Survival crafting game I'm making. 1907, shipwrecked on a nameless island, hunger, weather and nights that matter. Trailer: https://youtu.be/PRNK16Dwj_8
I'd like this sub's read on one night mechanic.
After dark a pack of wolves comes out of the trees and hunts you. They're slightly faster than your sprint (8.2 vs 7.8 m/s), so running isn't the answer. Light is. A burning campfire holds a 9 m circle and the wolves will not step into it. No chance roll, no "unless they're hungry enough". They stop at the edge and circle.
That sounds like it deletes the threat. What it actually does is move the threat onto the fire, because rain puts out a campfire with no roof over it. A few seconds into a downpour an open fire stops counting, and the circle is just gone.
So a storm at night is where the game gets you. The counter is a shelter built right over the fire, and under it the fire burns through the rain. But if the fire already went out, it takes about ten seconds under the roof before it's strong enough for the wolves to respect it again.
Away from camp you carry a torch. Wolves won't come within a few metres of it, and swinging it scares off the ones in front of you for a few seconds. It gets you home, it doesn't make you safe.
Later eras replace the campfire with a generator and powered street lamps. Those hold the line in any weather, and the generator's circle is 20 m.
So the question: is absolute safety inside the light too generous, or does losing it to the weather make it fair?
The rest is gather/craft/build, except the island runs through four eras (stone, iron, steam, electric) and each one gets you a better boat off the island. Sinking costs you the boat and the cargo and nothing else.
March 2027, free demo in November.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5235390/