Where should Klei go with expansions?

[MoloMan]

Hi.

Right of the bat, expansions is why I come back to Don't starve. I played Don't starve A LOT when I first "got" it... (heh). I played it so much that i finally decided to buy the game because I wanted to help Klei the best way I could and I didn't want to be a "wormhole"( I also wanted the updates of course). I stopped playing it after a while when I had done everything in the game though. But then came RoG:  It was awesome. I bought it, and loved it. I loved coming back to my old friend the starver and I loved all the new content and the new seasons (and Goose/Moose). Then I stopped. Again.

Then DST came out. Which I was really hyped about, it actually made me come to the forums and talk with all you fine people. But when I started playing I quickly realized that I didn't have any friends. So I didn't play much DST. I've started to now that my friend got the game (he's loving it ;3).

And now there's SW. I find it really awesome. Getting to explore a new world with new mechanics while still keeping a bit of the Don't (not the starve though). My point being, the expansions is what makes me get back into Don't starve.

My question is this: What do people want in expansions?

I've seen alot of people angry about Shipwrecked being (almost) standalone. People either want updates to DST or they want more content in normal DS (i'll just call it RoG that's easier). I however question how fun it would be to add things to RoG.

Because what you want from an expansion is not new bosses, it's not new biombes or new mobs. What you want out of an expansion is a new way of playing the game! RoG added wetness and overheating and having to prepare for gigantic giants. With SW we got an interly new world where you couldn't survive on a single island, you had to go to other islands and bring back the resources. It wouldn't have worked to add Shipwrecked into RoG. Because you can survive on the world you are in! t would have ruined the whole point of SW. In my opinion, i feel like RoG is at it's maximum capacity. You could of course add more to it but I don't want to have 20 different seasons with 40 different bosses in each one! I don't want to follow a suspicious dirt pile only to find one of 1000 different animals. I want RoG. 

 

But this post is not supposed to be me rambling forever. I just want to know your awnser to my question...

[Soto8969]

Well , there is also mods that could be called "comunity expansions" that you can choose to play or not.

What i want from "official" expansions are original content that i would never expect to be added.

[RiverRocks]

Well, I would like an expansion that allows for things like automated farms, mining, and a bunch of other stuff. I would like some sort of "Technical Don't Starve". I like the idea of ways to automate things but requires you to risk your life to get the supplies to make it. Some ideas might be: Automatic Farms, Automatic Killer, Automatic Tree Planter, Quarries, Electric Generator, and more. You would have to generate electricity and power in different ways to power different things.

Another expansion I would like would be one that includes the ability to make houses and complex bases. This sounds much like a mod but it could be an add on to an expansion. This is what I would like to see.

[Mobbstar]

Just now, RiverRocks said:

I would like an expansion that allows for things like automated

Well I made a poll for my mod Industrial Resolution and nobody voted for automatisation, so I won't be doing that at all. I'd imagine you'll like playing with it though

[soggynachos]

On March 6, 2016 at 1:48 PM, MoloMan said:

Hi.

Right of the bat, expansions is why I come back to Don't starve.

My question is this: What do people want in expansions?

A 69$ expansion that gives Wes like a million more pantomime animations

In all seriousness, I love everything about Don't Starve, as long as Klei keeps being ******* rad, I'm fine with whatever they want to do.

[MoloMan]

1 hour ago, SoggyNachos said:

A 69$ expansion that gives Wes like a million more pantomime animations

In all seriousness, I love everything about Don't Starve, as long as Klei keeps being ******* rad, I'm fine with whatever they want to do.

"                                                                                                                                                    "

[RiverRocks]

13 hours ago, Mobbstar said:

Well I made a poll for my mod Industrial Resolution and nobody voted for automatisation, so I won't be doing that at all. I'd imagine you'll like playing with it though

Wow! I checked it out and will definitely give it a try. That is almost exactly what I was talking about  (except the automation duh).

[LadyD]

I love the fact that I never seem to know what they are going to do next. SW was a huge surprise to me. So was DST since you know I was around for the era of - we are not going to do multiplayer so stop talking about it-.

I wouldn't mind seeing an Australia character in the game- An aboriginal perhaps? Who just says Mate, Cobber and dinkum a lot- Basically a walking cliche- mostly because it would be funny and he could start with a boomerang and his voice sound like a didgeridoo- Actually now that I think about it its a valid idea... i was mostly joking but now it sounds fun... Hey @JoeW ? XD 

In future DLCs I wouldn't mind there being a biome that was ruins from long a dead people. So a bit like the stuff you find from other survivors but with graves, ghosts, crumbling towers and all the fun things an abandoned civilization leaves behind in its wake. Ruined landscapes and all that fun.  

[Soto8969]

8 minutes ago, LadyD said:

In future DLCs I wouldn't mind there being a biome that was ruins from long a dead people. So a bit like the stuff you find from other survivors but with graves, ghosts, crumbling towers and all the fun things an abandoned civilization leaves behind in its wake. Ruined landscapes and all that fun. 

