New Sandbox Update & General Hinterland News

Raphael van Lierop

By Raphael van Lierop
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  • Hinterland
Raphael van Lierop Pathfinder

Raphael van Lierop

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  • Hinterland
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Hello all,

Thanks for your patience as we finalize the next update. It turns out trying to double the Sandbox (again) is a bigger challenge than we first anticipated, so our release will be delayed by about a week. We're currently tracking to get the next update out towards the end of next week. We apologize for the delay on it but I think you'll find it's worth the wait.

New Region, New Wildlife, New Features

Just to tease the next update a bit -- we'll be adding an entirely new region, accessible from the Coastal Highway. The new region will be 3x3 kms, so it'll be the largest region we've built yet, and will take the world from 10km/sq to 19 km/sq.

The new region is quite different from both Mystery Lake and Coastal Highway in terms of layout and overall feel, and we're using it to test out some new gameplay systems which we're really excited about. We're also adding a new type of wildlife, overhauling a major piece of UI, adding a new craftable item, and of course making a lot of tuning changes and general bug fixing. I think this will actually be our biggest update yet!

More Translations

In addition to all that, we're working on support for additional languages beyond English, German, and Russian. We hope to get those new languages out by mid-February. We're also setting up a pipeline to enable the community to do their own translations if they wish. This has been an highly requested feature and we're happy to be able to support it. There has also been some community feedback on the German and Russian translations, and we're passing that feedback on to our translation partner so they can review and make any changes that are required.

More Community & Technical Support

Perhaps most exciting is that we've been able to add some more staff to help us with community interaction and technical support. Prior to this, most of the direct community interaction and technical support has been handled by a couple of members of the dev team, which has been awesome for us, but also meant that we've taking valuable time away from making the game better.

With these new team members, we're able to provide all of you with a better level of support while also ensuring that the dev team can focus on putting new features and content into the game.

The three new members I'm talking about are Ryan and Bethany, who will support community, and Jeremy, who is our dedicated in-house tester. You'll see these three both the Steam forums and the official Hinterland forums. So, feel free to reach out to them if you have any questions or feedback, and they'll be sure to take care of you.

Wrap-Up

As for myself and the dev team, we still plan to be active in the community but it'll be in a bit of a more curated thing, where we can jump in and participate in discussions at specific times in more of a "live" way. I'm also working on some other initiatives to give back to the community in the form of original content that will be published on our new website, which will be coming soon.

We're thrilled to be able to be in a position to provide this dedicated support to you all and we hope you're as excited as we are about these new team members! I'd also like to take a moment to thank all the awesome community moderators who have stepped in to help us with responding in the forums and keeping things tidy and friendly, and we look forward to continuing to work with these great people!

So, in short:

* New update is a bit delayed, but it should be out later next week and will be worth the wait!

* We're working on support for new languages, and also a community localization pipeline for people who want to create their own

* We've added Ryan and Bethany to help us with supporting community development and helping ensure all your feedback gets to us.

* We've added Jeremy to support with any bugs and technical issues

That's pretty much it! The entire team is hard at work on the next update and we can't wait to get it into your hands.

And for those of you waiting on Story Mode news...we'll have more to share on that soon.

All the best and enjoy the game!

- Raphael

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elloco999 Pathfinder

elloco999

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Great news about the update and the expansion of the team!

The bad part? Now I get to carry all my crap from the trappers homestead, back to coastal highway, just to go explore this new region!

The good news is that you've got a week and a half to get a head start on that ;)

That's what I'll be doing anyway, I'm based at the camp office and it will take me many trips to get all the things I want to take to over to CH.

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coryduran Pathfinder

coryduran

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Great news about the update and the expansion of the team!
The bad part? Now I get to carry all my crap from the trappers homestead, back to coastal highway, just to go explore this new region!

The good news is that you've got a week and a half to get a head start on that ;)

That's what I'll be doing anyway, I'm based at the camp office and it will take me many trips to get all the things I want to take to over to CH.

Yeah I know what you mean, I'll likely end up moving my stuff to the camp office, then from there use the railroad tracks to take it all over to the dam, then from there it's coastal highway. Luckily the new update should fix the interior locations achievement, which I believe they said you would have to go to coastal highway to trigger it anyway, so there's the plus side?

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Cosmoline Pathfinder

Cosmoline

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Awesome! Thanks for the heads up. I was just about to have my new build start woman-hauling the gear up to the ML map. Now it looks like I won't have to!

I'm going to guess that the new wildlife are large animals with big antlers and an occasionally mean disposition.

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zaggerman Wolfbait

zaggerman

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Hi Hinterland,

I've been playing and buying copies of The Long Dark for my friends over the past few months. Even got a friend of mine unhealthily addicted to it. Haha, heh, egh heh...

I just wanted to chime in and let you know how much I love what you guys are doing. It's truly amazing what you have been able to accomplish with such a small team. This game is beautiful, immersive and emotionally stirring.

Also, I admire your decision to keep it singleplayer. There's truly something to be said about a being alone - in the woods - in the cold - long - dark.

Keep up the incredible work. I've been checking this forum daily in eager anticipation for the next update. It sounds like it's gonna knock our socks off. I can't wait!

PS. I took this photo with the help of some friends that I've since titled Ode to The Long Dark.

TheLongDark_byZackariahCole?format=1500w

(http://www.zackariahcole.com/privatecollection)

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LucidFugue Pathfinder

LucidFugue

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I'll also have to re-base myself closer to the transition point in preparation, but I'm really excited to see the results of your work. This is a truly compelling creation. My fanboy confession is that I've sought out a variety of blizzard /howling wind sound loops that I play at night to sleep to. Makes me feel like I'm drifting off in the warmth and safety of a cabin after a hard day's work. :-P

Here's to watching for the update to land, and congratulations to Ryan, Bethany and Jeremy on the new roles.

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coryduran Pathfinder

coryduran

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I'll also have to re-base myself closer to the transition point in preparation, but I'm really excited to see the results of your work. This is a truly compelling creation. My fanboy confession is that I've sought out a variety of blizzard /howling wind sound loops that I play at night to sleep to. Makes me feel like I'm drifting off in the warmth and safety of a cabin after a hard day's work. :-P

Here's to watching for the update to land, and congratulations to Ryan, Bethany and Jeremy on the new roles.

Ha ha I find myself operating from a TLD mindset throughout the day! "Oh man those look like some warm pants.."

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Raplet Survivor

Raplet

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And we'll discover that instead of mountains and coastline, Hinterland is giving us "Saskatchewan Winter". 9 square kilometers without hills. Or Trees.

Complaining about wolves hiding behind snow drifts? Worry no longer. You'll see them clear across the map.

And the new wildlife? Prairie Dogs.

The new craftable item? Snowshoes with Genuine Saskatchewan Sealskin Bindings.

Thanks Hinterland! :mrgreen:

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Lux Pathfinder

Lux

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Maybe the geomagnetic event has prevented the update from being pushed! Troubling times ahead.

The new map area is what "Field & Stream" magazine refers to as "Treacherous!" and the new wild life will be classified as "your hunting rifle caliber lacks the stopping power for such large fur baring mammals"

Actually as we speak, an ominous blizzard has set in to northern Canada and a dedicated team of TLD players are on a reconnaissance mission to locate and rescue several key players in the TLD dev team! .... News @11!

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