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Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

polygon.com

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Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#71

Post by stcredzero »

aresant wrote: post #9

Three points of interest: 1) Full developer announcement on their Patreon page -> https://www.patreon.com/posts/25343688 2) They are putting on steam largely because of the USA's shit healthcare system "after Zach's latest cancer scare, we determined that with my healthcare plan's copay etc., I'd be wiped out if I had to undergo the same procedures . . " 3) Cool to see that they are going to use graphics built by two…

2) They are putting on steam largely because of the USA's shit healthcare system

I know both sides of this. Obamacare was truly a boon to me when I was an "independent consultant." We in the USA need to value our liberty. But if you want people to value liberty, you first have to keep them safe from Kafkaesque nightmares which involve their bodies not working correctly and not getting fixed. Basically, it works just like hunger.

In particular, in the present day US, the societal cohorts which create media seem to be comprised of 1) out of touch left-leaning upper class people or 2) people with so few resources they are at risk. Together, they form a larger faction. This is a recipe for a society that stops tells itself it wants freedom and changes into a society that wants to take care of people. (1 are people who identify as those doing the taking care of, and 2 are people who would be taken care of.)

If you want people who appreciate and take care of their freedom, you have to make sure they're not hungry and sick. History shows us this clearly.

http://smbc-comics.com/comic/healthcare

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#72

Post by kevindqc »

drak0n1c wrote: post #49
novok wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since they live around Seattle, maybe they should consider immigrating a few hundred miles north to Canada? They might qualify under the self-employed artist category? https://www.settler.ca/english/immigration-to-canada-for-art...

If you are able to pay, American healthcare can be higher quality and more timely than Canadian care. Especially the hospitals and doctors in and around Seattle. That's why wealthy Canadians come to the US for some treatments. The hope is that they earn enough from the Steam royalties (which should happen given the popular rumor and storytelling around the game among gamers). Also, Canada has medical requirements and…

I'm pretty sure the wealthiest go to the US because they have some of the best doctors, and they can afford to pay for it?

There are private clinics here if you have money and don't want to wait, but of course it doesn't cover very specialized things. When I wanted to see a dermatologist, I would have had to wait 1-2 months for my first appointment in the public sector. I went to a private clinic and paid 200$ (plus like 75$ each subsequent visits) and was seen in 2 days.

If you have a life-threatening condition, you're not gonna wait months. If they can't do the operation in Canada because of whatever is lacking (including equipment or personnel), they can send you to the US and the government will pay for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Canada#Canadians...

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#73

Post by jszymborski »

drak0n1c wrote: post #49
novok wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since they live around Seattle, maybe they should consider immigrating a few hundred miles north to Canada? They might qualify under the self-employed artist category? https://www.settler.ca/english/immigration-to-canada-for-art...

If you are able to pay, American healthcare can be higher quality and more timely than Canadian care. Especially the hospitals and doctors in and around Seattle. That's why wealthy Canadians come to the US for some treatments. The hope is that they earn enough from the Steam royalties (which should happen given the popular rumor and storytelling around the game among gamers). Also, Canada has medical requirements and…

You're neglecting the fact that the incentive system in the US is reversed, such that patients are more likely to receive more unnecessary surgeries and have extended hospital stays, both which is dangerous to patients [0].

Also, wealthy persons will travel to a foreign country if that country is like to have a "world-leading" specialist in a certain surgery. Sometimes this place is the US, sometimes it's Canada, sometimes it's the EU.

Furthermore, if you want private care in Canada, you can receive it. I'm not sure any of your points make sense in light of the above.

[0] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11/overkill-atul-...

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#74

Post by avereveard »

chobeat wrote: post #21
joshstrange wrote: post #12

I've never been able to get into DF but I would suggest people check out RimWorld. I've heard it described as "Dwarf Fortress is Rimworld for people who hate fun" [0] and people often draw parallels between the two [1]. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/7dm7j8/how_does_r... [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/6xeie3/coming_ove...

