The new player problem

[arandomperson30]

Hello All! So one of the problems that many people have noticed and one that I have experienced myself is the steep learning curve that Don't Starve has and how that can turn people off who or as some others have noted cause them to be reliant on others to do anything. I am excited for the new road map and I firmly believe that one of the "core game enhancements" should focus almost exclusively on the new player experience. Here are some ideas I have for helping ease in players who just bought the game and are frustrated. This is probably gonna be a long one so strap in. 

Add an unlock-able in game Wiki/Bestiary/Whatever you want to call it

What I mean by this is some sort of book or compendium that gives players information. It could be used for both stats that are hidden but still relevant and for hints on the more obscure puzzles in game. This should be something that is unlocked right off the bat and can be viewed at pretty much any time. This can be something that can be made in-game extremely cheaply (ideally before a science machine) that will give you a basic overview of most things in game. Most of the entries would be locked as to not overwhelm a new player. My idea for unlocking entries for an item is  prototyping it. This would give a brief overview of the item and what its basic function is and then using the item would unlock a more detailed entry. For instance prototyping a spear would unlock an entry saying that its a weapon and that "you should use this item to learn more about it" and after hitting something with a spear 20 times (though that number is completely arbitrary and can be changed) it would show the exact damage values and number of uses. This information is only ever available to people who use an external source and I don't see why that should be the case. As for mobs killing them once would show a basic entry and description while killing them 5 times would show a complete description. This could also be used to add flavor text (and more puns) to the. game as at the bottom there could be a quote from a character about the item/mob similar to the ones in the plant registry. These could also be used to hint at not immediately obvious uses  to items or mobs. (for instance at the bottom of the moon callers staff entry it could say something like "The gem inside is so pretty but all my attempts to physically remove it have failed, I wonder if there is a magical way to get it out?" to hint at the use of a deconstruction staff). A great example of this is in spelunky 2. In that game you need a special bow with a special arrow to access a secret area. The bow and arrow say nothing in the journal that they need to be used together but the entries are next to one another meaning that people can come to there own conclusion and figure out the puzzle without the game explicitly telling them. I believe something similar could be done with the suspicious marbles and clockwork statues. This wiki would also give a sense of permanent progression to players so that when they die and lose their worlds/base they can at least have something permanent to point to that they got. One thing I would like to note is that in order for someone to unlock something they must both use AND prototype the item. This would serve the function of keeping players from unlocking everything right off the bat by simply visiting a late game world. 

Add a "Creative Mode" (for lack of a better term) That is tied to the Wiki

First of all, I know god mode exists but that alone is not good enough. 1 People on consoles can't use it at all. 2 It can potentially spoil late game areas and items such as ruins equipment that I believe would be better for players to find on their own. And 3 most new players are not familiar with console commands and would need to go out of their way to find them. What I am suggesting is a free sandbox where players can freely make and spawn anything THAT THEY HAVE UNLOCKED. This could be useful for both veterans and new players. Veterans who play on console (like me) will get a place to test out new builds and mechanics easily without having to resort to console commands. I cannot tell you how many resources I have wasted tearing down builds in my megabase world just because I didn't like how they turned out. As for new players it could be a way to practice kiting and answer any questions that they have that are not answered by the in game wiki. This would give players a no punishment way to figure out things for themselves and to experiment. For instance sanity is a problem for many new players. They are scared of fighting the shadow creatures because they don't know how to fight them and don't want to lose progress. This fear causes them to avoid sanity creatures at all costs and means that they never learn how to fight them. A mode where nothing is at stake would help new players overcome this fear and learn that fighting shadows is not as scary as it seems. Furthermore this would incentivize a new player to unlock new items and figure out what they do as there is a concrete reward for it in the form of an unlock

Add a tutorial world

I know this one is gonna be controversial but I truly believe a tutorial world similar to Terraria's would be good. The world could still be randomly generated but would be smaller and much more limited in scope. This should be an option that is presented immediately on opening the game for the first time. This world should be endless and not have out excessive popups but would give a basic understanding of the game and what the game expects from you. One of the things that can turn people off is that the game does not often communicate what is happening or why ahead of time. One of the things that could be generated is a forced setpiece that has a skeleton with a journal entry that talks about how useful thermal stones are for warming up or cooling down. This would inform players that, A temperature is a mechanic that you might need to worry about and B thermal stones are a way of controlling temperature. At no point did the game pop up and say "You're freezing better make thermal stone and fire" but the player was informed of these mechanics in advance so they feel more in control when those mechanics appear. A basic tutorial area where players can learn to use the crafting menu and learn about key mechanics would help ease the frustration of "What am I supposed to do". To also avoid players over relying on the turorial world you should not be able to unlock journal entries here and there should be explicit limits on what the player can do. For instance if you try to go into the caves the world would say "Start a new world with your friends or join someone else's to go here". 

Anyway these are all the ideas that I have. Feel free to add your own or tell me why mine are bad.