Lots of suggestions

[ng23985]

Hi guys. First I just want to say that I love Don't Starve. This is the first time I've really been impressed with a game in a very long time. I've spent so many hours playing, and I've died in the most spectacular way possible more times than I can count. It is truly a fantastic game. I bought it after stumbling onto a Let's Play video on YouTube. I was apprehensive at first, but now I think it was money well spent. I'm really glad I discovered this game. Also I'm extremely happy that it is available natively on Linux, and the community around the game including the developers seems to be just wonderful.

I've got a few suggestions that I'd like to share with the community. I realize some of this could be done through modding but I'd feel so much more legit if it were made official. Don't Starve is a really hardcore game in that it is unforgiving and all sorts of terrible things can happen. I'd feel like I was cheating if I were using a mod to make gameplay easier. I like it the way it is - hard and unforgiving. It is a very nice change from so many hand-holding games that we see these days. I figured with a major update/DLC coming soon this would be a perfect time to offer up suggestions. I wrote this in parts over a few weeks, I hope it isn't too disorganized. I guess it will be pretty obvious that I like to play as Wolfgang. I love his personality!

1) I tend to amass too many pinecones after a while. I typically chop down only large trees. If I'm travelling I replant one pinecone to replenish the wood for next time I'm in the area and I keep the other. If I'm farming wood near my base, I'll plant all the pinecones I get. After a while though I've just got too many trees. This is especially true after I'm done farming charcoals. I guess I could burn piles of them to get ashes but I really haven't been desperate for ashes. I'd like to see more uses for Pinecones and I've got a couple of neat ideas.

Pine Necklace
-one pinecone
-5 pieces of grass
-unlocked (no science machine/etc needed)
-duration: 6 days equipped
-effect: refreshing scent soothes the wearer and restores sanity over time (1.5/minute, slightly more than Garland)
-since WX-78 hates organic things, I guess we could say it fuels his rage instead
-cheap way to restore sanity in the early stages of the game before other ways are discovered

 

"Is smell like tree!" -Wolfgang

Pine Nuts
-Several possibilities for how to make them...
-1: New tool, nut sheller, use tool on pinecones to get 1 pile of pine nuts (stats appropriate for 1 cone -> 1 nut)
-2: Food or Refine tab, use 2 pinecones to make 1 pile of pine nuts (stats appropriate for 2 cones -> 1 nut)
-3: Crock Pot, put 4 pinecones in a crock pot to make 1 pile of pine nuts (stats appropriate for 4 cones -> 1 nut)
-ultimately food value & any health/sanity restoration should be based on how many pine cones were used to make the nuts. I think I'd prefer method 1 because it would give us another tool to have to make

 

"Is meaty thing from tree?" -Wolfgang

Charcoal
-2-3 pincones
-refine tab; science machine to unlock

Every time I farm charcoal I make a forest fire big enough to make Willow squeal with delight. I feel really guilty about burning down massive amounts of trees! How about a way to make charcoal that is a bit less....destructive?

2) It feels there aren't enough choices for weapons in the game. Spears are cheap and reliable, but weak. Dark Swords, Ham Bats and Tentacle Spikes are harder to get and the Dark Sword drains sanity. I also find that the choice of ranged weapons in the game is lacking. Boomerangs are expensive, weak, and dangerous. Darts are expensive to make. There isn't anything in-between. I also tend to have flint and even gold coming out of my ears, so here are my ideas.

Golden Spear
-2 gold nuggets
-3 twigs
-2 ropes
-125 uses
-51 damage (same as tentacle spike; halfway between spear and dark sword)
-researched with alchemy engine

 

"Shiny spear make better poke!" -Wolfgang

Use for excess gold nuggets and gives a weapon that is more accessible than tentacle spikes, and also less dangerous to acquire but expensive to make.

Slingshot
-10 flint
-5 rocks
-5 twigs
-rope
-20 shots/uses; can be reloaded using mined materials (flint 3, nitre 4, rock 5)
-27 damage (same as boomerang)

 

"Flingy-string is for throw rocks." -Wolfgang

A good way to use up extra mined goods, and a safer way to smack birds and rabbits than those pesky boomerangs. Boomerangs make me cry because they're expensive and I always end up taking the broadside of the boomerang to my face.

