Dev Update: Paid Survival Features? Discussion

[Animal Mother]

I recently read the most recent dev diary (2 months late), It stated In the update that they will start producing "paid content" for survival mode for additional features etc, this worries me slightly and I would like to hear some of you guys opinions on this, especially your opinions on a little taboo subject In the community, modding, and Its relation to this.

The devs quite clearly stated they're reasons to make this move Into paid content for survival mode, stating Its for additional costs for "testing" they're new features they place Into the game, and I suppose making sure things are up to a good standard once released which I must admit coming from someone who likes Elder Scrolls games, Its refreshing to hope Into The Long Dark and be exposed to 12 hour long sessions with NO bugs whatsoever, they are wonderful In that aspect.

But regardless I feel abit concerned about this whole "paying for additional survival features", they stated there will be a few things thrown In "Free" for people whom cant afford to pay etc, or Just out right refuse, but still I dont know, I know from coming onto the forums every now and then and having a browse, Its something thats always been heavily requested, well above story mode updates, maybe the period of the story mode updates over the last few years were not so successful as the devs had hoped, negatively affecting sales? So In a bid to bring new life Into the game they want to bring In new features but CHARGE for these features, two birds with one stone? Maybe, maybe not I dont have any factual figures to back this theory up.

Back In the 07.12.2021, we were told In a Dev update that In the spring time (2022) there would be more told to us about modding, well, spring has long come and gone and we still have not heard anything, yet there Is talk of adding features for money? And I dont expect It to be a couple of quid ($3 Dollars).

Is this Just a cash grab pointed at fans who love the game deeply and would pay anything to expand their favourite game?

And what about modding? Isn't this something modders If given the tools could do? Without any cost to the devs, thus perhaps bringing new players into the fold thus boosting sells, accepting modders and their hard work, rather than being demonised.

This Is just MY opinion, I would love to hear your opinions to, thanks for taking the time to read, and In my opinion I hope the devs personally Just forget this Idea of In my opinion again I must, Is just a blatant cash grab, that regradless how they play It will surely damage Hinterlands reputation, not Just with modders, but now they're loyal fans.

[Resident NATO Freedom Enjoyer]

I dunno, I still hold a grudge against the devs for being unsupportive of the community mods wise. Despite the game being fun, would have been nice to have people who enjoy the game develop it more. Especially since it's still quite bare bones when it comes down to how much there is to do in the game. What I would give for more items.

[Lt. Heinz Becker]

The problem with paid DLC's for me, is that this game has been on Steam for a very long time, and they have released so many free updates over the years. I honestly don't feel like a whole lot of people would be willing to buy it. There is already a lot of content available with this game. It just seems sort of late in the game to start a DLC season pass system.

It would really depend what the paid content has in it. If they are going to just add new regions as paid DLC's, I doubt I would buy it because we already have so many regions in the game to explore. If they were to add new regions PLUS some new features and game mechanics along with it I would be more inclined to buy it. Price would also be a factor. 5-10 dollars would be my limit I would spend on a DLC.

[JiffyPopKids]

The biggest point to keep in mind is that DLC is not what you paid for when you bought The Long Dark. The main features of the game, story mode & survival mode plus the challenges are what you bought when you purchased the game. DLC is extra content. The developers have so far delivered on their promise to make an episodic story based game, and are not obligated to keep delivering free content they did not previously promise.
Think of it as buying a vehicle. The vehicle itself is whatever it's marked for, say thirty thousand. Add ons, extra content, like seat warmers, higher suspension, is essentially DLC.

[Lt. Heinz Becker]

One idea I think would be interesting as a DLC is sub episodes to Wintermute. Instead of playing as Will, play an episode as Jeremiah or Molly before they meet the main characters. I've always wondered about their backstories and this would give some insight into that.

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by Lt. Heinz Becker:

It just seems sort of late in the game to start a DLC season pass system.

It's not a season pass. The choice of words used in the Dev Diary were not great, but it is not a season pass. It is a discount for those who want to buy the bundle of all DLC, released or yet to be released. You get everything in the bundle. all of it.
You can also buy each one separately , to pick and choose which packs you are interested in or not interested in.

Originally posted by St. Javelin, Decrepit and ill:

I dunno, I still hold a grudge against the devs for being unsupportive of the community mods wise. Despite the game being fun, would have been nice to have people who enjoy the game develop it more. Especially since it's still quite bare bones when it comes down to how much there is to do in the game. What I would give for more items.

