Catch ya on the flipside! by Kate

Day 8 

My overnight diary informs me my snares are empty (that huge wolf probably scared everything away) On the upside, a ‘big game hunter’ visited my cabin & I bought 10 jerky from him (unfortunately he didn’t have any coffee)

My character seems to be feeling ‘under the weather’ & her stats show that she is poisoned, time to open the activated charcoal tablets, I wonder what I actually did to my fish last night, perhaps I need to work on my culinary skills!

Before I go outside, I need to repair my clothes, that wolf sure caused some damage yesterday, I spend the next 60 minutes stitching & gluing, obviously I incurred a time penalty from the glue fumes, I never remember to open that window!

I am going to try foraging again today, surely I must find something good eventually?
The timer is ticking down & eventually alerts me that the task is complete, I have found some pine needles, and at last I can make a hot drink!

Spurred on by my success, I decide to go hunting along the Shore of Otter Lake, I choose to hide out on the shoreline for 2 hours.
Eventually a small goose flies in range – Bang! I miss-
This is shortly followed by a duck-
Click! The gun misfires & the duck flies past- looks like it will be a packet of dried food for me tonight!!

It’s time to return to the cabin, fire up the stove & have a hot drink, a fitting end to my first week in the wilds of Alaska.

Steve now has some new enhanced code to implement, so it’s time for me to bail out with this character & start afresh. (Just as she was starting to actually have some skills!)
The next iteration of code includes a State lottery, some brain teasing games for increased mental prowess (for that day only) and a 'charging handle' to help power the cabin.

We are still on course to meet our deadline for the Beta version of the game.A  big thank you to those kind souls who have volunteered to help us 'play test' it.

Who knows we may all meet up in game & be able to trade ‘tall stories’ (& maybe even some jerky!)
I never did receive any post, so much for being on a 'mail-route'!

He's behind you! by Kate

Day 7

It's been exactly a week since I first built 'Grizzly Cabin', and how many letters have I received to date….precisely none!

Clearly, my NPC neighbours are not great at 'keeping in touch', I have made a mental note not to offer them a hot beverage, should they call to the cabin (I don't have anything other than boiling water anyway, since my coffee was so cruelly stolen earlier this week - I'm still harbouring a slight grudge as you can tell!)

Busy day today planned here in the wilderness, first job, check my snares, the overnight diary informs me they are empty, I choose to leave them out and will check them again tomorrow
.
Another foraging session is called for, I am hoping for herbs or pine needles- I set the task and busy myself in the real world for the next hour,

The diary ready alert pings a short while later I eagerly pick up my journal.... I have found some blueberries - do I want to eat them?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I choose the option to ‘eat them’… my energy increases, my nutritional deficit decreases, this is all going very well, I also notice I have found some 'herbs' they will go nicely with the fish supper this evening.

I try to set a new task, I am hit with a time penalty, I have an upset stomach, clearly those berries didn’t fully agree with me - it still seems worth it, I only have 12 minutes to wait.

Time penalty finished, I decide to collect some kindling to light the stove later this evening to enable me to cook the fish, apparently sushi is not an option in this game.

Some 30 minutes passes (I have remembered to put the mini saw in the belt pack, as this yields a few extra sticks)

This doesn’t look good…a wolf is approaching me (it is described as 'sizeable' that sounds ominous!), I drop the kindling & draw my pistol, the wolf is at 50 feet & moving quickly towards me
Bang! -
I shoot wildly & miss. The wolf is still advancing,
Bang!
I hit the wolf in the leg, it slows him down but now he is really' ticked off' and coming rapidly in my direction
Bang!
I miss yet again (I can feel a ’pistol skills’ book is in order later on- if I actually survive this encounter!)
The wolf is on me, I try a desperate strike with the knife and manage to hit it in the head!
The wolf mauls me & I stagger back to the cabin (minus the kindling!!)

