Dear Klei team,

[Mime]

Dear don’t starve together team, 

For the past three to four years, I have seen this game grow, mature and expand upon what don’t starve originally was, and with the Return of Them series of updates, I thought I’d come up with a ‘few’ ideas of my own to pitch to you guys, please read this all the way through before coming to a conclusion,  I spent a few hours on this list, though I don’t have a full understanding of how the code works. Anything you see here is yours to take, I am giving you these ideas, Im not even asking for a thank you if you do want to use them. Anyways, on with the show! 

Wind mechanics 

This idea came up when I began to think about the logistic side of the below, and as building blocks, I came up with wind mechanics!  

This is a mechanic that would happen for the most part (small breezes occasionally in other two months) during spring and summer and would work for and against the land. 

There would be a boss that is spawned on land or by the shores which after defeating would drop an item that for a chunk of durability could calm or change wind directions. 

This mechanic is different from shipwrecked wind as it wouldn’t move objects on land, instead would just move objects around the shores and will push floating objects in the sea towards land. 

During high winds it is suggested not to sail, as goose Woodie will sink almost immediately. 

This mechanic is not needed, but strongly supports lower ideas. 

 

Land mass size change 

Smaller land masses should be able to break off mainland, but there should be a minimum and maximum for how or large the over all land mass can be, and how far the land can over all shift on the map. 

Can be stopped around areas by building walls around land in the sea (that break down over time.) 

Special walls can be crafted when venturing to the island, giving more reason to visit the lunar island and biomes. 

Over time, unprotected land that has been warn down by sea will turn in to a sandier/ dirtier turf (depending on biome/ turf)  

Specific and unique islands can build up over time with different turf or plants. 

Cons to basing near ocean: your base can be easily broken if left unprotected from erosion and protecting bases from erosion can be expensive if you’re not willing to take a visit to the island. 

Giving players a reason to build bases around ocean instead of just building your base in the center of land: ocean breeze, you heat up slower in summer, and your base will have a harder time catching on fire, though it would raise players ‘wetness’ ever so slowly, something preventable by the smallest amount of water protection (i.e. football helmet.) 

This mechanic should be made a priority to have as an optional mechanics, as some players computers may not be able to run it (depending on how it would run) or if people are playing solo, this could end up being overwhelming for just one player, though the game is called don’t starve together, not just don’t starve. 

 

 

Under water geysers  

Biome full of small underwater volcanos which will occasionally spurt up burning volcanic water, killing surrounding fish and doing major, if not lethal damage to its surroundings. 

Will eventually build up land mass over time, creating small unique islands. 

A new type of hostile creature will surround this ocean biome until it has enough land to swim up on the surface , this creature is unlike any other, something Klei referred to when describing the update to contain, “terrifying monstrosities.”  

 

Electronics corrosion  

Honestly this would just help make a great name with, “erosion and corrosion” as the update. mechanics wise, this would let “machine” type items that require fuel  to last longer over all with (any) fuel/ having a higher max amount of fuel over all, but if an the “machine” is left to idle, or is out of fuel for too long, it will eventually corrode, requiring something to fix it. 

 

 

 

Other 

Please Please PLEASE let boss creatures/ giants swim! The addition of water could possibly teach new players to avoid giants by hopping across a boat/ building boat bases instead of fighting the bosses, instead of killing and learning boss kiting patterns. 

Boss health scaling, something that is self-explanatory and probably requested often.  

More interactions between the land and ocean?  

Aerodynamic boats that take more force and power to turn, but will move faster overall (possibly smaller as well?) 

PLEASE MAKE ANR OCEANS OPTIONAL. 

 Why Care? 

 

You may be aware, but a complaint I have often seen for the recent string of updates has been “why should we care about the lunar island?” This type of update would help push players to explore the lunar islands, as even recently I had a friend tell me how they had never visited the lunar island as they heard there was nothing meaningful enough there to improve the gameplay cycle.  

A mechanic like this would change late game up by a significant, totally changing priorities and giving players more to do and giving them more freedom. 

As an older veteran of the game, a common complaint I have heard with dst within the last year+ has been, “Klei is making Don’t starve too easy!” And while I see some of these complaints to be true, I find that an update like this would give enough challenge to the type of players wanting a difficult experience, while not being too hardcore as to drive newer, or players in general away. 

Thank you if you read all the way through this, and please take this in to consideration!  

This is also nearly 1000 words, sorry for making you read all of this. 

[Owlrust]

Mandatory mechanics, when clustered together, can be detrimental to players if it isn't done right; as such, while a lot of these ideas are really good (great even for some in my opinion), they add yet another layer to the obstacles a player must face in order to survive normally, and can over-complicate the game if not done correctly. One criticism I do have when people suggest changes (applies to veteran players as well) is that, while the suggested change may benefit 1, 2, or even 300 people, it isn't necessarily what's "healthy" for the game, and could (in some cases) completely warp the intentions of the developers or change the way it works entirely. Saying that the game "needs" anything in order to be good or even enjoyable comes from a subjective standpoint, and speaks only for a margin of a majority; that being said, the opinions of an audience matter regardless of who you are, with no one type of person (veteran or not) being more important in that department.

Therefore, I believe changes should be threaded very carefully (in my opinion of course) in order to not tip the scales on which the game resides on.   

[Mime]

24 minutes ago, Owlrus98 said:

Mandatory mechanics, when clustered together, can be detrimental to players if it isn't done right; as such, while a lot of these ideas are really good (great even for some in my opinion), they add yet another layer to the obstacles a player must face in order to survive normally, and can over-complicate the game if not done correctly. One criticism I do have when people suggest changes (applies to veteran players as well) is that, while the suggested change may benefit 1, 2, or even 300 people, it isn't necessarily what's "healthy" for the game, and could (in some cases) completely warp the intentions of the developers or change the way it works entirely. Saying that the game "needs" anything in order to be good or even enjoyable comes from a subjective standpoint, and speaks only for a margin of a majority; that being said, the opinions of an audience matter regardless of who you are, with no one type of person (veteran or not) being more important in that department.

Therefore, I believe changes should be threaded very carefully (in my opinion of course) in order to not tip the scales on which the game resides on.   

of course! Although the context i used need in related more of an idea to support other concept mechanics, and your completely correct with the fact that adding tons of mechanics at a time could be detrimental, i would like to suggest a counterargument that klei has been treading too lightly. While this is something smart on a development point of view, there isnt much room for larger changes, and while it could be argued that 'a turn of tides' could be viewed as a very risky change, shipwrecked fans have been begging for something like this for years now. As for making the game to complicated, id like you to view this as the multiplayer game it is, and while many of people play this game by themselves, what is the point in making it a multiplayer game if updates are not aimed for it? Previously, dont stave together has been viewed to be hard but not impossible when playing it solo, and adding mechanics that slowly change gameplay overtime, something i may not have made clear in the main post, but for the idea surrounding "Special walls"  that you could get from the lunar island, i had the idea for them to last 50+ days without breaking, other then that, something like wind wouldnt not heavily effect you when traveling the mainland.                 - oh, sorry if seemed a bit passive aggressive when reading this, i totally understand where your coming from lmao. 

[Sweaper]

Off-topic. If you select to highlight OP's text you'll find the hidden message "Wes is Best". Let me know if you find it too.