Baseball Bat
-log
-6 pine nuts
-butter
-2 fistfull of jam
-77 damage
-200 uses
-researched with alchemy engine

 

"Food stick makes good smasher!" -Wolfgang

Pine nut butter jam baseball bat? Now if only we had a dancing banana... Great way to use more pinecones! Stronger than a Dark Sword. It lacks the sanity penalty of using a Dark Sword but instead has the drawback of being extremely expensive to craft. Very durable, make 2 or 3 for cave exploration. I was inspired to suggest this based on that really old internet meme with the dancing banana who sings about peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat. I figured I'd change it up a slight bit to be appropriate to Don't Starve (jam + butter) and take my pine nut idea into account too.

3) I'd love to see more varieties of resources to farm. Some things new, others just modifications to existing stuff.

-Fruit or Nut trees; can be repeatedly harvested like berry bushes. Can also be chopped down for wood plus 1 seed so the player can relocate the tree. (Just like how you can't make more berry bushes, but you can move existing ones.) More crockpot recipes to go along with new food items! How about these... Apple Tree, Orange Tree, Chestnut Tree, Walnut Tree, etc.

-Rabbit holes: I mostly don't farm rabbits because their holes are all over the place. I suggest a new item, Rabbit Shovel. Used to dig holes in the ground. A few days later, a rabbit will find the hole and make it home. Maybe add a new monster of some kind that may occupy the hole instead. That way there is some risk involved. See Rabid Rabbit below.

-Mushrooms and reeds: I love having a mushroom ring in my world, but all too often they're in an inconvenient place. I'd like spores so I can plant my own mushrooms. Same for reeds - I can use dozens of them but they're annoying to farm because they're all strung out. Maybe balance it out by making new enemies...

a) Truffle Hunter - A lady-pig with bright red lipstick and long blonde hair. (Hey, Mac Tusk shouldn't be the only fancy enemy in the game!) Spawns near planted mushrooms (not naturally spawned ones) when the player harvests them. Behaves like a Gobbler - runs to nearby mushrooms and tries to gather them. Drops same as any regular pig NPC plus any mushrooms she gathered up to 3-4 of them; overflow is lost.

b) Small Tentacles - Spawns near planted (but not naturally spawning) reeds. Appears sometimes when the player harvests said reed. Weaker than normal tentacles seen in swamps, maybe make them similar to the small tentacles you see in caves.

These drawbacks should be fairly appropriate to balance out the benefits of being able to place your own reeds and mushrooms.

-Fishing Pond: I love to make Fish Sticks but I hate having to run so far from my base to ponds, especially since Fish spoil so quickly even after cooking. Let me place Ponds that can be fished but at a high price. Either make them expensive to craft, or risky in some way.

4) More disasters. I know there are already tons of things that can go wrong in Don't Starve, but we need more! Here is what I've got...

-Super Gobbler: Spawns after harvesting too many berry bushes, killing too many gobblers, or harvesting berry bushes during evening/night (since regular gobblers don't stay out past dusk). Eats berries, farms, and fruit/nut trees if it hasn't yet seen the player. If the player comes within line of sight, it will attack the player and ignore eating things. Drops 8 drumsticks. Cannot spawn in winter. Regular gobblers will follow the Super Gobbler around if any happen to spawn, and they will assist in combat.

 

"Stupid bird ate too many berries, is really big now." -Wolfgang

-Super Frog: Spawns near ponds after killing or trapping too many frogs. Higher chance to spawn during rain. Drops 4 frog legs. Also good to use if we are given the ability to make or relocate fishing ponds.

 

"Tasty jumping leg meat!" -Wolfgang

-Merm King: Spawns after killing too many Merms or fishing too many ponds. Eats meat items that may be lying around on the ground or in crock pots. Also smashes crock pots after eating from them. If he comes in sight of regular Merms, they will start to follow him until either the Merms or the Merm King is dead. Drops 2 fish, 2 frog legs, and 4 monster meats.

 

"Fishy man is wear shiny hat!" -Wolfgang

-Butter Fly: Not to be confused with Butterfly. The Butter Fly is an oversized fly that spawns if you catch or kill too many butterflies, knock down too many bee/killer bee hives, catch or kill too many bees, or pick too many flowers. It likes to eat Butterflies and will wander around eating them. If the player is holding any butterflies in inventory they will be knocked out one by one when attacked by the Butter Fly. The Butter Fly will then attempt to eat the Butterflies. Drops 4 butter and up to 4 butterfly wings (depending on how many it was able to eat before being killed.)

