How do we add more replayability to the game?

[Swiyss]

I think player retention is great for Klei and the game.

Having many playable characters tho is great, but people usually only play 1, maximum 4 chars at once.

Then we can build and kill bosses, that's pretty much it. We got many strats to kill bosses, and many items to build dont get me wrong. But I think it only goes as far as klei can spit out content.

So how do we keep people playing the game?

My take is we add more directional play. I know it's against dont starve idea, but it's an option. 

We could also change world gen. Original DS changed their world gen quite a lot, and I think it's time for a new change. 

I didn't want to keep this post in suggestions only, as I wanna actually discuss if we need those changes or not, and what're your opinions about this topic. Do we revisit old content? Do we change combat? Do we add infinite ocean?

[Theukon-dos]

It's a longform survival-rougelike. It already has replay ability and player retention. We wouldn't be where we are now if it didn't.

 

In fact, DST is one of only 2 games that I have 1000 hours in. If it didn't have replayability, lord knows it would only be a 10th of that.

[cropo]

Terraria, to name a random game, has had the same endpoint ever since the introduction of the Moonlord. I almost never play as a different ''class'' in Terraria, and I can always pick it up and enjoy it, with a playtime lasting about 3-4 weeks before I pick it up again later and to me that was always fine. The only thing i'd want the devs to do is add stuff after Moonlord so that ''end point'' takes longer to get to, possibly adding another week to my playtime every time I pick up the game again.

 

Don't Starve kinda has the same thing for me, the core gameplay loop is fun enough that it works as its own "replay value" for me, and I'm glad they're continuing content beyond the original end-point. Usually it was just getting to Fuelweaver, which i never rush, and then I play for a few more days before taking a break and then starting over, having that "end point" take longer works perfectly for me.

Players rush bosses it seems but i don't fight bosses like Fuelweaver until a few ingame years have passed, hell I sometimes don't even do BQ because I just don't feel like fighting her and my worlds last multiple years before I'm done.

[arubaro]

It has a lot but if they want to add even more they can make more areas like the ruins, areas which a lot of combat, needing to survive without light or accesible food sources and good lot

Something like pig ruins from hamlet but with procedural generation every time you visit them or islands that raise and sink

New characters with interesting downsides and good skill trees (with many good choices) can also add a lot of repayability

More biomes and early game bosses so we can have multiple routes

And for megabasers, they could keep adding and improving rift content while adding more "sawhorse" kind of stuff so we have challenge in late and more furniture to decor when we are free of dealing with challenges

[BalkanCockroach]

23 minutes ago, Theukon-dos said:

2 games

What's the other one

 

23 minutes ago, cropo said:

Terraria, to name a random game, has had the same endpoint ever since the introduction of the Moonlord. I almost never play as a different ''class'' in Terraria, and I can always pick it up and enjoy it, with a playtime lasting about 3-4 weeks before I pick it up again later and to me that was always fine. The only thing i'd want the devs to do is add stuff after Moonlord so that ''end point'' takes longer to get to, possibly adding another week to my playtime every time I pick up the game again.

 

Terraria has the best proggression out of every game i've played. And the optional bosses are fun and rewarding. The only thing i don't like is blowing hellavators so that biomes don't spread too much time and money spent and it's not fun.

[Mike23Ua]

33 minutes ago, Theukon-dos said:

It's a longform survival-rougelike. It already has replay ability and player retention. We wouldn't be where we are now if it didn't.

 

In fact, DST is one of only 2 games that I have 1000 hours in. If it didn't have replayability, lord knows it would only be a 10th of that.

While this may be true, world generation for DST could use a massive overhaul..

DS & DST promise the ability to & I quote “Explore Randomly Generated Worlds where everything hates you & wants you to die.”

But that’s not exactly true now is it? Most the mobs are peaceful, or passive until you attack them.. And World Generation is very very predictable.

I think what would really add a ton more replayability for me, would be to deliver on that original promise of randomly generated worlds.

Maybe Pig King could spawn on Lunar Island or down in a Cave somewhere for once..? 

I get so tired of knowing where to go, and what to look for.

(example: if your looking for gold, you know not to venture off into the swamp biome looking for it.)

