DST Death = Temporary Spectator Ghost

[Renz004]

As we are all aware, there is already a precedent in Don't Starve for Ghosts:

http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Ghost

 

 

 

I believe that death in multiplayer should result in the dead player being turned into a Ghost version of themselves that will haunt the living players until A) the Ghost Player is resurrected  OR B) the Living Players all die. This will provide an interesting and fun death mechanic that fits into the general gameplay of Don't Starve. 

 

Death

When a Living Player dies, he/she drops all items as usual and if there are no activated Touch Stones or Meat Effigys, the player will "resurrect" as a Ghost near any randomly chosen Living Player. 

Resurrecting 

Ghost players can resurrect themselves by equipping a Life Giving Gem, inspecting a Meat Effigy, or inspecting a Touch Stone. Perhaps a 4th resurrection type item specifically to be used by ghosts can be added to the game. 

Crafting:

While in ghost form, the Ghost Player can still craft and pickup items. This is so that they can actively contribute towards their resurrection (Ghost Players will still need to rely on Living Players to kill mobs to acquire dropped materials). 

Fighting:

While in ghost form, the Ghost Player cannot attack anything (to prevent cheesing gameplay by killing tough mobs)  and mobs simply ignore the Ghost Player (they can't see the Ghost Player). 

Leash:

While in ghost form, Ghost Players are leashed to Living Players and cannot travel farther than 1-2 screens from the Living Players (I.e. haunting Living Players).  If Ghost Players travel farther than 1-2 screens they will automatically be ported back to the nearest Living Player's position. There is no visual indicator of the leash; the Ghost Player simply cannot stray too far from all Living Players without being automatically ported back to the nearest Living Player.  

Timer:

Ghost players have a sanity draining aura that is 1-2 screens wide and has the same effect as night, meaning that Living Players must work towards resurrecting the Ghost Players quickly or else the nearest Living Players will go insane (this creates an artificial timer to resurrect the dead players). This ghost aura stacks with Night's sanity draining aura as well. 

 

 

OPTIONAL STUFF:::

- New ghost art can be added for each Player Character, or they can just appear as see-through versions of themselves. 

- Maybe disconnected players can appear as Ghosts on screen in the last place they were known to be standing?

- Perhaps allowing ghosts to run back to their bodies to resurrect (i.e. having something similar to WoW's corpse running system) could be an option that can be turned on to allow an easier time for casual players to resurrect themselves. Note that the living player would still need to bring the ghost to their corpse due to the leash.

 

 

 

I see this Ghost Player system as turning the inevitable player deaths into a fun mechanic to play through in Don't Starve Together. 

[F3RR1S]

A Ghost mechanic is actually already planned.

[Renz004]

hehe yea I read in one of the other threads that one of the devs had an idea in mind about ghosts, but I could find no other details. Do you have any links with info?  I posted this mostly to share my idea of how they could do the ghost mechanic and I think it would work out really well.

[GoshuaJoshua]

I like this idea a lot actually, but there are a couple things I'd like to say. (These are just my opinions!)

 

-Meat Effigies should only be usable by Wilson (more specifically the Wilson that created it) because it is part of his ability.

-A life giving amulet should only work while being worn by a player;furthermore, a ghost shouldn't be allowed to equip anything.

-I like your sanity draining aura idea, it balances out the fact that a new way to revive would be present. The team of players could be done for if all their sanity drops low because they don't help there fallen ally. But this leads to a problem with pug teams that don't work together or communicate at all. Maybe a vote system could be present that allows the banishing of a ghost player.

-The return to body idea could lead to a never-ending Resurrection-Fest...Don't Starve is supposed to be difficult and have a sense of danger that you could loss everything. That is why people must play carefully and work together to not starve.

-Iv'e read threads about this before and perhaps the longer a player is "dead" and a ghost, the lower their max stats become (maybe 20% each time night falls, leading to Perma-Death after five days as a ghost).

-And last but not least, I agree that once every player is "dead", or a ghost, that it should be game over.

[Renz004]

"-Meat Effigies should only be usable by Wilson (more specifically the Wilson that created it) because it is part of his ability."

I dont understand what you mean by this. Other players can acquire the beard hair ingredient from Beardlings (rabbits at 40% sanity). Other players can also build Meat Effigies.

 

 

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"-A life giving amulet should only work while being worn by a player;furthermore, a ghost shouldn't be allowed to equip anything."

The act of equipping it is what would cause the ghost to resurrect. Why shouldn't a ghost be allowed to equip anything?  I don't see how that would affect gameplay if they aren't allowed to attack anything; they can only craft things or loot resources.  The idea is to give ghosts something to do.
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"But this leads to a problem with pug teams that don't work together or communicate at all. Maybe a vote system could be present that allows the banishing of a ghost player."

 

I figured servers would have ban/kick functions by default. Obviously players will vote kick bad players that are bringing the rest of the team down.  Also it will be obvious that if there is a ghost in the party everyone will immediately want to help the ghost resurrect or else they'll go insane. 

