Question Thread :: Milton Mailbag

[melcantspell]

Do you guys run any in-game statistics on the regions the players are located in? Is there any tendency for a favorite region by numbers?

[Aiden Milroy]

Hey Raph!

I’ve been playing challenge mode quite a bit recently and while travelling through the winding river I noticed just how many unnamed cairns there are.  I know whatever each cairn/note says is supposed to be contributed by the backers but it seems a lot of them haven’t contributed and likely wont in the future.  Is there any chance that the contribution of notes/buffers/cairns will ever make it to the general population

thanks for considering my question!

[CalNieDaGtarGuy]

Hey have you guys considered creating a Discord server? I know it isn't probably a huge priority, plus we have the forums here, but it would be really cool to keep in contact with some other forum members and swap cool moments from our gameplay!

[ajb1978]

Couple questions this time.  First, in the last mailbag you had mentioned that Interlopers were a small but vocal crowd, and I was wondering if you know what the actual distribution is.  Like what percentage predominantly play Interloper, Stalker, Voyageur, Pilgrim, Custom, etc.

And the second question has to do with some of the photographs you can find on the walls of houses, like the one of people playing hockey for example.  That looks very much like it may have been a real actual photo, scanned and passed through a filter to give it the watercolor look.  Is that actually a photo of some real folks that made it into the game as background art?

[CuteBeaver]

Firstly thank you for making TLD into the best strategy survival game on steam. My question is threefold and it relates to making indoor gameplay more challenging / dynamic or strategic: 

1) Are there any plans to make indoor temperatures more dynamic? Raise or lower them based on the weather or temperature outdoors? 

2) Has the team considered adding craft-able rugs or blankets to the game? As for the blanket I would suggest something as simple as an "accessory" since we could equip it indoors or use it for sleeping.  A rug on the other hand might be a fun item to "build/place" on the floor in strategic locations for safer crafting during temperature fluctuation. I'm just curious if the team has considered tweaking indoor "game-play" slightly to make it more interesting. (which to be fair is not an easy task) We had some huge improvements, the lighting, and an assortment of stoves to give each shelter more/less value. Those tweaks really changed how we played the game and used indoor spaces. 

3) Any plans to allow water bottles to freeze/thaw? 

Even if my question gets skipped thanks to everyone involved for taking the time to make, answer, and organize the Milton Mailbags.

~Cheers.

[Faithful Cartographer]

Hi Raph!

1) You can have a little hint Hinterland is now developing another game, except The Long Dark?

2) Is there any connection between the air service "Jackrabbit Island" at the beginning of Wintermute and the island of the same name on the coastal highway? Or is it a mistake of Russian localization?

3) Do you follow the ice hockey world championship? You support Canada? This is one of the strongest teams in the world. Since I am from Russia, I hope that our teams will not meet before the final.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Faithful Cartographer

[Its_the_Gman]

Hello Raph,

loving Steadfast ranger. Got some questions though. 

- Did Hinterland do some retexturing for the train cars at the train derailment in ML? I noticed this and wanted to confirm cuz it's been driving me nuts.

- The revolver is a cool addition, but i have a question

         - When ever I see a wolf and it charges me, I whip out my revolver, aim down sights, shoot the wolf, see the blood spatter, but he just charges me anyway! 

         - Am i using the revolver incorrectly? Have i misunderstood the mechanics? Why does a wolf not die to a revolver round to the head?

Don't want to sound pessimistic because I love TLD, Hinterland and Steadfast ranger, just wanted some clarification on revolver mechanics to avoid some frustration

 

[Moll]

Can we get way of shooting revolver in single action mode for more accurate hits? Or any future improvement of this firearm, like true revolver function where you can hit an empty chamber betweem shots in non fully cylinder? Because Revolver doesnt look so polished in terms of animation and feeling. Quality of work spent on rifle seems and feel much better. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Moll

[Admin]

As a reminder please only post questions for The Long Dark Creative Director @Raphael van Lierop in this thread. 

If you know (or think you do) an answer to someone else’s question please do not answer. Also please do not debate here. 

The more non-questions in this thread the more Raph has to wade through to get to find the questions to answer. 

Thank you. 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Admin
Fixed capitalized letter.

[Jaffa]

In dispatch #13 you talked about 3D object placement. I'd like to ask if it also would be possible to add a fuction that would allow us to stack certain objects on top of each other (books, food cans, clothes, firewood into log piles etc.) 

Also... it feels like some of the item detection hitboxes grew a bit larger over time. I went through some of my ingame screenshots from 2016 and noticed that I was able to place objects like painkillers, bandages or water bottles much closer to each order than I am now. It makes packing stuff into shelves kinda painful.

[JeremiahJohnson]

Gonna start by saying thank you Hinterland... The Revolver and cloth wraps have saved me numerous times already.

What are your thoughts on having a larger splitting axe instead of the hunter hatchet for chopping wood? Takes less time but more energy or something along those lines. 

