Frozen Ground

Frozen Ground is an unforgiving wilderness survival game set in the 1700s, in the deep boreal north. You will die. The point of the game is to see how long you can survive.

The game leans heavily on realism and systems are researched before being implemented. History is part of my game design. It's inspired by games like Unreal World, Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead and Wayward.

Before I tell you what's in the game, let me tell you what isn't. I consider the game in alpha and there's lots of stuff missing: torches, trading, different starting scenarios, metalworking.. but after months of work, I was starting to lose motivation and I need someone to try this game and tell me it's worth working on.

If that hasn't turned you off, here's what's already in it:

Infinite, procedurally generated world
A massive boreal biome with massive bodies of waters, small lakes, huge ones, rivers that snake around forever. All sorts of forests and trees, different sub-biomes with different resources (plains, bogs, etc.) Caves you can explore.

Homesteading
A hundred different things to craft, build cabins of any size and shape you like, roast meat on a fire, or cook a full meal instead. Smoke meat, fish and fur to preserve it.

Seasons & weather systems
Time passes, seasons come and go. In summer, things grow and in winter they wither. The temperature fluctuates based on the time of day, the season, cloudiness, etc.

Health system
There is no health bar. Everything is symptoms based. Cold lowers your body temperature which will lead to hypothermia,  which will go from shivering to headaches to organ failure.
Drinking dirty water can cause diseases and cause symptoms like diarrhoea, which in turn can cause dehydration, which in turn can cause headaches which cause loss of focus, slower work, and poor sleep.
Poor sleep can cause sleep deprivation which comes with its own slews of symptoms.
Body injuries can cause blood loss and infections.
There's also hyperthermia, starvation, dehydration, smoke inhalation and much, much more.
Instead of a health bar that goes from 100 to 0, you see symptoms stacking on and your body and mental state slowly breaking down.

Mental state
The way you take care of yourself, things happening to you and certain actions you take (like slaughtering a calf) can affect your mental state. Poor mental health can lead to pretty serious symptoms which make survival much more difficult.

Creatures
From tiny freshwater snails to huge black bears. Creatures roam, nest, forage and hunt (both prey and you, if they're really hungry or you get too close to their cubs).
Realistic behavior depending on the environment, weather, time of day, etc.
Creatures will reproduce, cubs will follow their mamma, bulls will huff and stand their ground if it's rut season.
Unless they're migratory (like Caribou), creatures will tend to roam familiar areas, making trapping a solid way of feeding yourself.

Hunting, fishing, trapping
Follow animal tracks, tire them out, hunt with spears, bows, slings (coming soon), axes..
Fish with spears or fishing rods, with all types of bait, lake fishing, river fishing, different odds of catching different fish depending on weather, temperature, time of day, etc.
Trap small creatures and big ones.

Villages & Quests
Encounter all kinds of villagers that have all kind of things to tell you and quests to give you.

Skill system
Over 20 skills to hone, all with fine-tuned improvements to your actions.

Pottery
Find clay, dry it, temper it, mold it into something, fire it and hope it doesn't crack.

Hideworking
Turn hides into fur or leather through a realistic, complex system.

And so much more
Honestly I could keep writing about the game here forever. Long story short, there's a ton of systems at play to try and simulate a realistic, northern boreal region, creatures, weather, flora, and how it all affects you.