Don't Starve Together Roadmap 2023

[ChurroSalesman2]

I hope that at some point the real Wagstaff in the real world gets sucked back into the constant and becomes playable (punishment for his sins)

[KingDonut]

On 3/14/2023 at 4:43 PM, JoeW said:

Anybody interested in a roadmap?

NOTE: Please remember that the roadmap is provided to give the community a sense of what we are working on and what is driving our decisions and what we are focused on in the coming year. None of this is a promise or a guarantee. We always prioritize quality over deadlines and all dates and timelines are estimated to the best of our current ability. Many long-time fans will know that we often add new things to these plans which often shifts things around a bit, so it is recommended that you avoid scheduling your vacation plans around our dates.

This roadmap is subject to change at any time, but as we have done in the past, we will let you know if any of these plans change significantly.

2022 Recap
Our goal for 2022 was to “Set the Stage” for what was to come next for DST. 

In the 2022 roadmap we saw the Year of the Catcoon and Bunnyman. We released refreshes for Maxwell, Wickerbottom, WX-78 and Wilson is right around the corner. We released QOL updates all over the place including a revamped Crafting UI, a redesigned Ancient Guardian, Map QOL changes, World Presets and New World Settings. 

We released DST on Nintendo Switch and introduced Shared Unlocks and Offline Skins. We added more games to the Midsummer Cawnival and we released the Curse of the Moon Quay and A Little Drama updates. 

We released 10 sets of Twitch Drops and 50+ hotfixes with bug fixes, tweaks, and balance changes. 

2022 was a busy year for Don’t Starve Together. While it may not have been as content heavy as some players were hoping for, the changes were necessary to prepare for 2023 and we’re ready to talk about that a bit. 

This is going to be a pretty substantial post, so I am going to give a bit of a brief TL;DR summary first, then get into the meaty bits. Additionally, I should mention that we’re still doing a lot of experimentation and tweaks to how these plans are being implemented at the moment, so I have to be light with the details (surprise, surprise). But we want you to know what you have to look forward to. 

What’s coming up in 2023? (TL;DR)
Our goal for the next roadmap is to smooth out the experience for less experienced players and provide longer lasting endgame challenges for veteran players.

• 3 Content Updates
• 2 Core Game Enhancement Updates
• All the usual events
• A secret bite-sized crossover
• Don’t Starve 10 Year Celebration

Additionally, this roadmap does not cover a full year, because the last Roadmap ran into 2023. 

 

What we’re doing and why. 
Don’t Starve Together is arguably one of the most challenging survival games out there right now. However some of the design principles that were used to create the original single player game can feel unnecessarily unfriendly in a multiplayer game. The original Don’t Starve was designed around the idea of players being self directed. However multiplayer isn’t always compatible with this design and was largely why we resisted multiplayer for the original Don’t Starve. 

With DST, we have smoothed some of the rougher edges over time, but most of the focus has been on providing group based challenges up until more recently. We think there are still a few areas that we would like to see improved upon, and many, MANY of you have suggested the same. The areas that we are going to focus on in this roadmap are in early game discovery, and the late to end game loop.

Now - before you start getting worried, know that we understand that we’re stepping into some weird territory here. Our goal isn't to make the game easier, or even to make the game harder (overall). The goal is to make the game more interesting in the ways that those who love Don’t Starve and Don’t Starve Together will enjoy while also providing people who don’t know the game more opportunities to understand what the game expects of them.. 

But not all Don’t Starve Together players are the same. To some, DST is too easy, to some it’s too hard, and to others it “is what it is” and they don’t want it changed. Our goals here are to offer all players something interesting, fun and engaging and to improve the game in areas we think will have a lasting impact. This roadmap should result in a game that is easier to understand and harder to master.. 

We have a few areas that we want to focus on to accomplish this. In terms of content, we plan to delve deeper into the stories surrounding Charlie and Wagstaff, and explore the impact of their actions on The Constant. The introduction of late-game world challenges will change The Constant in ways that players will need to adapt to, either by working with or against them. This will also provide Survivors with the opportunity to discover new resources and items that will be vital for their survival as they progress throughout all areas of the game. 

Some of this has been introduced as part of the Wilson Refresh, and we will continue to build upon them throughout the year.