DST has a ton of replay value already, that part we DO agree on, with a large cast of 18+ characters to choose from each with unique gameplay gimmicks & playstyles, there’s a ton to do.. and even what you choose to do in the game can be whatever you desire doing..

But for me, I get tired of knowing I’m never going to find a Pipspook Graveyard on an Island in the Sea, or every single time I follow a cobblestone road- It’ll eventually lead me to Pig King.

To truly add replay value to DST- Klei needs to remove our ability to know where to go & what to look for.

[Theukon-dos]

22 minutes ago, BalkanCockroach said:

What's the other one

ARK: Survival Evolved.

 

Terraria might also be above 1k hours. But I'm not sure playing T-Modloader increases your hours in the vanilla application, if loaded through steam.

[BalkanCockroach]

1 minute ago, Theukon-dos said:

ARK: Survival Evolved.

 

Terraria might also be above 1k hours. But I'm not sure playing T-Modloader increases your hours in the vanilla application, if loaded through steam.

We are brothers now.

I do have a love hate relationship with Wildcard though.

[arubaro]

28 minutes ago, BalkanCockroach said:

Terraria has the best proggression out of every game i've played

For me is quite the opposite... specially when you start hard mode... needing to mine one mineral just to get the pickaxe for the next mineral's pickaxe

Is just a bad implemented rpg like progression without late game to use the toys dropped by the final bosses

[BalkanCockroach]

11 minutes ago, arubaro said:

For me is quite the opposite... specially when you start hard mode... needing to mine one mineral just to get the pickaxe for the next mineral's pickaxe

Is just a bad implemented rpg like progression without late game to use the toys dropped by the final bosses

Getting ores is a fun way to explore underground... until you get to late hardmode ores... especially chlorophyte. I always go for beetle armor so i know your pain. Grinding turtles for 8 hours and then grinding chlorophyte isn't fun.

And it's not rpg like at all. You can choose so many different accesories, play different classes and sets with different. You can beat bosses without order (except hardmode and pre hardmode ones). There's so much variation. There is some grind though.

[Jakepeng99]

The game is already replayable, just not infinitely.

[Captain_Rage]

The game is already quite versatile and fun to revisit, especially when joining random servers. That being said, I still would love to see some procedurally generated temporary raid / survival arenas or instances. Jump into a portal or find an island at sea and try to survive an onslaught of enemies, like in The Forge, and claim some reward before the biome disappears. Ideally completely useless yet cool rewards, to avoid making the game feel grind-y. Different decorative items or creatures that roam the base to spruce things up a bit. Something along those lines. >:) Klei are very good at making sensible procedurally generated game mechanics. I think there is more room for such gameplay in DST, although the rewards should also be procedurally generated silly aesthetical items which have no impact on gameplay. It could serve as an incentive to keep playing the end-game instead of starting new worlds.

[CuteC]

15 hours ago, Swiyss said:

I think player retention is great for Klei and the game.

Having many playable characters tho is great, but people usually only play 1, maximum 4 chars at once.

Then we can build and kill bosses, that's pretty much it. We got many strats to kill bosses, and many items to build dont get me wrong. But I think it only goes as far as klei can spit out content.

So how do we keep people playing the game?

A normal length season lasts nearly 3 hours of you constantly playing, dst is a long-play kind of game and I am sure the better question would be how to not bore people in the same world rather than having them replay for the 6th time after a few thousands of hours.

15 hours ago, Swiyss said:

We could also change world gen. Original DS changed their world gen quite a lot, and I think it's time for a new change. 

Not against new world stuff, klei has a huge portion of the map that barely matters (that being the ocean and caves).

14 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

I get so tired of knowing where to go, and what to look for.

I am sorry bud but that's how knowledge works and I do not think you can do much about that one.

[DegenerateFurry]

DST has tons of replayability already due to all its different characters. Klei is currently in the process of adding more replayability by adding skill trees. Skill trees give you something to choose between every time you start a world as a given character, offering differences in playstyle - for instance, you could play Wormwood and provide enough veggies to make meatballs and pierogis for a whole server using only mushroom planters and do it more passively than farming would ever allow, or you could play Wormwood and focus on farming like people normally do, or you could play him as a combat character by making use of his trap and husk perks. Since you have to choose between perks, though, it matters which you pick.

[Well-met]

modding, and don't play too often.

