Eccentric wilderness survival game Don’t Starve has eyes for PS4

Very recently we decided to throw our lot in with PS4, and announced that our new game, Don’t Starve, is coming to the platform. If you haven’t heard about Don’t Starve, it’s an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic.

You play as Wilson, an intrepid Gentleman Scientist who has been trapped by a demon and transported to a mysterious wilderness world. Living in a randomly generated world, Wilson must learn to exploit his environment and its inhabitants if he ever hopes to escape.

Basically, you try not to die, but you will. A lot. Here’s our trailer:

Don’t Starve was created to bend the rules of engagement. How do we build a game that focuses entirely on creating intrinsically rewarding gameplay? That is, rather than the game giving the player external (extrinsic) rewards, such as loot, levels, points and trophies, the fun part of the game is simply the experience and the challenge of playing it?

We wrote about intrinsic rewards early on in development, and the results were rather surprising. Over a period of nine months we worked with our community to develop and balance the game, updating Don’t Starve constantly. We’re now working hard to bring the experience to console, and if the logistics allow, we’d love to do the same on the PS4 once it’s launched.

Right now, our challenge is to implement a great interface for the PS4 controller. Some things, like movement and combat, are straightforward and arguably better on the controller than on the mouse, while others, like inventory management, are going to need some serious thought. We’ve already got a rudimentary system up and running, and it’s just great to be able to control Wilson with analogue sticks.

Don’t Starve is a labour of love for our studio, inspiring us to create pieces like the following. Can you find the hidden message inside?

If you’d like to know more about our development, join us in our bustling community forums, or follow us @klei. I’ll be posting here again as Don’t Starve for the PS4 develops. Later!