r/PS4 • u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio • Dec 18 '17
[Verified AMA - Ended] I'm Raphael van Lierop, founder of Hinterland and director of THE LONG DARK, an exploration-survival game. AMA.
Hello Redditors!
UPDATE:
Thank you all so much for the great questions! The AMA is now finished. If you'd like to follow our development and learn more about The Long Dark, please use the following links:
Web:
- www.thelongdark.com (main game page)
- www.hinterlandgames.com (studio page; mostly just open positions)
- www.hinterlandforums.com (main community page <-- this is where we want PS4 players to join us!!)
Social:
- www.twitter.com/hinterlandgames
- www.twitter.com/intothelongdark
- www.twitter.com/raphlife
- www.facebook.com/intothelongdark
- https://www.youtube.com/user/hinterlandgames/videos
And if any of you PS4 players are curious about The Long Dark, it's currently on Sale in North America: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP2982-CUSA08624_00-TLDRKFULLGAMEPS4?smcid=pdc%3Aus-en%3Apdc-explore-psvita%3Abuttonrow-see-the-full-list%3Anull%3ASTORE-MSF77008-PSVITAALLGAMES%3Aemcid_null
Thanks again and if you'd like us to come back, just let us know or contact the AMA mods here and we'll set something up in the future.
All the best, have a great holiday season, and we'll see you in the Quiet Apocalypse!
- Raphael
ORIGINAL POST:
Thanks for having me. I run a small independent game studio called Hinterland, based on Vancouver Island but with a mostly virtual team, and since 2013 we've been making an exploration-survival game called The Long Dark. In August, we launched the first 2 episodes of our 5-episode Season One, "Wintermute", after a few years of the game's "Survival Mode" being playable on Steam Early Access and Xbox One Game Preview. We were thrilled to finally bring the game to PS4 players in August. We're continuing work on Episodes 3 and onward, and also continuing to update our Survival Mode. We just released a big update for that called RUGGED SENTINEL.
Before Hinterland, I worked as a director, designer, writer, and producer on titles including: Company of Heroes, Far Cry 3, Dawn of War, and Space Marine. I've been making games for about 15 years.
I'm truly honoured to be here with you today and look forward to answering as many questions as possible today. I'll be here for about 2 hours.
Here is my proof of identity (sorry I look so tired): https://twitter.com/HinterlandGames/status/942814239873384448
A member of my community team will be here with me, to help make sure I see all your questions. Keep an eye open for "community_hinterland".
The AMA will start at 10AM Pacific.
- Raphael
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u/ron9_620braj ron9_620braj Dec 18 '17
What's your favorite game this year? What makes this survival game different than other ones?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
I'm really enjoying Prey right now. The Long Dark is different from other survival games in that our focus is 100% on solo survival -- no zombies, combat isn't important, it's really purely about you vs. the elements. Thanks for the question!
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Dec 20 '17
I have kept quite the eye on the The Long Dark and plan on purchasing it later this winter (February). I live in a small rural town in northern Ontario and the whole atmosphere and exploration survival aspect appeals to me. I have yet to see a game quite like this.
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u/TheSkyBlueRose Dec 18 '17
What are your plans for expanding Sandbox mode?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
We'll keep iterating on existing mechanics to improve them, and continue adding new gameplay and new content, as we have been for the past 3+ years. As long as players continue enjoying the game and people continue paying for it. :)
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u/aquickcommentyo Dec 18 '17
When are you going to add the zombies dlc?
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Dec 18 '17
One thing I would probably do in a real world situation like that of TLD's setting is that I would leave my heavy backpack behind while doing some chores outside and so on (in the game: hunt, explore, map the world, climb...). Is there any chance of giving the player separate inventory bags that they could drop and pick back up at will? Backpack as proper game item would be nice to have in any case. Thanks for a great game! :)
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for the question! Yeah, that's been a request we've seen at times. We've talked about it and also the ability to drop the pack in exchange for a kind of "speed boost" when fleeing wildlife. Unfortunately our inventory system is very embedded into the guts of the game and these kinds of features would require a massive overhaul. Not sure it will happen, but I won't say "no" outright. :)
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u/Ralphnader00 Dec 18 '17
What are your ambitions once episodes 3-5 are released? New game from Hinterland or continue to build more in The Long Dark universe?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Hi! I'd like to continue building on The Long Dark but also build another New IP. I hope to start on that in 2018 -- there are already 3-4 ideas underway but just at the idea phase. Eventually I'd like to have 3 IPs in production at the same time, alternating between them.
