My thoughts as the game stands


Recommended Posts

My game just crashed after a 30-something day game. I have some thoughts on balance, and on flaws in the game, organized under a few headlines:

CLICKING

[*]I constantly get annoyed at the fidgitiness of clicking. This happens on a number of occasions:

[*]When harvesting, then planting, I will very often end up harvesting then eating, because of the way Wilson stands when harvesting. The same thing happens when setting a trap, then baiting it, when cooking meat and when feeding pigs two times in a row (to aqcuire manure). The solution could be to only make Wilson eat when you right click in the inventory. Another solution could be to make Wilson stand more to the side of something when interacting with it.

[*]I very often end up dropping things instead of using them. This might happen when I "Give" something to a pig, and it moves before I give it anything (is this intended behavior? I might assume I should be getting an error message: "It's not there any more"). I believe I've also lost a whole bunch of carrots because I tried to bait a trap, but missed by a little bit. The solution might be to only drop things on a right click and activate things on a left click, or vice versa. At the same time, I would distinguish between "dropping" and "setting" a trap, so you can store unset traps.

[*]

ITEMS

[*]I would like to have a chest. A place to store things so they don't just lie about the place, and so I'm not afraid to leave food lying around. Maybe an item for some plank and some stone - or maybe some flint instead.

[*]I am looking forward to seeing some more items using the Refined versions of resources. I don't feel like I'm using them so much at the moment.

[*]I hope there will be a use for the random things one can dig up from graves? At the moment, it seems rather pointless to start digging. Or maybe I just haven't been digging enough...

[*]On the same note: Do the graves reset after a while? If not, I think they reset when you resume the game. This seems a bit odd.

[*]

DIFFICULTY AND PACING

[*]The difficulty of the game seems to start out steep, then mellow out a whole bit. Once you have a couple of (magic) farms and a fire pit, you can keep playing with very little effort. After ten or so days, I felt like I was housekeeping, more than playing a game, and I really needed to challenge myself to go explore. But I could easily have kept playing where I was for a few hundred days, I think, without ever doing anything except minding my daily business.

[*]The days almost seems too peaceful compared to the night. If I can stay near a fire at night and only go out during the day, I am never in danger. I might still starve, of course. This adds to the above: when I can always spend the night sitting at a fire, I'm never in danger. Maybe allow one spider per nest to be out during the daytime, close to the nest?

[*]There is a long term issue in that, with the amount of things available for purchase at the science machine, every game is a little easier. Maybe some of the things require unlocks every time you want them? A basic farm unlocks the intermediate which unlocks the magic farm, for instance.

[*]One way to do pacing would be to build the map with that in mind: have an area with some basic resources around the starting area, then having more resource rich, but also dangerous, areas a little further away. That way, you would be able to get a start on the game without dying, but be prompted to move further and further away.

FARMING

[*]Works pretty well. Seems the different crops have good growing times compared to each other.

[*]On the other hand, I'm not sure the pricing is right. The magic farms are perhaps on the cheap side, particularly because you'll (I'll) quickly be going out mining to get flint and gold. Stone becomes a resource that is in plenty, unlike wood, which is needed for fires. I know it costs gold as well, but...

[*]It pains me to say, but getting manure for flowers might be too cheap. Flowers are plentyful, quick to pick and only gives you health. This means that it's not a big issue to pick 12-24 and feed them to a village of pigs to gain enough manure for two magic farms or three basic. Maybe require a kind of food that gives fullness? On the other hand, there's very little to use flower petals for... but still.

[*]

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this game - I hope we will Soon see some story, achievements or other "things to do" apart from surviving.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • MOTD

First off, huge thanks for taking the time to document your feedback on Don't Starve.

As new items and features are released, we hope to address a lot of the points you made. I'm going to do my best to address each of them below. If you have other questions or feedback, let me know!

CLICKING

Recently, I accidentally hit a Beefalo in the face with an Axe while I was chopping down a tree. Needless to say that ended poorly for Wilson and I. We are actively working on User Interface and clicking mechanics. Recently we just released AWSD walking controls for those who don't want to click to walk. We'll keep refining the player interaction logic, and your specific feedback really helps us focus those efforts! Any suggestions for improvements to interactivity and UI we really appreciate.

ITEMS

Your suggestion for a chest or some kind of stationary item storage is spot on. In fact, I'll go ahead and spill the beans on the fact we've been planning a "chest" object for Wilson for a little while now. One will be coming very Soon.

Also, currently players have an "expanded" inventory by default. We've discussed making this an unlockable feature through crafting and item, like a back pack or something.

As new items, science, materials, and features roll out, item storage and Wilson's ability to manage his inventory will be evolving. Also, expect to use a lot more refined materials down the road.

There are some uses for the "random" stuff that pops up right now. In the future, you could expect some of those random treasures and trinkets to be required for advanced science and items.

Regarding the graves, they should not reset. If they are, we'll look into that haha.

DIFFICULTY AND PACING

We've been focusing on the very early essential game mechanics. So, yes the "end game" in its current state a lot of holes. But this will be changing as new items and features are rolled out. More coming Soon :)

FARMING

The current farming system is very basic. We'll be tuning the food economy over time with upcoming builds. Also, flowers will be given other uses in upcoming builds.

Again, thanks for this awesome feedback. These types of comments really help us out! More updates coming Soon :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with the points of the thread starter and can only add:Creating many of the same item is very tedious. There could be a mechanic like a queue, plus the items should go to the inventory directly, where appropriate, i. e. if there is a free slot or an existing stack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Corey: Thank you for your response - I knew when I posted this that a lot of it would be forthcoming. I'm looking forward to seeing more content, and I'm glad to help you.The graves do indeed seem to reset upon load. Having to unlock more inventory might be good. I WOULD say that the first level(s) should be relatively easily attainable: you quickly run out of space in your inventoryThjalfi: I agree, at least with your last point: When I craft stackable items that I already have a stack of, there is no reason for it not to go directly to the stack.Another point: when I select a stack from inventory, then put it back in my inventory, the game makes the "you can make new items" sound. I would prefer it if that sound was only made when I actually added new stuff to my inventory.Oh, by the way: should traps be stackable or not? At one point, I tried stacking two traps. But when I tried setting the traps, it set them both and released them both at the same time, giving me only one catch.

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