Don't Starve Together -- Multiplayer Alpha Officially Coming Summer 2014

[JoeW 13907]

Hear that? That's the sound of a few million tables collectively being flipped all around the world in sheer joy, terror and confusion.
 
Alright, so let's rip this bandage right off. We are bringing multiplayer to Don't Starve.
 
Since multiplayer in Don't Starve is a bit of a controversial subject, we're going to approach this announcement point by point so that we can cover as much info as possible. We're sure you have a ton of questions.
 
We can't give you all the details just yet, but we'll get through the important stuff right away. I'm going to put this into sections based on the questions we all know you have. So, let's do this. Buckle up, because this is gonna be a lot of text. But I'll break it down for you.
 
What the heck, Klei? What happened to NO MULTIPLAYER?
We promised we would make Don't Starve the best single player game that we could. To us, this meant using the resources that we had allocated to Don't Starve and keeping them focused on delivering on that promise. We were not willing to sacrifice our goals for the game to work on a multiplayer version. This was the point we tried to get across in our our original decision.
 
As we developed Don't Starve, multiplayer slowly turned into a hot button issue in the community. Ok, let's face it¦ it was always a hot button issue. A lot of people have voiced their feelings that multiplayer would be perfect in Don't Starve. However, at the time we didn't have the resources to make it happen and we weren't confident that it would actually work both in concept and implementation.
 
It was (and still is) important to us that multiplayer would not only be interesting for you to play, but also something that we would feel proud of creating.
 
We weren't exactly sure how well Don't Starve would do to begin with. At the time we made the infamous œmultiplayer decision, we didn't know if we would have the resources to pull off an expansion, let alone a full conversion of our game from the ground up.
 
Over the past few months, we've quietly smuggled in some new people onto our team who immediately said œHeck yeah, this can be a thing! and actually threw together a proof of concept. After a couple months and an office-wide session of multiplayer Don't Starve, we were convinced it was worth exploring and bringing it to our community.
 
Ok, but seriously, you shut down like a million threads!
Since there weren't any plans to add it, we decided to post a statement to end speculation and argument and keep discussion and feedback focused. Initially we allowed these posts to stay on the forum, and would only close them if they became unruly. It got to a point where there was little if any room for constructive discussion about multiplayer. Each time it was brought up, it would derail into madness faster than before.
 
Don't Starve wouldn't be what it is today without the feedback and discussions that take place in our forums. Moving forward we look forward to having constructive conversations about Don't Starve Together, just like we did with the original single player game and expansion.
 
So, what is Don't Starve Together?
Don't Starve Together is a standalone multiplayer expansion of Don't Starve allowing friends or complete strangers to survive together, in either public or private games. As far as we know, it will have most of (if not all) the normal features in Don't Starve, balanced for multiplayer, and potentially even add new features.
 
As with Don't Starve and Reign of Giants, we'll be looking for your input from now until release.
 
How many players can play together?
We'll see. We believe that Don't Starve Together will support 2-4 players simultaneously. Could be more, but we are aiming for 4 minimum.
 
What platforms will Don't Starve Together be available on?
Similar to everything we've done with Don't Starve, it will begin on Steam. Beyond that, it's too early to tell.
 
All right! Now we're talking! How much is it going to cost?
Don't Starve Together will be a free expansion for all current owners of Steam / DRM Free. Thank you for supporting us!
 
With the addition of multiplayer, the price of Don't Starve with Don't Starve Together will go up to $19.99 USD around the time Don't Starve Together Launches.
 
When is it coming out?
We are aiming to let you get your hands on it late this summer; beyond that, we don't know the specifics yet. That could change, but we are pretty confident that we will be able to get things together for you by then.
 
We don't have a solid roadmap yet, but it's safe to say that we will likely have an early alpha before going to Steam Early Access beta, just like we did with Don't Starve and the Reign of Giants expansion.
 
But, I really don't want to play multiplayer.
Single player Don't Starve will not be affected by the addition of multiplayer except for content or features not specifically related to multiplayer gameplay. Balance changes and content aimed at creating an interesting multiplayer experience will not be added to the single player game.
 
Wait, I have a real question that's not in this announcement!
Ok, head over to the forum and let us know!
 
Ok, where do we go from here?
As with Don't Starve and Reign of Giants, we're going to open up a new section on the forums dedicated to Don't Starve Together and gather up your feedback and ideas.
 
Now let's get on with making the best multiplayer game we can make!

[Wilbur 140]

Omg! It's actually coming!

[98Thunder98 15]

a s*it storms abrewin' XD

[TRENTOMINOUS 534]

Holy moly Batman

 

JoeW please don't be tricking us

 

Otherwise I will die

[Wilbur 140]

I'm actually looking forward to this. I mean, since they said they'd NEVER add it, this must be something really cool!

 

And it's free for us already-buyers! How can you not love Klei?

[MycoLogical 1001]

What....just...what?

The fabric of time is collapsing JoeW!

And I don't know how we are going to survive it!

[Silentdarkness1 851]

HNNNNGGGGH WAT IS THIS

[Xjurwi 1441]

WHAT.

[Ryoka 5]

Whoa, that was unexpected! I was going towards a new character not a whole new add-on! This is amazing, I can't wait for summer, it will be the best summer ever!

[Spinorex 375]

My brain hurts.

[Amkar 405]

 

Just kidding. Maybe.

 

It depends on how it turns out.

[ArcticFox789 684]

I respect your decision, and I massively disagree, but I wish you all the best with it.

[Battal 7695]

...

 

...

 

...

 

It is the end.

[TRENTOMINOUS 534]

I messaged everyone on Steam about this

[Strangerdanger101 355]

I'm gonna cry.

And i'm not sure if its happy or sad.

[ThePreChewedTree 561]

Yaycats

[Craig_Perry 758]

well that was unexpected. I'm curious to see how this goes

[Warden 122]

I feel conflicted about this since I have always been against it, yet I am also excited to reek havoc on other unsuspecting players. 

[Amkar 405]

One thing that I have to say... Groveling and begging...

 

Please don't make any multiplayer only characters...

[Bonzi 15]

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT

[Subscriber01236 1088]

This has to be a joke..... right?

 

IM NOT SURE WHAT IM FEELING ANYMORE

[Maximum124 1219]

Hooray! I'm actually really happy! Mainly because of all the faces on the anti multiplayer side of things

 

but wow Im really excited! New gameplay!

[CREU 26]

IDK i just dont know

[98Thunder98 15]

before multiplayer: "NO MULTIPLAYER! IF IT COMES OUT I'LL NEVER PLAY THIS GAME AGAIN!", now: "omg im so exited! i can't wait!" -.-

[ShadowDimentio 32]

OH GOD OH **** OH **** OH GOD OH **** OH **** OH GOD OH **** OH ****

 

WHAT IS HAPPENING!?