 

 

[GothSkunk]

Forgive me if this question has already been asked somewhere in the 36 pages of this thread, but I'm purely curious:

The Long Dark was originally billed to be a narrative single-player adventure in a remote part of a post-apocalyptic Canada, where the decisions you make along the way and the people you interact with affect the outcome of the story, so how much of a surprise was it for you that the Survival Mode sandbox ended up being such a hit with the fans? If you knew then what you know now, would you have pitched the idea for The Long Dark differently?

Edited May 19, 2019 by GothSkunk

[Sito]

What did you do to the sky? It is absolutely awesome! I did not really notice for a bit because I was running from blizzards but when I got to CH and a chance to stand on the porch at sunset I really noticed the refinements. The colors are fantastic and there is no gradients like before. Sunrise is smooth like silk. 

And the aurora  is so much better. I put my laptop on the coffee table and wife an I just watched it for an hour while sipping wine. It was awesome before but you buffed it to the max.

How did you improve the visuals so much? It is like a whole new experience. 

[Dan_]

Any plans to add toggles in the custom mode toolbox for some of the new features? I'm talking specifically about the healing powers of the birch bark tea. 

Many of the more adventurous players play a custom mode dubbed "Deadman" on which there is no condition recovery at all, except for the 15% per stim. So it's a game of risk-reward of travelling to get the stims versus the 15% per use you get. The tea kinda ruins this balance, given it is indeed a renewable resource you can get in every single region. The herbal tea already doesn't work when playing Deadman, so it's just like any other food item, my understanding is that the bark tea should work similarly. 

Other than that, no qualms. I love the update, specially the revolver and new sprain mechanic. 

[OveRMolo]

Hello team! First of all I want to say thank you for creating this amazing experience. TLD is one of my favorite games ever!
My questions are:

- Have you considered a growth cycle for edible plants? Some kind of respawn for cattails. It could be interesting as an alternative to hunting and could players make to visit again some places.

-  Could be possible to have a compass in the game?

- I've seen you're looking for a mission designer... Can I apply and work in remote from Spain? hahahah just kidding. I love you guys

Edited May 20, 2019 by OveRMolo

[amadeuszbx]

So we know the game runs on Unity as its engine. Would you care to share what modelling (and possibly sculpting, texturing etc.) software your artists use to prepare models for TLD? Or is it some kind of company's secret?  

[yollarbenibekler]

Hey everyone! Quickly to the questions:
 

1- Do you have any plans to use Steam Market features for your next challenge prizes or just giveaway items? It would be nice to have some not game affecting in-game decorative items such as a snowglobe etc. to be acquired through annual challenges (just like you did in the halloween). Euro Truck Simulator 2 is doing the similar thing with the Steam Market and I think it's awesome

2- İf there will be any second game or dlc, do you have plans to kickstart it just like you did with the first one? I missed the chance to get those d*mn cairns and whenever I stumble upon them I get jealous. 

Keep up the good work! You rock!

[Drizzi]

Hello Raph,

Thanks a lot for the Steadfast Ranger, it is going to push me over 500 in game hours  .. I have a question about the Custom mode, I am an interloper player, but sometimes I like to turn on the rifle availability .. not to make things easier, but to boost exploration motivation. Please correct me if I am wrong, but with rifle availability on, the revolver will not spawn, right?  are you planing to include revolver availability option to the custom mode?  Thank you.

[Someone]

If you had to add another major game mechanic(like being able to make clothes in something like a sewing machine or a new tool with its own unique purpose) what would it be and why? Also, are you planning to make any changes to the flashlight? Currently it’s pretty specialized as a tool for auroras only, and I understand this might have been designed this way purposely, I feel it would be more useful if it had another use.

[Hovejester]

Would you ever look at the nutritional variety of food? E.g tins of vegetables and fruit to prevent scurvy. It also would mean you need to try and have a balanced diet and not survive on animal meat alone. E.g reeds and fauna too. 

[hozz1235]

Regarding Birch Saplings:  Once cut, do they ever grow back?  I also assume that "new" sprouts/saplings do not occur?

[peteloud]

1 hour ago, hozz1235 said:

Regarding Birch Saplings:  Once cut, do they ever grow back?  I also assume that "new" sprouts/saplings do not occur?

This is an issue that interests me.  I like to play long runs, Voyager/Stalker, 500+ game days, and birch saplings for arrows becomes a major problem.  It would be great to see them regrow after 300-400 days.

[Admin]

Please keep this thread focused on questions for The Long Dark Creative Director @Raphael van Lierop rather than feature requests (or posts in support of feature requests). While questions like "Would you ever add X" are okay this isn't the forum (or thread) to try to make it known that you'd like something in particular added.

Those sorts of things belong in the Wish List forum.

Thank you.

[Azdrawee]

I've recently discovered a picture with different stats about the game (how often people play, how long is the average session, how many people have bought The Long Dark on Steam, etc) from 2015, and I'm really curious, would it be possible to make something similar about how the game is doing today? I think it would be quite interesting. (here's the picture I have in mind:)

[jkripper]

What was it like working with the Adele of voice acting, Jennifer Hale?