And what about the newer players?
Something that we have seen time and time again is that some newer players have a hard time understanding what they should be doing, or where they should be going and may become frustrated or miss a lot of content if they don’t know what else is out there for them. With this in mind, we are going to work toward making it a bit easier to understand what should be happening in the game without necessarily making the game easier. 

To that end we will be working on additions to the compendium and other elements of the game that will provide more information about what is happening, as well as progress indicators that help players see themselves grow through what they have learned in the game. 

Some of you may have noticed that some elements of the Wilson Refresh are a part of this effort as well. Wilson now acts as a sort of guide through the progression of the game, without directly telling the player what to do, his new skill tree can guide a player toward long term goals as they explore the world. He’s still rather vanilla, he just has some sprinkles now. Nothing too intimidating to a new player.

It should also be said that the “Core Game Enhancement” updates are foundational and are likely to grow and change over time. This means that we’ll implement systems or features that we can tweak or add to over time and while it’s probably not accurate to call these QOL updates, they will be Quality of Life oriented in the sense that they are meant to make the overall game better for most players, but not always by improving existing systems. 

What’s next?
The Wilson Refresh will be released Thursday and the update following that is currently planned for April will be a content update as part of the new Story Arc. This will be the first content update as part of this roadmap and should be quite interesting.  

Great for the future I can only hope that one of the changes is health scaling

[Rozerbud]

Call me basic, but Wilson is still my favorite!  I appreciate those sprinkles! I was wondering what Klei was going to do to him, and the refresh seems to fit very well! 

[Crowdingboar]

I play on the PlayStation and I’ve noticed that sometimes the world has huge “lakes.” One instance of this was it was in the middle of the dragonfly arena and I couldn’t fight her.  I’d like to know if that’s a bug.

[gamehun20]

9 minutes ago, Crowdingboar said:

I’d like to know if that’s a bug.

that's a bug

[bloopah]

On 4/5/2023 at 4:28 PM, Crowdingboar said:

I play on the PlayStation and I’ve noticed that sometimes the world has huge “lakes.” One instance of this was it was in the middle of the dragonfly arena and I couldn’t fight her.  I’d like to know if that’s a bug.

can you send a picture, i wanna know what that looks like

[Crowdingboar]

Ok

[Mike23Ua]

I have a question, will “usual events” include more new Mini-Games for The Mid Summers Cawnival? Last year 3 more were added to the original 3, so if we’re getting a new set that’ll be 9 mini-games to play, my only hope is that they’ll involve more player interaction and actually feel like mini games rather than something you just sit and watch, like the Egg Drop.

The Cawnival update is always Late May-Early June. So it’s fast approaching!

[bloopah]

On 4/11/2023 at 8:40 PM, Crowdingboar said:

Ok

where are mah pictures

[Crowdingboar]

Haven’t got them yet

[Kelloggs707]

I haven't played for as long as some people on this forum, but I really think a nice change would be making the combat system more player friendly. Specifically, NEW player friendly. I love playing the game, and it has brought me countless hours of enjoyment, but the combat system of kiting and/or tanking while you stuff your face with perogies is really dull and not player friendly to a lot of people who lack in skill(or internet).

My fiancé loves playing this game with me, and she absolutely adores the atmosphere it brings. She even likes playing the game by herself! But her main problem is she just cannot wrap her head around the "Hit X amount of times and kite" system that is currently in place. This usually devolves in me defeating everything for the both of us, or me preparing her loads of armor and food so that she can simply tank anything that comes her way. I've tried to teach her the finesse it takes to actually become good at kiting but, again, she just can't wrap her head around it.

I am no game designer by any stretch of the imagination, so any fixes or changes I could think of would probably immediately not work. But for new players to get into this game, especially ones who lack the necessary skill it takes to actually fight enemies, the combat system needs to either be tweaked or maybe overhauled. It shouldn't punish players simply because they cannot understand a concept, instead it should offer new ways to tackle this problem.

I love this game, and so does my soon-to-be wife, and until or if these changes are implemented, I will continue to fight every enemy, and help her gather the required resources for her to tank, but I think she, and a lot of players who have similar issues, would be eternally grateful for some type of *new* way to tackle these problems. I want her to have fun with the combat as much as she has fun with everything else in the game. Thank you Klei, for making a game that I and my significant other can make new memories with.  

