Do you think Dst should be more popular

[Waoling]

Since the new Switch port has just come out this could be a gateway for Dst to get more popular and mainstream, but is a good thing?, do you think Dst should get more popular and why?

[Capybara007]

i have a feeling that dont starve is not popular for a reason, even if people nowadays say that its becoming too casual or that its way less scary, the game its still so though for new players which might be the main reason why it isnt as popular

for me its totally fine if klei decides to change a little bit the core of the game to be more begineer friendly, to not always being sticked to that root that original dont starve is

in my opinion in its current state dont starve will not be more popular but i sure would like it to be

[Waoling]

I want more people from Endless series ( and humankind ) and fermi paradox fandom to come join Klei forum so I could talk more about other those games.

[Mike23Ua]

See here’s the thing- I don’t know if PC does this but over on Xbox we have something called “Recommended to You” this is a feature to where your console observes the games/types of games that you play the most and then it will recommend other games like what you’ve been playing for you to Try/Buy.

Dont Starve/Don’t Starve Together can be pulled up under several categories, Action, Adventure, Sandbox, Survival, Crafting, Rogue/Rogue-Lite.

That last one is a very “niche” gaming category that isn’t actually very popular with most of the “Casual” player base, if you want a recent example of what a Rogue-lite is: Tainted Grail: Conquest just released on Xbox Gamepass- This game was recommended to me because i am assuming my favorite type of game genre just so happens to be Rogue-Rogue-Lites?

Spelunky, Spelunky 2, DS, DST, The Long Dark, Enter the Gungeon.

While Tainted Grail is a Card Strategy Battle Game and the only similarities between it and dst is Macabre Horror & If your caught without a torch monsters attack-  Both games are officially classified on Xbox as being Rogue-lites.

These types of games Intentionally stack the odds against you, & mistakes can end your entire run.

What makes me I guess you can say “upset” with DST is that more and more updates seem to be casualizing the heck out of the experience- so it can appeal to a wider audience of gamers: And so far… most of that seems to be being done by ditching their Rogue-Lite punishments and turning the game into a whole other Genre it was never meant to appeal towards.

I bought DS/DST because they were recommended alongside other “Mistakes are costly..” type of games-

But THEN I see threads on these forums wanting things like the ability to revive a Beefalo after it has kicked the bucket…

Kinda Contradicts the whole “Mistakes are costly” gameplay I was sold on buying into the franchise in the first place with doesn’t it?

So to answer your question: I’m OKAY with DS/DST becoming more popular but what I will NEVER Be Okay with is it losing its identity as what it was known & loved for to appeal to an Audience it was never targeted at.

Its like when the Puzzle Survival Horror Resident Evil games went full out Quick Time Events and Shooter Action.. Thats not the type of franchise RE ever was- So you can understand why when TRUE fans of what RE was Rejoiced when they went back to the drawing board and brought back the puzzle survival horror fans held so dearly to their heart.

Its one thing to HAVE fans of the product your creating… it’s Another thing entirely to change the product your creating to appeal to people it did not originally appeal toward.

[LinknAllie]

I've already expressed my views on fandoms as a whole and how they are a plague for video games and other media alike.  When something becomes popular the fanbase ruins it.

[xDarkSoul18x]

Pretty much everything Mike said. Not all games are meant for all people. Sometimes it's best to stick with your targeted audience. Not saying they shouldn't take other or new players into consideration just that ultimately the game should stay true to its roots.

Little experience: My friend got me into the game very close to release(DS). I died lots and hated the game but now its one of my favorite games ever haha. I guess its something that grows on you.

[00petar00]

With how DS/DST is designed, it won't ever be popular unless they make it easy enough for casual players. Most people will give up after dying a few times and losing a world and that may be quite fast even if they avoid creatures they'll die because they won't know how to cook crockpot recipes.

I understand that game was meant to be hard and that is why it would be very controversial if klei made a tutorial telling someone to make a science machine and crockpot and teach them a few recipes like meatballs, meatstew and pierogi but there is a possibility that this could retain quite a few new players.

Most casuals won't go to wiki and they don't have the same enjoyment that hardcore players could have by trying to figure out the game themselves. There's also another type of player, they manage to survive for the first year on their own and after that go to the wiki and other sources of information.

While this is really sad to me since DST like all other games could really benefit from more popularity, they could get more money and hire more devs and make more updates faster and it is one of my all time favorite games so i really want to see it be the best it can be and it is nice knowing that more people enjoy playing the game you enjoy so much.

[Mike23Ua]

7 minutes ago, xDarkSoul18x said:

Pretty much everything Mike said. Not all games are meant for all people. Sometimes it's best to stick with your targeted audience. Not saying they shouldn't take other or new players into consideration just that ultimately the game should stay true to its roots.