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"-The return to body idea could lead to a never-ending Resurrection-Fest...Don't Starve is supposed to be difficult and have a sense of danger that you could loss everything. That is why people must play carefully and work together to not starve."

That's why I put it down as an optional thing. Personally I don't like it either.

 

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"-Iv'e read threads about this before and perhaps the longer a player is "dead" and a ghost, the lower their max statsbecome (maybe 20% each time night falls, leading to Perma-Death after five days as a ghost)."

I see this as being unnecessary because a ghost left unressurected would eventually lead other players to all becoming insane and having a game over occur when everyone as a result of insanity. 

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"-And last but not least, I agree that once every player is "dead", or a ghost, that it should be game over."

 

that's very likely how it's going to be heh.

[Ninaiso]

I actually like this idea! Especially the sanity draining.

Also, what if ghosts couldn't craft things for their resurrection? They have to rely entirely on the living to do the resurrecting. "But Ninaiso, then no one would get resurrected!" Well, you either resurrect them or go insane. What do you think people would choose? It would be a neat co-dependency! Make for some awesome experiences!

[the truthseeker]

Of course if a living player goes insane, then can then attack ghost you (as the dev suggested at this time.) It's not clear if killing a ghost allows a ghost re-spawn or now you are "permanently dead." 

 

Personally, I'd make the ghost mechanic a toggable option, default on for DST. 

[Renz004]

I actually like this idea! Especially the sanity draining.

Also, what if ghosts couldn't craft things for their resurrection? They have to rely entirely on the living to do the resurrecting. "But Ninaiso, then no one would get resurrected!" Well, you either resurrect them or go insane. What do you think people would choose? It would be a neat co-dependency! Make for some awesome experiences!

 

 

Haha that's exactly my thoughts on this It really makes it become very important for the living players to help the ghost players, or else everyone will end up insane and dead

 

 

 

Of course if a living player goes insane, then can then attack ghost you (as the dev suggested at this time.) It's not clear if killing a ghost allows a ghost re-spawn or now you are "permanently dead." 

 

Personally, I'd make the ghost mechanic a toggable option, default on for DST. 

 

That's actually a great idea to add too.  Make the ghosts able to attack living players if they go insane after not helping the ghost player to resurrect. Killing the ghost results in perma-death. Though I'd make this whole part optional.

I really want to see where a dev mentioned all of this

[the truthseeker]

That's actually a great idea to add too.  Make the ghosts able to attack living players if they go insane after not helping the ghost player to resurrect. Killing the ghost results in perma-death. Though I'd make this whole part optional.

I really want to see where a dev mentioned all of this

I'll take credit for the last part, but of course the rest is all devs Thank you! 

 

Lemme see if I can find one of the mentions...

 

on right, on the OP...

 

 

Right now, I’m experimenting with death and revival mechanics. Don’t Starve is a slow enough and long enough game that we don’t anticipate that people will primarily be playing a given character in just one sitting. Because of that, we’re going to need a way for people to play in persistent worlds. This, in turn, means that death needs to be a slightly softer failure, otherwise your multiplayer game quickly becomes a single player game. My first test is making it so that when you die, you turn into a ghost. Ghosts can haunt things in the world and those things will have various reactions to being haunted. Generally, as a ghost, you’re trying to re-establish your connection to the physical plane. Fully establishing that connection will revive you, but staying a ghost for too long will decrease your maximum health, including after revival. I haven’t seen this ghost mechanic in action in a “real” situation yet (i.e. not just me testing it with two instances of the game running on my machine) and it may not end up being in the game, much less the default behavior, but I like how it’s shaking out so far. A quick aside: I mentioned default behavior there because we’re hoping to allow you to play in a few different ways--persistent and more casual games, competitive and more antagonistic games, and hardcore/”true Don’t Starve” games . Anyways, once the ghost stuff is fleshed out a bit more, I’ll try to grab some video to show you folks what this early and experimental stuff looks like.

[Elaugzar]

I love this entire idea, Renz004!

 

I also have a resurrection suggestion and perhaps new take on resurrection as a whole.

 

Frankenstein-esque ghost/corpse ressurrection via lightening rod!

 

The game already utilizes a lightening rod. Why not create a Frankenstein-esque body slab/table to be used alongside the lightening rod, lightening strike, and required components (Fallen player corpse or perhaps assorted corpse collectibles from graves? Both sound great to me.) to return a ghost to life? Perhaps the body is retrievable and then used with the table to reanimate the fallen player.

 

By using this body-retrieval/lightening rod ressurrection, fresh players on a newly started game instance will be pressured to stay alive early on. The means to ressurrect (effigy aside) will require a level of technological ressearch and resource investment that isn't exactly quick picking for the first few days of survival. New games are less of an impact if they are screwed up and deemed restart worthy as a result. Long standing or persistant game instances however will benefit because heavily invested players will still feel the need to maintain and preserve without feeling entirely cheated when a player dies half-heartedly or mistakenly due to any number of reasons (Lag, afk, glitch, etc...). This ressurrection system would maintain the survival feeling but also grant a redemption shot at death so that every player doesn't feel hopelessly tied to one person's permanent death. Perhaps the ressurrection can be limited to a certain number of uses OR require rebuilding of components with each use as if fried by the lightening strike?