[-Variant]

On 3/14/2023 at 3:43 PM, JoeW said:

A secret bite-sized crossover

Don't think I'm not onto you...

[Mike23Ua]

I just recently 100% completed a game called BugSnax- I mean every Quest, Every Side Quest, Every Easter Egg, Every possible Story Ending. 100%..
And SINCE I’ve 100% completed this game, I am hoping the Crossover really is with Bugsnax…

Anyone who has 100% completed that game will instantly know why- that game goes from being a very kid friendly Pokémon gotta catch them all to-

Bugsnax Ending Spoilers in spoiler Below:

Spoiler

You discovering that the cute Pokémon like food creatures you were feeding everyone being Parasites that get into and infect & Mutate your body making you want to eat MORE of them uncontrollably until you become them, the entire island is composed of BugSnax.. or rather- your dead ancestors who fell victim to them before you, and the final Mission goes from Pokémon to Silent Hill/Resident Evil Real Quick like as You try to defend everyone from the Snax that are now aggressively coming at them in hordes trying to force themselves down their throats to further infect them.

If any game on this planet needs to do a secret “Bite-Sized” Crossover with DST it’s BugSnax..

BugSnax is a game about Food that looks like Animals, DST has a few Food that looks like Animals- The Crossovers a Nobrainer..

As far as Cult of the Lamb goes I’ve never herd (pun intended) of It.. but seems like it  will more than most likely be the actual crossover, and the atmosphere feels fitting so it probably is the real crossover, still doesn’t mean I can’t throw in BugSnax as a suggestion for a future Crossover though.

[Ocean Enjoyer]

On 4/19/2023 at 8:35 PM, Kelloggs707 said:

I am no game designer by any stretch of the imagination, so any fixes or changes I could think of would probably immediately not work. But for new players to get into this game, especially ones who lack the necessary skill it takes to actually fight enemies, the combat system needs to either be tweaked or maybe overhauled. It shouldn't punish players simply because they cannot understand a concept, instead it should offer new ways to tackle this problem.

I think if Wheeler existed in DST it would be a lot easier to grasp the kiting. Naturally increased movement speed, can attack from afar with items the player doesn't need, a dodge ability that is a short range dash and makes the player invulnerable. Only real downside is 100 health and inventory.

[Golden Daemon]

On 3/26/2023 at 8:05 AM, ChurroSalesman2 said:

I hope that at some point the real Wagstaff in the real world gets sucked back into the constant and becomes playable (punishment for his sins)

what are his sins tho?

[bloopah]

1 hour ago, Golden Daemon said:

what are his sins tho?

Probably making human WX upset, but I wouldn't consider it a sin when he hated biological life so much he chose to trap himself in the body of a robot.

[LitulLola]

On 4/19/2023 at 9:35 PM, Kelloggs707 said:

I haven't played for as long as some people on this forum, but I really think a nice change would be making the combat system more player friendly. Specifically, NEW player friendly. I love playing the game, and it has brought me countless hours of enjoyment, but the combat system of kiting and/or tanking while you stuff your face with perogies is really dull and not player friendly to a lot of people who lack in skill(or internet).

My fiancé loves playing this game with me, and she absolutely adores the atmosphere it brings. She even likes playing the game by herself! But her main problem is she just cannot wrap her head around the "Hit X amount of times and kite" system that is currently in place. This usually devolves in me defeating everything for the both of us, or me preparing her loads of armor and food so that she can simply tank anything that comes her way. I've tried to teach her the finesse it takes to actually become good at kiting but, again, she just can't wrap her head around it.

I am no game designer by any stretch of the imagination, so any fixes or changes I could think of would probably immediately not work. But for new players to get into this game, especially ones who lack the necessary skill it takes to actually fight enemies, the combat system needs to either be tweaked or maybe overhauled. It shouldn't punish players simply because they cannot understand a concept, instead it should offer new ways to tackle this problem.

I love this game, and so does my soon-to-be wife, and until or if these changes are implemented, I will continue to fight every enemy, and help her gather the required resources for her to tank, but I think she, and a lot of players who have similar issues, would be eternally grateful for some type of *new* way to tackle these problems. I want her to have fun with the combat as much as she has fun with everything else in the game. Thank you Klei, for making a game that I and my significant other can make new memories with.  

