How do time and distance work?

[TheRealNFK]

So I've run a timer on my own while watching the game time, and as best as I can figure, five seconds of real time is one minute of game time, meaning the game runs in a x12 time acceleration. Can anyone else confirm this?

On a related question, I was surprised by the distances my log said I had covered in my first game. While the game clock is accelerated, the character's walking and running speed appear normal, visually. Are the kilometers I've logged on this map scaled to real-world kilometers, or is it a smaller, scaled-down unit to make up for the fact that the character seems to be moving at a normal pace when the game clock is actually accelerated?

[avec]

I do not know the figures but some thing sure has to be accelerated or else we would have been bored to death.

What i do not like with the acceleration is this:

Calories and water is consumed in a disturbing fast time. A person do not die of thirst while at sleep. Not when i drank the same day.

You move from A-B and almost freeze to death while it feels like normal time. Anyone could run almost naked from any place to another without dying. I think the game should notify the user and "fake" the distance travled in some way. A quick loading of a new screen and when you turn you can not see the place you left hours ago (for instance). Then you would get the feeling of traveling further in the game time. As it is now you got everything within a short radius where probably no cold would ever kill you while traveling. Alt least the fluid and calories consumption could be more like normal when inside.

[Trandor]

@avec

I don't quite get what you're trying to say? o_O

If you make a "new screen" when you turn around, then the map will simply be empty, and I have to say, I quite like the graphics as they are now.

If you make a HUGE map so that distances are "real", we will NEVER find any place. Because the Canadian wilderness ist so vast. So you would be running and freezing to death, but would never find shelter.

If you make a huge map and faster travel speed, then the game will just be more boring and more difficult, but also more empty space on the map. So I really don't know what you're trying to tell us...

And the thing about the distances: You as a Norwegian should know that it's pretty exhausting to walk in snow. Especially when you have 20kg on your back, so I don't think it's unrealistic that you're exhausted after walking for 5-10km.

[avec]

What i meant is more like a "portal" in time. I do not know how to explain it well in english. You travel a usual but some of the distance could be hidden for the user. It is actually very common in many games but you would experience it as arriving to a different place (while time has passed by). Take Assasins Creed for instance there you will travel in "real time" but later you can fast travel between to places. I only think it is to short of a distance between everything in the game. Everything is to close to actually create any danger unless in a blizzard.

It could be something like this. You go from the camp office and you can choose to go 4-5 ways. To the mystery lake, Derailment, Deadfall area, tunnel collapse. You choose where to go and as you go on that path the game could show you a screen/message saying you arrive at the Derailment after two hours. When you turn to see behind you it is just tracks or a path in the snow as far as you can see. This way you do not see the whole traveling time but you understand why two hours have passed. If you however turn back the same would happen. A message is shown you arrive back at the Camp office after two hours.

I know very well how it is to travel in snow with a backpack and it tells me that different kind of snow should be implemented. New knee deep snow compared to thick crust holding you up. Days without new snow lets you make up paths in the snow. Later the snow will cover it up and make traveling tougher. The point is that nothing is 5-10 km in the game. It is only a few hundred meters. You can (almost) see from the camp office to the Derailment but you could aswell almost freeze to death and die of thirst by going over there. That is the non realistic part. This issue could be "hidden" by sending the character into a "portal" where he moves without you as a player can see it.

It has to be either way. Unnatural behavior how time passes and the character responds but at the same time seeing everything in a normal context. The other way is doing it how i have explained by hiding parts of the traveling but and then understand why all those calories is burned, why the character is thirsty and cold and so on.

Do not get me wrong. I like to move and see everything but compared to real life it is unnatural.

[Trandor]

The problem with what you just explained is this: If you already know where everything is on a map, there is no point to discovering it, you simply fast travel from place to place, never encountering a wolf, never doing anything. You would simply "skip" the exploring. And if you choose not to skip, you will still have the same problem, because the distance would be the same to walk back (and take two hours) even if you do not skip travel. The map would not be bigger if you can fast travel. you can still see from Camp Office to Derailment.

Your idea of fast travel could be useful when going from one map to another, like going from the Mystery Lake map to the Map of the frozen Gas Station. But even then, I don't think that's what this game is about.

I understand that time and space are weirdly connected in this game, and I'm fine with that. Unless the developers choose to implement random maps or procedurally generated maps (which would highly encourage!!), I don't think your idea of connecting or altering the map is all that useful in this game.

[Burning Bridges]

I think it is fine. An option to slow down time in the options would be nice though (if all the calculations would stay the same), so you have less of a time pressure when you need to think (right now people hit Esc but that's not realistic).

Also, please no fast travelling / quest compasses in this game. There are enough games already who do that, and most of them do it badly.