Challenge Mode Possibilities

[Evelo]

So we already have Lights Out as a challenge mode, what alternatives would you suggest for challenge modes without modding the game?

Edit: Should have been more clear, I am referring to challenge modes similar to lights out, ones that alter the world settings not so much different playstyles. I really enjoy Light's Out but you can do it only so many times before it isn't a challenge, what could Klei add or what settings could you do to make the game harder on a day to day basis?

[chirsg]

Boss rush

[NPCMaxwell]

17 minutes ago, Evelo said:

So we already have Lights Out as a challenge mode, what alternatives would you suggest for challenge modes without modding the game?

My "having to clear up a whole biome before you're 'allowed' to move on" gameplay challenge automatically came into my mind, but because it's too silly to actually be official or practical I instead propose the:

 

RANDOM(!) preset

that would totally randomize stuff on a daily basis e.g.:

receipts,

mobs appearance,

place where recourses spawn,

boss attack patterns,

day-dusk-night,

weather,

character abilities!,

damage taken,

mob health,

weapon / equipment stats,

food values,

healing values,

TOTALLY RANDOM SPAWNING OF ANYTHING POSSIBLE STUFF NEAR A PLAYER,

Content of chest being changed,

inventory items disappearing / appearing

CAVE STUFF ON SURFACE

SURFACE STUFF IN CAVES

Player being teleported onto a randomized boat in a random spot in the ocean.

And everything else one can think of.

In other words: a level of crazyness only those who really want to like random and dying a lot will enjoy (and of course settings to toggle everything so people can still ajust it to their liking)

9 minutes ago, chirsg said:

Boss rush

That would be my nightmare x)

But adding to that: what about a world that is ONLY combat orientated meaning hostile mobs will in short frequencies regulary appear (like hound waves but non-predictable) and after a certain number of waves a BOSS WILL spawn and attack you, no matter where you are.

[Mike23Ua]

There’s a bunch of very interesting things Klei could do here.

Such as for example Inescapable Insanity, You’ll always be insane, you’ll always be dealing with shadow creatures.. And you’ll never ever EVER be able to raise your sanity.. because of this- You'll also never have access to mobs or resources that require you to be “Sane”

Or Permanently Blacked Out Health Core- You spawn in with your character having died as many times as possible, you can not craft anything to raise your health above this threshold.

[NPCMaxwell]

Just now, Mike23Ua said:

There’s a bunch of very interesting things Klei could do here.

Such as for example Inescapable Insanity, You’ll always be insane, you’ll always be dealing with shadow creatures.. And you’ll never ever EVER be able to raise your sanity.. because of this- You'll also never have access to mobs or resources that require you to be “Sane”

My beloved shadow realm would finally come true!

[Mike23Ua]

Honestly I wish Klei (the company famous for specializing in creating RogueLites) would make DST more RogueLite..

And that would involve a bunch of Wacky out of the normal challenges…

Such as the above mentioned sanity or health capped at low with no way of tools, food or clothing items to help repair it.

[DegenerateFurry]

Shipwrecked Stranded at Sea Mode. You spawn on a boat with a basic oar and some simple fishing supplies. There is no land except Pearl's island, the Frostjaw island (if you can call that land), and Moon Quay. Resources are quite limited, especially early on. The point of the challenge is learning to survive using only ocean resources. Hard mode is playing Warly in this mode. 

[Frashaw27]

Constat Turf - Dst skyblock. You start with a handful of materials that make survival tedious, yet still possible. The goal is to beat cc and fuel weaver starting with essentially nothing good.

Gnawification - A mode that makes the gorge a reality in the normal constant. Next to the florid postern is a snackerfical alter that you can submit food into to increase the timer. As time goes one, he'll start demanding more and more high quality food, like at the start he'll accept the basic berries and fish, maybe by the start of winter he'll settle for cooked variations, and then spring he'll start demanding low tier crackpot dishes or food that is extremely out of the way like figs and bananas, you get the picture. Timer runs out and you perma die. You can reset the gnaw by feeding him a special dish made out of several boss drops like antlion stones, a guardian horn, royal Jelly, shroom skin, ect.

Everything is Terrible!!! - All characters don't have perks nor skill trees, only downsides. Wes also has 1 hp for gits and shiggles.

Better then Cavemen - All research stations are disabled, You can craft a science machine but it won't teach you nothing, only allow you to open gifts. The challenge is to make due with only the bare nessceities and whatever blueprints you come across. Wickerbottom is banned from this challenge due to her "knows many things" perk essentially making the entire challenge redundant.

Who Am I? - Once every 5 days you'll be changed to a random character on the spot regardless of what you were doing before.

[Mike23Ua]

Something else I should probably bring up is that in a lot of the RogueLites that I play certain “challenge modes” will often strip your character of their character specific abilities or weapons..

So like for example if you own a character who can heal herself on cooldown (cough cough Wanda) They’ll become basically just “Wes” but with a skin to look like Wanda.

This has to be done in Order to ensure the structure & “challenge” of the Mode.