Little experience: My friend got me into the game very close to release(DS). I died lots and hated the game but now its one of my favorite games ever haha. I guess its something that grows on you.

Exactly, I want the thrill of dying over and over again with harsh new weather seasons, new biomes, new mobs, new gameplay mechanics- I want to be half health and 0 food so I start chopping a nearby tree for its seeds only to have a snake/scorpion jump out and then have to try to avoid being bitten, if I kill it: Success! If I don’t: I then now have to deal with declining health till I can find a cure or die.

Plus… there’s another huge thing I’m pretty sure even KLEI hasn’t been thinking about, and that’s that the “Rogue-Lite” genre isn’t as “Unpopular” as you all think: need proof?? 

-Insert any Battle Royale Game here- Battle Royals have been taking the world by storm over the past year or so- People actually LIKE being punished for their mistakes, and they enjoy the Thrill of “You are the Apex Champion” when they win a round of Apex Legends. If you want to really get technical: Battle Royale is a Rogue-like experience.

Casual gamers are use to games that when they die.. they just Respawn at the last checkpoint to do it all over again, but for the truly insane or devoted gamer: Games like Gears of War 5 (which has the above mentioned checkpoints) Also has an Ironman Mode (you get one life to complete the entire campaign.. good luck don’t Die.)

Want another Rogue-Like example? Rainbow Six Extraction: Where health Carry’s over from mission to mission and if you get a operator knocked down by zombies- you’ll need to come back to that area and rescue that operator.

Dont you see what I’m trying to say? NOW of all the times in the world is the time for games like DS/DST to shine- but they should Shine for being what they were… not becoming- DS: NewHome (yeah I went there..)

[Echsrick]

i dont know, i think its in a rather good spot right now, not too popular that those fortnut and amongus childreen come in here, but alsol not too away of gaming knowlege that people would propably sould have heard of the game beforee in 1 way or another

[HowlVoid]

Only people with good gaming chairs can play DST, so I think we're safe.

[MondayNight]

A "Maybe/Idk/Idc" option pls?

It would be a fine thing if game, in its DS ethos - yet adapted to multiplayer (as already is), got more exposure, either through appropriate marketing, or organic Word-of-Mouth, perhaps via cross-overs (I do believe Terraria one was a success) and other such-events, publicizing it to gaming communities out there that might be interested (aka same Survival lane/genre). But not via "dumbing-down" of its original genre/difficulty. Even if it started as a mobile-oriented project of exploration and building (a Pigs' Town), DS became a passion project and evolved into the burtonesque Survival (Roguelike, Perma Death & Horror) Sandbox game we all know and cherish. One other thing, probably lost through years, more-so when IPs become popular: "creativity by committee" or "corporate brainstorming", proven time-and-again, doesn't lead to anything good, with a well materialized "soul" - a facet any developer should seriously take into account, no matter what.

[goodguythatguy]

1 hour ago, Waoling said:

I want more people from Endless series ( and humankind ) and fermi paradox fandom to come join Klei forum so I could talk more about other those games.

I really enjoyed 'Dungeon Of The Endless', but that game didn't have much replayability for me. Amplitude announced Endless Dungeon maybe a year ago, but there's still no Endless Dungeon to play, which makes me skeptical about Amplitudes ability to deliver and complete software products in general. 
I really tried and wanted to enjoy Endless Legend, I installed all DLC and I even went as far as installing a Patch created by players that provided more game customization, but for whatever reason when I play the game I feel like I'm not in control at all and winning/losing is mostly just RNG pushing me around for hours until it decides if I win or lose.
I don't know about sales and popularity for Humankind, but the concept didn't win me over and I haven't played it. Do you have a lot of hours playing Humankind?

I don't know if DST should be more or less popular than it is, but it's the game I play most, my personal favorite game these last 5-6 years. How do you find out how popular it is Waoling?

 

[loopuleasa]

dst is already "more popular"

[GenomeSquirrel]

It’s an interesting way to spend time, and has a layers of secrets, but the combat is shallow and it over uses environmental damage/darkness.

[Waoling]

26 minutes ago, goodguythatguy said:

I really enjoyed 'Dungeon Of The Endless', but that game didn't have much replayability for me. Amplitude announced Endless Dungeon maybe a year ago, but there's still no Endless Dungeon to play, which makes me skeptical about Amplitudes ability to deliver and complete software products in general. 
I really tried and wanted to enjoy Endless Legend, I installed all DLC and I even went as far as installing a Patch created by players that provided more game customization, but for whatever reason when I play the game I feel like I'm not in control at all and winning/losing is mostly just RNG pushing me around for hours until it decides if I win or lose.
I don't know about sales and popularity for Humankind, but the concept didn't win me over and I haven't played it. Do you have a lot of hours playing Humankind?

