Lecture on the Development of Don't Starve and its Expansions

Introduction

Acknowledgment to F. Porcus and Meek Good for video assistance.
Year: 2010
Major concern in the game industry regarding the rise of free-to-play games (f2p).
Success stories like League of Legends (released in 2009) showed f2p games could be more profitable than paid titles.
Publishers were skeptical about indie games, thinking f2p models would dominate.

Clay founder Jamie Chen was aware of the changing market.
Decided to create a f2p game; team of four began working on it.
Origin traced to 2010's internal game jam at Clay.
Concept centered on a simple survival game around a campfire: kill Pigmen for meat but avoid starvation.
Initially, the project was Mayor of Pigtown, a f2p game with an adventure and city-building element.
Shifted from the city-building part due to gameplay dissociation.
Automation and world generation were introduced to save time.
Gradual shift to a darker, more challenging survival game concept.
Kevin's liking for roguelikes influenced gameplay, introducing permadeath.
Focus on making shortages and darkness critical survival threats.

Early testers struggled to understand the game, leading to tutorial attempts.
Tasks- oriented tutorial failed as players focused on checklist completion rather than game exploration.
Realization that extrinsic rewards demotivate self-motivated gameplay.
Game design shifted to balance guidance and open exploration.

New crafting system introduced to prevent resource wastage.
Introduced a tiered crafting progression to organically teach players.
Emphasis on visual and exploratory cues like shining gold and road paths.
Initial attempts at monetization (charging for hats and customizations) failed.
Decision to release as a paid game.
Early cold/browser-based release under tracked usage data via Olark feedback system.
Player interaction influenced in-game changes and updates.
Incrementally added community-suggested features: spears, backpacks, and more advanced crafting stations.

Classic Patches: spiders, goblers, minor hats, fishing poles, Krampus’s addition and subsequent nerfing, etc.
Introduction of meat spoil mechanics to prevent excessive stockpiling.
Significant bug-fixing and refining of the game.
Key items introduction like the tent, revamped research points system.
First updates (2012-2013): consistent bug fixes and subtle refinement additions.

Klei's expanded updates added substantial content: caves, updated characters, and adventure mode.
Clear duality in game focus: base-building/city simulation versus survival/adventure.
Hamlet update revived some earlier unused concepts, adding city-building and deep explorations.
Continual balancing and evolving community input.

Introduction of Don’t Starve Together (DST), a completely separate multiplayer version.
Key challenges in porting mechanics to multiplayer.
Development hurdles: networking issues, consensus on ghost mechanics, griefing controls, etc.
DST updated to include raid bosses ensuring group mechanics: Toad Stool, Fuel Weaver.
From Beyond update introduces buffed environments after boss progressions.

Emphasis on balancing guiding players without heavily directing them.
Hamlet and Together updates display iterative community-driven enhancements.
Flexibility in player approaches, such as relaxed game modes and evolving systems, like farming and crafting.
Continual introduction of new mechanics while considering player perspectives for balanced complexity.

Don’t Starve has evolved from an internal game jam idea to a complex game with multiple expansions and iterations.
Klei Entertainment's strong adherence to community feedback and underlying game principles secures its ongoing popularity.