Magic Moments

[indianajonas]

Here are some of my magic moments from my latest playthroughs:

Memo: Plan for the next playthroughs:

I definitly will have to listen more to the different audio hints Will is giving. Last night I found myself in the situation of sneaking around looking for wolves. And then a sound let my heart do a little scare jump. A few seconds later I realized, not wolves had scared me. Just Will’s stomach. *phew*

And then there was this moment when green eyes came closer and closer. No weapon, no light, no chance to escape.

Or the moment when I reached the Hydro Dam and my flare stoped burning. With the last light of it I had discoverd the door a few feet away. Blinded by darkness and little despaired I was looking for the door. Finally I found it and so I survived the night.

Since last night I definetly can see why the game is called "The LONG Dark". 30 minutes of darkness every day is pretty rough. Darkness is my most worst enemy at the moment. Shortly followed by these cute, green-eyed, grey furred, dog-sized puppies that always cross my way when I don’t need them.

And I don’t know why but corpses that lean against the wall scare the **** out of me. Everytime I recognize them I have a short moment of panic. (Maybe I have played too many zombie games during my gaming career.)

Unfortunately I haven’t reached day 3 yet. 2d 17h is my very best.

What magic moments have you experienced?

[logang]

I think everyone has had some similar experiences, and I think everyone can agree, they are great. More than the dark I hate the blizzards, they impede my travel plans more often than not, a few times I have been in great shape only to get hindered by a storm and then I have to make the choice of dying in place or freezing in a blizzard....good times.

[Guest Alan Lawrance]

I was just playtesting v0.3, I was by the Derailment with my rifle out (weather was Foggy, and I couldn't see far). Suddenly I am almost face-to-face with a wolf... just as it lunges I fire my gun and take it out. Moments later I see/hear another wolf run right in front of my face... scared the pants off me! It must have been running from the sound of the previous rifle shot.

I think Logan is right -- the free form and unscripted nature of the game means you are going to experience unexpected and serendipitous moments, hopefully a lot of them.

[Bill Tarling]

Moments later I see/hear another wolf run right in front of my face... scared the pants off me!

The wolves are the scariest creatures I've come across in any game -- completely unpredictable [yet logically predictable to warrant constant caution]... They're a constant surprise [i've come close to ruining many pants myself after encountering them].

Their behavior is tweaked so beautifully in the game... a really nice achievement.

[Guest Alan Lawrance]

You ain't seen nothin' yet! But really glad you like the behavior so far.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Thanks for sharing these moments! They are really exciting to read about.

One I recall from a playthrough a while ago was being entirely lost in the mist, wandering fairly aimlessly, and then noticing that my footsteps changed -- I was walking on ice! It helped me orient myself because I realized this was a frozen river. It was one of the many times I felt that we had achieved our promise of putting navigational cues in the world (vs. giving you a minimap).

Another time I got lost in a blizzard, was sure I was following recognized landmarks as I made a run for shelter/food (I was starving and freezing), and as I was pretty much dead I realized I had returned to *exactly* my starting position. It was one of those things you always read about happening when people are lost in the wild, but I honestly didn't believe it would ever happen in the game...

Magic moments, indeed.

[TattooedMac]

Awesome stuff . . .

It looks like the wolves are winning out here lol but I was like Alan, came over the ridge near the De-railment, and as I composed myself, I looked up and the wolves were pacing back and forth near the carcass. As I looked up, one of them looked at me, I frozen then crouched down behind a tree saying to myself, Please done see me, Please done see me, Please done see me and as I peeked around the tree to see where the wolves had gone, I came face to face with the bloody thing, and I saw a mouth full of Pink rims and white teeth coming at me.

Funniest thing was, is my 10yr old was standing behind me at that time, and I didn't hear him because I had the earphones in, and as it happened, he let out a yelp, touching me as to say OMG, which in turn made me jump off the chair . . . .

Scared me sh**less lol

Oh and I have a 10yr old that can't wait to play this, and says he loves that there is no zombies and you have to fend for yourself. He wanted me to tell him the story of how me, Will Mackenzie came to be in the middle of nowhere in the snow . . Now thats AWESOME !!!!

[Raphael van Lierop]

Awesome story!!

Brent -- as a total aside, as a parent of young ones myself (a 6 and almost 9 year old), what do you feel about letting your 10 yr old play the game?

I've been assuming we would go for a Mature rating due to story content (language and whatnot), and even for some things in the Sandbox like corpses and things, but we won't let things get too gory in the game either so just wondering what your thoughts are about the current level of mature content in the game and what age group you think the game would be appropriate for.

I know this is a very subjective questions.

(Also, the ratings boards will eventually decide this, so it's not as much about what we want as about what they decide about what we've created...but still, if we thought the game should target let's say, 15+ or something, it would have an impact on how we treat certain subject matter.)

[logang]

My 9 and 3 year old have both sat with me while I played, I have actually been so engrossed in a playthrough that my three year old curious georged all over me and eventually sat on my head before I stopped playing long enough to get him his own chair. So far I haven't seen anything in game that would give me pause regarding letting my children watch or play, of course without knowing the story of the game I can't say for sure I would let my 9 year old play story mode.

