How to solve the main problem with Don't Starve Together: boredom.

[ImmaTrickster]

 

Boredom stems from a lack of novelty, and creating updates can’t go on forever, so we need to create mechanics that will last forever.

The solution: The Arena. (Not Forge)

This idea includes:

- Eliminating endgame boredom

- Isolation from new players (the game doesn’t get any harder overall)

- Endless content

- A new metric (number of waves completed) that players will focus on instead of the boring day counter

- Engaging cooperative gameplay

- Merging Moon and Shadow content into one

- Each player can create a new challenge for themselves in a new location and experiment. Endlessly

 

The gist. Adding an Arena to the endgame segment. Let’s say that after defeating the main Shadow bosses and the main Lunar bosses, two arenas open up - Shadow and Lunar - where you can enter (this isn’t a separate mode but a location with mobs/bosses spawning) and fight against endless waves, but each subsequent wave can be made so much harder that players won’t be able to get past 100-200.

 

How does this fit in with the rest of the game content? It fits in seamlessly. It’s not an external mechanic. For example, to reach Wave 10, you need to perform certain actions within the game world, which ensures you don’t lose sight of the rest of the game content. In the arena, you get the keys or weapons you need that help you or grant access to new waves on the arena’s alternate side - the Shadow/Lunar side.

This could also be compatible with the Fissures.

 

To be honest, rifts don’t fulfill the developers’ goal - to keep the game interesting after completion. An alternative would be to make rifts more aggressive and feature similar endless content like in the arena, BUT the arena provides the main thing - a CHALLENGE and new ideas. With every wave you clear, you know there’s something in the game you haven’t tried yet - like not having cleared a certain number of waves with a specific character or not having cleared 100 waves with a team. The challenge and novelty of an endless or limited yet incredibly difficult mode that only a few will ever reach creates excitement.

 

There are many ideas for implementation, and there are many reasons why developers might choose not to create such a mechanic. If there is interest in this mechanic and active discussion around it, I will create detailed visual concepts.

Edited Monday at 10:43 AM by ImmaTrickster