Soltys' input o.o

[Soltys]

Hey there! I was in the mood to help out a bit, and I'd like to maybe give you a few ideas on how to improve the game!

(sorry in advance for the lack of coherence, but I kinda evolve my ideas as I think about them..)

I think that surviving right now is way, WAY too easy. I bought this game at saturday afternoon, and by evening I already unlocked everything, and well, knew everything and I could survive indefinitely. I realize this is an alpha version, and this is BY NO MEANS criticism, but here's what I'd improve.

First of all, the respawn on rabbit holes, berries, tallbird eggs... all too fast. Makes it easy to survive. But since this game is not only played by hardcore lunatics, I suggest introducting one more difficulty level: Hard. (Since hardcore has been done to death ). Double or tripple the respawn time of food, so people actually feel the pressure... and they have to scavenge for food every day. This will seriously slow down their progress in everything, and make the game longer and more fun (for a certain kind of people).

Also: Once you set up a farm of berry bushes, grass and twigs, you can last forever without even leaving your base. There's no POINT in leaving your base... The areas are small, and it only takes maybe 10-14 days to explore them all (that's 10 days without gathering saplings/grass/bushes and just living off the land). Then its just... choose where you want your base, build it... and you're safe. This game should never be safe in my opinion! (at least on hard mode, WHICH should give a lot of extra xp for every day survived, and maybe some cool unlockables, like portraits for multiplayer, which I will talk about in a bit). From what I saw till now, the world generator makes a few islands, making sure there's a beefalo island, a grass island, a twig island, spider island, pigmen island, one with tallbirds, bees etc. It's very predictable too, but no matter. Solution: The world needs to be bigger, maybe twice or thrice the size, and you should/could add bosses on some islands, really, really tough to kill, but giving some awesome, unique mats. (It would be good if they respawned VERY slowly too, for the purposes of multiplayer... again, which I will describe later). Also you should make events. Say some guy is gathering twigs or something and there's a message on the screen "You hear wolf howling in the distance" or something, and then he'd know that a pack of wolves is on the hunt for something to eat, and it might very well be him. I'd say initial options would be to try and hide (possibly leaving some meat on the ground as an offering to wolves; they'd eat it, be satisfied, go back to their island/lair), or of course: FIGHT. For that he'd need a better weapon and armor, of course. You should also introduce wooden walls, whatcha call it... ramparts? Maybe also stone ones. So you could really build yourself a shelter. Haha, maybe also introduce pitch so you can make a pitch moat and set it on fire when something is invading. Well that's a thought.

Other events might include an orge rampaging around (Make broken trees and squashed grass, same yield of resources, just some eye candy... for when ogres stomped on them), maybe a swarm of locust, you'd have to kill them before they eat all your crops, maybe some kind of illness? Yeah I can think about those, if you want me to ^^

But I'd like to talk about multiplayer now. I realize that this is not something that you can introduce easily, but I have two ideas about how you could do it.

Idea 1: It would be good if you let the players *have* more than one game going on. If you could name them and select them when you click play. If you did that, a person could have a single player game going on, and when his or her friend(s) show up, he/she could select the multiplayer game, friends would join, and when they have a full compliment, they could start. This would require ALL the players to start the game, so basically, the save file would be shared between the three people, so I guess it's a drawback for the players, but it's easier to do for you.

Idea 2: If you played minecraft, you are aware of servers being hosted by one party, and players joining from all over the world. When the players are logged off, the world still goes on, so to speak. So imagine this: When a person creates a multiplayer game, it's registered and stored on steam cloud, right? So lets say he/she invites another player to join it.. and at this point, this save also belongs to the other person, and it's used by both. If the owner plays it alone, he modifies the save file every dusk/dawn as usual. Same happens when they're playing together, obviously. But here's the rump, when the person B (the invited one), enters the world while the owner is away, his input is still saved. So basically multiplayer games would have to be stored on cloud, exclusively (Or not, I'm not a techno geek, I don't know these things ), but what I mean to say is: You can have those multiplayer games stored on cloud, and accessible by every player registered to this game. So any player that was invited to it, could play on it and further the world. Yeah I think you get my idea till now.

