[Development] The Nightmare Abyss

[Abculatter2]

I've been toying around with a few ideas for a mod-added third cavern layer, and now that Klei has added animations to mods, I've finally decided to start learning how to mod Don't Starve.

 

I'm still very far from actually doing anything, so this thread is mainly to get my idea out there and see how many people like the idea, to accrue other's ideas, (I may or may not listen to you, but still feel free to make suggestions and comments) and so I have a place to ask questions and make updates about developments as they happen. Hopefully this will also help motivate me as well.

 

I would also like to ask all of you that, if there's a very good tutorial or reference anywhere for getting into Don't Starve modding, especially if it's not in an obvious location, I would be very grateful if you showed it to me.

 

As for the mod's idea so far:

 

The entrance to the third cavern layer is something I'm still somewhat debating about. However, my current favorite is to make the Ruin's nightmare lights be damaged by explosions, requiring around 10-12 gunpowder to blast apart fully. This broken nightmare light has a low chance of spawning Hallucinations even outside of the nightmare cycle, and will spawn more during the nightmare, and might also slightly speed up the cycle. This makes opening additional lights undesirable.

You'd then spelunk down into the nightmarish depths with rope, just like a sinkhole.

 

Entering the Nightmare Abyss will also always cause it to regenerate, as the world down there is strange and only half-existent, shifting and turning with the powerful ebb and flow of deep magics. Additionally, this realm's cycle is linked with the cycle of the ruins, with the current state and time left being imported from the Ruins upon entering and the time and state of the Abyss being imported upon climbing back out into the ruins. However, being within the Abyss while the Nightmare is happening will either outright kill you, or cause all light sources to extinguish, effectively killing you if you're not right next to the exit. You will receive warning when this is about to happen, (primarily from unique monsters spawning) at the same time as the ruins warn you when the nightmare is about to happen.

In addition to this, an extreme insanity aura pervades the entire place, draining 50 sanity/min (replacing the cave insanity aura) basically guaranteeing insanity within a few minutes. Which matters even more in this realm, as the more powerful hallucinations down here are definitely to be feared.

Enemies are, however, something which is a little hard for me to decide on... On the one hand, I don't want this place to be a completely impossible death trap, but I also want it to be very, VERY hostile. I personally much prefer the idea of non-conventional enemies, such as the above time limit to insta-death and completely blank maps which offer no help at all, or hands which reach in from the darkness when a nightmare flood is imminent, slowing down the player if the hands can get close enough, or when the player stands still for more then a few seconds and reduce his equipped light source by a significant amount (but can be easily dodged by moving). These kind of enemies are unique and interesting, yet can still be terrifying and encourage the player to get their **** and get out without just being 'BLARGH SCARY MEAN THING WITH TEETH!'

I'll probably add a few legitimate monsters, though. (Especially for once the player goes insane, which will probably culminate with an unkillable boss spawning in the darkness)

Ultimately, this should not be a nice realm, and the player should never want to stay in it for long.

 

However, for all its risk of imminent death, rewards should also be made for those who brave dark places. This is another thing which needs some brainstorming, but the primary rewards I've came up with are two new metals found randomly within the abyss: Hematite and Malachite. (irl iron and copper ores. I might just use hematite, however, with Thulecite replacing Malachite/copper) In order to use these ores, however, requires a forge, which costs 12 hematite and 5 cut stone, and is a permanent structure. This forge cannot be used as-is, though, and must first be heated using nightmare fuel, which can also be found in plentiful amounts by harvesting random seeping crags in the abyss. Once the forge has reached a certain fuel level, it will allow you to melt down hematite into iron bars and malachite into copper bars (or thulecite into refined thulecite) then slowly cool back down. It will also emit an amount of light equivalent to or greater then a firepit, but also have an insanity aura which grows with its light level.

Iron and copper are primarily used to create advanced electrical devices, such as batteries, steam generators, (basically converts large amounts of heat into electricity, though requires warm-up) windmills, (basically an all-over-the-day trickle generator, which generates random amounts of electricity at any given time and is constructed on a wooden base. If it catches on fire then it will break down into its base components, minus the wood. Lightning rods also will not protect it fully, though they will significantly reduce the chance of lightning hitting it during storms) High-Voltage Transformers, (an upgraded lightning rod, which is able to convert lightning into electricity, but cannot be directly connected to anything at the time of the strike) Grinders, (Currently only used to turn rocks into sand for glass production, other uses are welcome) Lightbulbs, and others. It would also be preferred if some form of wire could be made, but it is more likely that I will simply make batteries the primary method of electrical transfer. (I don't like the idea of wireless transfer)

[Abculatter2]

Working on a side idea just to learn stuff, and ran into a bump which will be useful for this as well; How do you remove or add a property of a vanilla item through a mod?

[SVGK]

nice idea, though when the flood comes, instead of instant death, maybe all light sources except for the yellow amulet and star callers staff will go out, and a 20 per minute sanity aura, which becomes 400 during the flood, and all of the floods duration will be in an earthquake, and the entrance should be an already broken light that spawns more nightmares, maybe 4x as many.

 

the stuff you get.... nightmare fuel will be the most common thing in the earhquakes, purple gems next, yellow, green and orange gems should fall during earthquakes as well, but quite a bit less often, maybe thulecite shards very rarely.

 

personally, i think that electricity gives the don't starve world a lot less dangerous feeling, gives too much sense of security, and that it would be better as a seperate mod.

[Abculatter2]

Hmmm... I do like the idea of all non-magical light sources going out instead of insta-death. This, combined with an unkillable mob spawning and trying to kill you and, if possible, an obscuring effect over the screen, like black nightmare fuel is obscuring your view and making you go insane. Maybe jump scares as well.

I don't like the idea of an earthquake down there, even if it would make sense. It's already been done in both of the upper levels and I want this one to be unique. It also gives the player a reason to stay during the nightmare, which is supposed to be a VERY, VERY bad thing that you ALWAYS want to avoid at ALL costs.

 

The reason I had the idea of using gunpowder to get into the abyss was to prevent people from just going straight in without at least some kind of preparation. I also had an idea after I wrote that, where you can put special nightmare-fuel collection devices on top of broken lights, giving the player a reason to endure stronger and more frequent nightmares in exchange for nightmare fuel, which will become much more useful with this mod. I might also make hallucinations in the overworld become slightly more and more powerful as you progress, solidifying at a higher sanity and spawning new, more powerful ones as well. Blowing up nightmare lights would raise the level permanently, and I might change electricity to only be generated with nightmare fuel, or change the devices to be nightmare-driven instead of electrical. That would allow them to raise the hallucination level temporarily through use.

 

Anyway, back to learning after a walk!

[TheHockeyGods]

It also gives the player a reason to stay during the nightmare, which is supposed to be a VERY, VERY bad thing that you ALWAYS want to avoid at ALL costs.

 

Wat.

[Abculatter2]

Wat.

 

The nightmare/flood is supposed to be a bad thing that you never want to go through, ever. Making earthquakes that drop free items upon the ground for the player, even if it's only a chance, would give the player a reason to want to go through it, when the only reason you should be is if you made a mistake and got lost.

 

Maybe I'll add some nightmare fuel spawning randomly all over the place after it's done, though, to reward the player for surviving...