I don't know if DST should be more or less popular than it is, but it's the game I play most, my personal favorite game these last 5-6 years. How do you find out how popular it is Waoling?

 

Most game come out 1-3 years after they was announced, Maybe you just aren't into 4x game, they rely on strategy and luck to win, I like the gameplay of humankind, humankind mechanic is different from Civ 6 in so many way I love it.

By checking on social media, if there a lot of content about it that mean it popular.

[00petar00]

1 hour ago, x0-VERSUS-1y said:

A "Maybe/Idk/Idc" option pls?

It would be a fine thing if game, in its DS ethos - yet adapted to multiplayer, got more exposure, either through appropriate marketing, or organic Word-of-Mouth, perhaps via cross-overs (I do believe Terraria one was a success) and other such-events, publicizing it to gaming communities out there that might be interested (aka same Survival lane/genre). But not via "dumbeing-down" of its original genre/difficulty. Even if it started as a mobile-oriented project of exploration and building (a Pigs' Town), DS became a passion project and evolved into the burtonesque Survival (Roguelike, Perma Death & Horror) Sandbox game we all know and cherish. One other thing, probably lost through years, more-so when IPs become popular: "creativity by committee" or "corporate brainstorming", proven time-and-again, doesn't lead to anything good, with a well materialized "soul" - a facet any developer should take seriously into account, no matter what.

Cross over is a one off thing, it shouldn't happen over and over again as no one wants to see 10 different games assets in DST instead of them having their own.

It all comes down to how easy the game is to access for casuals. For example we can take Terraria, death isn't nearly as punishing, hard mode is a choice, that's why it was possible for it to grow so popular as majority of the gamers are casual players and unless DST completely changes to match something like that, it won't ever have such a large playerbase no matter how good the game is.

[Cheggf]

Why are you guys acting like dst isn't popular? Look at steamcharts.

[Mike23Ua]

18 minutes ago, 00petar00 said:

Cross over is a one off thing, it shouldn't happen over and over again as no one wants to see 10 different games assets in DST instead of them having their own.

It all comes down to how easy the game is to access for casuals. For example we can take Terraria, death isn't nearly as punishing, hard mode is a choice, that's why it was possible for it to grow so popular as majority of the gamers are casual players and unless DST completely changes to match something like that, it won't ever have such a large playerbase no matter how good the game is.

If DST ever completely changes to match something it Wasn’t then I promise you I sure as hell won’t still be playing it.. I enjoy the franchise for what it is/what it was.. not for what will make it more popular.

And.. if Klei wants to make a more popular completely different thing- they should do that as ITS OWN GAME SPINOFF and not just suddenly change the already existing game.

Just look at Mario, Mario Kart, Tennis, All-Star, Party, Smash, Maker etc etc etc.. none of them play like one another because they each fit a different genre.

DST is sold as the multiplayer stand alone expansion to DS- so it should always roughly play like DS… It was NOT sold as a Mini-Game filled Party game with friends.. Like I said: Carrat Race courses are a fun little distraction, but they should NEVER become the Main Attraction.

[Dextops]

I think you guys are underestimating how popular dst is. Many steam games fail to get a steady player base much less one as big as dst, and a lot of influential youtubers have played the game at some point in time like jacksepticeye has had a 13 part series a short sw series an even shorter dst series and a video with other irish youtubers. RT has also had a lot of videos irl. Dst doesn't need to be more popular because it already is.

[MondayNight]

7 minutes ago, 00petar00 said:

Cross over is a one off thing, it shouldn't happen over and over again as no one wants to see 10 different games assets in DST instead of them having their own.

It all comes down to how easy the game is to access for casuals. For example we can take Terraria, death isn't nearly as punishing, hard mode is a choice, that's why it was possible for it to grow so popular as majority of the gamers are casual players and unless DST completely changes to match something like that, it won't ever have such a large playerbase no matter how good the game is.

Crossovers happen ~1 per year, usually. What we got from Terraria's one: 2 optional bosses (arguably 1 and a reskin with duplicates & slightly different attack patterns plus hp pools) and 3 in-game items - 2 optional (not counting skins, obviously optional too). Realistically DST will get major updates for the next 3-4 years from now - there's a limit for its engine "shelf life", what you can do with it, what resources requires etc. Hence at most a theoretical 3-4 crossovers, optimistically. If same amount of in-game stuff permeates, you end up with at most 10 game assets, most-likely optional from 3-4 other (similar) games. With Wortox's video-lore, "that can of worms" has already been opened. I doubt KLei will go for more than 1, at most 2 other crossovers, but without a doubt is a valid way to get publicity with other communities at this late time in game's life.