 

"Hair-Cow made butter to have wings?" -Wolfgang

-Charred Treeguard: A blackened and burnt treeguard that spawns if the player starts a forest fire. Different appearance, but otherwise the same as a treeguard. Drops 10? charcoal instead of living wood, and drops cooked monster meat instead of raw monster meat.

-Rabid Rabbit: Farmed too many rabbits? You may get a visit from a Rabid Rabbit who is angry at you for eating his bretheren or stuffing them in your Prestihatilator.

Well, that is what I've got for now. I hope some people will enjoy these suggestions and it would tickle me pink if any of these made their way into the game. I also hope that some of these may inspire others to have new ideas.

[Parrotoss]

I love all of these and they seem unique enough to add to the game, at least in mods. The truffle hunter seems fun, but the rabid rabbit just seems like a variation of krampus. Having animals play as a specific naughty punisher could make the strategy of the game more complex and challenging, however. I'm not sure of the super gobbler because part of the charm of the gobbler is that it is stupid and panicky.

[Kellyc764]

Ooooh, so many suggestions

 

Pine necklace - needs more pinecones in recipe and less durability (They're easier to get than flowers in the long run)

Pine nuts - Yep! I'd say the crock pot recipe needing 4 cones for 1 nuts is an even trade-off

Gold spear - Long overdue since luxury axe/picks are a thing lol

Slingshot - Needs more adjusting with the recipe - 10 flint to make but a single reloads for 3 shots? 5 Rocks to make but a single reload for 5 shots - A bit OP there, perhaps less.

Baseball bat - The rarity of butter makes up for the OP damage, so I think it'd be pretty awesome!

Fruit/nut trees - Possibly, but I'd say only in a risky biome, or they only fruit once a year, we've all ready got alot of food sources

 

Rabbit holes - I'd disagree with this one, you're lucky to have maybe 1 or 2 near you, even better if you camp in a savannah biome. But rabbits are too easy to trap for this to not be OP.

Mushrooms and reeds - Again, I think it's a bit too OP, they're a mid-level difficulty resource and by no means an essential resource in most cases, it'd make it too easy.

 

Truffle hunter - Seems good, but I'd say maybe more appropriate for a set-piece of a mushroom forest/clearing

Small tentacles - Hmm, not overly keen on planted reeds, but I'd say it's a good balance for planting your own.

Fish ponds - Maybe if it was fleshed out to make it unharvest-able for at least the first year/cycle of seasons and pricey to make. It'd have to have a trade off though like super frogs during the day.

Super Gobbler - I like the idea alot actually lol. A lot of my gobblers get away because I'm too lazy and don't rely heavily on berries, so an over-gorged one seems good. I'd like to see it be more like a koalefant though in it running away from you until you engage combat.

Super Frog - Funnily I didn't even read that far down before I started typing. Yeah, higher probability during rain. Perhaps also as mentioned if making your own ponds, seems awesome.

Merm King - I've seen this discussed before, potentially as a mirror pig king. I'm not too sure, they're gross looking, I'm not sure I want to imagine a larger version of a merm xD lol

 

Butter Fly- I think perhaps as a seasonal spawn in spring or Autumn (Either getting it's fill during the spring before disappearing (slightly like reverse bumble bee migration style) Or stocking up for hibernation during winter. I think it'd be better off as a set-piece mob, or biome specific that can be avoided (say it just patrols the area protecting it's bountiful food stash, once it spots you it attempts to devour everything in sight before you can take it)

On a side note, even though it's different, I can't help but think of the Butter Fly without this popping into my head lol

 

Charred Tree Guard - I like this alot. I think it spawning like normal treeguards (when chopping too many burnt trees) would be more appropriate

Rabid Rabbit - Again I like this idea, but I think it'd be better served as a mob that appears during a moon-less sky if you go/are too close to a rabbit hole during the night. Kinda like a semi-bunnyman with the liking darkness, but the rabidness of an overground rabbit.

