Some Seasonal changes to make the seasons more fun.

[Papa Scorch]

Seasons in don't starve are done in a really cool and unique way. They each have their own unique challenges, and autumn is a nice break from that. And I already know that each season has its own uses such as winter being used for mactusk and deerclops, spring for moose goose and great farming, and summer for heaps of gold from the oasis lake, but what if there were more natural things that happened in each season that would change gameplay and thought process. Here are some ideas to make the seasons more fun.

 

Autumn: We're going to skip autumn as autumn is already perfect. There's nothing special, it's supposed to be a season that gives you a break from all the difficulties of the rest of the game.

Winter: During winter, the shallow waters of the ocean will freeze over, allowing players to walk on a small bit of the ocean, potentially allowing them to make it to the lunar biome on foot. This encourages players to look around the oceans early and try to find good resources. Water will freeze around all crafted water structures, and they will be unmovable until spring.

Spring: During Spring, Wet tentacles will regenerate, and the world will go into a flooded state after the first rainstorm. When the world enters its flooded state, the ocean will become a treacherous place. It will move inwards by two tiles. Ponds will also become larger. Fish will bite hooks way more often. Structures that are covered by the floods will become inaccessible. Huge waves will appear, and if the player runs into them, they will gain some wetness. If the player gets hit by the waves while moving in the same direction as the waves, they get a speed boost forwards. The ocean will become way more rewarding, but risky. All enemies (including pirate monkey raids) will be increased by 1.5 x. Sea stacks will be lower down, and much harder to see. Sea weeds will always be awake, and will attack players who get too close. But wreckage can be found which house many different materials and blueprints. New sea life will exist which means more crock pot dishes. Two blueprints can be found in wreckages. One called the boat trawler. It is a net which catches any fish that travel under your boat. The other is a boat umbrella which stops all rain from falling onto the boat. It is a sail attatchement.

Summer: Unlike spring, the caves during summer will be perfect. During the daytime in the caves, they will be very dimly lit. Evening and night will remain dark though. Antlion will no longer need a thermal stone to start the fight. You can simply start it by hitting her. The thermal stone will still be an option, it will just make her attacks a little slower throughout the fight.

 

[Cheggf]

9 minutes ago, Papa Scorch said:

During Spring, the caves are flooded. This means you are unable to go into the caves at this point

Why would you remove half the game for an entire season? And what happens to people already in the caves? 

[gamehun20]

Just now, Cheggf said:

And what happens to people already in the caves

drown

[Papa Scorch]

Just now, Cheggf said:

Why would you remove half the game for an entire season? And what happens to people already in the caves? 

Have you ever fallen off of a boat before? Same thing basically. It doesn't really make sense that the caves don't ever flood.

[azazel3221]

Just now, Cheggf said:

Why would you remove half the game for an entire season? And what happens to people already in the caves? 

everyone in the caves just instantly dies the second spring hits

[Well-met]

It's definitely odd that the ocean was never accommodated for seasons after so long

[gamehun20]

12 minutes ago, Papa Scorch said:

All enemies (including pirate monkey raids) will be increased by 1.5 x

Pirate monkeys can already attack almost without cool down already

1 minute ago, Well-met said:

It's definitely odd that the ocean was never accommodated for seasons after so long

gameplay over "logic". caves don't just flood because why not

[Papa Scorch]

1 minute ago, gamehun20 said:

Pirate monkeys can already attack almost without cool down already

gameplay over "logic". caves don't just flood because why not

Good point. Something should happen though. I feel like caves should be heavily influenced by seasonal change though. Maybe big blobs of water land on you. I dont know. This is a forum post.

 

[Cheggf]

3 minutes ago, Papa Scorch said:

Have you ever fallen off of a boat before? Same thing basically. It doesn't really make sense that the caves don't ever flood.

It doesn't make sense that the caves would flood. They're extremely enormous and the only part of them that isn't flat is the bottomless pit in the labyrinth so it would take a ton of rainfall to flood them.

But if we're speaking about what does or doesn't make sense, the salty ocean freezing but only in some parts despite world temperature being global is something that doesn't. 

[Papa Scorch]

1 minute ago, Cheggf said:

It doesn't make sense that the caves would flood. They're extremely enormous and the only part of them that isn't flat is the bottomless pit in the labyrinth so it would take a ton of rainfall to flood them.

But if we're speaking about what does or doesn't make sense, the salty ocean freezing but only in some parts despite world temperature being global is something that doesn't. 

It does if it gets super cold.

 

[Lokena]

Well, ocean water is seeping into the caves through the moon grotto. But cutting off an entire server is weird. If you want flooding so much, then game already have a working system for this in Shipwreck.

[gamehun20]

11 minutes ago, Papa Scorch said:

It does if it gets super cold.

"combination of salt, ocean currents, high volume, and internal heating keeps most of the ocean in liquid form even during cold winters."

[Papa Scorch]

I decided to remove the part about caves flooding because people didn't like it.

