Rats and Disease


Recommended Posts

With talk of the plague doctor I had the idea of rats and diseases. Rats if implemented should be as fast as rabbits and as strong as bees. Perhaps they will attack in swarms like the bees as well. Upon killing a rat you will only get one morsel. Rats also carry diseases and also the talk of winter made me think about the possibility of of weakened immune systems and the cold and such.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really like this idea. Illness, sickness, and diseases would add an extreme level of difficulty to the game. This could perhaps bring about alchemy, which could function similarly to how the Crock Pot makes food. Different signs, such as a red nose for the Flu, could help the player know what they have illness they have contracted. I agree, bringing about Winter (especially as a late game sort of difficulty increase) makes it plausible to have sicknesses.

I suggest these diseases and illnesses could fit well with the game and easily be displayed through visuals:

Disease/Illness -- Effects

Influenza -- Sneezing, Fever, Insanity

Streptococcal pharyngitis -- Coughing, , Dizziness(?)

Gastroenteritis -- Depleted Hunger, Fever, Vomiting

Common Cold -- Coughing, Sneezing, Fever

Frostbite -- Shivering, Sneezing, Depleted Health

Alchemy & Medicine

The player could craft a sort of medicine table out of specific materials. The table could allow the player to combine various natural elements to concoct herbal medicines and elixirs, similar to how the Crock Pot makes different food dishes. The medicines created from the table would only be able to cure specific diseases or illnesses, so the player would have to investigate what they have contracted in order to cure themselves of it. For example a player quickly needs to determine whether or not they have the Flu or the Common Cold, but could not determine it with evidence of sneezing as they both possess that symptom. This way the player would not be advised to guess when it comes to making medicine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This could add a huge use for flowers. There could be different flowers, each one used for medicine (in combination with other things or more flowers).

EDIT: Oh, and something came to my mind by the f-ing old game "Rogue".

Maybe you have to combine stuff to make like "Red Medicine" "Blue Medicine" and so on, and only after you consume it and it causes an effect, you know what it does. Then it changes name to "Antibiotica" and stuff like that.

This would cause that you have to experiment in order to make what you need, plus it would add another challenge by randomness.

Like, you have that Red Medicine there, but will it really help when you catch a cold? Should you rather make more different ones?

Edited by Palpetinus
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a really nice idea. Perhaps rats should avoid light, so would be more common at night and would run away from a campfire (probably not a torch though because then you would never come into contact with them). As for diseases in general, I think it would be great as a way of making Don't Starve harder, but at the same time it would be completely different to any other game I have come across. Even if the disease was just a minor annoyance, like making your character stop moving in order to sneeze, before carrying on again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Barov with another great idea! Good job sir!

Perhaps make it so some illnesses cannot be cured (such as the common cold) but can be "suppressed" so the effects arn't as bad. And what would each effect do? Would vomiting be an action that just stops your character and you puke or what? Perhaps also these illness decrease your sanity as well?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share