Suggestion: Dedicated Caves Characters

[kiwishrew]

I believe it would be super-awesome if one or two characters that can more effectively utilise the caves, were introduced into the mix for the sake variety. I think being given the option to attempt a reliable caves play-through with less emphasis on the surface world, would make for an interesting and unique take on the original Don't Starve Experience. I'm sure this kind of thing has been suggested before, and I'm willing to bet there will be reasons for this not being a good idea. Either way, these are just some suggestions for Cave's Characters off the top of my head. I hope one day we'll see the caves worked on again, as they seem like a bit of a "glued-on" feature with the potential to be more.


"Whiskers", the Stunted Bunnyman
+Doesn't lose sanity in the caves (still does in the ruins)
+Can interact and communicate with Rabbits and Bunnymen (play-style oriented around creating a "bunny community", in much the same way Webber works with spiders)
-Cannot eat meat 

"Whelk", the Subterranean Throwback (Think similar to Gollum from tLotR, or a pale, skinny, and primitive humanoid)
+Gains sanity in the caves (still loses sanity in the ruins)
+Prefers raw fish and eels to normal foods
-Loses sanity quickly on the surface world (less in the evening, can still die from Charlie at night as usual)

"Woogle", the Overgrown Moleworm
+Doesn't lose sanity in the caves (still does in the ruins)
+Can hide underground (like moleworms do) to "de-aggro" some mobs (like the snurtle-shell/bush hat mechanic of hiding inside.)
+Can "smell", and then dig up special spots in the ground for minerals like gold, gems, stone, flint, trinkets (or sometimes enemies, similar to the message in bottle mechanic of Shipwrecked)
+Has night-vision
+Prefers minerals over normal foods (can still eat normal food), and can consume them like food (can create new, mineral based crockpot recipes)
-Rocklobsters and Slurtle/Snurtle's are hostile towards you (they compete for the same food sources)
-Cannot see at all on the surface world except in the evenings/at night
-Squishy (100HP/150 Hunger/150 Sanity)



Let me know what you think? Too broken? Too weak? Whether or not cave life is even necessary to the game? I'm all ears.
 

[KitcheVadimas]

Well, the sanity loss in the caves/ruins is caused by the constant night state.  I'd be impossible to implement without major code overhaul, separating night, caves, and ruins for causing sanity drop.  

I suppose these characters could be implemented if the jurry-rigged portal in the caves was used to spawn these specific characters in the caves instead of the overworld (but that would also be needlessly difficult to implement.)

Also, food in the caves is NOWHERE near as available as in the surface.  The only way to get a steady stream of food from caves alone is to mow down shadow monkeys, which is pretty dangerous depending on the size of the horde and your kit.  This would make Woogle the only possible character to play before late-game, as he can eat rocks.  

Whelk and Whiskers would have to spawn with some kind of light-giving item and a special fishing rod for Whelk.  Whiskers should also be able to craft some kind of cheaper rabbit hutch that doesn't need 10 carrots, and possibly some kind of cave-farm that farms fungi.

 

All in all, Wigfrid or Wendy can still outclass them as caves characters in their current forms as cave-crawlers, and have no penalty for being on the surface.  Even with the changes I suggest, I still think their outclassed by multiple of the default characters, possibly including Woodie.

[kiwishrew]

11 hours ago, KitcheVadimas said:

Well, the sanity loss in the caves/ruins is caused by the constant night state.  I'd be impossible to implement without major code overhaul, separating night, caves, and ruins for causing sanity drop.  

I suppose these characters could be implemented if the jurry-rigged portal in the caves was used to spawn these specific characters in the caves instead of the overworld (but that would also be needlessly difficult to implement.)

Also, food in the caves is NOWHERE near as available as in the surface.  The only way to get a steady stream of food from caves alone is to mow down shadow monkeys, which is pretty dangerous depending on the size of the horde and your kit.  This would make Woogle the only possible character to play before late-game, as he can eat rocks.  

Whelk and Whiskers would have to spawn with some kind of light-giving item and a special fishing rod for Whelk.  Whiskers should also be able to craft some kind of cheaper rabbit hutch that doesn't need 10 carrots, and possibly some kind of cave-farm that farms fungi.

 

All in all, Wigfrid or Wendy can still outclass them as caves characters in their current forms as cave-crawlers, and have no penalty for being on the surface.  Even with the changes I suggest, I still think their outclassed by multiple of the default characters, possibly including Woodie.

I had a feeling it would be a matter of technical difficulty. I just didn't know to what extent. So the caves sanity drop is just the same that is used for night-time sanity loss? That's a shame. I guess the only way anything like what I suggested could come into fruition, would be through revamping the caves with an improved source of food, and reworking the code for cave darkness so it was independent of generic night time sanity loss. But as you say, it would be a lot of work for introducing a couple of new characters that they are unlikely to be willing to do. Oh well. We can dream