Suggestion: "The Rotten patch"

[Dust]

Before I post this,

I've read the "Common Suggestions (and responses)" - http://forums.kleientertainment.com/showthread.php?1164-Common-Suggestions-(And-responses)

and "Don't Starve Roadmap" - http://forums.kleientertainment.com/showthread.php?2832-Don-t-Starve-Roadmap

To make sure that I won't post another common and redundant topic/suggestion and to address some mid-game problem which is stated in the Roadmap.

The game is called "Don't Starve" so me must focus on it.

Currently, once you have establish a "base" and have a lot of food, it is very easy to survive everyday. You'll end up having more stock pile of food the longer you play the game. So the plan is to make some challenges in mid-game without affecting the early-game... and this is my suggestion.

"The Rotten patch"

In this "patch" we will introduce food spoilage, new monsters, new items, and food recipe. all is related on rotting stuffs.

Food Spoilage - This mechanic will definitely lessen those food hoarder out there who just love to stock food as many as he/she can. It will not affect the early-game since you will mostly eat what you have to survive. Each food will have different spoilage times. depending if its a fruit, meat, cooked, etc. with some exception like honey and raw seeds (or seed will have much longer life than other food except honey).

Originally Posted by Kevin

Let's say you have a full stack of meat, all with different spoilage times. When individual pieces spoil, what should we do? Give you a new spoiled meat piece? What if your inventory is full? Do you drop it? How do you inspect the stats of individual pieces in the stack? How do you pick a particular piece? What pieces get used for crafting? etc. etc. etc.

We will have three stages of food. fresh,normal,rotten. so when you have a stack of food with different spoilage time the one that will spoil will automatically change inventory slot, creating a new item for it. If your inventory is full it will automatically spawn on the ground.

To make it simple, "fresh" food will have longer life than "normal", "normal" food will be a warning that you must consume it or use it before it spoils. Like the yellow light on the traffic light.

Also when"Winter comes" food will have longer life or even cant spoiled as long as it is winter

New Monsters

We will introduce new monsters for those who just love to stock foods even if it's rotten and cant be eaten anymore.

Flies- Flies will not post any threat on the player(like the one on manures), it will hover to any rotten food on the ground. It will also hover on the chests and follow the player if you have a rotten stuff on your inventory. Flies will be the sign that you must dump or use your rotten stuff or else....

Giant Maggots-This hungry guys will spawn from the ground near rotten foods and will try to eat it. It will attack the chests or player where the rotten stink is coming from. The maggot that got a chance to eat one will grow on size. They will stop and submerge itself again on the ground after they eat or there is no rotten food to eat anymore. to balance it out, birds will try to attack this maggots, attracting them like seed does.

Monster Fly- When a "Giant Maggot" manage to eat and safely submerge itself again on the ground. It will spawn in a few days as a "Monster Fly". With the speed and elusiveness of Gobblers This giant fly will eat every food on sight, including berries on berry bushes, farm, and on ground. Tall bird chicks will chase and try to attack it.

New Items

Small fertilizer- this will act like a manure with lesser effect. you can make one by digging a rotten food on the ground. this will help you use rotten stuff and prevent "Giant maggots" on spawning.

Stink bomb- throw this thing to an area and it will emit a sticking smell that attracts Giant maggots. this will serve as a distraction on Giant maggots to give you time to clean your rotten stuff. you can also use this to attack someone. maggot will emerge near the area like there is a rotten food near it. you can use it on pigs, spider nest, etc. You'll need some web,rope,rotten foods to make one.

Scare Crow- The monsters and animals will interact on this as if it is a player but with wider range. you can also use it as a mannequin and put your equipment on it like pumpkin lantern, miners hat, backpack (with rotten food on it), etc. you can use it to scare birds and "Monster fly" from getting near it. making it easy to pick up seeds and defend your crops. but with no birds, "Giant maggots" can roam freely giving the player a choice of what is suitable for a certain situation.

Food recipe

With this spoiling food, we can add some recipe that have longer life like berry wine(which can even use on sanity mechanics), meat jerky, etc.

I hope some of my idea helps this awesome game get its goal. more power to you guys! keep it up!