[Evelo]

I like the idea of cave flooding especially because it can allow access to certain areas only during set seasons. As an example maybe in the autumn and winter there is an area accessible via boats that is underground which can lead to say a Mactusk area and in the summer/spring it leads to another seasonally locked area that could give the player summer related items akin to Mactusk being locked behind winter only.

I do think all seasons needs more love. I don't understand why the ocean levels rise so dramatically in spring. I like the idea of flooding but I think it should apply to ponds because of rain, not because ocean levels decide to rise in Spring, not summer. At least I can understand summer because of the theoretical polar caps melting but even that is a stretch given the nature of the Constant.

[Lil K]

Istead of caves flooding and being unreachable, would be cool if small tiles of ocean filled the empty spaces if the caves, turning the near-border tiles navigable. 

[Yuuko]

Oh this topic again?  I'll give it the ol' college try.

I wanna lay out this premises at the start though - My concern with seasonal mechanics is that YES we want engaging changes and hazards that players encounter, but NO we don't want spiteful destruction, limitations, and nuisances that pester players without any gameplay improvements.  This is a sandbox game focused on repeated and extended play.  If we aren't given a reason to engage in elements of the game we won't, and if the whole game becomes things we don't want to engage with then we stop playing...  Challenges are important, but there has to be some value in handling them.  They can't just be piled on senselessly.

6 hours ago, Papa Scorch said:

Autumn: We're going to skip autumn as autumn is already perfect. There's nothing special, it's supposed to be a season that gives you a break from all the difficulties of the rest of the game.

Sure, why not.

6 hours ago, Papa Scorch said:

Winter: During winter, the shallow waters of the ocean will freeze over, allowing players to walk on a small bit of the ocean, potentially allowing them to make it to the lunar biome on foot. This encourages players to look around the oceans early and try to find good resources. Water will freeze around all crafted water structures, and they will be unmovable until spring.

Nah.  Changing the landscape this much is a detriment to long term servers.  It might sound fun for a year, but after that its going to be annoying with absolutely zero merit.  Perhaps spawning ice floe could be fun.  Have it potentially cause impact to boats similar to sea stacks.  Let players also be able to board these, paddle them around, and mine them to produce ice.  Freezing over water structures is questionable, maybe have ice build up that locks a structure in place but you can mine it to restore movement?

6 hours ago, Papa Scorch said:

Spring: During Spring, Wet tentacles will regenerate, and the world will go into a flooded state after the first rainstorm. When the world enters its flooded state, the ocean will become a treacherous place. It will move inwards by two tiles. Ponds will also become larger. Fish will bite hooks way more often. Structures that are covered by the floods will become inaccessible. Huge waves will appear, and if the player runs into them, they will gain some wetness. If the player gets hit by the waves while moving in the same direction as the waves, they get a speed boost forwards. The ocean will become way more rewarding, but risky. All enemies (including pirate monkey raids) will be increased by 1.5 x. Sea stacks will be lower down, and much harder to see. Sea weeds will always be awake, and will attack players who get too close. But wreckage can be found which house many different materials and blueprints. New sea life will exist which means more crock pot dishes. Two blueprints can be found in wreckages. One called the boat trawler. It is a net which catches any fish that travel under your boat. The other is a boat umbrella which stops all rain from falling onto the boat. It is a sail attatchement.

Tentacles regenerating?  Cool.  By what conditions?  Any swamp turf?  Do we add tentacle spawners like meteors or tumbleweeds get on world gen?  Is this going to make basing in what was swamp land really really annoying for absolutely no reason then "b/c lolz" ?  Seems sketch to me.  Again lets not change the landscape too much.  This isn't DS where we hope to live for a year or so, this is DST where we have sandbox worlds with megabases and 6000+ day counts.  What do we actually GAIN from this change to warrant so much negative effect to players?  Unless we have some real gains, I don't want to add dumb and spiteful mechanics.  Caves flooded?  copy paste that last line again...  WHY? seriously, I don't get why this would be appealing except to make players so annoyed and aggravated that they stop playing.

Trawler net is a decent idea from sw BUT I think that is too OP for dst ocean fishing.  I like it, but its a major balance concern.

6 hours ago, Papa Scorch said:

Summer: Unlike spring, the caves during summer will be perfect. During the daytime in the caves, they will be very dimly lit. Evening and night will remain dark though. Antlion will no longer need a thermal stone to start the fight. You can simply start it by hitting her. The thermal stone will still be an option, it will just make her attacks a little slower throughout the fight.

 

Caves are already perfect in summer thanks.  No changes needed.  Wildfires should be removed.  They're a great example of spiteful mechanics that bring no actual fun or engagement to the game.  I've posted several ideas on how to change these but bottom line is we need LESS things like wildfires and disease.  What's wrong with wildfire and disease?  No interaction, no engagement.  Most of my suggestions around wildfire ask that it be tied to some world event, think like antlion and the sinkholes / cave ins they cause.  You have this bad thing that can happen and a system you can engage with to deal with it.

Yes I am salty when I walk away from my base only to return with half the !@#$ thing missing.

[ButterStuffed]

Autumn: All good.

