Two Modes: Survive and Explore

[CourtneyONeal 10]

I like Don't Starve. I really do. But what is keeping me from LOVING it, and might even stop me from playing it in the future... is that every time you die, you have to restart. I know some people like the challenge, but for me this makes the game annoying and frustrating, instead of fun. So, I propose...

TWO MODES.

1. SURVIVAL - In this mode you challenge yourself to survive as long as you can, and when you die, you stay dead and have to restart... just like the game currently is.

2. EXPLORE - In this mode, you can SAVE your game... but not just that. If you die, you can LOAD YOUR GAME from the last SAVE. This allows you to play more casually, explore more of the map and get farther in the game without making the game your enemy. For people who want the game to be easier.

If you like the game the way it is, just select Survival mode.

[BarovSoap 878]

I can't disagree with a separate play mode but don't you think saving would make the game TOO easy?

[CourtneyONeal 10]

No, I think the game is TOO HARD.

I play for relaxation. That's why there would be TWO modes.

[wasakakero 10]

I think it would be nice for casual players more than normal players like a lot of us.

[BarovSoap 878]

I think it would be nice for casual players more than normal players like a lot of us.

It seems like it would take all of the strategy and the survival part out of the game. Where is the risk if every mistake you make can be corrected with a simple load.

[wasakakero 10]

It seems like it would take all of the strategy and the survival part out of the game. Where is the risk if every mistake you make can be corrected with a simple load.

That is why i call them CASUAL players, those guys who dont play for more than 5 hours in a week (and not only 1 game).

[EatableFan 10]

No, I think the game is TOO HARD.

I play for relaxation. That's why there would be TWO modes.

well the game is supposed to be hard.

this is kind of like saying "Super Meatboy/Binding of Isaac is too hard! I want to play it for relaxation!".

I think theres no need for another gamemode. If you dont want to have consequences from death, either build meat effigies or "cheat" by making backups of your savefiles.

Edited January 4, 2013 by EatableFan

[Ran 15]

I can agree with this and I don't see why anyone would be against it as long as the two modes are kept separate. Why would you care what others play the game like? If you like it hard, play survival. Let others play however they want.

Not to mention it seems like a really simple way of making it much easier. Just adding a save/load function, that's it. No need to change any mechanics.

I'd suggest also making them have separate research points, so you don't research everything in the easy mode and then play the hard one with everything unlocked. But seeing how they are gonna completely rework that, I dunno how it'll be.

[TylerTheDragon 22]

No, I think the game is TOO HARD.

I play for relaxation. That's why there would be TWO modes.

You don't PLAY a Rogue-Like Survival game for RELAXATION!! I can agree that some people find this game hard , but klei most likely aren't going to make an extra game-mode just because 10 people out of about 50,000 who bought the game find the game "too hard" If a game is too hard , you keep playing until you get better at it. Did you think that when I played The binding of isaac , I decided to cheat in Items because it was "Too Hard" to beat Mom? Heck no! I kept trying ang trying , dying and dying until I finally reached and beat her. The thing is a Rogue-Like isn't for "Casual , Relaxing Gameplay" If you want that , I suggest getting Audiosurf because that is a relaxing game that yo can play to calm down.

Maxwell wants you to suffer , not just come back to life each time you are unfortunate enough to get killed.

[mobius187 30]

1. SURVIVAL - In this mode you challenge yourself to survive as long as you can, and when you die, you stay dead and have to restart... just like the game currently is.

Fair enough.

2. EXPLORE - In this mode, you can SAVE your game... but not just that. If you die, you can LOAD YOUR GAME from the last SAVE. This allows you to play more casually, explore more of the map and get farther in the game without making the game your enemy. For people who want the game to be easier.

Hmmm. Well so long as you have SURVIVAL mode then I don't see why you couldn't have EXPLORE mode if they only difference between them is whether or not you can load a save or not. My question is, how would the load function? Would you still want the game to auto-save at sunrise and sunset? Or would you only want it to restore from the last time you saved? I'll also assume, if the later, that you certainly wouldn't want it to save on exit.

well the game is supposed to be hard.

I'll argue that point. The game is supposed to be fun.

this is kind of like saying "Super Meatboy/Binding of Isaac is too hard! I want to play it for relaxation!".

To be honest I never played either of those games. I did however watch a Let's Play series for the Binding of Isaac. It seemed fun, but a little too much twitch action for me, which is why I prefer Don't Starve. In comparison, Don't Starve is much more relaxing than either of the two aforementioned games.

I think theres no need for another gamemode. If you dont want to have consequences from death, either build meat effigies or "cheat" by making backups of your savefiles.

I would disagree. The suggested mode (i.e. EXPLORE) affords a very simple change, and we can all assume it wouldn't be hard to implement a manual save/load feature, especially if there is only one "save slot" the player uses. In short, it would be like Adventure mode in Minecraft. You face risks and can die, but death isn't permanent and has limited impact (i.e. in Minecraft you lose your XP and drop all your gear where you died, while in EXPLORE mode you would lose your progress back to the point of your last save).

The fact that we can simply ignore EXPLORE mode and play in SURVIVAL mode makes the whole point moot. I'll just play in SURVIVAL mode and players like CourtneyONeal can play in EXPLORE mode. No harm, no foul.

I can agree with this and I don't see why anyone would be against it as long as the two modes are kept separate. Why would you care what others play the game like? If you like it hard, play survival. Let others play however they want.

Not to mention it seems like a really simple way of making it much easier. Just adding a save/load function, that's it. No need to change any mechanics.