There are mods available third party, and they have been available for some time. Hinterland was much stricter about us talking about them on the Steam forums for some time, but they have recently loosened up on that and we are allowed to talk about them here. And they opened a whole subforum for Mods and Modders on their online forums, where people who own the game on any platform can talk about existing mods or ask Modders to create new ones with features they would like to see: https://hinterlandforums.com/forums/forum/103-modding-ugc/ Hinterland own those forums outright, and does not have to follow any Valve set Discussion Rules or Guidelines (which includes rules about cheats and exploits, which some mods clearly are, while others are not- but how do you enforce the rules and only allow talk of QoL mods, but not others?) https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6862-8119-C23E-EA7B Many of the devs started as Modders early in their gamedev careers, and some still are active Modders. So they weren't necessarily being unsupportive-they were following the rules that Valve set for them regarding what content Valve considers permissible on the game hub forums.

Personally, I am for some paid DLC packs. When Hinterland released the survey about what people were hoping for or wanted or would be willing to pay for after the game is completed (Episode 5 released and the official end -of-development met), I voted for small-medium sized DLCs packs, at the lower price range given as an option in the survey. They are following the results of the survey and what people said they wanted and would or would not be willing to pay for. Whether I'll buy the pre-paid bundle or whether I'll buy one DLC at a time remains to be seen- it all depends on finances and what types of things are being offered. The game has sold over 5.5 million copies- it isn't likely to sell many more new copies except at deep discounts- and the studio is already involved in a new project in UE5- that has to have some money coming in to help pay for development. I haven't seen any mention of whether they are considering crowdfunding again or not. I hope they are- I missed the Kickstarter for this game, but would put in for a new game, given the chance. But if they don't- DLC for the existing game will help fund a more expensive game made in UE5 (because game development is not cheap).

[Samuelson McBanquet Magonahew Jr]

As long as they don't add an AK-74 as a dlc weapon for $19.99, i'm okay with anything.

[Sito]

All of this has been discussed already when the dev diary came out.

[I'll be the one]

Originally posted by Lt. Heinz Becker:

The problem with paid DLC's for me, is that this game has been on Steam for a very long time, and they have released so many free updates over the years. I honestly don't feel like a whole lot of people would be willing to buy it. There is already a lot of content available with this game. It just seems sort of late in the game to start a DLC season pass system.

It would really depend what the paid content has in it. If they are going to just add new regions as paid DLC's, I doubt I would buy it because we already have so many regions in the game to explore. If they were to add new regions PLUS some new features and game mechanics along with it I would be more inclined to buy it. Price would also be a factor. 5-10 dollars would be my limit I would spend on a DLC.

People will buy the Season Pass/ DLC because we are getting bored after you do get to 500 days we want new things.

[Jatul]

More than six months and carcasses still disappear... I'm not paying for bugs

[Paph]

Originally posted by Jatul:

More than six months and carcasses still disappear... I'm not paying for bugs

I'm with you.

[humblehome]

This is my favorite game of all time and I will happily pay for DLCs. That said, there is a limit to how many hours I want to spend on any single game--even the best game of all time. So what would be even better than DLCs would be a completely new Hinterland game--preferably a different sandbox survival game, but in a different environment.

[Serchine]

I think they mean new area, if so I have zero problem with it. I wouldn't support "survival gear pack" that kind of thing.

[brulis2]

I am hoping that they mean to add some building or repair mechanics so that we can make modifications to damaged buildings.

[Ranch]

After the devs removed their game from the nvidia cloud gaming service i decided id never financially support them. While i enjoy the game, i think thats the major reason i wouldnt buy dlc
Plus as everyone else has already said here, it may be too late for dlc to really take off, and theres too much free content now that i doubt many would feel a desire to pay for more content, especially depending on price

[Animal Mother]

Its been wonderful reading everyone's opinions and thoughts, I still remain quite firm on my opinion, but It Is Interesting to see as long as the DLC's are full and expansive and dont contain "Ak-47s" Hinterland should do okay out of It sells wise and people would be willing to part with 5 to 10 dollars, there's still obviously a good amount of upset over modding, hopefully Hinterland will speak further about this, I can see they have loosened there grip on modders and the days of forum posts being deleted In relation to modding are gone, but It would be nice for them to after what? 10 Years? finally release some modding tools for this game, It would certainly boost sells for the game more than some petty DLC, Just look at games like Minecraft, Garrys Mod, The Elder Scrolls, things like the creation kit Is the sole reason they have been able to make 15 different something special editions, and In terms of cost Id imagine Is next to nothing, compared to the cost of making a moderately sized DLC, then as they say, testing It etc.

Better than that though as stated by IFIYGD, maybe Its time If not started already working on The Long Dark 2? Surely the money they have made with The Long Dark, some of It has been reserved for other projects.

Hopefully this all goes well for Hinterland, and for the people who love them game deeply.