo list and looking into it.

In my opinion, I would remove the wind speed meter and rely instead on visual and audio cues, which are excellent, to convey that information. It also removes the trick of sitting indoors watching that to see if the blizzard died down.

This is something that we have debated on for hours (a lot in the Pre-Alpha build) but in the ned, its a speed metre only, it doesn't show direction or anything else, but does give good idea of speed, and not being able to look outside, once inside, this is a medium to know that speed, without having to go out, get load screen, then go back in, get a load screen.

Calories in general seem a bit extreme, and it's assuming that when I run out of food I'm dead within a few hours, which isn't very realistic.

Well this doesn't actually happen. You will only die when your % gets to 0(zero) and to get to 0 you need to be totally fatigued, dehydrated 100%, 100% cold as well as no calories. If you die of a lack of food, then something is wrong and a bug report needs to be submitted, but I think you might not be reading the HUD properly.

I think both soda and food should help with thirst, just in varying amounts (a significant amount of our water comes from food intake normally).

I agree, and again the Devs are forever thinking and fine tuning things in the Alpha

Wolf attacks are instant death without a weapon, and the one time I had a crowbar I still died, but it was my first time fighting a wolf. Not sure if it's supposed to be this hard, although I guess it's realistic.

As you have mentioned below, wolf attacks are not instant death. This is something again the Devs are looking into, but the LMB/RMB action is the way to kill them off. I have got out of a attack with 73% left, bandaged up, popped pills, and slept for 6hrs and I was right to go into the world again.

Went into the dam twice, and was killed by a wolf both times. The first time I hadn't checked all the rooms and was attacked, but the 2nd time I checked all the rooms (fool me twice and all that) to make sure they were empty, but was still attacked by a wolf. They can open the front door?

It could of been in there before the Blackout. The door could of been open and then clod=sed in the wind after it went in there.

This isn't about HOW it got in there, the point is, its in there and you need to kill it to move on. Means you need to collect Antibiotics before you go there, so you can treat the wound and not die of Blood Poisoning. Still you now know its in there, so stalk around with a Flare and you will see it, and it will hesitate, because you have a flare lit.

So all in all, this is a Alpha, and the Devs are fine tuning the game ALL the time. Appreciate the feedback, and I'm sure they will have a read and take it on board.

Glad your interested enough to write such a list. Cheers mate

[matter]

Would be neat if temp varied more by location (e.g., in sun v. shade, valley v.exposed rock v. on frozen lake) and also wind could be mitigated by cover, like behind a rock.

This does happen. If you get closer to the rock face, and out of the wind, you will see warmer appear in the bottom left, then you move out, you will see colder in appear in the bottom left.

Same with the wind howling at 100kms/hr or 20kms/hr, you notice your warmth metre drop quicker in the 100kms/hr wind.

So there isn't a need for tuning here, because this works as designed.

I guess I'm looking for more of a gradation in this, the current setup seems to have an effect when I'm right next to an object, but once I'm a few feet away everything is the same whether I'm in a narrow valley or out on the open ice. Also, some aspect of direction of the wind (if that's something they are going to get into) would be nice to see reflected in this, so if I'm in a N-S valley and the wind is W-E it's slower and less cold than in a W-E valley, or out in an open meadow. It may be doing that, but it's hard to test out because conditions change faster than I can walk. The audio/visual cues don't really match that, so if it is doing that it's not possible to tell because wind and sound are the same.

In my opinion, I would remove the wind speed meter and rely instead on visual and audio cues, which are excellent, to convey that information. It also removes the trick of sitting indoors watching that to see if the blizzard died down.

This is something that we have debated on for hours (a lot in the Pre-Alpha build) but in the ned, its a speed metre only, it doesn't show direction or anything else, but does give good idea of speed, and not being able to look outside, once inside, this is a medium to know that speed, without having to go out, get load screen, then go back in, get a load screen.

Ya, I don't feel strongly about it, but if the load screens were faster then I think this would be nice to be able to get rid of. Fewer hard numbers make it more realistic to me, but that also means the game has to do a good job of giving you other cues for that same info (like the temp, which is very difficult to think of a good cue for).