There's also a concern of resources, since they're clearly finite. You could make events like "earthquake", ground shaking etc... and some more stone deposits could emergre from the ground, POSSIBLY ruining the player's base a bit >

If there's very few beehives new ones could slowly spawn somewhere away from the player, same with spider nests. Although here... any player who would destroy all nests without waiting for them to be big enough to spawn eggs, deserves to die.

Another random thing that I found too easy: The pig king spews out gold nuggets like there's no tomorrow, and morsels are SO easy to get from the rabbits, who I must point out are so stupid that they always run towards their rabbit holes in a straight line. Don't get me wrong, I like easy mode... but that easy? You don't even have to make traps and use carrots...

Also; Why do mutated pigment chase you so damn far? I didnt even DO anything to them xD

Tallbirds chase you a few steps and give up, and you STOLE THEIR BABIES... and pigmen chase you to the end of the world for no reason. But then again, they're crazy and mutated...

Also: Introduce ANTS... anthills... it would be ace if they could steal your food or not let you rest on the grass roll or something. A permanent kind of bed would be good too. Actually I think you need to introduce a WHOLE bunch of things to make, this right now is way too little.

Walls, huts, smelter, new kind of metal (Gold should NOT be used for tools, come on, try making a gold pickaxe IRL and use it to mine something.............). copper, iron. Make a simple forge to smelt iron... (there's this pic on the net of a swedish guy who had a net and fished out some bog iron from the bottom of the lake, constructed a small furnace with stones and whatnot, smelted it and actually made a knife, it was awesome. I could find the link to that if you want ^^).

And this is VERY important: Make it really tough to survive... There should be wandering monster... and every 10 days there should be some kind of event that's hard to deal with... and it should be significantly more difficult the next time it comes around (a different event too), So every additional 10 days that you survive MEANS something. As it is, by 20th day I have base that will sustain me without me leaving for anything except POO.

Yeah, if you like my ideas, write me a letter. I'd love to contribute more, since this game has AMAZING potential, and it would be a priviledge to give you some ideas, or at least inspire some. ^_____^

(P.S. I wouldn't mind a copy of the game for a RL mate, too, yes I know I'm a bad person :< )

Cheerio ^_^

[ResonanceCrea]

I like the Ant idea very much. Specially the idea of burning the anthill and hearing insect like cries, a sweet revenge after seeing them pillage your base.

[rojvol]

Everything but ants has been said before Yet you summed up it nice I just commented some other post about multiplayer - and yes it would be great. But lets face the truth - we are propably not going to have it. About the difficulty - I think that hardcore players can play whole game provoking pigs, spiders, tentacles and trees - and girls, peaceful characters and me can just have berries and be happy of the nature. If you have bought the game you have two copies.. so do not beg

[Soltys]

Yeah um... I only made an account here today. I wrote what was on my mind. I wasn't about to go read 300 threads to see if my ideas were new/original.. since I'd just get fed up with everything and toss it away.

As for buying the game. I already gave 1 code to a friend. But well.. I have two friends... so it was kinda a difficult choice, and I don't really have spare cash to buy 2 more codes... (Also I live in a 3rd world country, with a 1:4,5 exchange, so you know ). I'm not sure it's technically begging if you're actually giving something back *sighs*

But if using words such words makes you feel strong and awesome, go right ahead ;3

As for other ideas I had since then:

IF (and I strongly advise you do so) multiplayer mode will be introduced, you could take a page out of Riot's book and make the make some talent trees, unlockables, skins (Like imagine Wilson's vest being a different colour, or his hair having fanciful stripes and stuff). In the talent trees you COULD actually have offensive talents which let him hit a bit faster, or defensive ones like a VERY slow health regen, or a tiny bit more luck when it comes to mining (that he gets a gold nugget or any other metal), etc. There's LOADS of possibilities here, and if you make the boosts small enough, it will not break the gameplay, while enriching the experience.

As for multiplayer mode: Before you start the game you could have something like special conditions. For example monsters having +10% hp, or attack... anything you like. In several good tower defense games you have this, making an enemy's attribute stronger in exchange for an increased XP value at the end (percentage, of course).

