Don't Starve DLC - Reign of Giants

[Taleric]

For speculation and eventual discussion on the recently announced DS DLC.

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/top ... of-giants/

I put some time back into DS after this announcement and the caves/ruins have been adjusted to feel much better. This game is still just good fun.

Hopefully the systems and challenges added are new mechanics and not retextures. Additional characters are always fun to master as well :)

Edit: Title fix, sry

[EpicAaron]

It seems developers are willing to throw anything into beta releases these days, even DLC. I'm not very excited about this given that they seem very bent on taking community feedback, and recent additions haven't been all that fabulous.

[Noodlerex]

Don't starve came out of Beta a while ago man.

[FlowerChild]

Don't starve came out of Beta a while ago man.

Yes, but the DLC itself is going through a public beta you can buy into, which I believe is what he is referring to.

[Taleric]

I am comfortable with the DLC being beta to get feedback. The game has survived the process just fine without going soft and weak ala Starbound. In fact I would say caves and ruins ended up more difficult then at any time in the process.

With the laundry list of games that have pandered to the masses I feel DS has proven dedication to balanced play.

[FlowerChild]

I am comfortable with the DLC being beta to get feedback. The game has survived the process just fine without going soft and weak ala Starbound. In fact I would say caves and ruins ended up more difficult then at any time in the process.

But did they ever wind up with a purpose?

My impression is that caves basically killed the community for the game, and it's the point where most people lost interest, even if they didn't attribute it to caves themselves. IMO, they represented pandering to the "more stuff!" masses, without any solid design justification as to why that stuff should actually be in the game.

It's been months mind you since I booted up DS (caves killed my interest ;) ), so I haven't played with them much myself recently, but I was still following the forums, and as the final release approach the complaints about caves only seemed to become more prominent.

So yeah, to my mind, Klei's responsiveness to feedback did indeed have a negative effect on the game in the end.

[Taleric]

Just speculation, I always interpreted caves as a source of renewable rocks.

The caves were a mess in development. So much time given to the wall issues. I can not disagree they felt off and are not even a part of adventure mode.

Now that the community upheaval has blown over and caves have been corrected they are a pleaent addition for the following:
-hostility ramped up to prevent early exploitation and maintain risk/reward
-rocks/gems
-nocturnal "pigs"
-burrowing aggressive mob mechanic
-new lighting mechanic
-late game gear at pearl of exploration

I have no justification for cave addition when DS is evaluated as a whole. Just hope the resent transgressions can be overlooked so the corrected game can be enjoyed :(

[FlowerChild]

If renewable rocks were the goal, they went way out of control in providing a source of them. I could probably name a dozen ideas off the top of my head for providing that in the late game which would have required a fraction of the work.

The rest of the stuff you listed all feels extraneous to me and like it isn't actually part of the game. I used to really admire how tight the design was on DS where almost everything had a gameplay purpose (or had the inherent promise of that purpose in later updates). When they added caves, that was no longer the case, and personally, I blame pandering to the community for that one. For awhile, I had some small hope that what I perceived as a big design gaff had some hidden explanation to it that would eventually become clear, but that never turned out to be the case.

Prior to that, I also found there was a slow whittling down of the difficulty based on community whining, like how all those pig altars got thrown into the game in latter versions because people complained they were dying too much.

So yeah, overall, if they're going to work on DLC, I'd personally prefer they leave the community out of it and just go off and design something solid on their own.

[Taleric]

Damn all true, cave features are largely redundate or extraneous.

My optimism can not overlook the impact of community input.

Oh well :( there is always the long shot, too bad.

[FlowerChild]

Well, don't get me wrong: I still love Don't Starve, and I really hope they manage to pull a rabbit out of their ass here.

It's just that given my trade, I'm fairly committed to making sure that I try and look at development processes objectively and not let my own hopes interfere with my judgement on them.

I know that makes me sound like a pessimist many times and puts a damper on the "oh! Shiny!" factor that these kinds of announcements would otherwise generate :)

[Taleric]

I picked the beta up for $3.99, very fair price.

Still have another 1/2 of the content to be added but woah! Very good challenge!

Spoiler

Show

I jumped in starting a new world and initially found little new. Somewhat disappointed I checked the two new biomes and few creatures/items, neat.

Then winter and snow began! Wow! I was prepping heavy for summer worried about the heat but winter and being wet is kicking my butt! I got lucky with my prep like I said and got a good drop (tam and tooth) from walrus; still I have to use the tent and every trick I know.

I have a game plan for summer and saved a ton of ice being over cautious. I am going to try desperately this summer to get tentacle spots an devise a way to deal with the wet.

Oh heat stone is nerfed too :P so fun!

I might actually look into caves as a respite!

[DBORGERTH]

(New on the foruns) well i love the game but they wasted too many time in the caves and dunping walls (the cave ones), that effort could be bug fixes since there are still lots of bugs.

[Taleric]

Well there goes that strategy :D

Spoiler

Show

"I just implemented this. Rabbits and moles perish similarly to food. You can reset their perish timer by feeding them something they'd normally eat. I'm interested to see how this plays."

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/top ... /?p=424481

[Taleric]

Lots of great undisclosed stuff in this update :)

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/top ... -2nd-2014/

Time to go find those giants and figure the webber unlock.