Otherwise.. Wanda would become unplayable in a game mode where health is locked in at 15 total HP.

These are things that with enough time, dedication to the mode, and ultimately heart from the developers designing the mode- COULD be done with DST..

And in fact, Sort of already are even possible-

Permanent Insanity Mode = dusk only map, flowers off, Mushrooms off, Spiders/Silk Off, Insanity Monsters toggled to Lots More- ETC… point is turn enough Sh** on or off and the mode is already (sort of..) playable in the game.

Permanent low health mode = spawning into a Endless Mode server, bees (Aka stingers) Off, This is the ONLY setting you need to change to activate this mode, no Bee Stingers = No Booster shots.. but- Some character specific crafts require these stingers so toggling it off also handicaps the characters who require them. And of course- Intentionally dying over and over again so you health core ends up as low as possible.

[benfroyobro9381]

Hardcore or a permadeath gamemode are an easy choice. Just DST but revival options don't work and you'll loose your world if you die unless you disable the setting.

A 1 Hp, with Wanda permanently in her oldest state, gamemode would be interesting. Certain items, like WX's health circuits or Wurt's Merm King, would need to be adjusted. I think it could really change how the game plays out. 

A gamemode where every mob, besides essential npcs, is hostile. This would be a good opportunity to give mobs without an attack animation, like Gobbler, one. I think items like Spider-Hat and One Man Band could work since it would give an incentive to use them, since they're rather unpopular in the base game. 

[zhangsheng]

Various bizarre and random nighttime events. Most of them are very dangerous, and some will give you rewards. The similarity is that they are all very strange, illogical, and crazy.

[ChintzyGnat]

Perma rain is one I've heard, I could see putting seasonal bosses on tons can add some challenge but that one seems more like annoyance. There is also limited resources like making a nothing world.

[Mike23Ua]

Personally I’ve always enjoyed playing DST in a way that was not “Default Settings” if there’s one thing I absolutely hate about any game I have ever played, it’s having a predictable and repetitive gameplay loop.

This is why my favorite Genre is RogueLites/Likes- No matter how many times I play them sometimes level layouts, enemy mob placement, the items, weapons, skills, boons or curses I obtain along the way always guarantee that I can never fall into the same repeat game loop.

And when it comes to DST I like to well let’s just say “experiment” with the settings that the game gives me to work with..

For example- you can make your winters significantly harder by increasing dusk/night length, choosing to take 40% extra temperature damage, Toggling OFF one or more of the items that lets you craft a Thermal stone (like flint) Toggling Beefalo Mating Frequency to Always-

This means you’ll not only take more damage from cold dark winter nights, but you’ll also need to actively kite away and kill an angry Beefalo to obtain its wool to craft your warm winter hat with.. and without a Thermal Stone, your gonna want to do that as fast as possible.

Another fun challenge is to toggle the season to Summer Only, disable Caves, remove one or more items to craft thermals with, Toggle Wildfires to happen Much more frequently.

These are all settings that you can change to FORCE ANYONE WHO JOINS YOUR SERVER TO PLAY BY THESE RULES.

I hate the “don’t like it, don’t use it” saying you often see on these forums.. And I would prefer to instead have many more things I can toggle on/off, or change the spawn rate or behavior of so that I can FORCE people to play the way that I want the server I’m hosting to be played…

This is not “Entitlement” it’s me creating an Adventure mode map with a huge and highly sophisticated structure behind it in Minecraft, and then someone joining that world in “Creative Mode”

instead of “Banning” Any WX78 who joins a lights out server with infinity night vision, maybe I’d instead just like to “ban” one or more of the ingredients they can use to craft said night mode vision from even being a resource option that’s available in the world?

Im not asking Klei to spend 15 years creating a bunch of server options, I’m wanting more control over my worlds and the rules I expect people to adhere to upon joining my worlds.

[Well-met]

wes is the challenge mode..

[chincer]

they could make an unpredictable mode, seasons change without warning, deerclops could just be twins of terror, or could be dragonfly coming to get you like in base DS or maybe it a loose ancient guardian, the map is entirely random and often broken into islands, want to get to pig king? you better dare cross the ocean or find a sinkhole that gets there, hound attacks could be a hoard of angry catcoons one time, or a wave of bishops moving in a straight line

[Wormboi]

1 minute ago, chincer said:

they could make an unpredictable mode, seasons change without warning, deerclops could just be twins of terror, or could be dragonfly coming to get you like in base DS or maybe it a loose ancient guardian, the map is entirely random and often broken into islands, want to get to pig king? you better dare cross the ocean or find a sinkhole that gets there, hound attacks could be a hoard of angry catcoons one time, or a wave of bishops moving in a straight line

So you want DST: chaos edition?

[SapoLover]

Back in my days: Original survivors go back to their pre-rework state. For those who don't like them, and for the new to appreciate the characters' evolution (or devolution, depends on who you ask). Maybe not as much of a challenge, but eh... I like the idea. Eh... mm... no head slot. There is the challenge suggestion.