Just a couple of suggestions to make surviving more difficult

[Kraesh]

Weather/Temperature

-Weather varies between biomes (Deserts are hotter, tundra is colder)

-Shade is colder than sunlight in environment

-Clothing keeps you warm (coats) or cool (desert wrappings)

-Fire warms you up

-Going out of “safe range” on temperature meter causes your health to slowly decline

-Hats help to keep your temperature stable

Thirst

-Similar to hunger in that you have to drink liquids to keep thirst meter up, if thirst runs out your health starts to go down.

-Salt water is obtained from the ocean

-Can make a water filter from charcoal and cut grass

-Can milk beefalo (milk restores thirst and a small amount of health)

-Rain occurs in some biomes.

-Can make a water trap out of cut grass, and twigs.

-If a water trap is in rain for a certain duration it will gather an amount of drinkable water.

What do you think?

[TonyMontana]

support the idea! +

[Excess]

The devs confirmed that Winter is coming, so you'll be glad to know that most of what you suggested about temperature will most likely make it to the game.

Regarding thirst however, I don't think it would be a good idea. It would be just another chore to do everyday that wouldn't really add much to the game. With food, you have lot's of varieties and different ways of gathering it. But water, you have maybe 3 ways? Ocean, lakes and rain? And it's always the same?

Also, there's already a third "meter" planned, insanity which will add a fresh and new thing to take care of. Thirst would just feel like an extension to hunger.

PS: Hello little friend.

[Schatzy]

+ Good Idea

- - - Updated - - -

The devs confirmed that Winter is coming, so you'll be glad to know that most of what you suggested about temperature will most likely make it to the game.

Regarding thirst however, I don't think it would be a good idea. It would be just another chore to do everyday that wouldn't really add much to the game. With food, you have lot's of varieties and different ways of gathering it. But water, you have maybe 3 ways? Ocean, lakes and rain? And it's always the same?

Also, there's already a third "meter" planned, insanity which will add a fresh and new thing to take care of. Thirst would just feel like an extension to hunger.

PS: Hello little friend.

Insanity personally sounds... dumb... no offense devs... I love you buuut...

[Stroomschok]

The 'Winter' update seems to be more about seasonal availability of food (I really love the idea of having to stock up to get through the winter), but not so much about temperature I think.

Don't like the thirst bit yet. The devs are still having difficulty balancing the 'hunger' part. For a game that's called 'Don't Starve' it's a bit stupid that you practically never die of starvation.

[Toaster Fu]

Insanity personally sounds... dumb... no offense devs... I love you buuut...

I would be interested to know why you think so.

[mobius187]

-Weather varies between biomes (Deserts are hotter, tundra is colder)

As the Devs are introducing winter, we can only assume the other seasons will be included as well. Of course whether they will be as aparent remains to be seen. However I would assume that winter will be cold. The flip side is that I don't think we will have varied "temperature" biomes, unless the portals to other worlds the Devs mentioned transport us to different climate zones.

-Shade is colder than sunlight in environment

This may be a bit too... picky. I prefer more extreme contrasts in temperature, such as being surrounded by lava on a volcanic island? Hot. Being trapped in the middle of winter? Cold. Then balance the effects to the character accordingly.

-Clothing keeps you warm (coats) or cool (desert wrappings)

Well, no word yet on deserts, but I agree about the need to stay warm during winter. Lots of forum members, including myself, have suggested that beefalo fur be used to craft a beefalo coat, whose sole purpose would be to keep the player warm. Without the coat if the player wanders too far from a fire source they start to freeze, and this is indicated by a gradual loss of Health (i.e. 1% per second). As beefalo fur or fires are not uncommon this shouldn't kill the player, but it would have to make them balance their needs, as right now the log suit and backpack "own" the chest slot... and maybe the dapper vest Soon once the Sanity meter is added. Winter could force you to also seriously consider the need for a beefalo coat.

-Fire warms you up

Yes, but I suggest it show this by stopping the detrimental effects of cold. Namely, as I stated above, the player would stop losing Health by standing near a fire (similar to the light radius at night).

-Going out of “safe range” on temperature meter causes your health to slowly decline

Hahaha! See? This is what happens when I present my ideas one at a time... I see we're both in agreement.

