Alitari

I had forgotten about the geomagnetic thing screwing things up ... but it clearly isn't a constant phenomenon, as the borealis only occurs intermittently and only at night (if the geomagnetic activity could happen during the day, you may not see the lights in the sky, but you'd get radios sparking up, computers turning on, etc.) I can see compass' not working during those periods but otherwise ... (I know that's the rationale for why the wildlife has suddenly become more aggressive, but animals will become aggressive if they're starving, and with unending winter, predators will be hungry). My take is that long term technological devices aren't useful because you never know when a geomagnetic storm will hit, but the moment to moment magnetic field is still stable.

I like this idea ... we have mechanisms for limited stamina activity (climbing or running, we eventually can't run any more) ... I'd imagine dragging a deer carcass would deplete it quickly, a wolf carcass hardly at all (heck a wolf weighs less than a person on average), and you couldn't budge a moose or bear. I'm not sure that dragging a carcass should have the same scent penalty as carrying hacked up parts ... I mean, as Han says, 'And here I thought they smelt bad on the OUTSIDE' (which brings up a macabre idea of an 'improvised shelter' inside a bear / moose). I'm not sure it'd be viable to transport the carcass all the way back to one's base of operations, but relatively short distances to cover from the wind, so you can setup a fire and break the animal down without risking an uninterruptible hypothermia result. As I see it, dragging would be slow and stamina intensive, but have low scent ... quartering would be heavy with a moderate scent penalty ... full butchering would be lightest but with the highest scent penalty ... so you get to choose, do you have the time, do you have the protection from wildlife, etc.

I think there's a balance issue between requiring a minimum of 2 hours per night but not having a cap on the number of hours per night after that ... I mean I've read articles where people say that they had difficulty finding the time to get 2 hours in last year ... but if there isn't a cap, then you can just go hog wild on night 1, looting, carcas hunting, etc. and then spend the minimal on the next two. Further while I get the point that keeping cabin fever in would take the difficulty up exponentially, the strategy I suggested above is entirely doable ... gather enough candy on day 1 and then don't fast time anything indoors for nights 2, 3, and 4 (that's precisely what I did on night 4, left the game running while I read a book, because there was nothing to do out in the blizzard). To me that seems like more like Hinterland wanting to pad played hours of their game rather than meaningful gameplay (I mean I like The Long Dark as anyone else and I think the game should get more press / exposure / attention (the visuals are a work of art), but having set real world time seems odd to me). As for a wish list ... I would suggest a few things: 90 minutes minimum, 120 minutes real time maximum per 'day' Clear notification that YOU WON'T GET ANY FISH (so don't waste your time making paths of rocks to a fishing hut, having fishing line / hooks craftable or available as loot, etc.) Catchup opportunity (not sure if this is already in game); if you can't play 90 minutes on day 1, you can play 180 on day 2, with the event shifting from day 1 effects to day 2 effects at the 90 minute mark Swap day 3 and day 2 ... or perhaps have it as a progression ... Aurora on Day 1, intermittent Aurora and demon wolves on Day 2, pitch black and blood wolves on Day 3 Vampire Wolves instead of blood wolves (or whatever the red eyed ones were) ... any non-instantaneously fatal injury is healed over time and they come back for more Timberwolf packs (a nod to Chapter 3) (weaker than solo wolves to provide balance and variation) Bears? Blood thirsty rabbits? Combat deer? Rethink day 4 ... a blizzard, in and of itself, is kinda boring, as it removes the main thing the game allows ... outdoor exploration. Maybe we can bypass it if we've built up enough resources (like the stocking up for the super blizzard challenge) ... maybe have it ridiculously cold and windy but without the snow (so we have long range visibility) and have, at some set distance from where the player starts day 4, a periodic flare going up and the goal is to make it to that supply drop / rescue party / whatever (in my mind it was a couple of survivors sent out on dogsleds) (with every radio squawking out a message every 5-10 minutes real time) ... maybe these people need rescue themselves and the goal is to get them to shelter of some sort (have them lying down, indoors somewhere, on a bed or a bedroll, their ailments treated, and a set amount of food / water so they can survive without you) Night crows to help find those wolf bodies ... I mean they're dropping their feathers, why not have them flying around above the carcasses, glowing blood red eyes, cawing to their heart's content ... we get the default owls hooting, but crows are a bit more Halloween IMO All of that said, keep up the good work! :)