You could add a little troll feature too. A sudden gust of air would push wilson in some direction... maybe for one or two minutes... that would be SOOOO annoying to people who are very particular about planting things in perfect rows. xD

Call it "Breaking Wind" haha.

Did anyone suggest a prehistoric BIKE yet? That would be pretty fun.

I'm thinking about a fun tactical way to poach the tentacles. Imagine you could *throw* a small object at the place where you think the tentacle is (or make a wound up rabbit? ), and then throw javelins to kill it?

I know it sounds ezmode, but lets face it, fresh log armor + spear is already a sure kill anyway, and this would be fun xD

[rojvol]

I'm not sure it's technically begging if you're actually giving something back *sighs*

But you are not giving anything back. Just a bunch of things that are trying to make this game something else. I don´t want to be rude.

[Excess]

Soltys, welcome. As rojvol[i/] stated (in a very friendly way I must add), most of this ideas have been discussed or are being discussed at this very moment. I understand that you didn't want to read the whole forum, but peaking the titles of the first page of the suggestions subforum or using the search function a little shouldn't be that troublesome. At least look at the common suggestions (and responses) sticky.

If everybody who thought about insert common suggestion here created a new thread and we all went rushing to discuss it, good ideas would be scattered all along the forums drowned by a lot of redundancy.

Don't take it bad, the devs love the suggestions (and have already implemented some) but the exponential amount of steam users that came lately are rendering the forums unreadable with all the repetitions. It is our duty as fans of Don't Starve to keep the place organized and tidy so we can ALL contribute to the game and make it the next hit.

Regarding a spare key, take a look in the trading subforums, you'll probably find someone to trade with there. Where I live, the exchange rate is 4.81 right now, and yet I managed to get the game.

Insisto, no te lo tomes a mal, pero una vez que te habitues al foro te vas a dar cuenta que es la única forma lógica de manejarte cuando hay esta cantidad de usuario

[Soltys]

I'm sorry Excess, but I found no useful information in your post... at all :/

What good is telling me *now* that some other person told me that some of my ideas were already discussed? I know he said that, I read his post....

As for redundancy... pot calling kettle black?

Not sure whether you meant it as such, but what you said is *rather* discouraging... I wanted to help, and yet one after another you guys are offering me nothing but criticism... If you have a problem with my thread, petition a forum mod to remove it.

As I already said, I *have* bought the game.. I just have other things like gifts for my family to worry about with christmas coming up, and I guessed it wouldn't be such a big problem to generate an extra one, if my ideas WERE useful. I have bought games on steam before (Dungeon defenders for example) and it had 4 keys altogether and it was enough to share with my friends. Not to mention that it was cheaper, and offered a lot more gameplay. So please,

Do you have a problem with my caring about a friend of mine?

If you are welcoming me here... then say something nice, and don't start with making me feel bad, mkay?

[Royal]

How abrasive...

When you submit ideas you must realize some may have been thought of before? It's simple, there is a search bar in the top right of the screen. Using that allows you to find out if the suggestion was made before. The simple notion of having the decency to check before posting a wall of text is an implied kindness that we wish to impart on every new member of the community.

Your post was rather long, I read anticipating deep thought or something all together unseen before, besides the ants I did not. The ant idea was very neat and would love to see it fleshed out more.

Your post is in Suggestions and Feedback, which of those do you believe asking for a handout is? I don't think it falls into either category. Many people have circumstances which would make them glad to receive a free copy but few place that in their first ever post.

As Excess tried to point out there is a trading forum which may help you in finding a copy of the game for something you already have. Useful information for someone looking for a copy.

I have no opinion about you as a person based on what you have posted. But lots of players have had similar ideas, again the point was not to insult you by telling you that they had already been made but merely to inform you so that you could seek out those threads and contribute.

The first few posts a person makes on a forum are generally a litmus test for their time on a forum, as such many of the more veteran members try to help people get accustomed to the status quo of this community. Your reaction to this is unsettling. Perhaps you are having a bad day? But no one is assaulting you or your ideas or your desires.

