The Long Dark

[Burning Bridges]

That was 4 months ago

http://hinterlandgames.com/community-update-story-mode/

Nothing new since then, updates have been laughable. I dunno something must have happened in the studio. Game was really well on track until 2016, and then it became a disaster. Lots of people have dissappeared including the community manager and my feeling is that half the staff has been laid off secretly and now they are running a damage control program. I still think it will be released, just saying that something is off.

 

[Beastro]

That was 4 months ago

http://hinterlandgames.com/community-update-story-mode/

Nothing new since then, updates have been laughable. I dunno something must have happened in the studio. Game was really well on track until 2016, and then it became a disaster. Lots of people have dissappeared including the community manager and my feeling is that half the staff has been laid off secretly and now they are running a damage control program. I still think it will be released, just saying that something is off.

No surprise, one of the last Early Access games I bought.

It was on sale, got it for like 10$, which it was worth.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Release date went from winter 2015 to April 2016 and finally to "when it's done".

After the April 2016 date was cancelled they switched to a roadmap in which they do no longer give specific dates but rather simple "6 months out" or "12 months out" time windows. Since they do not update this page it means everything is always 6-12 months out, but without specific dates that they fail I also was suprised to see that several former members dissappeared from the team page as if they never existed. My impression is that they are still working on the game and make progress but have orders to cut out the bullshit (i.e. endless updates to the sandbox) and concentrate only on the release, and that some members had never planned to stick around for so long and quit. Release could be in 2017. Perhaps.

 

[Darkzone]

Perhaps they simply wanted too much after they have made the 600k EA buyers or they are at the bahamas spending the money on whores, whisky and cocain. They have 24 people in the studio, perhaps they have expanded too much and now they want to cut it to the most necessary things.

 

[belowmecoldhands]

My guess is they're trimming away the fat to get to release. Or they're imploding.

 

[belowmecoldhands]

Tbh I don't understand what's going on over there lately. There used to be updates every two weeks or so, now only cosmetic stuff for a long time. The game used to be very stable and suddenly it crashes a lot.
Either they are working on the story mode full time or they have had some internal changes that they keep secret. My suspicion is that key people left or have at least moved to other obligations.
They also used to have a pretty open forum now they have mods that edit out everything they don't lile. I had to stop posting there when even a joke wouldn't go through. And the console thing is not exactly encouraging either, though they may require extra sales. But who owns a console these days anyway?

This game worth $10 or is it pretty far off from being finished?

It's worth more than 10$, but it's also far from being finished.

Would you say they were in favor of a storymode or dead set against it in favor of the sandox instead? I'm trying to figure out if any conflict existed regarding the sandbox option. Most gamers prefer story or campaigns I think.

I also know too much hammer in a forum is a killer for a game advertising through the fans. Alganon is a good example of an MMO that may have had some hope if it had people with the right personality. I won't name names, but one of the owners has a personality like rotten eggs and bans you if you sneeze. It doesn't help he makes bug-ridden niche games, but that's beside the point. I was drawn to his games because they were niche, so I'm not trying to do a hit on him. He hits himself by being unable to take anyting but good news.

 

[sser]

Do the Long Dark forums get ban happy or something? Not sure I understand what you're talking about.

The game is pretty good as is, but yes it's unfinished. It's still one of the most immersive and incredible "unfinished games" I've played.

 

[agentorange]

The game has gotten so much bigger in the year since I last played it. I'm trying the challenge mode right now where I need to reach the summit of Timberwolf Peak; too bad I have no idea where the place is. I managed to find this stone church as I was suffering from exhaustion and freezing to death, managed to make it to the next day. Made it to some whaling station, still no idea where to go.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Do the Long Dark forums get ban happy or something? Not sure I understand what you're talking about.

The game is pretty good as is, but yes it's unfinished. It's still one of the most immersive and incredible "unfinished games" I've played.

This project was blowing me away in the first year but if you check the last twelve months of this thread, there is a sharp drop in activity.

 

[sser]

Do the Long Dark forums get ban happy or something? Not sure I understand what you're talking about.

The game is pretty good as is, but yes it's unfinished. It's still one of the most immersive and incredible "unfinished games" I've played.

This project was blowing me away in the first year but if you check the last twelve months of this thread, there is a sharp drop in activity.

I dropped a solid 10hrs into it. For me, I just wanted to shelve it to better experience the finished product.