Making some "easy/casual DST mode"... like with tutorials, kinda goes against game's spirit - and it goes "balls deep". Not to mention you still need advertisement. A lot to be written, yet in the end I reckon DST's genre is biggest obstacle for it to grow even larger - that is, if you won't mind its further "dumbing down" via tutorials, in-game tips, & co (in turn, such action probably will further alienate original fans of hardcore survival).

[PunkShark]

Oh it is already popular. it's just not on the keen eyes of popular influencers kind of popular. 
Plus survival games are also out of their prime and the DS franchise is one of those real big named ones that still survived. But the survival game era is dead.

[00petar00]

27 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

If DST ever completely changes to match something it Wasn’t then I promise you I sure as hell won’t still be playing it.. I enjoy the franchise for what it is/what it was.. not for what will make it more popular.

And.. if Klei wants to make a more popular completely different thing- they should do that as ITS OWN GAME SPINOFF and not just suddenly change the already existing game.

Just look at Mario, Mario Kart, Tennis, All-Star, Party, Smash, Maker etc etc etc.. none of them play like one another because they each fit a different genre.

DST is sold as the multiplayer stand alone expansion to DS- so it should always roughly play like DS… It was NOT sold as a Mini-Game filled Party game with friends.. Like I said: Carrat Race courses are a fun little distraction, but they should NEVER become the Main Attraction.

I agree with you, i enjoy DST the way it is but i also wouldn't mind if there was a tutorial that at least taught some basics to players if it meant the game would be more popular as that would help DST.

15 minutes ago, x0-VERSUS-1y said:

Crossovers happen ~1 per year, usually. What we got from Terraria's one: 2 optional bosses (arguably 1 and a reskin with duplicates & slightly different attack patterns plus hp pools) and 3 in-game items - 2 optional (not counting skins, obviously optional too). Realistically DST will get major updates for the next 3-4 years from now - there's a limit for its engine "shelf life", what you can do with it, what resources requires etc. Hence at most a theoretical 3-4 crossovers, optimistically. If same amount of in-game stuff permeates, you end up with at most 10 game assets, most-likely optional from 3-4 other (similar) games. With Wortox's video-lore, "that can of worms" has already been opened. I doubt KLei will go for more than 1, at most 2 other crossovers, but without a doubt is a valid way to get publicity with other communities at this late time in game's life.

Making some "easy/casual DST mode"... like with tutorials, kinda goes against game's spirit - and it goes "balls deep". Not to mention you still need advertisement. A lot to be written, yet in the end I reckon DST's genre is biggest obstacle for it to grow even larger - that is, if you won't mind its further "dumbing down" via tutorials, in-game tips, & co (in turn, such action probably will further alienate original fans of hardcore survival).

Crossovers aren't really something that i consider good for the game, its just sharing assets when they could be making their own. The reason i liked the DST/Terraria crossover is because i played both of these games for thousands of hours.

I understand that making tutorials goes against what DST stands for but you also need to consider how many players gave up on the game because they didn't get any help. While we can look back on our first time playing DST with nostalgia and miss it really much, we got though that part and stayed. 

The least that should be explained/known for new players is how important crockpot is and like 3 of the most popular dishes like meatballs,meaty stew and pierogi and some basic light tips. This would help retain some players that would otherwise quit.

Also that experience is very short if you compare it to how many hours we have played, as long as you learn how to survive your first year which won't take that long usually, is it worth losing the players that could be retained if there was a short tutorial.

While now i wish i didn't use wiki and other sources of information as early as i did (after survivng a year without any help), there would've been a good chance of me quitting the game if i didn't.

[Cheggf]

7 minutes ago, PunkShark said:

Oh it is already popular. it's just not on the keen eyes of popular influencers kind of popular. 
Plus survival games are also out of their prime and the DS franchise is one of those real big named ones that still survived. But the survival game era is dead.

Minecraft is still one of the most popular games full stop.

[PunkShark]

1 minute ago, Cheggf said:

Minecraft is still one of the most popular games full stop.

nono, i meant *era* not games. the survival games are still alive, its just not as popular as it used to be. Except for minecraft cause nothing can beat that. 

[Cheggf]

4 minutes ago, PunkShark said:

nono, i meant *era* not games. the survival games are still alive, its just not as popular as it used to be. Except for minecraft cause nothing can beat that. 

Rust is currently the 7th most popular steam game (recently pushed down due to Elden Ring which also has survival elements), Ark is 15, DayZ 26, with Unturned, Terraria, Valheim, and many others not far behind still on that same page.

By "the survival genre is dead" do you mean "Yogscast isn't making Shadow of Israphel any more"?