Hardware cursor and hat abilties!

[Vandragorax]

Firstly, hi to the Don't Starve community and devs! I'm a newbie but brimming with creative ideas (mostly thought up whilst in the shower, perhaps disturbingly) so wanted to share this and hopefully get a good response

1) Hardware cursor

I noticed while playing that there was one thing a little out of place, the cursor. Now this seems trivial but it would be really cool to have a cursor which fits the rest of the game style a lot better. Something simple would suffice, but a context-sensitive cursor would be even better - by that I mean one which changes depending on whether you're hovering over an aggressive enemy (attack cursor) or something you can gather (gathering cursor) etc. etc. you get the point!

2) Hat abilities!

Considering how the game is supposed to be about a mad scientist being thrown into a wilderness survival environment, I was actually surprised to find that there weren't really that many "crazy inventions" or gadgets to be able to build later on in the game. Perks as the player progresses for example, by that I mean things like minor speed boots or gathering speed increase etc. and I ended up thinking that it would be a great place to do this on the hats, as some of them already do provide a perk of some kind (i.e. protection from the Football hat). My ideas are as follows:

• Straw hat - Considering this is made from gathering cut grass and is available early on in the game, this hat could provide a perk when worn such as a slight increase in gathering speed for grass/twigs/berries. Not a lot, but enough to be noticeable and allow you to bring back just that bit extra when you go on a days' foraging trip.
  
• Beefalo hat - This hat could allow you to get double the amount of manure from each manure pile, therefore cutting down your time needed to gather fertiliser. Another fun side effect could be that it makes your beard grow a little faster (due to all the hair gone into making it!) which would allow those playing the main char to create a Meat Effigy a day or two faster than normal if wearing this hat all the time.
  
• Feather hat - As you have to trap a lot of birds for this to get their feathers, I though it would be pretty cool to have this hat provide you a VERY minor movement speed increase. BUT, allow that speed increase to mean you can run up to and kill birds before they fly off - therefore negating the need to continue trapping them to get further feathers once you get to a stage of making this hat. This would remove some grindyness when getting future feathers once you've performed this the first time in each game.
  

As you can see these hat perks give a number of very miniscule advantages. There are others of course but I can't think of any decent ideas for those right now but they would be along similar lines, such as the mining helmet not only lights your way but provides more stone and a higher chance of gold from each rock. Perhaps the cost of each hat would need to be increased along with this, but that would be acceptable. Working hard for good rewards makes a fun game

The great thing about this is, you can only wear ONE hat at a time! So, there is a very distinct player choice as to which hat to use and when. E.g. do I take my straw hat to go foraging for the day, but should I also take another hat or two decreasing my inventory space just in case I meet some enemies or find a quarry on the way?

I think the hats have a huge potential for some tiny perks and more could be added in future very easily to add further player choice into the game. The general premise should be, you work hard to get these hats in the first instance, but then once you have it, it makes your life a little bit easier in whatever field it is related.

Cheers guys, hope to see some valuable feedback on these ideas

Van.

[mobius187]

1) Hardware cursor

I noticed while playing that there was one thing a little out of place, the cursor. Now this seems trivial but it would be really cool to have a cursor which fits the rest of the game style a lot better. Something simple would suffice, but a context-sensitive cursor would be even better - by that I mean one which changes depending on whether you're hovering over an aggressive enemy (attack cursor) or something you can gather (gathering cursor) etc. etc. you get the point!

The Devs originally had a custom cursor in the game, but having one caused performance issues. Rather than slow down the game they opted to remove the custom cursor and just use the default.

Straw hat - Considering this is made from gathering cut grass and is available early on in the game, this hat could provide a perk when worn such as a slight increase in gathering speed for grass/twigs/berries. Not a lot, but enough to be noticeable and allow you to bring back just that bit extra when you go on a days' foraging trip.

To be honest, I'm perfectly fine with a straw hat just being a straw hat. Also, it's used as the "base hat" for some later hat designs.

Beefalo hat - This hat could allow you to get double the amount of manure from each manure pile, therefore cutting down your time needed to gather fertiliser. Another fun side effect could be that it makes your beard grow a little faster (due to all the hair gone into making it!) which would allow those playing the main char to create a Meat Effigy a day or two faster than normal if wearing this hat all the time.

Right now the beefalo hat, as you know, has no purpose. However that was also the case with papyrus, which is now used in bird cages. The Devs have mentioned that beefalo behavior will be changing Soon, perhaps affected by the changing seasons. Also, many players assume there will be baby beefalo to account for the fact that right now beefalo can become extinct through over-hunting... or accident. The assumption is that once baby beefalo are added beefalo will become hostile if you approach one, but by wearing the beefalo hat maybe they will think you're a baby beefalo. This also connects to the idea of collecting beefalo milk.

Feather hat - As you have to trap a lot of birds for this to get their feathers, I though it would be pretty cool to have this hat provide you a VERY minor movement speed increase. BUT, allow that speed increase to mean you can run up to and kill birds before they fly off - therefore negating the need to continue trapping them to get further feathers once you get to a stage of making this hat. This would remove some grindyness when getting future feathers once you've performed this the first time in each game.

The Feathered Hat attracts birds.

As you can see these hat perks give a number of very miniscule advantages. There are others of course but I can't think of any decent ideas for those right now but they would be along similar lines, such as the mining helmet not only lights your way but provides more stone and a higher chance of gold from each rock. Perhaps the cost of each hat would need to be increased along with this, but that would be acceptable. Working hard for good rewards makes a fun game

Personally I just don't know... I like to think that a beneficial effect should be connected more to the reality of the item in question. So if you want an axe that cuts trees faster you don't wear your "lucky tree-cutting hat" you craft a better axe. One new hat that was suggested not too long ago involved a suggestion for mapping a larger area as you moved across the islands, to map faster. It was suggested that maybe the item could be a telescope that you hold in your hand. I suggested maybe it could be that a telescope was a component (i.e. found in a treasure chest when digging on a beach biome... other suggestions...) and that by using pig skins to create a head harness you could maybe craft a telescopic hat to free-up your hand slot.

Feel free to make suggestions for new items yourself.

The great thing about this is, you can only wear ONE hat at a time! So, there is a very distinct player choice as to which hat to use and when. E.g. do I take my straw hat to go foraging for the day, but should I also take another hat or two decreasing my inventory space just in case I meet some enemies or find a quarry on the way?

I wear the football helmet so I can wear the backpack without issue, in case I'm attacked. I do have a log suit in my inventory, but I don't want to switch between it and my backpack all the time.

Anyway, keep on making suggestions.