 

[Darkzone]

Do the Long Dark forums get ban happy or something? Not sure I understand what you're talking about.
The game is pretty good as is, but yes it's unfinished. It's still one of the most immersive and incredible "unfinished games" I've played.

This project was blowing me away in the first year but if you check the last twelve months of this thread, there is a sharp drop in activity.

I dropped a solid 10hrs into it. For me, I just wanted to shelve it to better experience the finished product.

If they manage to make it till December, then i would state that you should wait a bit.
Reason:
I have dropped over 200h into the game and i dont want to play it because i'm too good in it and this takes away from the enjoyment. So i will also wait a bit for changes in game mechanics, like learning from books.

 

[someone else]

Haven't played in a year.
Devs are hiring.
http://hinterlandgames.com/career-opportunities/

 

[Burning Bridges]

But that's the thing, they are always hiring, hiring, hiring and at some point in early 2016 they stopped releasing meaningul updates on the game. Since 2014 they were always publishing job requirements for new people, and constantly announced they acquired talent like the Raindrop developers. Then 2.5 years later you look at the team page and realize it currently contains only a few productive roles, that people like Dave Chan have simply vanished, and the Raindrop guys (Nihad Nasupovic and Max Ramirez) may have never actually been on it. They are always big at announcing when someone joins them but never when they head off back to their own projects. It may just have to do with the remote location, or Van Lierop is as macciavellistic as he sometimes appears, or they hire too many hipster people who are generally just not able to work on something for more than 12 months.

Be what may, but if you ignore the bullshit people write there has been practically no progress in 2016, and people are not even questioning it any more. It seems like everyone agreed that while the sandbox got frequent highly regarded updates in the first year, it isnt totally strange about how this fizzled out in 2015 and that the developers now dissappear for months on end without a new date. They made a roadmap, but do not update it. So the stuff that was 4-6 months out in April is still 4-6 months out in August, the story mode is 12 months out which means it comes out in August 2017. But I guess in August 2017 that may have just changed to 6-12 months out.

My theory is that during the time before the failed story mode deadline (April) they had become complacent and too large, there was not enough progress on the story mode and they were mainly just putting out new content with the tools they already had. So when the deadline was missed and they internally revealed that it was at least a year from completion, they fired all the unproductive people (I wished I had stored their pages somewhere) and are now concentrating on adding a story mode and actual new features, like they did in the first year during the kickstarter.

So yeah, it will probably come out (end 2017 maybe) but the momentum is long gone out from this.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I also know too much hammer in a forum is a killer for a game advertising through the fans. Alganon is a good example of an MMO that may have had some hope if it had people with the right personality. I won't name names, but one of the owners has a personality like rotten eggs and bans you if you sneeze. It doesn't help he makes bug-ridden niche games, but that's beside the point. I was drawn to his games because they were niche, so I'm not trying to do a hit on him. He hits himself by being unable to take anyting but good news.

Do the Long Dark forums get ban happy or something? Not sure I understand what you're talking about.

The game is pretty good as is, but yes it's unfinished. It's still one of the most immersive and incredible "unfinished games" I've played.

I wouldn't say it is the worst forum I know, rather one of those where I mostly stopped posting. They don't ban a lot of people but the rules are tight as ass, and they will give you warnings over "argumentative" posting and threaten a ban. So people know you can post there but if you just get a little over someones comfort zone you will get the official warning and then bannu. I guess therefore a lot of people just lost interest to use the forum like me, and now stopped recommending it altogether. The forums right now are totally uninteresting because no one really has much to discuss there any more. So yes it is probably a factor.

And considering what I have just read concerning Fargo and Wasteland, this seems to be another game where the developer is in danger of running out of money. For I can't imagine that the ongoing Steam sales amount up to very much, until the game exits EA, and they have been paying wages for 3 years already, and also considering that this is not a 3 man indie team but rather a sizeable studio. So the delay caused by the April deadline could have created a serious problem, and explain why since then nothing is as it used to be.

 

[Darkzone]

The newest Kickstarter Update shows that there is still happening a lot behind the scenes. (I don't know if the Steam EA people recieve KS updates. ) So there is a slight chance that it will be released this year.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I got an email yesterday saying that they release the first part of the story mode in August, including 2 new regions. It also sounded like the new regions are only for story, and the old ones only for sandbox.

