Suggestions and wishes

Hi all,

This is a game I have been looking for a long time. While playing it I feel obligated to give you feedback and thereby hopefully make the experience even more intriguing. I will list things that I have found unrealistic or lacking of enjoyment and with a suggestion how to change it to preferable way, in my opinion. I will edit this post when I find more things, if I am mistaken in something that I write, or if someone has an even better idea and will thereby change it.

1. How it is: In the game you can drink melted snow, which is unsafe. You can boil it to make it potable.
   The problem: The only snow which has a possibility of being unsafe is the fine snow "dancing" on top of the snow. By collecting the snow below the risk of drinking contaminated snow is negligible.
   The solution: You don't have to boil water.
   
2. How it is: Wolves kills people or even hunt them.
   The problem: Wolves doesn't kill or hunt people commonly. Wolves behave weird, going about in a very small area just standing. This doesn't seem very realistic and in my opinion their presence is doing more harm to immerse me in the experience compared to if they weren't even there.
   The solution: Stop wolf attacks on people, unless provoked. Improve their behaviour pattern.
   
3. How it is: Clothes need to be repaired regularly.
   The problem: Clothes need to be repaired regularly. In my experience, clothes doesn't worn out. I am an outdoor freak and I am very careless of my clothing. Of course they are worn out in the end but I think that is negligible. For me, this disrupts my immersion into the game.
   The solution: Clothes does not need to be repaired. Though, you should be able to improve your clothing by adding more cloth and making it more insulate.
   
4. How it is: You cannot collect vegetables to eat.
   The problem: In a survival situation it is a good idea to at least consider collecting edible vegetables. Looting is viable for as long as there are properties to loot. I can understand that the character one is playing is not a survivalist expert, I just want to throw the idea here.
   The solution: Collection of a few vegetables that common Canadians know are edible. In Sweden, edible vegetables that are prefered to eat during winter, among others, are bulrush (which I have seen in-game), lichen, pine needles, and reed.
   Make hunting the most risky, meaning you get a lot if you succeed but it is hard to succeed.
   Fishing is moderately risky, meaning you get less than from hunting but it is easier to catch fish.
   Gathering edible vegetables is low risk, meaning you get less than from fishing but it is easier to find vegetables than to catch fish. Also, can be eaten without cooking.
   
5. How it is: There are two maps.
   The problem: There are only two maps.
   The solution: I know it is a long shot and probably costs a lot of money, but I would really like generation of random maps to increase replayability. Knowing where stuff is and how the landscape looks does decrease the replayability.
   
6. How it is: It is winter.
   The problem: It is only winter. There could be maps with the other seasons presenting other problems and making problems in the winter irrelevant.
   The solution: Add seasons. Preferably with the idea mentioned above with generation of random maps.

Best regards,

Hrokk

Eating cold snow as a source of hydration doesn't work - your body burns more water creating the energy required to melt that snow into water for hydration than the snow gives you in the first place.

The aggressive wolf behavior is explained in game to be a result of the geomagnetic event that causes the whole situation. Also, the game would be pretty boring without the constant threat of wolf attack.

Clothing repair is a balancing thing. The game is only about being realistic and immersive insofar as it does not become boring or easy and therefore not fun.

Collecting roots/vegetables would be good, but I don't think there is really a lot to eat out there in the middle of winter.

They are planning on 4-10 maps in total, a third has been confirmed for release soon. Random map generation seems very very unlikely given that these are handmade maps rather than procedurally generated. This isn't a voxel game remember. Programming good random map generation would be orders of magnitude more difficult than it is in a game like Minecraft or Salt or 7 Days to Die.

Thanks for your response.

Eating cold snow as a source of hydration doesn't work - your body burns more water creating the energy required to melt that snow into water for hydration than the snow gives you in the first place.

Thank you for that, I have corrected it. Though, melted snow is not really unsafe.

