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[Shonai_Dweller]

Why didn't Toady still add Therapist-like native tool? Didn't optimise the game by removing CPU-hungry things, like some utilities for dfhack do? Performance is probably the biggest issue. Simplify many background processes, that don't need to be precise...

Therapist is a tool (that some find essential) to handle the placeholder jobs system that's in place until a real system gets made (one which won't require spreadsheet type control apparently). Bit of a waste of time to make a rival tool to handle something that won't be in the final game. Therapist and DFhack manipulator do that just fine.

[George_Chickens]

But it is clear that Tarn is afraid of forks. He cares of his dogma and not much of game's prosper.
Cataclysm got a Lot Better after forking, and community grew up.

Cataclysm is a terrible example of a game going to the community, IMO. Static spawning and other features (zombie resurrection especially) added took months before they were an actual challenge and not a step down or added tedium, and all the feel and atmosphere Whales put in the game is gone in favor of adding as many whacky and RANDUMMM things as possible. I'm also not sure what you mean about the community growing up.

 
Just so you know, I do quite enjoy the current Cataclysm. It's still a lot of fun.

[FantasticDorf]

The way i see it, even if DF stops entirely right now its legacy will live on. Its even displayed in a art museum and not only a cultural icon of the 21st century but endless accolades have been detailed and immortalised, and many yet to be discovered and generated within a humble session of the game.

Side by side, emulation is the best kind of flattery, many games attribute themselves to DF. Even if they are not very polished games and usually divergent its a extreme task also to support such open ended content with consistent updates and content to expand. Each deserves their own merit but often expire.

Look at such titles like Towns and Gnomoria, both implicit and explicit 'clones' or entries of the 'genre' put forward for retail value. Both games relied on the dev or a small team heavily for input but in the end began to stagnate because usually of a lack of ideas and a comfortable amount of financial capital that is generated from the product (in the end, that is what it is) They have their own lives but sometimes fans take this the wrong way and feel a little abandoned.

• The Towns dev went awol, the game as he left it is playable but i dont forsee he uses it as a main source of income anymore, initially a successful game with good media coverage at the time but it fizzled out and died.

• Gnomoria received its 1.0 patch in feburary and since the dev has took a backseat and seems to have lost contact on achieving their primary goal

Where the Adam brothers succeed is that they have a passion for the project, not to mention people feeding that passion with donations (to show rewards and incentive to lending their ear to hear a suggestion) and also a broad and flexible vision and plan to how they approach it.

• Zach for instance is completely crucial to the development of DF on paper, his short (*and sometimes book length such as Cados magical adventure*) stories form the idelogical backbone of the development and set goals ahead in the future.

• And without Tarn we wouldn't have the working systems and physical development presence that we have come to enjoy

In a professional way, they are the Lauren and Hardy of the gaming industry (i mean that in a flattering way) for the exceptional quality of work that will live on and entertain for a long time as a valued and revered double act project, until the very end when they cannot physically continue. People in 2116 will probably still be playing versions of the finished original (with some additional modifications to run it on computers of the time, through a emulator etc), and speaking very optimistically the finished game itself may end up being archived for cultural history and art.

[Sean Mirrsen]

People in 2116 will probably still be playing versions of the finished original

This is a rather cynical note, and a tangent, but I'd be happy for there to just still be people in 2116.

[Miuramir]

People in 2116 will probably still be playing versions of the finished original

This is a rather cynical note, and a tangent, but I'd be happy for there to just still be people in 2116.

The odds of having some sort of people around are pretty good; it's *really hard* to kill off *all* of what seems to be the ultimate invasive species, humanity.   Various sorts of catastrophe that leads to a dramatic drop in population and tech base to the point that "playing DF" is not practical are another matter. 

Various problems that might kick us back to ~1T people and Napoleonic technology are far more likely than anything more severe.   Dropping back to a third of that more or less (post-Black Death medieval numbers), and medieval technology, is harder / less likely yet; but from a "survival of humanity as a species" is still not an issue. 

The flip side is singularity... in that case, I'd argue that the post-human sophont(s) that we evolve into and/or are replaced by are probably "people", even if they might have some difficulty interacting meaningfully with modern meat-based people. 

[Deon]

We are going to be replaced by Grams. #MeetGraham.

[Incantatar]

OP, you're wrong criticizing DF for lack of development. The 64bit version just released and is a big jump in ease of use and performance. I do agree with the FOSS sentiment. It's a shame the game has to get hacked consistently to be playable for many people. I'd wonder what happened if lethosar, mifki, etc just stopped releasing their work to the public. The player base would probably go into a turmoil. Perhaps a good thing. Perhaps people would simply stop playing in mass and Toady would look at his Patreon and start working in other directions.