Calories in general seem a bit extreme, and it's assuming that when I run out of food I'm dead within a few hours, which isn't very realistic.

Well this doesn't actually happen. You will only die when your % gets to 0(zero) and to get to 0 you need to be totally fatigued, dehydrated 100%, 100% cold as well as no calories. If you die of a lack of food, then something is wrong and a bug report needs to be submitted, but I think you might not be reading the HUD properly.

Hmm, if that's the way it works (and honestly I guess I've never actually died just of hunger, but my condition keeps going down while that's at max so I assumed I would) then that seems like another bug to me because it means I could just optimize one thing (like water, which is pretty easy to get) and stay alive indefinitely.

Wolf attacks are instant death without a weapon, and the one time I had a crowbar I still died, but it was my first time fighting a wolf. Not sure if it's supposed to be this hard, although I guess it's realistic.

As you have mentioned below, wolf attacks are not instant death. This is something again the Devs are looking into, but the LMB/RMB action is the way to kill them off. I have got out of a attack with 73% left, bandaged up, popped pills, and slept for 6hrs and I was right to go into the world again.

I guess I'm not good at the button motions for this (which I mention as an issue, maybe just for me, below), but even at 100% I seem to get killed while trying pretty hard to not be.

Went into the dam twice, and was killed by a wolf both times. The first time I hadn't checked all the rooms and was attacked, but the 2nd time I checked all the rooms (fool me twice and all that) to make sure they were empty, but was still attacked by a wolf. They can open the front door?

It could of been in there before the Blackout. The door could of been open and then clod=sed in the wind after it went in there.

This isn't about HOW it got in there, the point is, its in there and you need to kill it to move on. Means you need to collect Antibiotics before you go there, so you can treat the wound and not die of Blood Poisoning. Still you now know its in there, so stalk around with a Flare and you will see it, and it will hesitate, because you have a flare lit.

The thing is that I feel that the 2nd time I searched the whole place, as it isn't very large and there aren't any major nooks and crannies (unless I totally missed something big) so I felt confident there wasn't a wolf in there before I started looking through drawers, and then was attacked again, so it felt like the wolf spawned in there after I entered. There also were no audio cues either time, enhancing that "he came out of nowhere" feel. Maybe spider-wolf?

[TattooedMac]

Hmm, if that's the way it works (and honestly I guess I've never actually died just of hunger, but my condition keeps going down while that's at max so I assumed I would) then that seems like another bug to me because it means I could just optimize one thing (like water, which is pretty easy to get) and stay alive indefinitely.

I probably miss worded this example, as the whole tuning and complexity of it, is only know by the Devs, but if you had some of everything except your Calories, you would eventually die.

There is a lot of tuning going on there, because watching Member Accurize Twitch Streams or Youtube he is always taking his Calories to the Max and holding them there for quite a while, as he does other activities and waiting until the last minute to sleep to get his Health % Back up. Its not so much a bug, but it is exploitable as it is . . . .

The thing is that I feel that the 2nd time I searched the whole place, as it isn't very large and there aren't any major nooks and crannies (unless I totally missed something big) so I felt confident there wasn't a wolf in there before I started looking through drawers, and then was attacked again, so it felt like the wolf spawned in there after I entered. There also were no audio cues either time, enhancing that "he came out of nowhere" feel. Maybe spider-wolf?

Well there is a Spider Pig already, so why not Spider Wolf lol

In all seriousness, the Wolf comes up from the left hallway that goes to the bottom of the dam. Well it does for me any ways . . . Good hunting !!

[bBvideo 560,340:29y00mqw]http://youtu.be/FWVwdeyr98c[/bBvideo]

[matter]

Oh yup, I found the wolf, this time used my lantern and had just missed that doorway before. He killed me again (dam wolf 3, matter 0).

[Nidveg]

Oh yup, I found the wolf, this time used my lantern and had just missed that doorway before. He killed me again (dam wolf 3, matter 0).

Don't bring a knife to a wolf fight

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/30-06_Springfield_rifle_cartridge.jpg/300px-30-06_Springfield_rifle_cartridge.jpg

I highly recommend visiting the trapper hut before the dam.