The aggressive wolf behavior is explained in game to be a result of the geomagnetic event that causes the whole situation. Also, the game would be pretty boring without the constant threat of wolf attack.

For me it seems most deaths are a result of wolves in this game. In a situation presented in the game the most probable cause of death would be cold or starvation. I just think you should be more scared of not being able to catch enough fish, getting into a warm cabin after a day collecting food than being killed by a wolf which is not really a realistic issue.

Collecting roots/vegetables would be good, but I don't think there is really a lot to eat out there in the middle of winter.

The four examples I mentioned are readily there in the game. Lichen from the rocks, bulrush and reed from the waters (though you have to get the roots), and pine needles from trees. These are just examples, there could be others.

They are planning on 4-10 maps in total, a third has been confirmed for release soon. Random map generation seems very very unlikely given that these are handmade maps rather than procedurally generated. This isn't a voxel game remember. Programming good random map generation would be orders of magnitude more difficult than it is in a game like Minecraft or Salt or 7 Days to Die.

Yeah, I figured as much. Costs a lot of money. One can dream.

Yes, I agree,

Random procedurally generated maps would give a whole new dimension to the existing game as it is.

The idea of seasons is great, as existing map could be used with some modifications in the fauna, lakes and forests.

Animal migrations, hibernated bears, or others if taken into consideration would make a great game, like salmon season, the awake of bears after a long hibernation, collection of plants to make some herbal remedies, insects in summer, longer days in summer, bird migration and so on.

I read that the game will be release in seasons so not sure if seasons can be a cycle so all season can be experience? I listed this idea on procedurally generation. And fine tuning it in some areas so is it very complex and require a complex team to make it look good?

Melted snow can carry a number of problematic bugs. There is a bacteria that grows commonly on snow that will make you VERY SICK, as in a real risk of dehydration. Then there is animal waste in the snow that can give you any number of illnesses (and it's clear they are running all over the same areas we are).

Really snow in the wild isn't that safe, it's only safe when you have snow at home where it has just fallen and you know what was under it.

Eating cold snow as a source of hydration doesn't work - your body burns more water creating the energy required to melt that snow into water for hydration than the snow gives you in the first place.

The problem is burning calories, not burning water. If you're well fed and clothed there's no reason you can't hydrate with snow. I've done it many times to cool off. You stick a snow ball in your mouth and let it melt, drinking the water. Sort of like hydrating by sucking ice in the summer. Wolves and dogs rely on snow for hydration in the winter up here.

They advise against it because if you're freezing the snow will cool you down and reduce your core temp. potentially.

The reason TLD doesn't use generated maps is not because it's too difficult or too expensive but because of the story mode. The story mode is what TLD is really about, even though the sandbox will probably be played more in the end since playing the same story over and over again is not too appealing. The maps (and everything else) in the sandbox mode are made for and will be used in the story mode. That's why they design the maps by hand, to get the most out of the story.

It has been said that if the first TLD (what is now being developed) is successful enough, there will be sequels with each sequel adding the next season. While it is weird that you can play for years in perpetual winter, the story will probably not last long enough to get to spring. I just tell myself the geo-magnetic event has changed the weather so it's simply always winter.

Eating cold snow as a source of hydration doesn't work - your body burns more water creating the energy required to melt that snow into water for hydration than the snow gives you in the first place.

The problem is burning calories, not burning water. If you're well fed and clothed there's no reason you can't hydrate with snow. I've done it many times to cool off. You stick a snow ball in your mouth and let it melt, drinking the water. Sort of like hydrating by sucking ice in the summer. Wolves and dogs rely on snow for hydration in the winter up here.

They advise against it because if you're freezing the snow will cool you down and reduce your core temp. potentially.

The colder the environment the colder the snow, the more energy required to make it liquid. You don't want to get hydrated this way unless this is no other option. Snow is also loaded with pollution and the wrong ph values due to that, it can also contain bacteria and yeah. You would be better off melting and boiling it.