Undead animals for 4DON

[ajb1978]

During 4DON in 2019, replace the deer and wolf models with the "ravaged deer carcass" and "ravaged wolf carcass" models, for some spooky undead wildlife.  Imagine being stalked by a pack of undead wolves..they're tailing you, growling, red eyes glowing, that huge chunk of flesh missing from the side, and the exposed ribs.

[s7mar7in]

7 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

for some spooky undead wildlife

Okay, this is brilliant.
Shall we also "flip the math on the scent game mechanic" and make scent bars act as camouflage?

[ajb1978]

That would be a neat effect.  Like you're trying to blend in by smelling like dead meat...  I suggested the undead wildlife because I think it would really amp up the spookiness, and wouldn't change the mechanics of the game by itself, so whatever daily challenges are in play for 2019 wouldn't require any additional tuning on account of the undead wildlife.

Unless said undead wildlife also have additional properties...like maybe the only way to kill them is to shoot them in the head.  Wolves take no damage from body shots or during struggles.  Deer can only be dropped by a clean headshot.  Hmmm that's getting a little far into the weeds though.  This is at its heart an aesthetic suggestion.

[s7mar7in]

44 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

getting a little far into the weeds though.  This is at its heart an aesthetic suggestion.

Agreed.
And if honest, the 4DoN2018 was great IMO, but also it missed some opportunities for adding themed elements in places like the special tunnel collapse(s).

The most common comment in the forum was how to force players outside the shelters; well if we must harvest/hunt to obtain raw meat camo, we would need to get outdoors and interact with the wildlife...this creates an interesting hazard when raw meat repels the undead wolf but also attracts the live wolf...

The undead idea you suggested has a lot of potential.

[Ice Hole]

42 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

During 4DON in 2019, replace the deer and wolf models with the "ravaged deer carcass" and "ravaged wolf carcass" models, for some spooky undead wildlife

Okay as long as there are extremely deadly bunnies.

[ThePancakeLady]

Half of me likes the idea, the other half cringes, thinking how perilously close to adding actual zombies to the game this would get. Add xxx zombie animals to the event, and how many threads do you think will pop up wanting to keep them year round, or wanting to make all of the human corpses show up at night as zombies or walking corpses, or ghosts?

I get it, my friend, but... I don't know that I can get behind it. I would prefer the older 4DoN recipe, with hostile demon wolves all 4 days, or at least on days 2-4. The lack of animals just seemed "off" in concept, for the event. Adding a demon Hooves Of Doom or 2 or 3... I could get with that. 

 

[s7mar7in]

45 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

would prefer the older 4DoN recipe

You are probably correct @ThePancakeLady, in the sense that "by giving and inch we may wish for a mile".

Remembering the 2018-4DON event; the most exciting stuff might have been the fears we imparted on each other here in the forum.
The concerns of what might happen tomorrow morning were huge fun.

The OP had a brilliantly simple idea and IMO it might add to and fit well within TLD.

[Moll]

Do you really want to turn survival game into spooky cancer? How about hats and Conga dance from TF 2?

Sorry, i dont like it.

[AlexandraRussia]

3 часа назад, ajb1978 сказал

В течение 4don в 2019 году замените модели оленей и Волков на модели" ravaged deer carcass "и" ravaged wolf carcass " для некоторых жутких живых мертвецов.Представьте, что вас преследует стая Волков нежити.они следят за тобой, рычат, красные глаза светятся, огромный кусок плоти отсутствует сбоку,и открытые ребра.

Извините, но нет.
Это не Ходячие мертвецы.
И как уже упоминалось ранее, не будет зомби.
Хотите зомби, чтобы играть в другие игры

[ThePancakeLady]

2 hours ago, s7mar7in said:

You are probably correct @ThePancakeLady, in the sense that "by giving and inch we may wish for a mile".

Remembering the 2018-4DON event; the most exciting stuff might have been the fears we imparted on each other here in the forum.
The concerns of what might happen tomorrow morning were huge fun.

The OP had a brilliantly simple idea and IMO it might add to and fit well within TLD.

Sure he did. And aj & I have known each other for a a good while, we disagree sometimes, but tend to have really constructive conversations about what we see differently. I don;t like the idea of zombie animals in this game, but I am pretty sure he knows i that does not mean I consider his idea "stupid". I simply do't agree with it.  

 

I hate to say it, but I was only physically able to play Day 1 of 4DoN this year, because I had some medical issues. But I followed on these forums, and on the Steam forums, and I saw more griping about badges and such than I did good-natured ponderings over "what tomorrow morning might bring". And, I honestly feel like, after reading about it all, and chatting with friends, and my family members who did play the entire event, that I really did not miss too much.  4DoN 2017 was a blast though. I prefer that format myself. YMMV.

[Mroz4k]

Hi everyone. 
I admit, I sometimes find it difficult to determine whether a post is meant as a little joke, or if the people in there are really being serious. I will be serious.

I don't think this is a good idea. Carcasses are not like living animals - those are entities. Carcasses are stagnant objects. To make them move like normal animals would simply require a lot of work, I would say. A work that could be utilized better, towards something more permanent than a change to an annual event of a few days.