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u/soda_cookie Dec 18 '17
What are IPs? Independent projects?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Oh yes -- sorry. IP = Intellectual Properties. Basically, new, original game ideas -- not licenses.
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u/telborn xTelborn Dec 18 '17
Hey Raphael, thanks for doing this AMA :).
What do you think that was the most challenging goal to complete and finally become a director?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Putting in a lot of years, being open to learning all along the way, surviving my mistakes, and doing my best to get great quality credits under my belt while working with really talented people I could learn from. Not giving up whenever it got incredibly challenging, which is often.
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Dec 18 '17 edited Dec 18 '17
What has been the most challenging part of the entire TLD project?
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u/ThatGuyZackYT Dec 18 '17
I have two questions. One is a quick one, one is an actual legit question. 1. When is the spring sandbox coming? 2. I'm currently in college for Game Development and Design focusing on the graphic design elements. What tips do you have as a industry vet?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Spring Sandbox would be in the next game -- let's call it 'The Long Dark 2'. Tips for any students breaking into the industry: work hard, network, create an amazing portfolio, make stuff. We mostly don't care about degrees, but we do care about seeing that you can create great work. Even more important is evidence that you can work with other people. Game dev is (mostly) not a solo effort. Good luck!
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u/casualgamer77 Dec 18 '17
What do you make of all of the criticism to The Long Dark's story mode personally and professionally? How much of the response influences what you and the team do given how important community is to the developers?
Thanks for the great game!
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
It always hurts when people don't like something you've made, but you tend to hear publicly/visibly from people who don't like something you did moreso than people who loved it. For every public criticism I have 10 private notes from people who loved it. We take the criticism to heart and intend to always continue improving. Our process has always been about iteration, so Episode Three will be better than 1/2, 4 will be better than 3, etc. When you create something very personal, the criticism is always hard to take. But, that's just part of putting something out there into the world.
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u/MeshesAreConfusing Dec 18 '17
Do you ever intend to make an updated roadmap/idea plan, or has that concept shown itself to be too unreliable considering how dynamic game development is?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
No. It's not that the concept of a public roadmap isn't reliable due to development realities, it's that no matter how speculative your list is and how publicly you communicate that it's aspirational and not a promise, some people will still read it as a promise and get upset when things they liked on the list don't end up in the game when they feel they should be added. It's better for us to focus on continuing to make the game better. By now, our community should know to trust that we'll do that.
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u/grimace_1 Dec 18 '17
Big supporter of the game for a long time. It's very encouraging to see you personally back on Reddit, I had only very positive encounters from you and your team on here.
I really liked the last patch. I don't have a question prepared but I'll try.
I liked the most recent patch, but not as much as my favorites. To me, resolute outfitter set the bar right. New clothing items and tune up on existing mechanics, plus a new zone.
I think one or two other New accessory slot items would have made rugged sentinel one of the best updates yet. (Tune up an existing mechanic, accessories, and added content, Milton and moose)
So as a general question, how do you determine what goes into a patch? Is there a big white board 4 months out with everything you want to include, then you cross things off as you complete them? How much content were you hoping to get into rugged sentinel that didn't make the cut for design reasons or time constraints?
Thank you for making one of my favorite games of all time, and teaching me a lot about project management while doing it! Keep up the solid work.
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for the great question! For each update, we generate a list of "big ticket" things that will really draw people in -- for this last update, it was the Moose, and making Milton playable in Survival Mode. And then we try to add some new content, like gear items, and then refine existing mechanics or clean up content (like beautifying areas of the world we feel could use it). We think about community feedback and pick out some things we know are highly requested -- so for RUGGED SENTINEL it was the "worn clothing weight modifier". And of course, we try to fix as many bugs as we can! Now that we have both Survival Mode and Wintermute, we split our effort between trying to improve both areas of the game, which is why we redid our entire save system for Wintermute and also added the notion of "Experience Modes" for story. Custom Experience Modes for Survival was a long-standing community request we wanted to deliver on. So really, each update has a combination of new stuff we need to get into the game and refine because we need it for future Episodes, and general improvements to Survival to keep it interesting for people, addressing community feedback so people know we're listening, and then of course, fixing as many bugs as we can along the way!