Back inside, the cabin temperature is above 10 degrees (thankfully!) so I am able to use the 'steri strips' to close the wounds, I also gulp down antibiotics to help stave off infection.
I had the ubiquitous bandages in the belt bag, so was able to stem most of the bleeding at the scene

I am more shaken by the encounter than my poor character!
I have to make a cup of tea( in real life!), to steady my nerves before carrying on playing!

My character doesn’t have that luxury, so she opts to light the stove & have a fish supper instead.
I add the newly gathered herbs to the frying pan & after about 2.5 minutes, the fish looks delicious  my character tucks in hungrily
‘The meal tastes odd’ I am informed, Good grief what poisonous plants have I actually added to the fish dinner now?
I will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what, & how much damage I have managed to cause myself, honestly I am a liability!
I put my character to bed & choose to sleep for 8 hours

‘Did you take any activated charcoal, that helps settle upset stomachs’ comes a voice from the other room
Grrrr! Always too late with the helpful hints!

‘These berries look tasty!’ by Kate

Day 6

I was woken in the night by a strange noise, a weasel was trying to get into my cabin, Luckily my awareness attribute had been boosted when I started the game (I had sacrificed 'strength & hearing' in favour of 'intelligence & awareness') I managed to scare it away, I do hope it leaves my fish alone, I fought hard for that!

My diary alerted me to something 'glinting' on the kitchen floor, I must remember to look for that later.

Well its day 6, I can’t believe that I have nearly managed a week, given my rather inauspicious start.
I’m going to make some snares today & try my hand at foraging.

Medical stats checked (all good) & kitchen floor searched (I found a pistol shell!) I set my hand to making some snares
2 hours later & I have 2 snares, I spend the next 30 minutes setting them up. Fingers crossed!

Time to do some foraging (I am hoping to find pine needles) some 30 minutes later the ‘diary ready’ tab flashes… I have found some white berries & apparently ‘they look delicious’ - What do I want to do?
Decisions, decisions I remember that red berries are often bad, does this mean that white berries are good?

The diary waits patiently for my answer, I have used a lot of energy looking for these & I am sure that tasting 1 or 2 can’t hurt - can it?

No!!  I quash my urge to just eat the whole lot & choose the option to 'ignore'.

 I just don’t trust them - I have no idea if this was a good decision & return to the cabin to read up on ‘Wild foods’

I cook myself one of the fish as a treat, better inside me than that greedy weasel, I’m sure he will be back tonight

Plans for tomorrow include wood gathering, snare checking & maybe a spot of hunting ( I may even load the gun this time!)

‘Can you smell burning?’by Kate

Day 5

Well, lesson learned on over stacking that fire!
My chimney caught light last night - birch is a dirty wood!

I now have time penalties to air out my smoky cabin & holes in my roof to fix – on the upside, I was warm when I got up!

I have spent much of the morning repairing the cabin, so I’m off out for a well-earned fishing session
I plot my route to Lake Otter, use meat for bait & 'guess-timate' the fishing depth- I have no idea at what depth they will be biting today.

The lake is quite a walk and the round trip is due to take 6 hours. I have even remembered to actually load my pistol this time!

I will check back in later tonight!

....‘Did you remember to repack your belt bag with a flare & compass?’ comes the ever helpful, but always too late advice from Steve

I tell him I plan to tie bandages at pertinent points & navigate using those, he seems unconvinced that that will help, my heart sinks.

Time passes & its eventually time to pick up my journal…

Success - I have actually caught a fish, wait no I have got a huge fish!!
I have a 9kg trout –My filleting skills aren’t great, but I end up with 3 fillets of precious fish, I store them proudly in the barrel outside.

It’s really late in the game now, so I put my character to bed & promise her fish for breakfast!

Tomorrow’s itinerary consists of making & setting snares & foraging for pine needles
Hopefully someone will visit the cabin this week & I can relive & exaggerate my fishing tales!