[Raphael van Lierop]

Logan -- great to know.

We'll see how things evolve as we go, of course. I suspect NPC interactions will add some mature content that might not be entirely appropriate for young kids. That said, if we plan it up front, it could also be possible to introduce flags for dialogue, etc. so that certain lines can be turned off using a "Kids Mode" flag or something.

We'll have to think more about how to handle this as we move forward.

[logang]

I actually don't think a kids mode is necessary, my kids can just play skylanders or, even better, ride their bikes outside.

[TattooedMac]

Awesome story!!

Brent -- as a total aside, as a parent of young ones myself (a 6 and almost 9 year old), what do you feel about letting your 10 yr old play the game?

Mate, I have NO reservations what so ever letting my 10yr old boy play this game. We live in the country, so killing for food is a natural course of play. Seeing a dead carcass, he was ecstatic that you could see the insides, and it wasn't 'just' a carcass laying on the ground. He actually said, "Well you know its dead then don't you" haha

I haven't heard any language, or seen a single thing that would want me to have him out of the room while I'm playing it. As I stated above, he can't wait to get his hands on it, and being a Minecraft freak, he was so curious as to how I could do this, and that, and what I could make, and how I started the fire, how I collected the wood, and so on. He is like me, and wants to know the inner workings of the game, and follow along with the story-line.

He is very inquisitive about this game, and I will be letting him play and survive on his own. I also see it as a great learning tool, in decision making, trouble shooting, problem solving. Its a teaching tool too in my mind, and have no problems with a 10 yr old playing this game (from what I have seen in the Sandbox)

[robdoar]

My 5 and 7 year olds routinely watch me play. My daughter helped discover the dam map bug.

The only borderline language I think I've heard was will saying "God Damnned". Not too bad, but not something I want my 5 year old repeating.

[indianajonas]

I have to share a few new magic moments with you on v.04:

- New start screen (looks fantastic)

- Saw two wolves near by and they ignored me. ^^

- I finally found the Trapper’s Homestead (Safe House Cabin) > the place from the first gameplay video from Raph during Kickstarter...

- ...and maybe another bug.

- I found a Swiss Cross in there ^^

- When I finally opened the safe (needed minutes of trial and error - but I have to admit: it is about 11:15pm here in Switzerland)

- The experience when I experience such a new moment

[jonahcutter]

Hi everyone. I just started playing last night and wanted to share a great moment:

It was my third playthrough.

I had found ammo at the observation tower, seen a wolf chasing deer, been chased by wolves myself at the low tower in the clear area, and was stuck at the trapper's shack during a blizzard. I had plenty of water, but I had foolishly let the can opener break and was out of any non-canned food. Getting close to starving I slept at the shack hoping the blizzard would pass. Waking up in the night, starving and my health low, the blizzard was still raging.

I couldn't go back to sleep because I'd probably die from health loss. So I had to gamble. I ventured out into the blizzard to hopefully find a deer to shoot (I had already looted the exposed, nearbye shack). I first checked around the rear of the cabin and almost immediately spot a deer. Dammit, I hadn't readied the rifle! I fumble through the inventory and finally get it equipped, but the deer had already disappeared into the storm. I run in his last direction. Nothing. I circle around a bit, but he was gone. Just the snow and wind.

It had only been a couple of minutes outside, but I was already freezing. I got cold so fast. Despair was setting in. I trudged back to the cabin ready to basically give up. At the door I paused and decided to give it one more shot. I walked down the short path to check out the front of the cabin.

Payoff! A deer out in the clearing. But he immediately moves away. I quickly raise the rifle and aim just as the deer fades into the gloom. He's gone. It's a desperate moment. I'm not sure where he is, and this is the first time I've had a loaded rifle in the game. I have no idea how it would handle or shoot, or how accurate it would be. But here is no other choice. I have to take the shot. So I adjust my aim to where I think he moved to and I shoot.

I hustle forward and see a dark shape. I can't tell if it's upright or prone. I move in further and see for sure it's the deer, laying on it's side. I shuffle up to it. I'm starving, freezing, exhausted, standing in a howling, near white-out. But the feeling of relief and accomplishment is palpable. Luck or skill, I don't know nor care which. I had made the shot. I had food again. I grab the meat and leather and head back for my feast.

Now if I can just get that fire restarted...

--

It was a really great moment for me in the game. My self-generated narrative combining with the game's emergent systems to create an intense, memorable experience. One of those small, yet epic victories.

I hope the game can provide more of those.

[Guest]

So awesome to see people having the same feeling about the game that we have.

[TarjaS]

Guns and ammo! I got to the trapper's cabin, figured out how the safe works (just kept pressing anything and everything to find the right keys), got it open, and now I've got a rifle AND bullets. First time I got both. The next wolf is going to be a dead wolf. Hopefully. I guess I better practice a little first.