Achievements?

[Syd]

Looks like my post was eaten in the thread merger, so I'll repost what I had said:

Just based on Klei's thoughts about quest systems (when you think about it, most achievements are pretty similar to quests) and from what I've heard from them before, achievements seem like an unlikely addition. The most I recall hearing on the subject is them saying that if they can find a way to work in some truly meaningful achievements that aren't crap like "kill 10 spiders", they might put them in.

Personal stats seem to be something that would be more likely to happen, though.

[TGS]

The short version is, the devs looked at old studies on how behavior works. Giving a reward for accomplishments like candy for drawing art, makes the person less likely to draw on their own for fun. They figure doing this will make people less likely to go out and do their own neat things, and eventually lose interest.

Thank god this game has such good devs. In my opinion, an achievement system is lazy game design to artificially prolong play time and for me it's on the same level as DLCs or FPSs were you regenerate your health by ducking behind a cover. I really love Don't Starve for being more like a SNES game that has it's own charm, a unique style and leaves room for imagination in contrast to a lot of these fancy graphic, soulless games that are all over the place now.Rather add real challenges like new hard mobs, instead of adding fake ones like achievements.But that, of course, is just my humble opinion and I never liked achievements and probably never will.

[<Witty Name>]

Thank god this game has such good devs. In my opinion, an achievement system is lazy game design to artificially prolong play time and for me it's on the same level as DLCs or FPSs were you regenerate your health by ducking behind a cover. I really love Don't Starve for being more like a SNES game that has it's own charm, a unique style and leaves room for imagination in contrast to a lot of these fancy graphic, soulless games that are all over the place now.Rather add real challenges like new hard mobs, instead of adding fake ones like achievements.But that, of course, is just my humble opinion and I never liked achievements and probably never will.

Agreed. Achievements feel artificial and forced- they're just arbitrary checkpoints that randomly pop up on your screen and congratulate you for collecting 100 pebbles.

[Chromalisk]

Achievements are lame, it would cheapen the game.

[Oatmeal]

Agreed. Achievements feel artificial and forced- they're just arbitrary checkpoints that randomly pop up on your screen and congratulate you for collecting 100 pebbles.

Or! You can have it like that game "Achievement Unlocked!" where every mundane thing you do is an achievement.Go Left = Achievement!Go Right = Achievement!Jump! = Achievement!That game was stupidly awesome. Just one giant joke that was making a point about achievements.

[witekgreg]

Ok, the game is now done, so imo it is right time to give us Steam Achievements ;)Dont Starve needs it!For Chrome users could be in-game achievement system

[asdfghjjkl]

I think they could do what minecraft did, which is just have some absurd achievements meant to be fun, such as....Pyro: Burn a mob to deathDemolition: Destroy 5 structures using gunpowderCivil war: Get 3 of the same type of animal to kill each otheretc, nothing challenging, just fun stuffs

[Wondervice]

I think they could do what minecraft did, which is just have some absurd achievements meant to be fun, such as....Pyro: Burn a mob to deathDemolition: Destroy 5 structures using gunpowderCivil war: Get 3 of the same type of animal to kill each otheretc, nothing challenging, just fun stuffs

I agree. The reason a lot of people hate achievments is because a lot of games misinterpret them as something they must give to the player.Bad achievments are those that the player should do anyway and have their own rewards in-game. Then it implies that the thing you do is not good enough without an arbitrary reward. I.e.: Not afraid of the dark - Survive your first nightGood achievements are those that take extra planning an effort on your part to get, maybe they are even counterproductive to your goals - therefore they open up new challenges for you. I.e.: A dedicated follower of fashion - Have every pig in your world wear a hat.

[DwerBomb]

Support: I love achievements!Also those achievements should be implemented:-Unbrace yourself... -survive the winter-Wes is not a problem! -survive 50 days with Wes-Masterchef -Fail 10 crook pot's recipes (make 10 wet goop)

Edited April 23, 2013 by DwerBomb

[rok]

Or! You can have it like that game "Achievement Unlocked!" where every mundane thing you do is an achievement.Go Left = Achievement!Go Right = Achievement!Jump! = Achievement!That game was stupidly awesome. Just one giant joke that was making a point about achievements.