[Soltys]

No sir, I always react this way to negative feedback. And you basically did the same thing as Excess. You summarized what the previous person flamed me about. Is it not possible for you to actually appreciate that I took interest and wanted to help out, and maybe try to encourage me to sit down and think about some good idea, instead of flaming me?

You noticed that I reacted badly to what excess said, and also explained what bothered me about his message.. and then you went ahead and basically copied the very thing that annoyed me... Is this the kind of behaviour that I should expect from any self-proclaimed intelligent community person here?

I just don't understand this. I wanted to help. Yet you just put me down, and you suggest I spend days reading 300 threads in hopes of finding one I can contribute to? I'm sorry, but I'm not looking for a full time unpaid job. There's 300 threads right now, yes? Have you been stalking every person who posted a similar idea to one that had already been there? Or am I special? I'd love to be special for once, it would make me feel so warm inside.

I don't care about status quo. This is not real life for me. Here I take people at face value, I don't bash helpful people, especially when it merits nothing. Also I don't have anything to trade for another copy. I merely asked, because you never know your luck, since I guessed it won't hurt, and I might get something nice for a friend. But I am appalled at the "welcome" I received.

You wanted to make sure I don't clutter your precious forum? Well mission accomplished, since I don't intend to come back here, seeing my ideas are just reheated junk other people posted. Why have I bothered at all? I don't know. Usually I assume that there's a billion people spamming ideas, so whatever I think of, they have/are/will think of anyway. SO I NEVER BOTHER posting on forums. I did this time, and it will be the last time. Thanks to you sir.

P.S. Wanted ant idea fleshed out? All you had to do is ask, that would take you ONE line of text, and you would not upset me. On the contrary, I'd be happy that someone actually needs me.

Here: Ants: Spawn a couple/few small anthills at the start of the game, they could generate tiny, untargettable ants that would search for food, and could bring it (be it carrots or berries) to their home once found (very slowly). Once they acquire the Anthil could grow into another level (like spider nest). A 2nd level anthill would proceed to found (spelling?) a colony some distance away, that would behave the same way as the first one. You could let the anthills upgrade to level 3 maximum, allowing them two colonies, that would grow. The idea is that unless you control these pests by eliminating the nests, they will take over their respective islands.

Defenses: Every level of anthill would spawn a different number/quality of soldiers when attacked. Level 2 could spawn stronger ones.. level 3 still stronger.... and/or a queen, making a last stand to protect her kingdom. Or you could allow her to spawn after the anthil was destroyed, to either negotiate/surrender, or just well... make her helpless and brutally murder her for loot. You could also make it so level 2 colonies send reinforcements if the main colony is attacked.

I'm sure that's enough of fleshing out. You can take the idea and do whatever with it. I'm leaving. Hope you're proud.

[Excess]

If you are welcoming me here... then say something nice, and don't start with making me feel bad, mkay?

rojvol was being nice yet you dismissed his post in a very rude way. Niceness ain't a privilege nor a right; it has to be earned.

And as you said, there are more than 300 threads with suggestions, so what makes you think your suggestions are worth free keys when you couldn't be bothered to simply skim through the titles of the first page?

You want to feel welcomed? Then learn to accept constructive criticism and respect others.

[JoeW]

Ok, let me jump in here.

@Soltys Welcome! I don't think anybody here was putting down your ideas or your contribution, I think they were just letting you know that some of your ideas have been discussed quite a bit and were helping to catch you up to speed. Most forum communities expect users to search around a bit so they can best contribute to the general discussion.

Our forum community here is incredibly inventive and helpful. And as Excess pointed out, we very much welcome the discussion and ideas so everybody should always feel free to voice their opinions and suggestions. But when you open a conversation to a forum community you should expect your ideas to be deconstructed and discussed.

That being said, let's move on to the topic of this thread and move away from the arguing.

[Soltys]

Ad1: Yeah, because being called a beggar is the epitome of niceness

Ad2: Nothing.

Ad3: When you are able to offer some Constructive criticism, feel free to pm me, I'd love to discuss it then. Does respect work like niceness in your little world? Then offer some before you get some too

I feel priviledged to have helped you in your quest to have the most post in the whole community, sir. But since you lack the most basic observation skills I'll put it plainly and civilly: Leave me be, because I don't wish this to escalate into a forum war, okay? I react very, very badly to being bullied. I thought you'd figure this out by now.....