I think that already exists and it is called the Ruins...

[LadyD]

24 minutes ago, Soto8969 said:

I think that already exists and it is called the Ruins...

and this is what i get for avoiding caves... 

[DragonMage156]

4 hours ago, LadyD said:

and this is what i get for avoiding caves... 

Don't worry, I tend to avoid them too. I think it's a good idea. Rather then a million year old underground ruin, an old abandoned camp on the surface

[PhelsarusBeel]

What i want in DS expansion is getting that sense of curiosity back that i always have when i explore something new something i haven't seen before. However i also want new ways of challenging myself as well as through specific ingame means like specialized characters.
 Another important factor is that whatever gets added is mechanicly solid and specialy FAIR Don't Starve has always been hard, unforgiving but fair while doing so.

And this is something i feel SW lacks ATM yes the new worlds appealed to that sense of curiosity and i was very invested in exploring the world however the more i play the more i notice how cumbersome some things are or just how boring/unbalanced certaint mechanics are. Not to mention that the Shipwrecked Character cast is nowhere near as fun or interesting to play as the Vanilla or RoG cast. This specialy felt a bit like Quantity over Quality as in instead of having only 2 new Characters that have some very unique Quirks to them and change the way i play quite a bit i get 4 chars that only feel like slightly alterd Versions of Wilson with some minor statchanges and maybe 1 or 2 unique Items to them.

As for another expansion i want to explore the macabre a bit more the unseen the Eldritch so to speak. Basicly an expansion focused on the Shadowscreatures since even nowadays they are still a big mistery to us and all we really know is what Maxwell has to tell about them so i would really love to dive a bit more into the Realms of the Shadowmonsters and find out just what happend and how they just fit in the bigger picture. This could either add another World like the Realm of the Shadowcreatures or expands both the SW and RoG worlds with new Items recipes and monsters mostly in relation to the Sanity mechanic as even today it's still only a bit annoying but never something i really worry about and an Expansion completly centerd about it could be very interesting.

[MoloMan]

50 minutes ago, Mr.P said:

As for another expansion i want to explore the macabre a bit more the unseen the Eldritch so to speak. Basicly an expansion focused on the Shadowscreatures since even nowadays they are still a big mistery to us and all we really know is what Maxwell has to tell about them so i would really love to dive a bit more into the Realms of the Shadowmonsters and find out just what happend and how they just fit in the bigger picture. This could either add another World like the Realm of the Shadowcreatures or expands both the SW and RoG worlds with new Items recipes and monsters mostly in relation to the Sanity mechanic as even today it's still only a bit annoying but never something i really worry about and an Expansion completly centerd about it could be very interesting.

THIS is probably going to be Don't starve the FINALE or something. The reason being is that the shadow creatures is what brought Maxwell into this world. THEY are the ones controlling it. It would be AMAZING to have this be the finale where you actually get to see who they are and why they are doing this. What are their motives? Is there a leader? Can you get out of the world? These are really interesting questions that we all want to get awnsers to. I'm just wondering if we should make this expansion now or if we should wait until DST is finished. Maybe an expansion for DST? Because that would be following the storyline perfectly.

[PhelsarusBeel]

30 minutes ago, MoloMan said:

THIS is probably going to be Don't starve the FINALE or something. The reason being is that the shadow creatures is what brought Maxwell into this world. THEY are the ones controlling it. It would be AMAZING to have this be the finale where you actually get to see who they are and why they are doing this. What are their motives? Is there a leader? Can you get out of the world? These are really interesting questions that we all want to get awnsers to. I'm just wondering if we should make this expansion now or if we should wait until DST is finished. Maybe an expansion for DST? Because that would be following the storyline perfectly.

There are a lot of reasons why this can't really be the finale as well as it being something DST exclusive and here is why.

- It has to be Standalone meaning that you can't expect people to own RoG or SW because SW works under the same conditions (you don't need RoG to play SW and vice versa)

- It can't be DST exclusive because Don't Starve itself has been build as a Singleplayer game first and MP was just and afterthought when the SP content was fully fledged out so making what is considerd the finale DST exclusive would be a major slap to the face of the people that only play the SP component.

- You can't have items exclusive to specific Worlds for example you can't make items that require items from SW or RoG

So in short it has to be something i can use even if i don't own any expansion nor should it be MP exclusive to not piss of the people that only play the SP component (at least something this substantial to the gamelore).

Otherwise however there is nothing wrong on making it lategame stuff like expanding further on the Ruins and the Sanity system although i feel like it should also add some slight earlygame stuff like maybe even give you a reason to go insane early on.

[soggynachos]

24 minutes ago, Mr.P said:

Sanity system although i feel like it should also add some slight earlygame stuff like maybe even give you a reason to go insane early on.

I myself like to have a dark sword before my first winter, but maybe I'm weird that way.

[PhelsarusBeel]

Just now, SoggyNachos said:

I myself like to have a dark sword before my first winter, but maybe I'm weird that way.