Winter: More ocean related content. Icebergs, more winter fish, ice fishing, increased boat debris, pengulls, anything really.

Winter Caves: Icicles form and fall from the ceiling during earthquakes, maybe some cave exclusive winter creatures (Mam-moth?).

Spring: Plant based creatures spawn, Grassgator is an additional suspicious dirt pile hunt, carrots have a chance to be carrats, dragonfruit can turn into saladmanders if the plant is left to rot, sails pick up more wind, and maybe some other rain disaster besides frog rain.

Summer: Antlion actually appears near the where it attacks to be attributed to the sinkholes or sinkholes have some sort of indicator where the attacks are coming from. Right now new players wouldn't know where it's coming from unless they've accidentally come across it, or looked it up. Antlion could also create new sea stacks when attacking a player on a boat.

[Nweeky]

What we need is a reason to stay aboveground during summer. As it is now, players already dont engage with the season since it's so annoying for base management with zero rewards. Just have something appear only during summer that gives a reason to be up and about. And no, oasis lake trinkets dont count.

[gamehun20]

30 minutes ago, Nweeky said:

gives a reason to be up and about.

Cactus flowers

[Nweeky]

So the reward of the season is basically some butterfly wings. Now compare it to the rewards of the other challenge season: eyebrella, walking cane, tamo and ice (bountiful filler that literally lasts forever).

[Brago-sama]

It used to be dragonfly in single player, but thats gone since he's here all year round in his own special desert.

 

There is antlion but yeah..... not the best rewards either lol. I wouldn't mind either a summer boss or having something new spawn in summer. Considering the oceans always needing new content I wouldn't mind the new summer things spawning from there

[Yuuko]

tbh I don't think we need a bigger reward to go to the surface.  The problem isn't that there aren't things to do during summer - even if there aren't summer specific things to do, there are a lot of things to do - its just the oppressive wildfire design pushes players out of the surface.  I've found that any time I turn off Wildfire in world settings the surface in summer is extremely valuable, and it becomes difficult to schedule time for the caves.  The constant risk of losing a screen of structures / farms / resources because you didn't notice a small amount of smolder on the edge of your screen as you walked away is too severe, and setting up flingo / tall tall trees to cover everything is incredibly taxing.

Just compare wildfires to lightning.  You KNOW when lightning can strike because it only happens during heavier rain, and you get a lot of thunder telegraphing the danger.  Wildfires are ever present, and completely silent with only a subtle visual effect.  Lighting is actually more destructive as several things can instantly be set ablaze but when you couple that with the telegraphing and preventative measures available its obviously the lesser concern.  Certainly not something that would push you out of the entire surface shard for the season.  If anything, perhaps you forgot to place a lightning rod so you stay away from your base until the rain stops or try your luck to dash in and set up a rod quickly.

[comonavi]

I think summer should be the time to incentivize ocean/fishing content. No wildfires while on the water and the monkeys all hibernate or something. It makes more sense than being rewarded for camping out in the desert.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

4 hours ago, Shosuko said:

because you didn't notice a small amount of smolder on the edge of your screen

if only it could happend only on screen... i remember a gekko farm i almost lost because i went quickly to my base to get the shadow heart i forgot and started noticing a lot of lag, i knew something was on fire (many grass dropped by gekkos) but the farm was some centimeters away of my field of vision

wildfires makes 0 sense in many ways and the worts part is that there are people that defend it by telling you "craft a thermal stone, summer is easy lulz" thinking that the discussion is about difficulty instead of the tedium of an easy to ignore, when you dont care about the world, mechanic. Even funnier that some of these players didnt tried RoG original summer which was harder

summer needs tweaks but the focus should be to change wildfires. You can add tons of content that it wont matter because sailing and going into the caves will still be the choice because are the less tedious

also i think that fire hounds should change their fire on death mechanic to affect the player instead of the enviroment like many people have suggested over the years. The fire they spawn makes fighting waves way easier while also can destroy a lot of things that wont affect difficulty (small bases are protected by few iceflingo that will freeze hounds and save the resources and builds when a fire hound dies...), changing that to burn the player would be better since will match ice hounds in difficulty with the danger of being set on fire and would make wormwood fire downside and willow fire inmunity noticeable 

[Cheggf]

23 hours ago, Nweeky said:

What we need is a reason to stay aboveground during summer.

Being able to accomplish things. There isn't much underground.

20 hours ago, Nweeky said:

So the reward of the season is basically some butterfly wings. Now compare it to the rewards of the other challenge season

Compare the difficulty of pressing right click on a chilled amulet or luxury fan every 10 or 20 minutes vs either dedicating a ton of inventory slots to heat + sitting around waiting to heat up or having an extremely limited amount of heat + sitting around waiting to heat up. You can burn trees too, but that can cause big fires if you aren't careful, the trees are only in some places, and it's still sitting around waiting to heat up.

Plus snow chester turns summer off.

20 hours ago, Nweeky said:

ice (bountiful filler that literally lasts forever).

How are you calling cactus flowers bad and ice good