[Soltys]

@ JoeW. Thank you.. finally a positive vibe (not counting Resonance, from whom I wish SOME people would learn). I feel a bit better now ^^

This may become a tad awkward when/if my previous post POSTS itself. For some reason, when you write a lot, it needs a moderator to Okay it for posting. But oh well ;3

Hey here's an idea that will BENEFIT all Donstarvekind: Why don't you make Sticky Topics like:

- Multiplayer

- Biomes/Seasons

- Bosses

- Balance/Mechanics

- ETC

- ETZ

- Other/Misc

If you want to have everything organized into topics. I mean... Humanity wasn't born yesterday. It's fairly easy to predict what people will suggest/demand/whine for. Just a thought.

[Royal]

Here: Ants: Spawn a couple/few small anthills at the start of the game, they could generate tiny, untargettable ants that would search for food, and could bring it (be it carrots or berries) to their home once found (very slowly). Once they acquire the Anthil could grow into another level (like spider nest). A 2nd level anthill would proceed to found (spelling?) a colony some distance away, that would behave the same way as the first one. You could let the anthills upgrade to level 3 maximum, allowing them two colonies, that would grow. The idea is that unless you control these pests by eliminating the nests, they will take over their respective islands.

Defenses: Every level of anthill would spawn a different number/quality of soldiers when attacked. Level 2 could spawn stronger ones.. level 3 still stronger.... and/or a queen, making a last stand to protect her kingdom. Or you could allow her to spawn after the anthil was destroyed, to either negotiate/surrender, or just well... make her helpless and brutally murder her for loot. You could also make it so level 2 colonies send reinforcements if the main colony is attacked.

This is really quite nice. I would suggest that anthills spawn in biomes like the rocky quarry or forests. Places where you're less likely to see spider nests to add some variation. I would think it could be fun to have a hill that has fully expanded (Level 3 with two level 3 colonies) simply have a queen who protects them, patrolling back and forth from hill to hill. Offering a sort of boss fight or strategy to taking down ant hills.

There would need to be some loot as well, something to make it worth while to go and take them out besides just restricting their movements. Maybe the dirt they use for their hills could be a source of clay or sand. I'd love to get a nest egg from them just like spiders and with the possible advent of glass be able to combine either nest with glass to make an ant farm or spider jar.

I think the aggression with which you describe them taking over entire biomes is a little much as is their hunting for your food. Perhaps if they stumble across it they would collect it but it is not their only mission, if left unchecked by a player who doesn't tend to explore the ants could become a HUGE problem very early in the game.

[NeedPants]

Ah, as i can see a very hot-tempered thread, with blood everywhere and jalapeno peppers! That should make for some interesting discussions (within limits ofc, mind u).

Expanding colonies is a good way to prevent the player from easily creating a "safe zone", but the mechanics need to be looked at. Perhaps a new colony can randomly spawn on the map, limiting the amount of colonies per island. Lets say 3 for a small island, 5 medium and 7 large. As an example. After the number has been met, they no longer spawn.

I like the idea of ants foraging for food! It could be kept in check by simply making a radius around the nest which they dont go out of and limiting the amount of foragers to like 1-2. Imo u should be able to attack them, which stops their foraging for x amount of days or something, but when u do so, 2 guardian ants come at u and ull have to kill them too. After that is done, ur safe for the said x amount of days unless u attack the nest (like attacking a spider nest).

I could see this being a usefull addition to the game!

[ResonanceCrea]

Maybe the dirt they use for their hills could be a source of clay or sand. I'd love to get a nest egg from them just like spiders and with the possible advent of glass be able to combine either nest with glass to make an ant farm or spider jar.

You'r unto something here, I like where this is going.

The idea of having ants grabbing all the resources goes well with the main goal of not starving. Not too sure of how that would look like, having small pixels roaming everywhere. If you could walk on them and squish them, could that have an effect ?

