NPC's, villages and other suggestions

[dragoonofdeath]

Hello, new guy here, throwing at the wall what hopefully hasn't been thrown to many times before. read around a bit, haven't seen much on it, so here goes.

I had thought to make a suggestion or three on shaving, as I find it strange that beard hair is the only hair that ever grows in this game, but that seems to have been covered a number of times so I dropped it.

NPC humanoids and villages: I read something earlier about a possible 'insanity' bar being implemented. Should it become a feature, I figure being around other humans would be a good way to curb insanity (Unless you're a maniac and burn/crush/maim the villagers.) I suppose this could be further used to trade, much like with the pigmen. The pig king gives you gold nuggets for meat and various junk items while pigmen will follow you for a day. Maybe humans would want flowers and beefalo fur or something and give you seeds? Maybe they'd tag along on your adventures?

Treeguards Hostility: I understand why Treeguards are a 'boss' enemy of sorts. You're cutting down their forests, I'd go try and maul you to. But I've been thinking, maybe the Treeguards can be reworked slightly. Heres what I'm thinking. Fires and Pacification.

Fires: If you cause a forest fire, give it a 50% chance to spawn a treeguard. Sure, it'll be burning, but I never understood why they only came up when you cut the trees down.

Replanting to pacify: Almost every tree you cut gives you some pinecones. I've been thinking, why not be able to replant what you've cut to 'attempt' to calm the treeguard? Make it to where the more trees you've cut, the more you have to replant to calm him/her/it down. Replant 2-4 for every one you cut?

fires caused by other means: Say weather gets implemented. Lightning strikes a tree, forest goes up in smoke.(Just an example, maybe make other ways for fire to spark in the wilds?) Sure, lots of charcoal, but that's a dead forest and you're not getting any pinecones from that. Anyhow, why not have a treeguard there that is depressed about the fire? You could cheer the creature up by replanting a portion of the forest (Or kill the sad fellow) and receive a gift of sorts. maybe something like a 'Nature amulet' that makes nature hate you slightly less?

Bees in the trees with honey: I personally find it odd that beehives work like Spider nests, except they never seem to level into higher tiers. I've been pondering, why not have beehives be a very rare drop from fully grown trees? Bees could work like butterflies, buzzing off to some flowers and then going back into a nearby tree. After knocking the beehive out of the tree (By cutting it down I suppose), the bees would swarm you for destroying their home. Should you survive the ordeal, you could get the honeycomb and honey from the hive for bee boxes. This would also make tree cutting a bit more risky, as there would always be that chance that you would get swarmed by angry bees.

[jakassme]

the pacify thing is already in the game ?

[Will]

But NPCs would ruin the feeling of isolation, one of the feelings that is meant to be provided. Like it is often said, you are the only human on this island, but you are NOT alone.

[Wilson P. Higgsbury]

Humans are a Nay I say! NAYYYYYYYY!. You are the only human on the island, you will die alone or with your pig buddies. You can already pacify tree guards by planting lots of pine cones.

[Syd]

A big part of Don't Starve's atmosphere is the sense of isolation, so I don't think there should be any other humans, or other such friendly NPCs.

I think the pigmen should be the closest the game gets to a (somewhat) sentient ally. They aren't human, they certainly aren't very intelligent, and they aren't the most reliable companions due to their, erm, "condition". Pigmen only like you if you have food to give them, otherwise they honestly don't care whether you live or die (actually, they'd probably be happier to see you die since it means more food for them), so even with the pigmen, the game still preserves its atmosphere of desolation and loneliness.

Also, replanting pinecones to pacify treeguards already works, but the amount of pinecones that need to be planted seems to be random.

[Toaster Fu]

Welcome OP! Rumors have it that a race of monkey men will be coming in the future.

[Lordfiscus]

But NPCs would ruin the feeling of isolation, one of the feelings that is meant to be provided. Like it is often said, you are the only human on this island, but you are NOT alone.

Exactly! The player isn't alone, hence adding scavenger-human-types that hated the player, and wanted them to die and drop all their equipment.

Welcome OP! Rumors have it that a race of monkey men will be coming in the future.

well, that gives a meaning to the "Ugly monkeyman" quote said by pigs.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Toaster Fu

[Toaster Fu]

That's actually how the rumor first started. You can read more and see the teaser in this thread.

[Wilson P. Higgsbury]

Exactly! The player isn't alone, hence adding scavenger-human-types that hated the player, and wanted them to die and drop all their equipment.

Or smarter feral scavenger pigmen.