 

[Darkzone]

I got an email yesterday saying that they release the first part of the story mode in August, including 2 new regions. It also sounded like the new regions are only for story, and the old ones only for sandbox.

I have read nothing about August in the KS Update, but they have Episode One ready and thay are playtesting it. Episode one has around 5h-6h playtime. They have added two areas to the Epiosde One, from which one is nearly ready and the second is updated based on some story and mission changes.
They say that exteriors and interiors have been updated with much more details and will be gradually released in Sandbox updates. Also the current Sandbox will not contain the story areas, but this new areas will be added if the Story Mode will be launched.

 

[Burning Bridges]

They have updated their roadmap again, and the same things moved into the 1-6 months category again. I also see no information if they release the first part of the story mode or not. Improved grass my ass.
This is simply too painfully slow. It's a really good game, but it may be a good idea to ignore this update altogether and get the finished product in 2018/19/20.

 

[Burning Bridges]

You actually need to read several pages to see whether they will release new regions in the near term.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/305620/announcements/detail/580223818486664733

"We know that a lot of you would like us to expand Sandbox with more regions -- but unfortunately every region we build for Sandbox is one we can’t build for Story, and we don’t want to release the new Story Mode regions until we launch it, so they are new when you play them!"

So in plain simple language:

The release date for story mode will be "when it's done", and new regions for sandbox will not be released until the story mode is finished.

There will be an August update in early September, and it will include the following (cosmetic) improvements:

Roadmap Version: 1.2 (Updated August 16, 2016)

Next Sandbox Update Planned For: End of August/Early September

Next Update (ASPIRATIONAL ***IT IS POSSIBLE NOT ALL OF THIS WILL MAKE IT INTO THE NEXT UPDATE ***)

• New Experience Mode
• The Hunted, Part 2
• Coastline & “Beachcombing” Gameplay
• Archery Skill
• First-Person Presence: Light Sources
• Decoy Exploit Fix
• Steam Trading Cards
• UI improvements
• Specific world art improvements
• Modifications to persistent Feats

 

[Burning Bridges]

It is if course possible that they only make it into the next (December) update.

 

[Darkzone]

Since they are playtesting the first episode, it is possible that they make it to december. The new UI is for me irrelevant, but at least we will be able to see the wolf mantle in its whole glory. They are also now adding hands to the game, but i don't know if they plan to add feet and legs.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I had to take a look at this 3 year old video because this game still interests me. I think I understand the problem now. Most of the people in the video are no longer listed on the team. This is particularly telling because most of the video is about the team and their amazing qualifications.

I also gathered from several big and verbose announcements that the first 2 episodes of the 1st season will be possibly be released in December, or at a later date. The August update will be released sometime in September, or at a later date, but does not contain anything that affects gameplay in a big way, and it will definitely not contain any content that is needed for the story mode.

Or in other words, this game has arrived in EA hell for good. The developers got used to coming to the office for three years without deadlines, and plan to do this for at least the next 3 years. After a great start in 2013 / 2014 this is now about making plans and roadmaps and long articles why they cannot do the things they cannot do.

 

[jaelkeiset]

Or in other words, this game has arrived in EA hell for good. The developers got used to coming to the office for three years without deadlines, and plan to do this for at least the next 3 years. After a great start in 2013 / 2014 this is now about making plans and roadmaps and long articles why they cannot do the things they cannot do.

LOL. But also: THIS GAME. IT ROCKS. I am only interested in the sandbox and do not care about a story line... And there, they deliver. Constant progress and mostly good decisions. Now we have that Interloper difficulty in the test branch: People love it (unfortunately already has been nerfed a bit, they listen to whiners too much). Out of the 3 games I regularly play, this is one. Then ArmA. Plus D:OS and some space 4X

 

[Burning Bridges]

You must be logged in to Steam otherwise it will give you badly suitable error messages.

This is great usability for people like me who have Steam installed and play fine, but end up being logged out most of the time in Chrome or get constanly redirected to Internet Explorer and other shit.

Only when you log in you can open the test branch forum where you must search through 10 -100 threads until you find that you have enter "thelongdarktest" in the Steam beta tab, and then you can select the beta.

On a usability scale from 1 to 10 I give this a -3/10

 

[Burning Bridges]

You can also see on the test branch or youtube page every second question is

"How to use beta"
"Como usar beta"
"как получить бета"