[Mike23Ua]

25 minutes ago, DegenerateFurry said:

DST has tons of replayability already due to all its different characters. Klei is currently in the process of adding more replayability by adding skill trees. Skill trees give you something to choose between every time you start a world as a given character, offering differences in playstyle - for instance, you could play Wormwood and provide enough veggies to make meatballs and pierogis for a whole server using only mushroom planters and do it more passively than farming would ever allow, or you could play Wormwood and focus on farming like people normally do, or you could play him as a combat character by making use of his trap and husk perks. Since you have to choose between perks, though, it matters which you pick.

Character perks can only get you so far though.. otherwise- Games like Apex Legends could’ve just made one map and left it at that for the games entire existence, the thing is- Players grow bored of the map & its repetition & that’s why Battle Royale games always shake things up by altering the map each season.

With DST- (outside of boss fights.. its gameplay revolves around exploring the Sandbox game world) so understandably there are A LOT of people who would love more variation as to how worlds actually generate. 

[DegenerateFurry]

34 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Character perks can only get you so far though.. otherwise- Games like Apex Legends could’ve just made one map and left it at that for the games entire existence, the thing is- Players grow bored of the map & its repetition & that’s why Battle Royale games always shake things up by altering the map each season.

With DST- (outside of boss fights.. its gameplay revolves around exploring the Sandbox game world) so understandably there are A LOT of people who would love more variation as to how worlds actually generate. 

The map's procedurally generated, though. Every world is different and there's rare setpieces. I agree that more variation could be nice - an archipelago worldgen preset like some mods have done would be great since those mods always generate worlds really slowly, and it'd make ocean content more meaningful - but I don't think this game struggles to have replay value.

[Mike23Ua]

34 minutes ago, DegenerateFurry said:

The map's procedurally generated, though. Every world is different and there's rare setpieces. I agree that more variation could be nice - an archipelago worldgen preset like some mods have done would be great since those mods always generate worlds really slowly, and it'd make ocean content more meaningful - but I don't think this game struggles to have replay value.

Nah you misunderstand, dst isn’t lacking in replay value, But.. there are things it Could do that would skyrocket replay value through the roof, and while more randomized world Gen is one thing…

Another thing would be being able to hand craft our own worlds in sort of a “Creative Mode” and place the mobs, hazards, loot, etc where we want to on the game map, and then after we’ve done that, we can upload said map to a server for people to download and attempt to play.

If you’ve ever played Battleblock Theatre where players could design their own levels and then after a brief test run of making sure it’s actually do-able, uploading for their friends to be challenged by, it would basically be that…

But see right now DST only truly appeals to MegaBasers, that doesn’t mean that all other playstyles are invalid, it simply means that the people building stuff like well uhh.. THIS-

(That is hand made bridge…) are truly tapping into the capabilities of what all is possible within the game.

But here’s the thing about that (& the part I’m not sure if Klei themselves recognize) over the course of a very long time playing in a game world, the player can quite literally redesign the entire constant into their own personal Megabase.

what this means is that you are able to go to a swamp biome, uproot all the swampy turf, and replant back down forest turf.

yeah it would take a TON of time, but you CAN still do it- Effectively turning a spooky swamp, into instead a Merm infested tentacles trap filled creepy forest.

THAT is DSTs true potential- The very fact that given 50,000+ days we can make the game world look however we want it to look.

You can get a Beefalo Bell take a Beefalo to lunar island, break its bond and it’ll eventually start a herd on Lunar island, away from the highly predictable always know where to look Savannahs

AND a player like myself- can even relocate all the Beefalo to other bizarre areas, then “kill” the ones in the Savannah, so that WHEN players come across the Beefalo, they’ll be like “Since when could they spawn in caves?!”

But with enough playtime, we can literally build our own worlds.

But only players on PC can admin spawn in new mobs and dangers to place in those worlds.

(what’s the use of a pretty shell bell turf hand made beach biome if you can’t place Crustashine on that beach?)

DSTs replay value would sky Rocket through the roof if, and only if- We could create worlds like these (or the game could create them itself somehow..) for us to explore.

Its 2024- And I’m going to call this “Lived Within Worlds” 

Now rather or not the game is capable of doing anything HUGE like this.. that’s a question only Klei knows the answer to.