‘A Hunting we will go’! (A.K.A ‘Click!’) by Kate

Day 4

I am trying to work out what is the best time to pick up my diary, its 6:20 am here in the UK & I am worrying that if I pick it up now the cabin will be too cold & I won’t be able to start a fire.

I can’t wait, I have always been impulsive - I press ‘Read Diary’

‘…Good night’s sleep, feel refreshed, bit thirsty, no disasters in the night’ all positive so far.

 I notice in the top right-hand corner that my seaplane order has been delivered (about time!)
I open the cabin window, stack my kindling & attempt to light the stove….
Yes! First time light - its coffee time! (& not the cheap instant stuff!)

Hang on…..where’s my coffee? I recheck the seaplane delivery note.....
‘Coffee beans (eaten)’ some thieving wild animal has broken into my stash & eaten my coffee beans, I hope they can’t sleep tonight, I am furious!

I have a fair spread of useful skills now thanks to yesterday’s study session, I am going to go small game hunting with the shotgun today
I choose a location and set the task time to run for 2 hours.
Time passes & eventually the ‘diary ready’ tab flashes

I have chosen to stalk small game, rather than remain stationary, snow is falling, blanketing the ground, as I walk slowly between the trees, I happen upon a ptarmigan, my character shoulders the gun, takes aim &…

‘Click!’-  I have forgotten to load the shotgun! (I blame my character’s stupidity on a lack of caffeine!)

Not surprisingly, the Ptarmigan wanders off unperturbed!

I don’t see any other game during the trip, which is a small comfort, given my stupid mistake.
I return to the cabin empty handed, manage to light the fire (after 4 attempts) stack it full of birch (i’m going to be toasty warm tonight!) & read for a while.

I plan to go fishing tomorrow & want to concentrate on ‘upping’ my Ice fishing skills, the lakes are still frozen at this time of year.
 I am also planning to research 'cooking' to enable me to forage for food (if I can’t have coffee then pine needle tea will just have to do!)

I spend the evening reading & then retire to bed to dream of the King Salmon I am going to catch tomorrow!

Timber!! by Kate

Day 3

The ‘save game’ loads up & the eCabin theme tune starts to play (I find myself singly along tunelessly, carrying a musical note has never been my forte, I don’t think Adrian will be calling on my skills as a backing singer anytime soon!)

The weather is shown as being ‘very snowy’ with a delightful ambient temperature of -8, Lovely!!
If that doesn’t spur my character on to start a fire, nothing will!

I cheer myself up with the thought of my impending seaplane supply order, I can almost taste the good quality (over priced!) coffee I have ordered
The diary screen loads up….

I managed to survive the night without any further injury – Hurrah!…  a real plus given the turn of events so far!

But what’s this I see in the corner ‘Seaplane order delayed due to bad weather’

Nooooooooooooooooooo! I needed that woolly hat & a strong cup of Java today. I mutter furiously under my breath about how, in my day a sea plane pilot would have done everything in his power to get my order to me - I vow never to order from that unreliable shopkeeper again!

What to do today…? Well I know it’s too cold to read in the cabin, I can’t have breakfast as I can’t light the stove, nothing else for it but to venture outside in my decidedly thin looking clothing.

I plan to keep myself warm by swinging the axe about wildly. I have thrown the vicious chainsaw to the back of the cabin shed in disgust.

The birch tree trembles as it sees me approaching with my new found ‘+20 axe skills’ ( I have packed bandages just in case!) task set, timer ticking down, my fingers firmly crossed, this time , surely???

‘Ping’ the ‘task ready’ alarm sounds, I click on the ‘diary’ tab & hold my breath….

What’s this…..  I have chopped down an old birch tree I have 130kg of wood, even better I appear to have all my limbs intact – Whoo Hoo finally, a result at last!

I rush back to the cabin to light the stove & feed my poor hungry character…

‘You must chop the timber into stove size lengths’ the game informs me

Well obviously, I kick myself, lamenting my own stupidity, I couldn’t fit a whole tree trunk in there!
A further 40 minute danger fuelled session with the axe is required (I have even remembered to sharpen it-  I like to ensure a nice clean wound!!!)