I guess you slaughter a lot of Clockworks then? Cause otherwise i can't see a way to get a Purple Gem this early and then the RNG with the Treeguard spawn to get all those Living Logs ehhh the only easy part is the Nightmare fuel cause at max you need 3 pieces if you find a Touchstone early (hammering the Pigheads during a fullmoon makes them drop Nightmarefuel something i didn't knew until recently).

I was more thiking along the lines of having Nightmarefuel items in the Prehastinatortier or maybe even a new Machine that focuses more on Nightmarerelated recipes but again only a slight idea.

[soggynachos]

12 minutes ago, Mr.P said:

I guess you slaughter a lot of Clockworks then? Cause otherwise i can't see a way to get a Purple Gem this early and then the RNG with the Treeguard spawn to get all those Living Logs ehhh the only easy part is the Nightmare fuel cause at max you need 3 pieces if you find a Touchstone early (hammering the Pigheads during a fullmoon makes them drop Nightmarefuel something i didn't knew until recently).

I was more thiking along the lines of having Nightmarefuel items in the Prehastinatortier or maybe even a new Machine that focuses more on Nightmarerelated recipes but again only a slight idea.

Totally Normal Trees do spawn occasionally so that helps with the logs, and Birchnut Guards spawn more frequently then normal tree guards :).

i agree with the more-magic thing.

[Tulingu]

I've always been interested in DS lore, artwork and animations and hope there will be more of that in the future. Knowing more about the characters and the world gives a whole new depth to the game. If Klei simply slapped DS on us without any info whatsoever I doubt the game would be as popular as today.

[Unsound Mind]

I agree with the idea of getting more lore to the game. While expansions are fun, there's only so much you can add. While I love that the Klei has left a lot of things open-ended, a story that's too vague isn't very effective. To be honest, the main reason I've stuck around for so long isn't because of the game expansions, but because of the characters and the hope that one day I'll get an answer to the mystery surrounding the game. I think that there's some serious potential here for making an amazing game even more amazing.

[TheKingofSquirrels]

PASS BOATS TO DS. PASS BOATS TO DS. PASS BOATS TO DS.

[MoloMan]

2 hours ago, TheKingofSquirrels said:

PASS BOATS TO DS. PASS BOATS TO DS. PASS BOATS TO DS.

Why though?

[TheKingofSquirrels]

On 10/03/2016 at 3:46 PM, MoloMan said:

Why though?

Um...Cause it would be fun?

[An Artifact]

Now that quite a bit of time has passed since the release of RoG, I can safely say that one aspect of it that I really don't like is the way they handled summer. The way to deal with it is basically the same as winter, just more resource-intensive and difficult, plus the additional danger of everything you built up being swept away unless you spend a lot of resources on building a bunch of flingomatics around your base. So it's just a carbon copy of the winter mechanics + a bunch of fire. So that is an example of what I DON'T want out of expansions.

I think Shipwrecked did the whole season thing a bit better; the dangers the new seasons introduce are more dynamic and less frustrating and boring to deal with; I'm especially fond of the storms in hurricane season. The flooding during monsoon season disabling your structures is also a more interesting way of cutting you off from your base without putting that constant pressure of losing it forever on you, like how summer in base RoG does it. And the threat of the volcano erupting, while being more destructive than wildfires ever could be, actually encourages you to leave your base and do something about it, making it a lot more active. And while there are some aspects of Shipwrecked that I'm not a huge fan of right now, like how kind of bland the characters are and how awkward and boring combat on the sea is as of yet, overall it is a great example on how to do DLC. Even the things that are just copies of the main game, like crabs being basically bunnies, whales being just aquatic koalefants and the like, there are enough little variations and twists on the formula to make it different and fresh.

So even though I might sound a bit critical, at the end of the day I'm a big fan of both RoG and SW. Both added a lot to the game and I wouldn't want to miss out on either one of them. For future expansions, something I would really like to see are some more endgame challenges and item rewards, in a similar fashion to the things you can get in the Ruins. Maybe a bit more powerful and convenient than most of the things you get in the Ruins though, most of these magic items break a bit too easily if you ask me. Thematically, I would find it interesting to maybe explore the homeland of the MacTusks, ergo going further north into the twisted polar lands. Exploring the oceans was one of my biggest requests before SW, and well, that's kind of a thing now, though maybe not in the way I envisioned before, but still, it scratches that particular itch quite adequately. Besides that, some more lore on the shadow creatures and stuff along those lines would always be appreciated.

[MoloMan]

1 hour ago, TheKingofSquirrels said:

Um...Cause it would be fun?

Having one large island with water all around it with no other islands to explore? Why would you want boats? To "have fun"? I'd rather have them work on more bug fixes and large expansions than that.

[Michi01]

Concerning the whole "learning more about the shadow creatures and lore" thing, consider this: Being able to go even deeper than the ruins and finding out what is going on down there with all the shadow creatures and nightmare fuel. I mean whatever is down there might be connected to all the lore stuff...