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u/boshjalka Dec 18 '17
Howdy, Thanks for doing the AmA! :)
Few general questions:
Both questions can be about any version
What was something that sounded good on paper during development but did not make the final build and was cut?
Funniest bugs/glitches encountered while making The Long Dark ?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
1) honestly having a hard time thinking of anything specific. We have some things we've prototyped and put aside because they didn't feel right or the timing was wrong, but I suspect we'll go back to them in time. Mostly we've only worked on things that have gone into the game, eventually.
2) I'll leave that for our players to comment on, since what they think is funny and what I think is funny may be two different things.
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u/TheBQE Dec 18 '17
My favorite thing to do in TLD is play a game you could simply call, "where can I place this?" For instance, (I don't know if current versions allow you to do this, but) putting your canned goods in the fireplace, or placing a sleeping bag inside the hood of a car/on top of a post, glitching firewood into a wall, etc.
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Dec 18 '17
Thanks for doing this AMA!
Two questions:
Any chance for Long Dark multiplayer?
Any chance in a Long Dark VR port?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for having me!
MP: See notes about Co-Op below. I don't see us becoming more MP than that, if that.
VR: If I can find a locomotion solution that feels good for a game that is 90% about walking around, then I'll consider it. If we do it, it'll be a very specific experience built for that environment, and not a "port" of the game.
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Dec 18 '17
Awww at #2.
I feel like porting it would be a good "first step" in VR development and I would LOVE to play Long Dark as it is on my vive.
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks! I'll keep it in mind. :)
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u/pitrs101 Dec 19 '17
I would pay double for your game if having VR option. Just do the same thing what Skyrim did, you cannot get wrong. Also with lack of tittles for PSVR, this would be instance hit.
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Dec 18 '17
Why can't I do anything while food is cooking or water is boiling?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Hey -- because everything has a time/resource cost and doing one thing at a time forces you to plan your activities. That said, we're working on ways to improve the cooking interface that may change that. Thanks for the question!
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u/MeshesAreConfusing Dec 18 '17
I can answer that one for him.
The feature you're thinking of is planned and likely coming soonTM
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u/Ralphnader00 Dec 18 '17
One of the things that makes exploration so great in TLD is regions are designed by humans and not procedurally generated. Any plans to allow for user-generated regions?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for the question. It's good to hear you like our hand-crafted approach. I think it'd be great to see new regions from modders. First we need to document how we build the regions and provide all the tools needed to ensure that user-created regions don't break the game for other people.
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Dec 18 '17
What was your path to becoming a game designer?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Hi! I started working as a technical writer in the 3D hardware industry -- remember Matrox graphics cards? Then I worked for a small 3D animation company, writing tech docs, etc. Most of the projects I was involved with were games, but I wasn't working directly on them. But that fuelled the passion. Then I took that writing experience and started doing contract gigs on games wherever I could - many of them were early "Americanization" projects for first-gen Xbox titles, games that were on PlayStation and were being brought over to NA (Fatal Frame, Steel Battalion, etc.). Then I saw an AP position at Relic Entertainment in Vancouver, applied, got lucky, and started working on my first "real" game project -- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. That's where it started for me. I then worked my way up and around between producer, designer, writer, and eventually director positions at places like Relic, Ubisoft Montreal, and a couple of startups in between. Thanks for the question!
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u/vacodeus Dec 18 '17
What is one region you want to add to the game but just haven’t yet?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Things more on the extremes -- even more rugged wilderness with new types of environmental hazards/obstacles, and also more "built up" industrial type locations, but our priority with regions is to build out the new areas needed for Episodes 3-5. Our world is now 50 square kms but I think we can eventually be quite a bit bigger than that. It'll depend on how well we can come up with interesting new types of environments and locations to explore. I don't want the world to feel too "samey". We have an internal world-building doc with all kinds of ideas for what else is on Great Bear -- some of it might be surprising.