[mobius187]

NPC humanoids and villages: I read something earlier about a possible 'insanity' bar being implemented.

Correct. The Devs have mentioned that the next meter they plan to add to the game would be a Sanity meter. Then items like the top hat and dapper vest will final have uses.

Should it become a feature, I figure being around other humans would be a good way to curb insanity (Unless you're a maniac and burn/crush/maim the villagers.)

As other players have pointed out, there won't be any other humans on the island, as you have been isolated by Maxwell. In fact, you being alone and dealing with horrific creatures is part of the reason why your sanity is at threat in the first place. I would have to agree that I see no reason to include other (real) humans in the game, as I prefer the solitude.

I suppose this could be further used to trade, much like with the pigmen. The pig king gives you gold nuggets for meat and various junk items while pigmen will follow you for a day. Maybe humans would want flowers and beefalo fur or something and give you seeds? Maybe they'd tag along on your adventures?

As noted above, I wouldn't be interested in seeing other humans added to the game. On that note, as Toster Fu pointed out, thr rumor is that Munkies will be added to the game as another tribal race of creatures living on the island.

Fires: If you cause a forest fire, give it a 50% chance to spawn a treeguard. Sure, it'll be burning, but I never understood why they only came up when you cut the trees down.

Well forest fires cause all trees to burn... so as the treeguard takes time to spawn it would be on fire. I think the Devs didn't want to deal with that issue... that or maybe the fact that forests can be huge and this could lead to multiple treeguards spawning and so on.

Replanting to pacify: Almost every tree you cut gives you some pinecones. I've been thinking, why not be able to replant what you've cut to 'attempt' to calm the treeguard? Make it to where the more trees you've cut, the more you have to replant to calm him/her/it down. Replant 2-4 for every one you cut?

As other players have already pointed out, this is exactly how it works right now. It is however random as to how many pine cones you need to plant in order to calm the treeguard down.

fires caused by other means: Say weather gets implemented. Lightning strikes a tree, forest goes up in smoke.(Just an example, maybe make other ways for fire to spark in the wilds?) Sure, lots of charcoal, but that's a dead forest and you're not getting any pinecones from that.

Lightning strikes causing fires have been debated before, and to this end I've supported the Minecraft solution. Namely that all lightning strikes cause "localized" fires (i.e. tree that was struck burns), but the rain contains the fire from spreading to other trees. In this way you wouldn't end up losing an entire forest (and more, who knows?) due to some completely random lightning.

I prefer my forest fires to be entirely my fault.

Anyhow, why not have a treeguard there that is depressed about the fire? You could cheer the creature up by replanting a portion of the forest (Or kill the sad fellow) and receive a gift of sorts. maybe something like a 'Nature amulet' that makes nature hate you slightly less?

Nah. The treeguard is a tree... it just is what it is. I don't think we should try to humanize it. I like the way it already acts.

Bees in the trees with honey: I personally find it odd that beehives work like Spider nests, except they never seem to level into higher tiers.

That may have to do with the fact that hives contain normal bees, while spider nests contain giant spiders. Giant spiders generally need more leg room. Get it? Yeah... you did.

I've been pondering, why not have beehives be a very rare drop from fully grown trees?

I'm getting an Animal Crossing flashback, as in that game you shook trees and sometimes a "gift" fell down. Other times it was a hive that breaks open and you get chased/stung. The problem is the same here, if you're chopping down trees I doubt you want a hive to fall down and break open... letting out lots of angry bees. Not fun. Of course it could be a fun hazard, if it were rare enough (say 1% chance per axe strike) and then it should be a hornet's nest so we wouldn't gain anything from it... just be chased by hornets (i.e. killer bees).

Bees could work like butterflies, buzzing off to some flowers and then going back into a nearby tree.

That's actually how bees already work. In fact, when you build a bee box you generally want to also catch butterflies with a bug net (i.e. alive) and then plant them as flowers around your bee box so the bees can land on them. It speeds up honey production.

After knocking the beehive out of the tree (By cutting it down I suppose), the bees would swarm you for destroying their home.

Naturally.

Should you survive the ordeal, you could get the honeycomb and honey from the hive for bee boxes.

I keep wondering about the honey... why do we need honey to make a bee hive when bees make the honey already? Hmmm.

This would also make tree cutting a bit more risky, as there would always be that chance that you would get swarmed by angry bees.

True, so long as the chances were very uncommon. I wouldn't want this to turn into a common occurence by any stretch of the imagination. If players are cutting down trees just to have this happen then it's become too common.

[Lordfiscus]

Fire: The big-hot orangy thing that's probably burning your grass farm.