That's tough. I think the new brightshade staff could work well for her if she had both pieces of armor on, it bounces between 7 enemies at a time and has a pretty quick response (casts fast) I'd suggest watching the live stream on twitch they did yesterday to better understand those mechanics and what's to come. Maybe pair it with spicy voltgoat jelly. It's the only thing in-game that I can think of that might really help her. I hope it helps so she can enjoy the game more. (It does planar damage on top of it's own)

[YouKnowWho]

I'll be honest, I'm a little concerned about the push forward for the gestalts when enlightenment itself is so bare. No shadow hand equivalent or any of the other stuff that made insanity feel so engaging in the first place. I really hope the moon faction gets some more love outside of the self-contained activities it's had so far.

[bloopah]

27 minutes ago, YouKnowWho said:

I'll be honest, I'm a little concerned about the push forward for the gestalts when enlightenment itself is so bare. No shadow hand equivalent or any of the other stuff that made insanity feel so engaging in the first place. I really hope the moon faction gets some more love outside of the self-contained activities it's had so far.

I'm surprised nothing has been added to the Full Moon at all, besides bath-bombed Hot Springs going solid.

[Mike23Ua]

Since the roadmap intends to cover both the early game & the late game I feel I should mention something that I notice at an alarmingly high FREQUENCY when it comes very particularly to New Players.  

For some reason people tend to think that these newer players quit the game around Winter, but from observing all the friends I’ve bought DST for… this information is actually false.. in fact- most my friends figure out very quickly that campfire or a torch setting a tree on fire = Warmth. And that’s really ALL you need to fully survive Winter (Minus Deerclops)

Its the season AFTER That that these newbie players are ACTUALLY quitting the game in Frustration over, they barely scratched through winter, a Deerclops more than most likely wrecked their base and hours of hard work.. they’re already disheartened- THEN they suddenly get introduced to a brand new gameplay mechanic known as Wetness, and even though they survived Freezing to death in Winter, they still freeze to death from being Wet & Cold (or they die because their Wet, Cold & Insane with Nightmares chasing them..)

The game just throws you into this situation completely unprepared, and UNLIKE Winter where a simple campfire while highly ineffective would still just “barely” keep you alive- 

Spring is much less generous- because even IF you figure out how to craft a pretty parasol or an umbrella to protect from rain, what the game does NOT explain at all is that a Parasol or Umbrella Alone by itself isn’t going to be enough to prevent you from becoming Wet.. & since the game does NOT Explain you need a Hat+Umbrella these players are cold, freezing to death, going insane & constantly dying.

Perhaps a change should be done here to either A: Make Spring Rains less brutal on Newbies by making Umbrellas and Parasols fully prevent Rain damage (the items still decay overtime so it sounds perfectly fair) OR- Klei needs to add some sort of guide that explains Hat+Umbrella = Protection.

Because as I’ve said, people think the drop off point is Winter, it’s not… it’s actually the end of winter/early spring.

[Phizzle]

On 3/14/2023 at 4:43 PM, JoeW said:

Life versus Death vibes

[Creatorofswamps]

On 4/22/2023 at 9:08 PM, -Variant said:

Don't think I'm not onto you...

That would be nice

[Mike23Ua]

So if I’m reading the Roadmap correctly, the only things left on this years Roadmap is 1 Secret Cross Over, 1 “From Beyond” content update, and 2 Core Game Enhancement QOLs?

[Captain_Rage]

On 3/14/2023 at 9:43 PM, JoeW said:

This will also provide Survivors with the opportunity to discover new resources and items that will be vital for their survival as they progress throughout all areas of the game.

Sounds as if bigger threats and challenges are still looming on the horizon, or at least big new monsters. :d The new Shadow Reaper and other items are nice and refreshing but so far they have arguably not been vital for survival.

[Mike23Ua]

6 hours ago, Captain_Rage said:

Sounds as if bigger threats and challenges are still looming on the horizon, or at least big new monsters. :d The new Shadow Reaper and other items are nice and refreshing but so far they have arguably not been vital for survival.

“Vital” would mean you can’t live without it right??