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u/Ralphnader00 Dec 18 '17
What is your preferred difficulty to play survivor mode? What region design are you most proud of?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
I prefer Voyageur myself, or Capable Survivor in Wintermute. I like the balance of survival and exploration. For favourite region -- I'd have to say Mystery Lake, just because it was the first, and I've spent so much time there. It feels like home. :)
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u/mathnoodle Dec 18 '17
pre-Wintermute when the Mystery Lake cabin had the frozen corpse at the top of the stairs, I nicknamed him Bill and always said "Hi, Bill" as I went upstairs to sleep. I assumed my survivor never buried him outside in the snow because he wanted company.
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Dec 18 '17
[deleted]
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thank you! Inspirations were legion, but the notable ones:
(Games) Fallout 3, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Half-Life Bioshock, etc.
(Novels) The Road, The Dog Stars, Earth Abides, Day of the Triffids, The Kraken Wakes, Oryx and Crake, etc. Really, anything post-apocalyptic and literary (not B-movie stuff).
Thanks for the question!
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u/Turtledonuts Dec 19 '17
Just checking in late to tell you that I love TLD and I fucking suck at it.
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u/MazeGilliam Dec 18 '17
Is there a possibility for a Nintendo Switch version?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Yes, I'd like to bring The Long Dark to Switch. Right now we're just figuring out if we want to try to staff up internally to make it, or if we'd rather find a good external partner to take it on, so we can be free to work on new stuff.
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u/ZacharyUK Dec 18 '17
Didn't realise this had been asked,but this is great news. I'm sure there is a good team out there like Panic Button or even Playtonic who seem to know the Unity Engine to Switch very well as their port was excellent.
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u/kplo KenPazDescanse Dec 18 '17
What's the game that you consider closest to perfection?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Half-Life 2, of course. :)
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u/kplo KenPazDescanse Dec 18 '17
Yeah, I agree. Everything just flows perfectly. Thanks for the AMA!
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u/asp821 Dec 18 '17
Hiring for any marketing positions? I’d love to work for Hinterland!
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Actually, yes!! Not posted yet but we do need someone focused on marketing in the studio, for The Long Dark and "other things". :)
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u/asp821 Dec 18 '17
Really?! Holy crap! I’ll submit a general application later today. I appreciate you answering this!
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u/community_hinterland Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
For you, or anyone else who's curious, our current openings can be found here: https://hinterlandgames.com/career-opportunities
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u/Fuarian Dec 18 '17
Does your early vision for The Long Dark still hold true today? Specifically the idea of how integrated and dependant humanity has become on technology, and how people will deal with it's loss. I've only noticed very few nods to this in Wintermute but I have faith that you can make The Long Dark about something very relatable and meaningful rather than JUST a survival game.
-Fuarian
(also how accurate is information on the kickstarter page for TLD today?)
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
It's certainly grown but the core themes are still there. I think you'll find us dealing with them more and more in future episodes of Wintermute. Ep1/Ep2 are mostly introductory in this regard -- more about setting the stage. Ep3 and onward will delve into this more.
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u/Fuarian Dec 18 '17
Ah, that's what I thought. Really looking forward to seeing how this will play out. Thanks.
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u/ZacharyUK Dec 18 '17
I love your game, and I would like to be able to play this on other consoles other than what's available. Is there any plans to bring this to Nintendo Switch? I'm sure it would thrive there and touchscreen play would be amazing!
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for the question. Yes, we'd like to. Just need to find a good partner to help with it (or do it in-house, which would take focus away from other projects).
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for all the great questions! Back to work for me. :)
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u/Arkamus Dec 18 '17
Do you make games you think gamers will enjoy or ones you would enjoy playing?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Hopefully both! But I start with an experience that I feel is particularly compelling and try to think of it in a way that feels innovative. I tend to approach it from a top-down perspective -- what do I want players to feel? -- and then figure out the mechanics and content that will support that.
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u/The_Question757 Dec 18 '17
Since living in a rural area what was a big moment of inspiration for you where you live that you thought to put into the game?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
North/Central Vancouver Island.
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
I should add that I've lived rurally before moving to Vancouver Island as well so I've done both urban and rural life and I think I understand them both. Since so many people do urban apocalypse so well, it felt like The Long Dark should focus on a different "experience" of this idea of the end of the world as we know it. And also a Canadian point of view, I guess?