[Soltys]

Well I was imagining the ants being untargettable, just a blackish trail which would slightly move.. like fuzz. I don't think it would be resource friendly for the game to actually draw each ant, especially since we'd want a thousand other things implemented, hurr hurr hurr.

As for the expansion of the anthils, I was thinking that it would be heavily dependant on the food they find, as well as being extremely slow when the game is fresh. I don't know about you, but first week I usually just map out the borders of the world..

Reasonance, since you mention it... it could be fun and mean to make the trail disappear when stepped on, accompanied by very tiny squeaking "OH ANTUMANITY" noises >

As for food. I reckon it would be good to have a script that sort of.. detects food dropped on the ground by player, making it a huge welcoming beacon for them. (For those who watched "Archer": "That's how you get ants", so lets have ants )

I don't mind ants being a bit of a scourge.. I mean.. why not? This is a survival after all, and if you were dropped in the middle of the rain forest, they'd be a serious problem. I suppose the player shouldn't be able to eradicate them completely either. EVEN if he/she'd resolutely destroy all the anthills, they should respawn, or randomly spawn, separated by decent intervals.

Also it might be good not to let them be visible on the map, since then the player could track them way too easily. It's best if they were found by tracing the ant trails.

I wouldn't like the queen to be reduced to a patrolling loot bag though. Queens stay in the anhill and spawn their brood, so lets keep it that way. But patrols aren't a bad idea. I'm all for more wandering monsters. 3 ants. Two melee and one.. Ranged... maybe a bit like a hydralisk? :>

Also, might be nice to use the larvae (from the destroyed anthill) as reagents for potions? I bet someone already mentioned potions. Ohhhh, berries for healing, fireflies for night vision, perhaps come chitin from bugs for a stoneskin potion, maybe larvae for cure disease along with some petals or other herbs.... yeah okay, not the place for this >_<

Oh BUT you could have a very rare drop on bunnies that could make a SPEED potion.. I want that... xD

[Soltys]

Ohhhhh Needpants you so genius!

Let the anthils generate those tiny antrails... and when they find food... send out a forager along that exact path!

And if killed... obviously the anthill will send out a scout/soldier to investigate, hehe... and upon being slain, they'd drop that chitin for potions!

[Soltys]

Randomness: If you kill the queen, the other ants swear revenge and won't let you sleep via the straw roll... on account of swarming over you in your sleep. That and/or an ant ASSASSIN... scourge of the night, stabbing your legs from behind, peeing in your food... writing obscene graffiti on your science machine.

Also It's 1:30 am.. gonna sleep. Goodnight >_<

Edit: Meh, forgot I can edit... sorry for post spam *sighs*

[rojvol]

Well this thread is evolving really nice I have never wanted to insult or "bully" you Soltys, I think you are a bit over-reacting kind of a person though.

To the ants: I think it is great idea indeed, because so far we dont have any "expanding" mobs. (Maybe hounds would change this?)

[dra6o0n]

Solty, you don't even explain what you say objectively, much less focus on a idea for a thread.

This is why you get people poking at you telling you to stop rambling on like a runaway train and it ends up in a drama fight.

Also randomness on ideas and suggestions throughout the middle of the thread may cause some confusion among readers.

When people post huge long posts without looking over and editing them, it means they want to state their opinions so bad, they don't care what other people think of it so long as 'anyone' agree to it.

What happens is the opposite, people look at your posts and determine who you are, and judge you that way.

In the real world, people judge you regardless if you cared or not, so one must always keep in mind of actions and consequences when one decides to do something.

But simply, unless you are autistic, you should create cleaner posts so people would bother to reply better in reaction to your threads. This suggestion and feedback forum isn't suppose to be a competitive thing too but it seems sometimes on game forums someone commonly tend to jump on the "I said it first, it's my idea!" thing.

Edited November 22, 2012 by dra6o0n

[Soltys]

Man... does the term "learning curve" mean anything to you? You actually bothered to read all the posts here, and saw how badly I react to people attacking me, and just how oversensitive I am. But yet you have to pile in with everybody else and flame me further. Well sorry, but I'm not gonna bite. If you don't like my way of writing, my ideas, or my face: TOUGH TITTIES

Go eat a flaming pineapple ^^