 

As we are all aware, there is already a precedent in Don't Starve for Ghosts:

http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Ghost

 

 

 

I believe that death in multiplayer should result in the dead player being turned into a Ghost version of themselves that will haunt the living players until A) the Ghost Player is resurrected  OR B) the Living Players all die. This will provide an interesting and fun death mechanic that fits into the general gameplay of Don't Starve. 

 

Death

When a Living Player dies, he/she drops all items as usual and if there are no activated Touch Stones or Meat Effigys, the player will "resurrect" as a Ghost near any randomly chosen Living Player. 

Resurrecting 

Ghost players can resurrect themselves by equipping a Life Giving Gem, inspecting a Meat Effigy, or inspecting a Touch Stone. Perhaps a 4th resurrection type item specifically to be used by ghosts can be added to the game. 

Crafting:

While in ghost form, the Ghost Player can still craft and pickup items. This is so that they can actively contribute towards their resurrection (Ghost Players will still need to rely on Living Players to kill mobs to acquire dropped materials). 

Fighting:

While in ghost form, the Ghost Player cannot attack anything (to prevent cheesing gameplay by killing tough mobs)  and mobs simply ignore the Ghost Player (they can't see the Ghost Player). 

Leash:

While in ghost form, Ghost Players are leashed to Living Players and cannot travel farther than 1-2 screens from the Living Players (I.e. haunting Living Players).  If Ghost Players travel farther than 1-2 screens they will automatically be ported back to the nearest Living Player's position. There is no visual indicator of the leash; the Ghost Player simply cannot stray too far from all Living Players without being automatically ported back to the nearest Living Player.  

Timer:

Ghost players have a sanity draining aura that is 1-2 screens wide and has the same effect as night, meaning that Living Players must work towards resurrecting the Ghost Players quickly or else the nearest Living Players will go insane (this creates an artificial timer to resurrect the dead players). This ghost aura stacks with Night's sanity draining aura as well. 

 

 

OPTIONAL STUFF:::

- New ghost art can be added for each Player Character, or they can just appear as see-through versions of themselves. 

- Maybe disconnected players can appear as Ghosts on screen in the last place they were known to be standing?

- Perhaps allowing ghosts to run back to their bodies to resurrect (i.e. having something similar to WoW's corpse running system) could be an option that can be turned on to allow an easier time for casual players to resurrect themselves. Note that the living player would still need to bring the ghost to their corpse due to the leash.

 

 

 

I see this Ghost Player system as turning the inevitable player deaths into a fun mechanic to play through in Don't Starve Together. 

 

 

[Renz004]

Ohhhh thanks for the quote from the dev  Sounds cool they're working with a version of this, I just hope it comes out more like my idea than the one he proposed

 

"SethR, on 20 Jun 2014 - 5:05 PM, said:

Right now, I’m experimenting with death and revival mechanics. Don’t Starve is a slow enough and long enough game that we don’t anticipate that people will primarily be playing a given character in just one sitting. Because of that, we’re going to need a way for people to play in persistent worlds. This, in turn, means that death needs to be a slightly softer failure, otherwise your multiplayer game quickly becomes a single player game. My first test is making it so that when you die, you turn into a ghost. Ghosts can haunt things in the world and those things will have various reactions to being haunted. Generally, as a ghost, you’re trying to re-establish your connection to the physical plane. Fully establishing that connection will revive you, but staying a ghost for too long will decrease your maximum health, including after revival. I haven’t seen this ghost mechanic in action in a “real” situation yet (i.e. not just me testing it with two instances of the game running on my machine) and it may not end up being in the game, much less the default behavior, but I like how it’s shaking out so far. A quick aside: I mentioned default behavior there because we’re hoping to allow you to play in a few different ways--persistent and more casual games, competitive and more antagonistic games, and hardcore/”true Don’t Starve” games . Anyways, once the ghost stuff is fleshed out a bit more, I’ll try to grab some video to show you folks what this early and experimental stuff looks like."

[Zandorum]

I think ghosts should only have 3 ways to resurrect:
1. Activating a Touchstone, It would work like normal but it would be the only somewhat corporeal way they can do it.

2. A special ghost only way.

3. A special ghost only way.

 

Ghosts should not beable to equip or craft anything, The character will say something along the lines of this when they try "This is something only a corporeal can do... It fills me with a longing for life."

 

The leash is a good idea but I think that there should be an indicator, my idea would be to have the player slowly start to fade the farther away they get from the group, once they are about to be invisible they poof and teleport back to the group in another poof.

 

The sanity draining aura is a good idea, I like it.

 

The players looking like ghosts while disconnected is another good idea.

 

I think that players should not reflect how they look while dead so you don't truly know who your resurrecting and have to trust them.

 

When a player speaks while dead it should have the text be garbled but still decipherable.

[Renz004]

"my idea would be to have the player slowly start to fade the farther away they get from the group"

I like this