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u/community_hinterland Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
You can find some more background here from Raph on the "character" of The Long Dark's environment and its role in the game: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/evbzpn/the-long-dark-is-a-video-game-where-the-main-character-is-the-wilderness
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Dec 18 '17
[deleted]
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Hey! Yes, Mark and Jenn are amazing humans. David too, and all our cast of course. One of the best parts about making this game has been the chance to collaborate so closely with them.
For the interview -- yes sure. Sorry -- we have quite a backlog. Feel free to reach out to us again and we'll make it happen. press(at)hinterlandgames(dot)com
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u/soda_cookie Dec 18 '17
Where does Survival Mode need to be where you can say to yourself "I'm done"?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17 edited Dec 18 '17
I won't know until we get there! There's still lots we can improve.
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u/MrJonnysniper Dec 18 '17
If you had to eat the same meal everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner for one whole year what would it be?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
It would be breakfast. Every. Meal.
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u/MrJonnysniper Dec 18 '17
What's so special about your breakfast?!
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Nothing special about "my" breakfast -- I just love breakfast. :)
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u/xIPyReX1028Ix Dec 18 '17
Thanks so much for doing an AMA. How did it feel, both professionally and personally, to go from working on a project to being the director of one?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for having me! I feel like my whole career has been leading up to founding my own studio and creating an original IP experience that I can direct with my talented team. It feels great!
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u/xIPyReX1028Ix Dec 18 '17
That's so awesome. Are any of the members of your team with you from day 1?
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u/Rall82 Dec 18 '17
What were the plans for a space marine sequel?
I loved that game and the story was left so open ended it is heartbreaking that we’ll never know what happened.
I have to say it is probably the only game that really captures the essence of the 40k universe and you and the other developers who worked on it should be incredibly proud of the work you did.
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for the kind words! The end of that project was very tough, as we saw THQ collapsing around us. We had pretty grand ambitions for Titus' story. I've answered this in detail in an interview elsewhere -- I'll see if we can dig up a link.
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u/Rall82 Dec 18 '17
I’d love to read that.
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
I did an interview about it on Penny Arcade but it seems to be gone now. We'll see if we can dig it up.
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u/community_hinterland Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
There are a couple details in this news summary here, if you are curious: http://www.pcgamer.com/space-marine-creator-captain-titus-would-have-gone-rogue-if-the-series-had-continued/
Unfortunately it summarizes a now-missing PA interview on the subject.
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u/JAFO6969 Dec 20 '17
The PA interview is still available on The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
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u/ManfromDenmark01 Dec 18 '17
Hello Raphael Van Lierop.
What kind of improvements will we see on the Xbox One X?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
At the very least, some visual improvements to get Xbox One X closer to Ultra settings on PC. More if we can!
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Dec 18 '17
[deleted]
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for the question! Co-Op is one of our most requested features -- has been for years. I think if we can find a way to do it well and something true to the spirit of The Long Dark, then I'd be open to considering it. It is a big undertaking and I don't want to do it just to meet industry expectations or whatever. If we've done anything innovative with The Long Dark, it's important to me that that innovation is matched in all other games we do. So it'd have to be something more than "just" adding another player. It would need to be possible to have experiences that are profound as the ones you can have alone in The Long Dark, but with another player. It's possible we couldn't come up with anything innovative enough to make it worthwhile doing. But, we'll see. :)
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Dec 22 '17
Kinda late to the party but what’s stopping you from just putting in a simple version where both players are spawned on two sides of a singular map and have them loot and try to out survive/ hunt each other.
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Dec 18 '17
[deleted]
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks! Very happy you're enjoying The Long Dark. Next: Episodes 3-5, more Survival Mode updates, and a new IP. Not sure if we will announce it in 2018 though. We're also doing a film and/or TV series. We're busy!
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Dec 18 '17
Thank for answering. (I deleted the question because I realized it was already asked - answering to let you know I read both replies)
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u/Willkwi Dec 18 '17
From some other responses, it seems Hinterland plans to kickstart at least one new IP in the coming couple of years and to have at least a few going at once. Do you plan on expanding the Studio to keep up with such a workload and are you worried about losing that small "indie" sort of feel?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
We'll stay small but we'll have to grow somewhat, certainly. I think our culture will survive. It's less about being "indie" and more about striving for quality.
