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DST Beta Update (Phase 1) - Sept 22nd


JoeW

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DST Beta Update - Sept 22nd

 

Hey everybody!

 

So, there has been a lot of buzz about the Don’t Starve Together Beta. Lots of speculation on who will get in and why. We have been watching, reading and listening to all the questions, ideas and suggestions. I thought it would be a good idea to drop by and add some new answers to the questions I have seen since the beta announcement. 

 

We still have a little bit to go until Don’t Starve Together plays right. We have some changes that want to make before players get a chance to play DST in large numbers. Mainly this comes down to the fact that it's not a good representation of what Don’t Starve Together should be. What is most important right now is that we have people who can help us verify that new systems are working as they should, rather than testing the game itself.

 

So I want to take a moment to explain where DST will be when you first get your hands on it, and where it will be a bit further down the road.

 

You can also check out our most recent “Rhymes with Play Devcast” for more info on where the game is currently. 

 

"What's going on with Don't Starve Together currently?"

 

Similar to the early days of Don’t Starve, we have one goal in mind; Making Don’t Starve Together a remarkable experience. So this means that our first priority is to provide the uncompromising survival game that you all know and love. Gameplay wise, the team is concentrating on making DST not just Don’t Starve with multplayer, but an experience unique to Don’t Starve Together. Something that provides new challenges and opportunities for discovery; but still feels like Don’t Starve.  

 

When we first approached Don’t Starve Together, we had a firm understanding that we couldn't just slap multiplayer into the game and it would be fine. However, for a good portion of DST development so far, we have been primarily focused on the technical end of things, and we are only really now getting a chance to dive into gameplay and balance. 

 

This will be an exciting and fun experience as we shape the DST world according to the feedback and information we gather during beta. But, it is extremely important that everybody understands that this is truly a beta in active development. 

 

"What are the early goals for beta?"

 

The first players of Don’t Starve Together will work with us to shape the early stages of this new Don’t Starve experience. Sometimes it will be too difficult. Sometimes it will be too easy. Sometimes it will be broken, and sometimes it will just be wrong. All along the way, we will be keeping everybody in the loop and talking about our progress as we move forward. 

 

We know that not everybody plays Don't Starve in the same way. The later phases of beta will include tweaks and changes that allow you to have a more custom experience. So if you like a more relaxed and slower paced version of Don’t Starve, you may want to wait until the later stages of beta. This is when we will be focusing on things like map and server customization, mods and world generation options.  

 

Some of these things will added earlier in beta, but we won’t be putting a lot of focus on it until the real core of Don’t Starve Together is in place. 

 

"How and when are keys being given out?"

 

2 Million keys have been generated (Yes, 2 million), and while we are quite itchy to get them out, we have some things to take care of first.

 

Phase 1 - "Friends and Family"

This week, we will start by giving keys to people we know from as far and wide as possible. This is what is usually called “Friends & Family beta” and is done to help us find any major issues that we might have overlooked before sending it out to the general public. 

 

Phase 2 - "Beta Registration Applicants"

Shortly after that, we will extend that circle out a bit more by bringing in people who registered for beta. We will be letting in small groups of people at first. As we prove that we are able to support the load, we will increase these numbers. 

 

We do not have a defined timeline for how often groups will be invited or how large those groups will be. This will be determined entirely by our ability to support the amount of people coming in and what needs to be done in order for everybody to have the smoothest experience possible.

 

Phase 3 - "OMG I missed the Beta form, my life is now full of eternal sadness."

Fear not. Once we get a sizable group of people and everything checks out, in addition to distributing more keys to beta applicants, we will extend the circle a bit more by granting additional invite keys to people who participate in the beta the most. So, if you are given a friend key, and your friend uses that key, it will increase your chances of receiving more keys. 

 

This means that if you have lots of friends who want to play, there is a good chance you will be able to make that happen. This also means that if you didn't get the opportunity to register for the beta, you still have a good chance to get an invite from a friend. 

 

So, while we are a little bit behind our end of summer goal we are now in Phase 1 and are getting close to starting Phase 2. We are all really excited about what Don't Starve Together has now become, and we are thrilled to see that you are all excited as well. 

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This is so so so so awesome! I seriously can't wait :D

 

 

My wife will kill me if I don't ask, but is there any hope for cross-play between PS4 and Vita in the future? She was really bummed that she couldn't play her Vita progress on the big-screen :(

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