First details on Don’t Starve: The Board Game, released on Kickstarter

Glaskanone Unpluggeda publisher that produces board game adaptations of video games such as Frostpunk, Dying LightAnd Apex Legendshas ambitious plans for its next crowdfunding project. This time, the Polish studio is devoting itself to Klei Entertainment’s breakthrough hit from the 2010s with Don’t Starve: The Board Game. But what does a roguelike survival game actually look like on the table? Polygon recently spoke with both creative teams about how the board game should relate to the original and what mechanics will help bring this physical object to life.

Don’t starve is a cross-platform third-person video game first released in 2013. In it, players take on the role of a wild-haired scientist named Wilson, who is trapped in a dark parallel dimension called “Constant.” They explore bizarre landscapes, craft weapons, tools and buildings, and prepare food in the hope of keeping Wilson alive and sane. Drawing on diverse influences such as Minecraft and Tim Burton films, the game has a steep learning curve, peppered with constant character deaths. But it has nonetheless developed an enthusiastic following, thanks in part to a rich narrative layer.

Don’t Starve: The Board Game is a highly modular design with many interlocking systems. The simplest is the map itself, which – like many of the game’s elements – features original artwork by Klei. Players explore this map in search of resources and eventually attempt to escape from it in the final turns of the game. The current build uses rectangular playing cards to represent different biomes, which are then laid out on a hexagonal grid to create the map. The result is a landmass with unique paths and chokepoints – the perfect environment for an exciting game of exploration.

Players control their characters from a sideboard that tracks their health, hunger, and sanity. They also have an inventory that includes items worn on the body, items held in the hands, and items stored in a small backpack. Like the video game, much of the gameplay revolves around looting biomes and fighting monsters, all in the hopes of gathering the resources needed to complete increasingly complex tasks and recipes.

“We wanted to Don’t Starve: The Board Game was actually the feeling of exploration,” explained lead designer Rafał Pieczyński. “Going into the unknown, exploring the area, having fun with friends, but sharing a bit of knowledge, a bit of discovery [between] the runs. With each individual game you learn something new, you get deeper into the story or [discover] the things that could happen.”

Image: Glass Cannon Unplugged and Klei Entertainment

One of Pieczyński’s innovations in this project is the combination of a linear campaign with a series of one-off scenarios. It is not a legacy-style game and nothing in the box is permanently changed or destroyed. But it can be carried over from game to game.

“You can play [it] as a campaign game or as a scenario-based game or both at the same time,” said Pieczyński. “It is quite [a] unique construct in this way. And the progress of the campaign is saved [between] Playthroughs [allowing players to] have a lasting impact on the world.”

According to Glass Cannon CEO Jakub Wiśniewski, the tabletop adaptation began as a themeless prototype – like most board games. The system was developed by a young designer named Natanel Apfel, who now works as a visual effects artist at Riot Games. Apfel’s core design, as well as revisions by current lead designer Pieczyński, who took over the project, eventually prevailed.

“Nate is an avid board game player,” said Wiśniewski. “He showed us a prototype and we thought, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s a really good survival game! Maybe we should think about something like that!'” Soon after, the team turned to 11 bit Studios, with whom they had previously worked on This War of Mine: The Board Game

“When we spoke,” said Wiśniewski, “[Klei] had already rejected many prototypes internally and externally.”

“Even from the early prototypes, there was obviously a lot of love and care put into the look and playability of the game,” said Corey Rollins, Head of Marketing at Klei. “They also explained to us their process for developing a tabletop game and it was very similar to the way Klei uses Early Access as a core part of our DNA. […] Working with Glass Cannon seemed more natural.”

In a campaign, players can carry over the resources, recipes, and even some of the things they’ve crafted from game to game. Just like in the video game, crafting options are unlocked and expanded over time, allowing for new short-term goals and allowing the larger narrative to develop. But players must always pay close attention to those three core stats of health, hunger, and sanity (they may not start each game quite as healthy or sane as they’d like to be).

Image: Glass Cannon Unplugged and Klei Entertainment

As in any good survival game, hunger is perhaps the most important stat of all. With a full stomach, players receive more focus tokens that can be used to reroll dice. Focus tokens can turn the tide of the game’s dice-based combat.

All this means that, like many other Glass Cannon projects, Don’t Starve: The Board Game is a fairly literal interpretation of the action found in video games. This design ethos has been both a blessing and a burden for this team in the past. For example, in Polygon’s review of This War of Mine: The Board Gamea title co-created by Wiśniewski, CEO of Glass Canon, we found it was quite difficult to sell it to those who had not played the original – or to those who already owned the original and could play this instead. The same goes for Frostpunk: The Board Gamealthough this title seems to have been much better received by consumers.

Wiśniewski says that this time his team Don’t Starve: The Board Game This is aimed more at board gamers than video gamers.

“Don’t starve is an incredible work of art because the game overlaps on so many levels,” said Wiśniewski. “Not just the art, the music, but also the design, the story, how it is hidden, how they handle every odd detail. Leaving out some aspects would […] doesn’t do it justice. So we’d rather do extra work and think about how we can serve it on a more digestible plate than leave things out and leave things out.”

“The nice thing for me is that many people who have seen the game feel like it’s a literal adaptation of the game, but it’s amazing that the game itself isn’t that difficult to play, despite the simplified rules,” Pieczyński said.

Don’t Starve: The Board Game will be coming to Kickstarter for its first round of funding this fall, with the current goal of shipping the game by Q4 2025. The team also tells Polygon that at least seven languages ​​will be available at launch, including English, German, French, Polish, Spanish, Italian, and Czech. Pricing has not yet been set.