2 hours ago, AlexandraRussia said:

Извините, но нет.
Это не Ходячие мертвецы.
И как уже упоминалось ранее, не будет зомби.
Хотите зомби, чтобы играть в другие игры

I am about 85% sure they are just joking, as in, this post is not meant to be a serious consideration. Nobody wants zombies for the game, they simply want to have normal animals appear as zombies on the Haloween event next year.

[Doc Feral]

Wow, Christmas is yet to come and people are already planning for next Halloween!

A bit more of a horror movie feeling could make 4DON better, but zombie animals... no, thanks. In post-event topics several not-so-extreme suggestions were made. I only remember my own: weird sounds (you enter a big house: you hear running footsteps and the other door slamming), visual effects (gruesome details added on pictures and paintings, corpses have the well-known puddle of blood on a side implying they were "harvested), unexplicable events (you leave your shelter and there are impossibly large wolf traces passing by) and so on. We'd never meet some running maniac, the Wendigo will not eat our guts and we'll never meet a two-ton wolf (hmm meat...) but the constant fear it MAY happen would sting.

Anyway, if we could find where Grey Mother keeps her ancient grimoire AND use it to finally obtain and undead moose mount and undead wolf companion...

[ajb1978]

I'm serious in the context of 4DON, which itself is rather tongue-in-cheek to begin with.  It's a fun event, kind of a joke in a way, and this is meant to go with the joke.  Obviously I wouldn't want that to be a constant thing, just like I wouldn't want to have jack-o-lanterns all the time, pumpkin pies all the time... but for one night out of the year, undead demon wolves.  You can't tell me that wouldn't be a cool thing to see!

[Mroz4k]

I get the fact that people really like it, but at the same time - I would be much happier if the development time went to things that could be used year-around. The whole idea of that event is kind of lost to me - this is something triple A studios can afford since they have such a big team. I really dont mean to be insulting, but Hinterland is somewhat small studio, and the thing they have been critiqued for years is that the updates take ages to come out (not that I mean to complain myself, I am patient, and I think its good that they release a great quality content, even if it takes longer) - spending that valuable time on something you get to play for 5 days a year is just not effective.

If the event was made because at the time, they were unable to work on new content due to waiting for a studio that used to lend them equipment, or other things - and it was a way to make something without just waiting, not doing anything - I would get that. And if in the future, they are locked in such a way again, then they should add more content to events - but as long as they can work on Story or Survival, that sort of content should be their main focus.

And I am sure it is their main focus. And I hope it remains that way.

[ThePancakeLady]

10 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

I'm serious in the context of 4DON, which itself is rather tongue-in-cheek to begin with.  It's a fun event, kind of a joke in a way, and this is meant to go with the joke.  Obviously I wouldn't want that to be a constant thing, just like I wouldn't want to have jack-o-lanterns all the time, pumpkin pies all the time... but for one night out of the year, undead demon wolves.  You can't tell me that wouldn't be a cool thing to see!

I will agree, it would be a cool thing to see for Halloween. In a different game. 

Yes, the event is a wee bit tongue-in-cheek, but it still holds true to the "No Zombies Survival Game" that it is advertised as. I still think adding zombie wolves or other animal, even for a short, optional 4 day event, is too at odds with the whole concept of the game being extreme survival, no zombies, no zeds. The wolves are already off-kilter in the base game, and Hinterland explains that they took liberties with wildlife behavior, but making them zombies just takes too many liberties, IMHO, and makes it too much like The Forest, or Day Z, or Left For Dead 1 & 2, or Dying Light, or Project Zomboid, or Deadlight, or Dead Rising, or Resident Evil (any), or Infestation, or Red Dead Redemption, or Dead State or... the list goes on. TLD is zombie-free, and cannibal-free. And it is rather wonderfully unique because of that.

I honestly do not want to see it become "just another zombie game", even if only for 4 days per year, aj. I just can't agree with you on this one, my friend

I could get with more ephemeral and "supernatural" ambient effects like creaky doors and stairs,  creaking when you are in another room, dark flitting shapes moving through the trees, shapes that are not wolves, but more humanoid (but that we would only see briefly, and never interact with), floating smoke or fog or breath that makes images of faces or animals or people that were killed in the area, swirling spirits floating up from graves and disappearing in front of our eyes, maybe a ghostly moaning sound, that might be a wolf, or may be a ghost... things that will keep us on edge, wondering if that shape was a bear, or just a moving shadow. Nope. it was a shadow, with a wolf hiding behind the tree on the other side of the path... I could get with things like this. But, not zombie animals that would hunt us or we had to hunt.

[AlexandraRussia]

15 часов назад, ajb1978 сказал

Я серьезно в контексте 4DON, который сам по себе является скорее языком в щеке, чтобы начать с.Это забавное событие, своего рода шутка в некотором роде, и это предназначено, чтобы пойти с шуткой.Очевидно, я не хотел бы, чтобы это было постоянной вещью, так же, как я не хотел бы иметь jack-o-фонари все время, тыквенные пироги все время.но в течение одной ночи в году, нежить демонов Волков.Вы не можете сказать мне, что это было бы не круто видеть!

Извините, но правда зомби нарушит всю особенность этой игры, она тоже особенная, в том виде, в котором она есть.
Я не знаю, шутка ли это или нет, но я знаю один зомби не место в длинном темном.
Вот такое мое мнение, извините, если я грубо сказал.