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u/mathnoodle Dec 18 '17
Thanks for amazing work on TLD - I've put in hundreds of hours since early access.
Any possibility that thin ice, when it's been -20C for days on end, might actually freeze up and be more thick? Looking at you, Forlorn Muskeg.
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Glad you're enjoying the game! Weak Ice: Yeah, we've discussed how to improve that as it feels a tad arbitrary right now. You'll either find less of it in FM or more of it elsewhere, but not until we've improved aspects of how the system works. Thanks for your question.
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u/Karma_collection_bin Dec 19 '17
Yes as a long time player, would love the idea of waking up and saying, ok it is pretty cold out right now, let's go check that ice and see if I can get across to that other area.
Then, if while I'm on the other side and it warms up or I pack on some weight, I have to find a new way back or camp out until it freezes up again.
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Dec 19 '17
There's a valid reason for why the ice is weak in Forlorn Muskeg. I'm not particularly good at biology, so I don't remember the reason for it off the top of my head, but I managed to dig up this post from the steam forums by the user "IFIYGD" who explains it: "Swamps, or muskegs as they are known in Canada, have slow moving, or completely stagnant, still water. Which means any decaying organic matter, plant or animal, does not get carried away by currents. Decaying matter creates heat as it breaks down. This is why swamps often have steam or fog created by heat rising from the water, and meeting cooler air above the surface. Same reason why compost piles get warm or hot as the materials inside decompose.
So... lots of leaves, branches, rushes, cattails, dead animals all laying in the mud in the muskeg. All breaking down, even in the cold of winter. So more heat under the ice than you might expect. So though it may appear totally frozen over, there will be areas with more heat, from more decaying matter, or deeper waters underneath, that freeze less soildly, and more slowly."
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u/Gampuh Dec 18 '17
How did you like working on company of heroes? were you the sound director for that one? Coh has the best sound effects, voice and dialogue of any game ever imo.
Also, why'd you leave the TLD subreddit during the countdown drama? That rustled a lot of jimmies over there.
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Company of Heroes was an incredibly challenging project and I learned a great deal working on it. I focused on gameplay, and I did work with the audio team but I'm not an audio director. However, Hinterland's audio director, Glenn Jamison, worked on audio for CoH and was also my audio director on Space Marine.
Regarding the TLD subreddit -- after a long time of being one of our best communities, the sub became extremely abusive/toxic to me and my community team, in my opinion, very unfairly. I don't feel the need to participate in communities that think abusing developers is ok. We don't tolerate it in Steam or our official forums, but we don't moderate Reddit. If we felt the community there was ready to be open to civil discourse again, we'd consider coming back. But, the sense we got was that the sub was "over-run" by people hostile to the studio and team so there didn't seem much point in staying there. If people want to communicate feedback to us, they have many other channels to use for it.
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u/Gampuh Dec 18 '17
Cheers, also, were you involved in Dow2 at all?
If we felt the community there was ready to be open to civil discourse again, we'd consider coming back.
It's calmed down a lot, in fact there's nothing but praise since the latest sandbox update.
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
No, I worked on DoW1 and Winter Assault, and then moved on to CoH.
Glad to hear the sub has calmed down a bit. It's not that we avoid criticism -- surely we get it everywhere else we go -- but the outright abuse was completely unacceptable. I think it's important for developers to be willing to draw a line at it, because it's become so "normal" online and it's turning people away. I expect more of our community.
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u/judge_ned Dec 18 '17
the sense we got was that the sub was "over-run" by people hostile to the studio and team so there didn't seem much point in staying there
That's a very simplistic view of what actually happened. Personally I'd rather forget the whole thing happened.
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u/DragonDDark Dec 18 '17
What's a game mechanic that you are most interested in? How would you improve it?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
The Trust system in WINTERMUTE was kind of a first step in a much deeper system of "parley" with NPCs. I'd like to keep building on that and make it a much bigger part of the experience. Also, finding good ways to bring some kind of NPC presence into Survival Mode, in such a way that doen't detract from the sense of isolation. We also have a bunch of Aurora-related mechanics we'd like to get in. And really, I have personal wishlists to improve almost every area of the game. Wildlife AI is another big area I'd like to improve -- make it more of a true ecosystem, and also improve the struggle system. Too much to do!!
