In early 2011, Klei Entertainment began working on a little game that would go on to achieve outsized success: the single-player (at least intially) wilderness survival game Don’t Starve.

In a talk at GDC 2014, Klei’s Kevin Forbes related how the game was conceived in the studio’s inaugural game game jam, and developed differently from all of its previous console games. 

Having worked successfully with traditional publishers for previous console titles, Klei chose to experiment with a rapid development process on Don’t Starve that was tightly bound to (and thereby helped foster) a burgeoning community of fans for the game. 

Forbes went on to share what Klei learned from that experiment, and how fellow developers can apply those lessons to their own projects — especially those that seem potentially polarizing or chiefly appealing to niche audiences.

It was a good talk, and now you can watch the whole thing for free via the official GDC YouTube channel.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech