I understand this is a new release and many have not even played this game yet, but I am asking those who participated in the beta I suppose. I am intrigued by the survival aspect of the game and the Tim Burtonesque style. I can imagine having fun for a few days or even a week trying to survive, but beyond immediate survival what do I do in this game? Is there a grand quest that opens up? Do I need to journey somewhere and find something? Im not sure I can stay interested if all I am doing day after day is gathering resources and then at night building a campfire. Anyone have any insight into this?

Yup. You can find a door that takes you to Adventure Mode. There you have to defeat six progressively harder worlds to beat the first "arc" of the game. Klei have implied additional adventure arcs will be added.

Great! Thanks for the reply. I think Ill pick this up then.

Yes. The door is randomly spawned so it can take a lot of time until you'll find it. If you have luck you'll find it fast but then eventually get killed by some guards. So you should do a little bit preparation, although you'll loose all your collected and crafted items after you have entered the door and the adventure mode.

What about my discovered scientific formulas?

Really? When I encountered it it wasn't guarded. As far as finding it, yeah. My recommendation is to make a save just for playing Adventure mode and then just searching for it till you find it. Took me around 7 in-game days? I believe it only spawns in biomes with trees, so you can ignore savanna, swamp, and quarry.

On Adventure: You bring no items or formulas. However, when you die in Adventure mode you return to outside of the door with all your Sandbox stuff, so you don't lose your Sandbox save.

OK, maybe it's also random if it's guarded or not. When I played the game it was always guarded by some monsters. :/

I think it depends on how many days have passed, if it is guarded or not.

I encountered it twice, one at 2 days (where it was not guarded) and one much later, with the guards.

Is there an ending associated with this? Or is this on hold until the "arcs" can be added? Are we talking game updates, or are we talking about a possible sequel?

There is an ending, but it's of the "first act, raising more questions" variety. We're talking updates.

I've had trouble just staying alive... It's such a big tail chase just keeping essentials stocked, and I take more damage building a healing salve than it heals. :-o

Oh well. This is 2013. I can check YouTube for the ending when they're done if I can't win myself. :)