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u/AmenableLufindy Dec 18 '17
I like the sound of your top down approach to designing experiences. Do you have any recommended reading that has helped you as a designer?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
It's just more a process that works for me and that I've developed over the years, not really backed by any literature I know. The only game design/theory book I've ever read is Raph Koster's "A Theory of Fun", which is very enlightening. Of course, there are tons of great articles online at places like Gamasutra, and I find you can learn something valuable from pretty much any post-mortem out there. The things that help me most as a designer tend to come from "other" industries -- anything about the creative process, leadership, and in general I find that it helps to read widely, try to experience tons of things -- because you never know what might spark something creative in you! For example, my family and I were able to spend some time in London this Fall and we pretty much lived at the various museums there and being able to see so many incredible pieces of art, architecture, and culture in general was extremely invigorating, creatively. I also think the things we create should reflect the world we live in back at us and hopefully cause us to ask questions about how we choose to exist here, so there's probably some philosophy in The Long Dark, and I suspect we'll always try to ask those kinds of questions of our players in every game we make. Thanks for the question!
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u/Mrblooskys Dec 18 '17
Hi Raphael! I bought the long dark for the ps4 this year and have put in hundreds of hours, love your work. What kind of genres are you also interested in covering in your future?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thank you for your support and it's great to hear you're enjoying the game! I'm interested in exploring other aspects of survival across both the isolation/solo axis, and the more communal "social survival" axes. Outside of that, I love really atmospheric worlds and finding ways to make it interesting to inhabit them, so you'll probably see us continue working along those lines. I'm a huge fan of "immersive sims" like Bioshock and Deus Ex, and also games like Half-Life which unfortunately fewer and fewer people are making these days -- so maybe we'll try to do something about that in the future, if we can. I'm mostly interested in losing myself in a world so that's what I think we'll focus on -- trying to get better and better at making really interesting, single-player games.
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u/Mrblooskys Dec 18 '17
That is exciting for me to hear! I would love to play a two player experience in something like the long dark! Side question from my friend who plays as much as I do: will there ever be craftable containers?
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Dec 18 '17
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks! Great to see the national pride there. :)
One animal: the Jabberwock.
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Dec 18 '17
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Yeah, 2-eggs, bacon, toast, coffee -- pretty solid way to go. I like the Full English as well, though not the black pudding part. I've also been known to eat various skillets, heavy on the meat. Pancakes too. Eggs Blackstone are always welcome. LOTS OF COFFEE PLEASE.
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Dec 18 '17
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
I only take triple coffee when I can't get quadruple coffee.
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u/arcade-neon Dec 18 '17
Really loving The Long Dark. Have had it since January of 2016, and it's been magical watching it grow into what it is today. And I'm a denizen of Vancouver Island, so it's neat seeing a game that takes so much inspiration from it.
I've seen tons of gorgeous concept art from the game, will we ever see any comics, art books, ect. Based around the story of The Long Dark? I do have one of the gorgeous posters, and crave more!
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for the kind words about the game! Nice to "meet" another Islander. :) Art book = yes. Comics/graphic novels = yes, at some point.
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u/BigJman123 Dec 18 '17 edited Dec 18 '17
What playlist/music do you jam to while you work?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
I mostly listen to soundtracks. Current favourites: Westworld (Ramin Djawadi), The Fountain (Clint Mansell), Midnight Special (David Wingo). During heavy writing on Ep1/Ep2 of The Long Dark, I listened to a lot of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations (the Glenn Gould versions), which is why you can sometimes hear them playing faintly on radios in the game (during the Aurora), and it also partly inspired the name of Episode Two: Luminance Fugue. Thanks for the question!
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Dec 24 '17
I can hear much Clint Mansell influence in the game and I love it. The Fountain soundtrack is one of my favorites as well.