-Hats help to keep your temperature stable

Not sure what you mean by this...

Thirst

-Similar to hunger in that you have to drink liquids to keep thirst meter up, if thirst runs out your health starts to go down.

-Salt water is obtained from the ocean

-Can make a water filter from charcoal and cut grass

-Can milk beefalo (milk restores thirst and a small amount of health)

-Can make a water trap out of cut grass, and twigs.

-If a water trap is in rain for a certain duration it will gather an amount of drinkable water.

Okay, first off I want to say I originally supported a Thirst meter. I've played games like Lost in Blue and I liked the idea of carrying a canteen or the simple joy of finding a stream and realizing "I can drink as much water as I want now!", just as your Thirst meter was dangerously low.

That said, I don't want to see the game become something like "The Sims" where we need to manage a dozen different needs. I don't want to have to poop... or have a Poop meter.

The Thirst meter for Lost in Blue worked because it was only one of three meters (Thirst/Hunger/Fatigue), while Don't Strave already has Health and Hunger... with Sanity on the way. Thirst would be a fourth meter... and it would just be simpler at this stage to combine thirst with hunger.

-Rain occurs in some biomes.

Regardless of whether or not Thirst is added, I would like to see more weather in the game, and rainstorms would be a great addition. Maybe depending on the season rain could be considered "cold" and it would drain your Health... but it may be hard to pull this off without the players thinking it was "acid rain" or something. Hmmm. Maybe it would just be better if rain helped water crops (ala Harvest Moon, for the Nintendo DS) and/or caused fires to extinguish faster (i.e. they require more wood/grass/ect to stay lit during a rainstorm).

I would be interested to know why you think so.

I would also like to know. While I think a Thirst meter would be nice, a Sanity meter would put an entirely different spin on the gameplay in a way Thirst couldn't. After all, Thirst and Hunger are basically the same, in that they both are fixed by consuming the required sustenance. Sanity...? How does one restore it? How does one retain sanity? And what disasterous effects will losing it have on you? With thirst we know the effect is the same as hunger, when it's depleted you die. With sanity? You go insane... but you probably won't die right away. It's more interesting that way.

[ZaCormyr]

One thing on temperature. I wish the character didn´t stick his whole head into the fire every time you cooked or added fuel! I mean really, forget about growing a beard!!

[mobius187]

I mean really, forget about growing a beard!!

It would be pretty funny if, when set on fire (i.e. flame hound attack), Wilson's beard also caught on fire and burned up.

[ZaCormyr]

It would be pretty funny if, when set on fire (i.e. flame hound attack), Wilson's beard also caught on fire and burned up.

¨A bucket of water for your beard sir?¨

[Schatzy]

I would be interested to know why you think so.

It makes no sense. All I can think of is night time, but there's the night monster. If you get insanity by fighting, it's just dumb and screws you over. I just can't imagine what it would possibly do besides be an annoying aspect that isn't welcome. Not one that will make the game funner and more challenging, but I can't think of anyway it could be interesting.

[mobius187]

It makes no sense. All I can think of is night time, but there's the night monster. If you get insanity by fighting, it's just dumb and screws you over. I just can't imagine what it would possibly do besides be an annoying aspect that isn't welcome. Not one that will make the game funner and more challenging, but I can't think of anyway it could be interesting.

Well right now we don't know what causes insanity or loss of sanity. It might be from fighting spiders... but then again, maybe not. However I would assume an encounter with a ghost would cause sanity loss, but other than Abigail there aren't many cases where you would bump into one.

Now I've watched a lot of Let's Play videos and the night usually is boring... you feed your fire, eat, and perform what few basic tasks you can within the light radius. It's creepier when spiders come wandering in or you can here them scuttling about, but odds are you don't often build a camp near a spider nest. So, why not have something that affects how scary the night becomes? Until the Devs cough up some more details we won't know, but I'm looking forward to the new meter changing how the game plays (for the better, of course).

[watkinsgamer]

i like the idea. it would also work with another suggestion about taming beefalo and puting packs on them.

[Guest Dandytard]

Hehehe, 'Couple of suggestions to make the game more difficult.' I can barely get past day 7, and you want the game to be even harder!? How hardcore are you, sir?