achievements are games within in game. achievements are like a game in a sense that if they are not thought out or clever, they will be pointless.easy achievements = pointlessunattainable achievements = pointless (meaning, you miss lead the player into believing they are attainable and force them to waste time trying to get them.)achievements that feel like a chore = pointless (eg. collecting a certain amount of an item that is easy to find)so obviously achievements need to be well thought out and a challenge to get.games are about competition and goals. if there was a game that was made with only one level. how long will people replay the game until they are bored of it. most people will probably only play through the game once. some people who liked the gameplay may play a couple of times. but after that what is left to keep them playing? high scores, leaderboards, stats and achievements/goals.if everyone who played dont starve was not allowed to talk about their experience in the game. how long would they play for? you want to be able to compare how long you survived with other players. achievements are just a way of doing that. and also give you a sense of accomplishment. if there were achievements for 1 day, 10 days, 50 days, 100 days (if attainable), 500 days (if attainable), i would attempt to survive for longer periods. well thought out achievements tell me how far i should be pushing my self in the game. achievements tell me when the game has ended. and leader boards would allow me to compare my survival to other players and try harder.i saw the article were the devs said that people stopped playing the game after they got the achievements. well i have stopped playing the game. i have started a game and died. after that, what is to be achieved from this game? i have finished the game. when you die, you have completed the game. unless something tells me otherwise...i feel like a have been ripped off in some way. without competition or goals, i do not see a point to continue to play once you have played a few times.and for people that dont like achievements and dont try to get achievements or feel the need to compete in leaderboards. i dont see how adding achievements would ruin your gameplay. just continue playing how you are. your gameplay would be unaffected. so arguing to not have achievements, when you dont like achievements or attempt to get achievements, seems pointless.

[Palpetinus]

games are about competition and goals.

I stopped right there.

They are NOT just for competition and goals.

I play game for the ambiance and to relax mostly. I don't play Don't Starve to feel awesome after killing 500 spider queens, or making it to day 1000. I play Don't Starve because i like the music, i like the artwork and i just enjoy my time playing it.

Plus, if the archievements were easy enough like "Survive 500 days" it would just be a chore again. Because i totally know i could do that, but i would have to grind again and again to actually archieve it. A "Survive 500 days" archievement would just be "Yay, i grinded long enough so that the game now sais 500 instead of 50!"

Edited April 25, 2013 by Palpetinus

[rok]

I stopped right there.

They are NOT just for competition and goals.

I play game for the ambiance and to relax mostly. I don't play Don't Starve to feel awesome after killing 500 spider queens, or making it to day 1000. I play Don't Starve because i like the music, i like the artwork and i just enjoy my time playing it.

Plus, if the archievements were easy enough like "Survive 500 days" it would just be a chore again. Because i totally know i could do that, but i would have to grind again and again to actually archieve it. A "Survive 500 days" archievement would just be "Yay, i grinded long enough so that the game now sais 500 instead of 50!"

continue playing the way you are, adding achievements would not affect your gameplay.

but adding achievements or leader boards would enhance game play for different types of players.

[Palpetinus]

continue playing the way you are, adding achievements would not affect your gameplay.

but adding achievements or leader boards would enhance game play for different types of players.

The bad thing is, everytime i would see the archievements that is doable i would feed a certain pressure, like i have to do that because it's just easy to do. But it's boring. So my own ego would force me to do something boring. It's complicated, but i had it in other games.

[tehMugwump]

The only time I did achievements in Minecraft was when I ran out of everything else to do. (not that I disagree with the OP) A type of 'leader board' would be way cool for things like ' Number of spider queens killed with an axe' and 'number of killer bees spawned'.

[Plantigros]

Stats could be great to keep a trace of what you have accomplished. It can be very short with for example just a board with the best scores in surviving. That's not hard to implement and it helps see also your progression. Also, if you are several people playing on the same computer with the same game, it can be great to compare your results. You can as well permit the comparison with your steam friends etc.For the steam achievements, even if I understand that the achievements may cause people to find the game not fun, you can do it in a proper way to prevent this effect.1°) Don't do stupid achievements. Simple ideas like the ones given at first can be sufficient. (Other ideas : survive 100 days in a unique game, survive the winter, eat every type of vegetables in a unique game, etc etc)2°) Make them hidden for the players who haven't unlocked them ! You don't want to spoil nor to incite people on doing things they haven't thought about.3°) Achievements are a good way of keeping a trace of what you've accomplished. Plus it's also interesting to see the stats on achievements and compare with the average player. Btw, it's also a trace for the developper to see if something they thought possible is not or just too difficult to reach.4°) I know a lot of people (me being the first) to love achievements just because when you spent like 50h on a game, you want to play but sometimes you just don't know what to go, having achievements gives you goals to reach ! Achievements shouldn't be too difficult nor too easy. It needs balance like any other feature of a game !