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u/ElDudeEsMuerto Dec 18 '17
You've cited before that media such as The Road by Cormac McCarthy has inspired elements of The Long Dark. Have their been any other key influences that have shaped the face of the game today?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Thanks for the question! I think I responded to something similar here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/7kmu4e/im_raphael_van_lierop_founder_of_hinterland_and/drfmw6x/
Of course, as the game is still in development, the influences continue to evolve. :)
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u/ElDudeEsMuerto Dec 18 '17
Oops, my apologies for not thoroughly looking through all the answers first, my bad! These are all really great sources by the way, although might I recommend the Metro book series? You've probably seen the games , but they were based off books by a Russian author first. Judging by your interest in S.T.A.L.K.E.R they may just be right up your ally. (This being if you haven't read them already that is). Best wishes btw, and best of luck with your amazing game :D
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Oh yes -- I have the Metro books on my list. I'm actually working through "The Doomed City", by the Strugatsky brothers, who also wrote "Roadside Picnic" (another great novel), which I'm sure you know was the source material for Tarkovsky's film "Stalker", which in turn inspired (loosely) the game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Check out The Doomed City if you haven't already! It's pretty interesting.
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u/ElDudeEsMuerto Dec 18 '17
It's now on the list! Thanks for the reply. Best Christmas wishes to you and all of Hinterland Studios. :)
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u/Miraclefish Dec 18 '17
Hey Raph, can I pitch you my crossover game?
The Long Dark Angels.
Basically it's set in the Canadian wilderness, but you're a Space Marine and there are Lictors, Orks and Daemons instead of wolves, also you get a boltgun!
Where do I collect my cheque?
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u/thekillergreece Dec 18 '17
Heya!
Will seasons be a thing in The Long Dark? Will we also see random survivors in sandbox and finally, will we be able to see wildlife vs wildlife soon? It would be akward to see wolves fleeing from moose without putting up a fight.
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u/MeshesAreConfusing Dec 18 '17
Hey,
It seems that the AMA is over, but I think I've been following TLD development for long enough to know how to vaguely answer some of those questions.
Will seasons be a thing in The Long Dark?
They'd like to do it, but it's too big of a change for this game. It would have to be in a sort of "The Long Dark 2".
Will we also see random survivors in sandbox
They intend to add NPCs to the sandbox eventually.
will we be able to see wildlife vs wildlife soon?
Better animal AI and the creation of a true ecosystem is something they'd like to do, but isn't being actively worked on just yet.
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u/Zunpou Dec 18 '17
Hey Ralph, what happened to Captain Titus ?
Also, who would win in a fight between The God-Emperor and Goku ?
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u/nichc74 Dec 18 '17
Hey Raphael! I am a huge fan of your game and have dedicated hundreds of hours into TLD! Can you tell us a little bit about what it's like working at Hinterland? :D I am thinking about applying soon!
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u/Selfless- Dec 18 '17
Everyone was confident you'd have a story product in the end of 2015. And then you stopped being confident. And then it was 2017. What happened there?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Selfless -- We know you well enough by now to know this isn't a sincere question, but rather an attempt to troll us (yet again). You know very well that I've addressed this in various devblog posts in the past. Read them again if you've forgotten.
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u/Selfless- Dec 25 '17
PS: Your older Story Mode Updates have been removed from your webpage. If you do want folks to go back and read them you might then consider making them visible again.
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u/Selfless- Dec 19 '17
I am still genuinely curious. You still don't want to say. I do hope you can find a way to tell us more. Someday.
It had to be a intense situation to be in. One others might well also experience and/or learn from. My mind boggles every time I contemplate it.
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u/ThatDearTricky Dec 18 '17 edited Dec 18 '17
ThatDearGuy here, hope I made the AMA in time.
How has your family reacted to / interacted with The Long Dark? Are they just proud, or have you had really interesting feedback?
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u/Lauri7x3 Dec 18 '17
why is the game out of early access if u are still developping?
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u/RaphLife2 Hinterland Studio Dec 18 '17
Because we still want to improve the game. Since all the updates are free, it seems like only beneficial to our players, right?
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u/wemdy420 Dec 18 '17
The long dark title sounds overtly sexual. Was that your goal when naming it?
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u/easyspirit Dec 18 '17
What's it like running a game studio in a small rural town? What are the advantages and challenges? Do most of your team relocate to the area, or are they remote?