Ive been talking heavily on the aspect of harsh environments with my buddies lately and putting it into my project. Ive had the thought of making walking through a desert something that you would need to prepare for, or a trip on the ocean. Was looking for some outside thoughts though. -Would having players have to gather up fuel and water before taking a trip across a seamingly long desert or wastleand be too much? (roughly 16x16km) to the point were the player would say, this is ridiculous the designers went to far. -How Realistic should it be? -In the thoughts of being a cooperative based game, what kind of aspects could i put in to make it harder or easier based on players working together? -What would you like to see? A short background on the project though, players work cooperatively together in an action-based role playing game set in the far future, in a somewhat 'mankind is dying what the hell are we doing at the end of the universe in a world we dont know' kind of thing. The basic goal to get back home, but the world itself is open and the gameplay is open (or non-linear so to speak.) I would love to hear criticism and positive criticism alike.

Environments provide a valid and potentially enjoyable opportunity for a player to be challenged. So long as the situations are well presented to the player with an adequate ability to prepare or react to them, harsh environments allow the designer to challenge the player to a play field specifically tilted against him. Consider the thin, athletic, wiry swordsman, trudging through snow, or an iron clad warrior in the desert. These situations take their strengths and turn them into liabilities leaving the player with the choice of abandoning their strength in favor of a more appropriate one for the environment, or keeping it at the risks presented.

Even if the environment doesn't require preparation, it can still drastically affect the gameplay. Even if you dont require the player to dry his armour out and polish it after getting it wet, you can still have interesting gameplay when wading through a swamp, having hostile creatures under the surface attacking and mud traps that slow the character.

I think whether it is too much is a question of psychology. If it is simply part of a much larger game, then it might feel like a drag unless there is a significant in game reward at the end of it.

On the other hand, if it was the game as a whole, then I think it could work fine. I think you would have to have many different challenges (rather than just the constant, oh we're out of food...again etc etc). I would start it off being quite small and build it up as you think of more challenges the pose on the player.

On preparation, I think that it has to be quite quick, if at all. I don't want to spend ages gathering food before I can even set off. I am quite impatient when I am playing games, and would see the food collection as stopping me playing the part that I want to play. Instead, make that one of the challenges, gathering food in a dessert. Maybe the character is dropped in to it unexpectedly.

On co-op, that sounds great. Really build up a sense of teamwork. If you want a really dramatic end, maybe have a wall that is going to require one to stand on the other to escape, but the other won't be able to get out.

Well there can always be rewards, for me the biggest part of games has always been the exploration aspect of it. An Example:

-Rumors that across the desert is an item that your searching for to get your ship fixed at an oasis 3 days east, so first you will need a ride across? that could require finding a repairable vehicle, fuel, engine parts, food and water (of course for our project food and water are not a necessity you just dont regain health and stamina).

-Possibilities of failure?: Since our project is mostly random based in the environment and situations (to create a better replay value and not the same for every player) engine failure / overheat. Which would require somebody with repair skills and a toolbox. Raiders attacking mad max style, so ammo and bandages? Navigational skills? Im trying to think of this from all angles.

-Not to mention weather effects, such as a sandstorm, or a bad typhoon on the ocean (the Ocean and Desert are what were looking at mostly). Maybe a storm would make navigation impossible unless you had a high skill? ie: you could still travel but wouldnt know which way you were going.

IDK, what ya think? As a team based environment what would be some pro's and con's as well as things that players could do together to make it interesting?

I think the key thing with getting the people to knit together is complete dependence upon each other. Maybe there is too much stuff for one person to carry, and each character has specialities that the other character needs to survive. Also, apparently Left 4 Dead is good at building team unity, maybe give that a spin (sadly not played it myself)

Also, I'm not saying it can't work in the context of a larger game, but the player will need some worthy reward as it will, sadly, be viewed by most as a chore.