Success- My +20 axe skills are serving me well,  surely it’s time for some food now?

‘You need kindling to start a fire’ I am informed by the game, the air turns blue as I vent my anger at the now hated stove.

Yet again, I venture out into the cold, in my thin shirt, cargo pants & trainers to fetch some kindling

‘You did remember to load your pistol?’ Steve interjects helpfully
‘I will just throw bandages at any wild creatures that approach’ I reply… it’s going to be a very long 30 minute task!

I’m physically exhausted, I have been pacing up & down the lounge for the last half hour worrying about my poor defenceless character…

‘Ping!!’- It’s time to read the task outcome…. what this?

 I have kindling, I am in one piece, and I metaphorically skip back to my cabin

Right time to light the stove I have all the required components, I select to ‘use matches’ as the selfish seaplane company still has my firelighters, 5 minutes later & ….

Bingo! My cabin is filled with smoke & the fire went out,
I try again & again, 4th time lucky? (I realise I need to read a book on ‘fire-lighting’ to speed up this process - maybe later?)

‘Did you open the window, helps the stove to draw?’ Steve asks
‘It might be more helpful, if you offered these pearls of wisdom before I kill myself through smoke inhalation’ I snap back ungratefully!

Finally! The stove bursts into life & I can cook a steak, I watch it like a hawk, no way I’m messing this up, 3 minutes later& I have a perfectly cooked meal, I feel I have earned it.

I remember to close the cabin window, the temperature of the cabin has risen slightly from the heat of the stove & I settle down to read for the remainder of the day, I am reading ‘Alaska 101’ a book with a good range of skills for a newbie like me

Not been too bad a day, all in all, I wonder if my coffee will arrive tomorrow?

‘Heeere's Johnny!’ by Kate

Day 2

The Seaplane flies me back in to ‘Grizzly Cabin’, patched up and raring to go!

First job of the day, check the mail box to see if any of my Alaskan Cabin neighbours have contacted me.....
The mailbox is disappointingly empty, you would have thought after my ‘near death’ experience with the chainsaw, one of them would have at least sent a ‘Get well soon’ or ‘Sorry you chopped off your leg’ card!

Time to learn some useful skills, I choose ‘LumberJacking for beginners’ from the bookshelf and settle down to read…..

‘Your cabin must be at least 16 degrees to read a book!’ the game helpfully informs me
Nothing else for it, it’s time to ‘get back on the horse’ & venture outside into the wilderness to chop down the birch tree - I am taking the axe this time, surely it’s much safer than the lethal chainsaw?

I set my task, ‘40 mins of tree felling’, I ignore the fact I have a zero axe skill.
Time passes, the ‘diary ready’ notification tab flashes ….
Oh dear!

My character was clearly reading a copy of ‘The shining’ whilst recuperating at the hotel and has run amuck in the forest with the axe, still no bloomin’ trees felled.

I have managed to put the axe though my foot & ruining my shoes, seems to be the least of my issues - luckily I packed bandages in the belt bag, you don’t catch me out twice!

Back to the cabin I limp, the bandages quickly applied at the scene, seem to have stemmed most of the more severe issues.
On the plus side the weather is sunny & the cabin temperature is above 16 degrees- Hurray!

I decide some ‘retail therapy’ is called for and set about opening up the ‘Radio screen’ to call in an order.
 I dial in the correct frequency & even remember to press the ‘boost’ button to increase the chance of my signal getting through, I am presented with the ‘shop’ screen

‘How much!! ’ I yell angrily,  ‘This shop is a rip off, $10 for some coffee beans!’
I cannot bring myself to order the cheaper $5 ‘instant coffee’ option- I am a terrible coffee snob!

