Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a mod, is it not?
Yes. One bundled with every beginner's pack linked anywhere you'd learn how to play.
Cool. Nice to see some fans are working to fix the game's awful interface.
Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
31–40 of 103 posts
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#32I think it a loss that a game with such original complexity has the most primitive graphics. Nobody wants 3D acceleration, but an upgrade to a simple 2D with sprites and effects with a better interface, would open it to a wider crowd.
It's been said before, but in the opinion of many would-be DF players, it's really the interface that could use a massive amount of love. The ascii graphics may not be your cup of tea, but at least they would be functional if, IF the interface/controls/menu systems weren't all so horrible and obfuscated and totally inconsistent with each other. I've come to the conclusion that the developers get some sort of sick joy…
All software is of the highest craftdwarfship.
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#33I think it a loss that a game with such original complexity has the most primitive graphics. Nobody wants 3D acceleration, but an upgrade to a simple 2D with sprites and effects with a better interface, would open it to a wider crowd.
The funny thing is, Dwarf Fortress is simulated in 3D. With the 3D viewer, you can even look at your terrain in 3D:
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r21/khyron2k/Dwarves/Dwar...
If DF would look like that during gameplay, I'd immediately start playing.
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't that mean that DF will only "crush" one core rather than all of them? Is it really a big concern how well DF will scale? It's a game, it is made to be played. It isn't really meaningful to criticize games for whether they are multithreaded or not.
Yes, it will crush a core. It actually is a concern as DF in game (dwarf mode anyway) does a huge amount of pathfinding for the little buggers and other creatures. Not to mention item tracking and other bits. This means that once your fortress gets somewhere around 200 dwarfs you start getting into FPS death because it doesn't scale. So it actually as is a problem, and development of the game is going against the gra…
> He, by design, doesn't owe anyone anything.
A commercial game would have a tutorial mode and other bells and whistles to make it more approachable. Thing is, I have one hour a day before sleep to screw around, so is it Bob's Burgers or Dwarf Fortress?
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#35I encourage everyone to check out the game. It's quite crazy, and beginners inevitably lose due to the game's depth and crazy events ("Losing is fun!"). If the ASCII tile sets make your eyes bleed, there are other tile sets of graphics to try out. [0] There's also a very vibrant modding community, including a lot of memory hacking through the dfhack project [1] – even fixing a lot of longstanding bugs in the game, li…
I would wait for the new release to stabilize, though, and for the third-party tools to be adapted to it. Or just go with the previous release, which is 2 years old.
Yeah, I launched the new version and found that dwarf therapist hasnt been updated (an absolutely needful addon if you like df, it makes managing the jobs so easy) and that there are quite a few bugs, longer worldgens crashing and various in-game crashes for undiscernible reasons, but all I did was turn on autosave and everything seems to be fine.
If you are into fortress mode (like me, I just dont like adventurer mode) just download the old release, there isnt enough changes for you to care and it is a bit more stable.
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#36Are there any good newbie tutorials? I always start it but just get way too lost right away.
Follow along with some youtube examples of how to start. There are a couple out there with good explanations of moving between the different modes.
Thanks, I assume just searching for Dwarf Fortress videos will lead me to a useful starting point?
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#37The truly exciting thing about Dwarf Fortress is that it proves that deep, detailed simulation is well within our reach. It suggests whole new genres of games that have yet to be created; imagine a typical fantasy RPG (or perhaps one that plays more like Mount&Blade) where the entire world is simulated as you play, so every choice you make has logical consequences. The possibilities are endless, and while Dwarf Fortr…
My favorite cartoon on the subject:
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#38To quote myself from the last time I commented on an article about DF: I will continue to have no interest in Dwarf Fortress until it has an actual UI instead of whatever insane random combinations of controls the developer felt like adding on any particular day.
There's an entire subgenre of games trying to make less ambitious, prettier versions of Dwarf Fortress. Banished, for instance. You could argue that even Minecraft attempts to be a 3d dwarf fortress, where you control your one dwarf.
The extra effort in the UI tends to leave far worse games than Dwarf Fortress though.
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#39Are there any good newbie tutorials? I always start it but just get way too lost right away.
I would choose a phased approach for a brand new player.
Learn about tiles, z levels, and investigating what an object/unit is (navigation and inspection).
Learn about designations (how to mine, gather plants, chop down trees)
Learn about rooms and workshops (mason, carpenter, bedrooms, dining rooms, offices, walls, doors, grates, stairs, ramps)
Learn about farming (underground preferred)
Learn about trading (crafts, trading depot)
Learn about nobles (bookkeeper and manager to start, followed by broker)
Learn about mechanisms (mechanisms and levers, let power come later)
Learn about military (squads, commanders, fighting, training, equipment)
Explore the rest of the game!
If you want any help, comment or email me in my profile, I would be glad to help!
Re: Polygon sat down with one of the creators of Dwarf Fortress
#40I encourage everyone to check out the game. It's quite crazy, and beginners inevitably lose due to the game's depth and crazy events ("Losing is fun!"). If the ASCII tile sets make your eyes bleed, there are other tile sets of graphics to try out. [0] There's also a very vibrant modding community, including a lot of memory hacking through the dfhack project [1] – even fixing a lot of longstanding bugs in the game, li…
The third party graphics are helpful (but still make your eyes bleed) but the main issue is the controls -- I just couldn't get past how difficult it was to do anything. It's been a while since I've played, but if I remember, you couldn't use the mouse -- I bet adding that functionality would make it so much easier to get into the game.
Yes, there are plugins for fixing [some of] the UI. There's a few plugins that add brand new UI, too.
Of note, falconne has released a suite of helpful UI tools for dfhack [0] like mousequery, various search/sort tools, etc.