Agreed.

I'd suggest also making them have separate research points, so you don't research everything in the easy mode and then play the hard one with everything unlocked. But seeing how they are gonna completely rework that, I dunno how it'll be.

Well keep in mind that Research Points will be eliminated (check out the latest Roadmap thread), but I get what you're saying. Unlocked inventions should be relocked whenever a player starts a new SURVIVAL mode game. But what about in EXPLORE? Maybe a manual reset button? I could see reasons why a player in EXPLORE would either want to keep all their unlocked inventions or not want them.

You don't PLAY a Rogue-Like Survival game for RELAXATION!!

I would like to point out that Rogue-like has many shades here. Don't Starve is Roguelike in that it has permadeath and randomized levels (i.e. map), however it's not turn-based. For a game to be truly Roguelike it needs all three features. Of course I'm splitting hairs here, as the point you're trying to make is that the game is supposed to generate an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty (i.e. when/how will I die?), an aspect you will not feel should the fear of permanent death be removed. Fair enough, however while EXPLORE mode would blunt the fear it wouldn't be the same as CREATIVE mode in Minecraft, namely, that there is no way to die. Rather, the player can still be hurt, starve, and die... only if this happens the player can restore their game.

I'm curious though. If there were only one save slot, would this mean the player could potentially cause themselves grief by saving prior to an innevitable death? Like having saved on an island far from access to fire/light? I know that happened to me and even quitting and restoring to the last auto-save (i.e. Sunset) couldn't save my skin. That's when Wilson died and I started playing Wendy.

I can agree that some people find this game hard , but klei most likely aren't going to make an extra game-mode just because 10 people out of about 50,000 who bought the game find the game "too hard" If a game is too hard , you keep playing until you get better at it.

Well how many players want different difficulties is open to debate. I've been around the forums for a while now and discussions about different modes or difficulty settings has popped up several times. Of course in most of those cases players have suggested changes that radically changed how the game played. This suggestion, by far, is the simplest to implement.

And as for "getting better"... I've personally played Minecraft for over ~5 years and I still die. I've died lots of ways. From being careless. From being accident prone. From even being stupid. It just happens and there's nothing you're ever going to do about it. I don't know if random deaths will be an issue in Don't Starve because the game isn't complete yet. Will I play EXPLORE mode? Not likely, but that's because the game for me isn't like Minecraft. I won't invest 200+ hours building a fortress. If I did, then yeah, I wouldn't want to lose all that... but the Devs have told us to progress in the plot you'll need to sacrifice your base camp.

Did you think that when I played The binding of isaac , I decided to cheat in Items because it was "Too Hard" to beat Mom? Heck no! I kept trying ang trying , dying and dying until I finally reached and beat her. The thing is a Rogue-Like isn't for "Casual , Relaxing Gameplay" If you want that , I suggest getting Audiosurf because that is a relaxing game that yo can play to calm down.

Well I commend you on not cheating. When I was younger I sometimes resorted to cheating in order to win games. Then I realized the only person I was cheating... was myself. Saying that makes me feel odd.

Well that's my personal opinion. I think it's fair to see how some players will agree with it while others will not. In the end we'll leave it up to the Devs to decide what's best.

[Manifest 10]

Totally agree with you, you read my mind. i would love it if this game had a explore mode that would continue even after i died the risk is way too great when i play especially when you pour your time and energy into the game and to make your character the best and then you die and lose all the hours and days you spent on the game. With survival they should make leader boards to make survival appeal more to a the players that love how it is right now and the explore appeal to other players, and provide fun factor,

The survival could keep a registration of how many times the player has died and all the actions they've done(spiders killed, spider queens killed, pigs kill, pig kings fed, etc..)

Achievements wouldn't be bad either.

[Lynge 10]

I think that if this should be implemented they should make so you only could save betwenn five days or so, so you can risk to lose 5 days f ingame play if you die

[CourtneyONeal 10]

How do you backup your save file?

If someone would be kind enough to point this out to me, I'll stop coming on the forum. Thank you.

[CourtneyONeal 10]

The fact that we can simply ignore EXPLORE mode and play in SURVIVAL mode makes the whole point moot. I'll just play in SURVIVAL mode and players like CourtneyONeal can play in EXPLORE mode. No harm, no foul.

Thank you!

My question is, how would the load function? Would you still want the game to auto-save at sunrise and sunset? Or would you only want it to restore from the last time you saved? I'll also assume, if the later, that you certainly wouldn't want it to save on exit.

I wouldn't mind however the Devs want to do it, whether auto-save like it is now or manual, either way. As long as it loads from a save point.

Unlocked inventions should be relocked whenever a player starts a new SURVIVAL mode game. But what about in EXPLORE? Maybe a manual reset button? I could see reasons why a player in EXPLORE would either want to keep all their unlocked inventions or not want them.

Either way is fine in my opinion.

If there were only one save slot, would this mean the player could potentially cause themselves grief by saving prior to an inevitable death? Like having saved on an island far from access to fire/light?

This may happen but it's ok, in my opinion.

With survival they should make leader boards to make survival appeal more to a the players that love how it is right now and the explore appeal to other players, and provide fun factor,

The survival could keep a registration of how many times the player has died and all the actions they've done(spiders killed, spider queens killed, pigs kill, pig kings fed, etc..)

Achievements wouldn't be bad either.

This is a great idea!

I think that if this should be implemented they should make so you only could save between five days or so, so you can risk to lose 5 days of ingame play if you die

Fine with me.