[IAmAFurrz]

This idea is saying that the players cant keep playing bc they get bored of the few character selections and unwillingness to play other characters and try different ways of playing.

I can assure you there are enough ways to play, i have 5.6k hours and i STILL havent learnt everything USEFUL, let alone LITERALLY everything, yet i still play often.

Seasonal gameplay loops, limited seasonal items, things to manage like food spoilage, gathering to power up or build a better, neater basr.

Im not saying im the majority of the playerbase but if people arent playing the game, it is definitely not bc of 'lacking replayability'.

[Owen W.]

I want to explore new unique places. Things that get me out of the comfort zone from the daily “don’t starve” grind and push me deeper into places that are more dangerous, mysterious, and challenging but also offer a few items that are seriously rare and unique.

The last few updates just complicate things more than anything, which the game does not need. If they need any inspiration, take the Original game’s DLC and plant it in the DST world.
 

Add more mystery and more frightening situations when you reach the edges of the world. The thing that kept me playing was the mystery and terrifying unknown when I first stepped into a place I knew nothing about. Create more of that.

[Frosty_Mentos]

DST could use a return of game modes imo. It's got a ton of replayability already, but I wanna do more competitive or fun games that would be the main focus than needing to survive. Gorge is still my fav and I beg for a return to it someday in one way or another. Mod ones don't count, gorge needs general updating content wise and it's very lacking there, also I think it's often broken?

Though to be honest, people who complain about the game not having replayability are often not even playing the content it offers, they just kill bosses and f-off usually. I play everything the game has to offer and I don't restrict myself in doing whatever strat seems best or most fun at the time that I know.

If you don't agree with it, it's fine but it's reality we face. People just don't understand sometimes what to do in the game. It's complicated, it's a resource game, it's very very time consuming, there's high selection of decorative items and structures but people can't be arsed to engage with it all either busy or is iffy about it. Go play your pokemans or something idk lmao.

And if you're new to the game - you'll figure it out eventually, or do something better. It's not a game for everyone to enjoy all aspects of it, but there's definitely plenty of games out there to suit your needs. Can't have everything now, can we?

[mykenception]

On 1/20/2024 at 3:53 AM, Mike23Ua said:

what’s the use of a pretty shell bell turf hand made beach biome if you can’t place Crustashine on that beach?

you can

use a trap, it works like rabbits

[. . .]

A bigger world, more biomes, activateable hard mode (think Terraria), biomes having more stuff than just 2-3 resources and a mob or two, vertical height with elevated areas allowing for new places to exist like mountains, hills, ect, underwater biome, more characters, better combat which isn't just hold f, hamlet houses with 999 skins, allowing picking world seeds, world set pieces, random biomes, ect. and a lot more stuff they can do.

 

But what you can do now to increase your replayability is use cool mods. 

[Swiyss]

3 hours ago, . . . said:

A bigger world, more biomes, activateable hard mode (think Terraria), biomes having more stuff than just 2-3 resources and a mob or two, vertical height with elevated areas allowing for new places to exist like mountains, hills, ect, underwater biome, more characters, better combat which isn't just hold f, hamlet houses with 999 skins, allowing picking world seeds, world set pieces, random biomes, ect. and a lot more stuff they can do.

 

But what you can do now to increase your replayability is use cool mods. 

Yeah that's basically what I'm saying. Sure the game has some replayability, but more wouldn't hurt no one and it would greatly benefit those who play a lot like me.

[Mike23Ua]

DST has all the gameplay mechanics in place that should Klei ever decide to make an actual RogueLite mode for the game, they already have a pretty solid foundation for that. And after having recently played something called “Don’t Die Minerva” I really like the idea of random Bernie Powerup skills that let him do different things, same as how Minerva’s stuffed buddies can.

That particular game never made it out of game preview, the developers ceased development on it and it just.. ironically, “Died” lol- But… playing it did make me think how awesome an actual DS RogueLite could be..

And for me there’s a ton of replay value in unpredictable mob, loot, etc encounters.

I know Klei has experience with RogueLites, so i for one would love to see a new mode added to DST that changes to gameplay to this type of experience.

And yes- I would prefer that over the return of the Gorge…

Gorge is basically “Overcooked” with DS Artstyle from what I can tell from watching YouTube videos of it.