 

As Parrotoss mentioned above though, I think more variations of naughtyness meters aren't a good idea. Treeguards and krampus are enough for that mechanic of gameplay. More set pieces, specific condition spawning, seasonal, and chance encounters are the way forward

 

Although as you mentioned more disasters, I think the Bunny's catching rabies making them an unusable food source for a period of time would be a good game changer, same with birds. Varying the availability of food even more  

[ng23985]

Hi again. Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad these ideas seem to be well received. That comic about the giant bee is really cute!

I never really thought of these spawning mechanisms I mentioned in the original post as alternative naughty meters. I thought of them as more of a random spawning mechanism. Like how sometimes when you harvest berries you spawn a gobbler. It could be the first bush you harvest or the tenth, but they'll pop up at some point or another. I'm not aware of any kind of counter/meter that adds up every time you gather a bush. I do see your point though, in saying that they are somewhat like an alternative naughty meter. But these are just ideas and it is always good for the community to improve on them. If one of my ideas seems mediocre but inspires somebody else to create something even better, everybody wins. As for the cost to craft some of the items I suggested, they were just ideas, not in stone obviously. The devs would have to adjust things to be reasonably balanced given the gameplay mechanics and whatnot. Ultimately I just want to see more things that can go wrong and blow up in my face! It feels like I've seen pretty much everything at this point and I just want some fresh disasters.

I remember the first time I encountered a lureplant. It was epic! I had made a small base and gone out to gather more grass and twigs to plant. When I got back to my base there was a lureplant right in the middle of it. Then lightning struck and caught the lureplant, the eyeplants, and everything in my base on fire! I was ruined, but it is very memorable and fun! I'd love to see unexpected things like that again. This game is at its most fun (to me) when I say aloud "Oh crap..."  in response to something bad happening!

I know the upcoming expansion/DLC will bring new things, but more is better. I know what you mean when you say we already have plenty of food. Most of the time I run around as "mighty" Wolfgang and that burns up calories faster than anything, and yet I still have plenty of food. Ultimately my suggestions were about more variety, rather than more quantity. Once I tried a "vegetarian" play and I enjoyed it very much. After a while though it got kind of boring with just farms, berry bushes, and crock pots. That is why I suggested more variety in food. That reminds me, here is another idea... Milk beefalo (maybe require them to be asleep?) to get milk. Create a butter churn, similar to a crock pot. Place 4 milks in the churn and get butter. Might be a bit too easy for such a rare ingredient though. I am relatively uninformed about features in the upcoming DLC/expansion, but am I to understand there are more seasons than just summer and winter? If so that would be a great opportunity to expand on food variability. Like, you can't fish or kill frogs in winter because ponds freeze over. Likewise your farms and berries don't grow but can still be harvested. Maybe having different fruit/nut trees, and/or other sources would fit in nicely with this because then you could have food sources unique to each season. Berries in spring, apple trees in fall, perhaps? Ditto for enemies, have more of them be seasonal!

Can't wait for the next update. I'm so excited to play Don't Starve again. I've been taking a break for the past few weeks due to burnout.

[Kellyc764]

I love the suggestions, purely because from what I've seen on here over time occasionally developers and mods take notice and participate which really kinda cements the DS community knowing there is that level of interaction

Truthfully you never know whats going to make it into the game eventually, and the more ideas out there, the more they have to work with

 

I see what you mean, a random chance type occurrence for the extra mobs? Yeah, as mentioned, that'd be really awesome.

I still like to see some condition specific spawning making use of the moon cycles or seasons (And who knows, could already be planned for the DLC)

 

Ahaha, "Fresh Disasters". I know how you feel there. Last playthrough I had my farms burnt down by summer hounds, lighting destroy my spider nests, a sudden appearance from deerclops (In which I was exploring an area I hadn't been to, heard the noises, and knowing he wanders the landscape I figured I should totally go back to my base and hope he passes by. Unfortunately I didn't realise it's after the noises, wherever you are 30 seconds later is where he'll spawn) Which lead to my icebox being destroyed. And several werepigs attacking me in the day. All before day 30 too!

 

It's the sudden life or death unfortunate accidents that make the game what it is, and even though I've only been playing a few months, I've certainly got my set-up sorted and could probably survive indefinitely if it weren't for the crazy turn of disasters that you think will never happen to you lol.

 

Ooooh milking beefalo, I certainly like that idea!