[Syd]

The 'Winter' update seems to be more about seasonal availability of food (I really love the idea of having to stock up to get through the winter), but not so much about temperature I think.

It will be about the temperature as well. Freezing to death is supposed to be a major threat during winter.

[Manly Feet]

I personally feel that this game seriously needs a difficulty boost as the game progresses. I will give a few of my suggestions and try to format it in a way that it is easily accessible and can be criticized point by point. I apologize in advance for anything that has been spoken about before, for I haven't thoroughly read through the forums yet.

Seasons:

What does this mean?

-A waning and waxing of resources (Resource plentiful season: Spring Resource scarce season: Winter)

How will things change in seasons?

-Animal respawn frequency can be increased or decreased.

-Plant growth can be accelerated or stunted.

-Resources gained from killing animals/farming plants can be increased or decreased. (Could be used, but the previous 2 probably cover the rise and fall of resources well enough.)

Why will this help make the game more difficult?

-A season of scarce resources will force a player to plan ahead and store resources.

What can go wrong with this?

-Having a season with surplus resources may outweigh a season of scarce resources.

-This kind of fluctuation may reinforce the tactic of turtling.

More Monsters

What does this mean?

-More monsters, tougher monsters, a greater variety of monsters.

-Monsters other than those that try to flat out kill the player.

-Krumpus was a very good idea, and more monsters like him would be appreciated.

-Maybe some kind of hound that tries to eat your meat effigies and leaves behind some beard hair or maybe nothing at all.

-Imps that try to burn down crops, trees, and other resource farms.

-Gremlins that try to destroy structures you've built.

-Sneaky monster that try to blow out the player's fire and/or torches at night.

-Little monsters that steal random items from chests, backpacks, and items on the ground.

-More monsters that seek out the player in the later days like the hounds do. The hounds are a good idea, but aren't too difficult later in the game. Possibly send more or make them tougher as the days go on.

How will this make the game more difficult?

-Monsters that destroy player farms, structures, and steal player items will whittle away at the player's progress in ways other than just killing him, which just destroys all of the player's progress.

-Stronger monsters as the days go on will give a better difficulty curve and make it more of a challenge to reach further days, unlike how it is now. For example: I'm currently around day 130 and have no problems with hounds or anything else.

What can go wrong?

-Monsters like the ones that I have suggested need to be carefully balanced. It can be very frustrating to some people to constantly have their farms burned down, items stolen, and effigies eaten.

Creeping Darkness

What does this mean?

-Like someone suggested before, the nights would grow longer and the days would grow shorter.

-Possibly even until there is eternal darkness.

-Maybe even a boss or big baddie of some sort that has to be defeated to restart the day timer back to normal.

How would this work?

There are a few ways this can be implemented, and I will name a few.

-After X amount of days, night will increase by a certain amount and day will decrease by the same amount. This will continue until the night is eternal.

-Same as above, but night won't reach a point in which it is constant, but it will be long.

-The length of night can change with seasons if it is implemented. (Longer nights in winter and longer days in summer.)

How will this make the game harder?

-During night, plants don't grow, players must expend resources to not die to darkness, and certain monsters (currently only spiders) will be more abundant.

-More night means more of all that was stated above, making it generally harder to live.

What can go wrong?

-If night is lengthened or made eternal, the straw roll will have to be modified, for it currently makes the player sleep until the end of night.

-With the current game system, plants don't grow at night (and animals don't spawn?) making some resources unobtainable in a state of perpetual night.

That is all I can think of right now, I will post more when I think about it. I welcome all criticism, on my ideas, on my formatting, or even on my name or picture if you want. Thank you for reading and providing any and all feedback.

P.S. It may just be my opinion, but I feel that this game should progress to being tough as nails as the days go on. We already have plenty of games where players progress their characters and constantly get stronger and progress, but they eventually reach the end of the game with all their top tier items, skills, abilities, and whatnot. I feel that this game is going for something different, where a player tries to progress and reach the top, but sometimes you fail, die, and have to start over again. This game has more of an arcadey feel, where it's more like trying to get a high score rather than "beat the game." TL;DR: I feel this game should get extremely difficult as it progresses because survival doesn't mean anything unless dying is a very real possibility.