I finally settle on:
• A woolly hat, clearly I am never going to manage to fell a tree in the short term
• Some $10 coffee, it might help sharpen my senses & stop my character doing such stupid things
• A packet of ‘Steri strips’ - for those unfortunate little mishaps with the chainsaw & axe
• Some firelighters, if I ever manage to fell a tree, you can bet my fire lighting skills will be dire

Order placed time to sit back & read before the cabin gets too cold

I spend the afternoon reading the lumber-jacking guide & watch with pride as my skill in this area actually increases, tomorrow, that birch tree will be mine!

I was planning to feed myself to increase my spirits, but the stove needs wood to enable me to cook – sigh, maybe tomorrow??!
Just time to mend my  shoes before bed, it’s unlikely that even I can do myself bodily harm doing this task

‘Did you remember to open the window?’ Steve asks
‘No’ I reply, ‘Should I have?’
I can hear laughing from the kitchen, my heart sinks as I watch the ‘task ready’ timer ticking downwards....
‘Your cabin is filled with glue fumes’ I am informed & I have a time penalty in order to clear the cabin of its noxious fumes
‘Could be worse’ I think!

I put my character to bed shortly afterwards, I am too stressed to let them attempt anything else!!

Roll on Day 3!

Alone in the Wilderness (A.K.A ‘All the gear, no idea’) by Kate

Day 1

Dropped in the Wilds of Alaska & left to fend for myself.

This is a record of my first few days in the world of ‘e River Alaskan Cabin Journals’

The game loads for the first time, snow is falling all around (in game!)
The theme tune (written by Adrian Truman) plays merrily in the background, setting the atmosphere nicely.

I am directed to 'choose a character photo' and set their personal attributes accordingly, being a bit of a ‘closet bookworm’, I favour ’intelligence’ over ’strength’ - hopefully I won’t come to regret this decision, 'brains over brawn' is my strategy here!

My next decision is ‘where to build my cabin’- Do I want access to mail, a Railroad link, or perhaps access to a flying doctor – decisions decisions, I choose to live on a postal route, I like to keep in touch!

The cabin is duly christened ‘Grizzly Cabin’ & I choose my starter pack, I plump for the ‘food pack’
which comprises of 5 steaks, potatoes & some other goodies, why rough it in my first week?

What to do next?
My skill set sits precisely at zero, the cabin is too cold to do anything, I need to start a fire, but have no kindling or firewood, it’s time to chop down a tree.

The quickest way to fell a tree, I ask...
Steve (the game designer) informs me, is with the chainsaw… what could possibly go wrong?

I set off, chainsaw in hand, to attack the nearest birch tree, some 20 minutes later the in game timer
gives its audible bleeping sound & the ‘diary ready’ notification flashes at me, I eagerly rush to pick up my first journal entry…

‘Did you remember to pack bandages in your belt bag just in case?’ Steve asks helpfully.....
 ‘What belt bag?’ I reply nervously (that would be a ‘no’ then!)

The diary tab is still flashing ominously, I can’t put off the inevitable any longer - It doesn’t make for good reading, the chainsaw has slipped, my leg was in the way, blood, gore, ripped clothing, you get the general idea & to top it all my cowardly character didn’t bother to continue felling the tree with their one good remaining leg!

I limp back to the cabin to explore the delights of the ‘Medical screen’ …
its time to ‘Suture my injuries’ (my medical skill is of course ‘Nil’!) Gingerly I click the menacing looking needle packets.....

‘Your cabin needs to be at least 10 degrees to suture an injury’ the game informs me....

‘Give me a break', i yell at the game,  I’m bleeding profusely (all over the cabin floor) & I have no wood to start a fire, largely due to the fact I have all but cut my leg off’!

The game is oblivious to my screams & rants & continues to patiently present me with the same message.

Nothing else for it, day one & I have to ‘bug out’ to the hotel for emergency medical treatment, it’s not the start I was hoping for…!

Steve informs me I wouldn’t like it if it was an easy game

Things must surely improve tomorrow….??