tutorial Wagstaff Hologram / Tutorial Guide

[BonesJrOfficial]

I know this is highly controversial... however constantly I try to have friends attempt this game, who do not wish to spend days learning the game whether trial and error or hours spent on the wiki or watching streams... personally this was my favorite part of this game, and of most games (the discovery and failures).

However to give this game a big QOL, and hopefully lots more longevity in the form of more new players sticking around and not feeling as discouraged, perhaps Wagstaff can act as a guide to direct players periodically. Informing them of the terrors of night, and guiding them towards preparing for a first boss and inevitably revealing the Lunar content which you'll reunite with him foe the storms.. just an idea, and of course the Wagstaff guide can be enabled or disabled.

[hhh2]

would be funny but very out of theme for DS. 

[BonesJrOfficial]

1 hour ago, hhh2 said:

would be funny but very out of theme for DS. 

For single player the game is very drop you in a world and sandbox.

For DST there is a bit more structure. Still incredibly free flowing, but there is sort of a sequence, especially towards the end game. 

The new player experience to DST is not really a debate. It is completely all or nothing. You're either captured, or entirely shoved away. Most of the people who are shoved away are deturred mostly by the pace and or lack of structure. There is a ton of content most players never will make it to.

Several people who I've talked to who quit the game after just a few hours say a lot of similar things, and I completely do no blame them for their reasoning. Likewise there are tons of players who attempt to play this game multiple times over several years before they do finally stick around...

Having Wagstaff appear to guide the player if they choose to enable the guide tutorial for some early game direction would capture so much of the audience that Klei is losing out on. I'm a moderator on a fan page of over 13,000 members, so I see dozens of posts and questions everyday and have for several years... I do not make this suggestion lightly. I genuinely think it would be a massive quality of life that will only add to the new player experience.

Thank you for your time.

[kirihime]

What would this Wagstaff hologram be suggesting? Make a Science Machine? Explore the caves? Make a crockpot and cook pierogies?

Boss rush playthroughs on youtube might be going into winter with a starcaller's, bundling wraps, and a scaled furnace, but most new players are going to be lucky if they even have a crockpot or a birdcage - just surviving could very much be more than what they're capable of. To the extent that Wagstaff could tell a player winter is coming and they should prepare, well, a player on their second attempt will already know this, and there's a good chance they still won't manage. Telling them about lategame content won't do much when they're already overwhelmed.

I'd advise you to read this article, for a brief explanation on how the game's intended knowledge progression works, if you haven't already.
https://support.klei.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029557532-Why-there-are-no-achievements-for-Don-t-Starve-on-PC-Mac-Linux

It's worth bearing in mind that it's many years old and the game has changed significantly and expanded far more than it was back then, but in principle it should largely still apply, with most of a player's learning coming via progressing through the crafting menus and exploring the map, with prototyping new recipes and revealing the map being things that players should instinctively try to do.

Which isn't to say things couldn't still be improved, but there's always multiple ways to do that. If you want to tell a player "hey, check out the ruins!" or "find the lunar island", having Wagstaff literally tell the player might be one way, but another could be to just have a "Percentage of Overworld/Caves/Ocean Explored: x%" marker on the map screen that players will instinctively try to max out. A lot of roguelites have a sort of item encyclopedia, telling players about items they've encountered and that there's things they're missing out on, something like this could also work here (you could also integrate the screen for managing item skins into it)

[LiamAshvinn001]

I dont want to seem offensive but this actually was considered by Klei in the past. Maxwell would act as a tutorial, but it was removed, because one it didnt fit the game. Two, after learning what to do players stopped playing. I understand why this might seem like a good idea, but this will just take away from what makes Dont Starve games special. The vagueness creates mystery, and if people aren't even going to stick around in the first few days its probably safe to say theyre not really going to be fully interested in it. 

 

Also why would the antagonist help you?