Rimworld is kinda lame if you've played DF. They are not even comparable.

how so? the production chain is almost as deep. the damage model it's close in detail, and it's not terribly broken (whips anyone?) which should count as far as features go. you can actually caravan, explore people and exterminate faction without being restricted into adventure mode. and when you ask a neighbor for something in the caravan, you get what you asked. weather and climate is much more prominent, including more dangerous event like dry thunderstorm; the storyteller driven game is also quite ahead of seasonal invaders. husbandry is about the same and farming has terrain and light modifiers.

as far as game mechanics go rimworld lack building on multiple z levels and fluids.

and then you have gnomoria....

the real differentiation is the depth world history that df has that's quite unique.

I love dwarf fortress, but let's not put that on a golden pillar.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#75

Post by danielbarla »

umvi wrote: post #35

One thing that amazes me about Dwarf Fortress is that the creator(s) don't use version control[1] (as of 2014, things may have changed): "I don't use version control -- I didn't like the feeling of having the code get committed into a black box thingy with no immediate upside." I can't fathom how you can manage the complexity of a game like DF without a VCS. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1avszc/im_tarn_a…

Honestly, for personal projects where I'm the sole developer, I only use git nominally. I mean, it's there, and sure, I commit; but it's not like I'm spawning feature branches or anything like that. It's a rather linear set of commits, functionally almost equivalent to having a zip of the source every now and then. I'm sure many people are the same.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#76

Post by snazz »

Pfhreak wrote: post #50

I've often wondered if DF will ever get an open source version that tries to recreate the same experience but focuses on consistent interface design, performance and multithreading, and ease of extensibility. DF has a huge head start, and two of the most incredibly passionate developers out there, but it's also clear they prioritize expanding the model first and foremost rather than trying to tackle any of the user e…

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is to Nethack as __________ is to Dwarf Fortress. My understanding is that Gnomoria isn’t there yet, but I haven’t played it, so I could be wrong. It certainly would be an interesting technical challenge to write a competitor in a modular, maintainable way that allows tile-based frontends without injecting memory.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#77

Post by stcredzero »

umvi wrote: post #35

One thing that amazes me about Dwarf Fortress is that the creator(s) don't use version control[1] (as of 2014, things may have changed): "I don't use version control -- I didn't like the feeling of having the code get committed into a black box thingy with no immediate upside." I can't fathom how you can manage the complexity of a game like DF without a VCS. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1avszc/im_tarn_a…

One thing that amazes me about Dwarf Fortress is that the creator(s) don't use version control[1] (as of 2014, things may have changed)

A friend of mine, years ago, took the "daring, revolutionary" step of convincing NASA management to embrace version control. I also know of a European consulting firm which made a lot of money swooping in and saving a major Euro bank's problems due to lack of version control.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#79

Post by stcredzero »

danielbarla wrote: post #75
umvi wrote: post #35

One thing that amazes me about Dwarf Fortress is that the creator(s) don't use version control[1] (as of 2014, things may have changed): "I don't use version control -- I didn't like the feeling of having the code get committed into a black box thingy with no immediate upside." I can't fathom how you can manage the complexity of a game like DF without a VCS. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1avszc/im_tarn_a…

Honestly, for personal projects where I'm the sole developer, I only use git nominally. I mean, it's there, and sure, I commit; but it's not like I'm spawning feature branches or anything like that. It's a rather linear set of commits, functionally almost equivalent to having a zip of the source every now and then. I'm sure many people are the same.

Hear hear! That said, it's pretty damn useful to have a log of my changes. Commit often, and it's even more useful! IntelliJ IDEs have pretty nice ways of viewing the diffs over time per file, and many other tools exist for doing this. Super useful!

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#80

Post by crooked-v »

conistonwater wrote: post #32
tkiley wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are putting on steam largely because of the USA's shit healthcare system "after Zach's latest cancer scare, we determined that with my healthcare plan's copay etc., I'd be wiped out if I had to undergo the same procedures . . " I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it totally sucks. On the other hand, I suspect that as as consequence of this crappy pressure, Dwarf Fortress will reach a substantial…

> bring joy Yeah, right. I bet you'll see it in productivity statistics instead. It's as bad as Factorio.

I've started to get the same feeling from Factory Town. Conveyor belts and elaborate production chains, but this time in 3D!
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