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[Sir Finkus]

Toady should work on simulating astronomy (all of it).  Good stuff for magic probably.

[Puzzlemaker]

I really do think Toady should try to get some help for this.  I know it's his project, but... it's growing larger and harder to maintain by the day.  Sections of the code turned open source so the community can tinker with them would be a good way to do it. 

Although it's not my choice.  Bleh.

[Footkerchief]

I really do think Toady should try to get some help for this.  I know it's his project, but... it's growing larger and harder to maintain by the day.  Sections of the code turned open source so the community can tinker with them would be a good way to do it. 

He already does this.  Just very, very selectively.

[Sir Finkus]

I really do think Toady should try to get some help for this.  I know it's his project, but... it's growing larger and harder to maintain by the day.  Sections of the code turned open source so the community can tinker with them would be a good way to do it. 

Although it's not my choice.  Bleh.

Based on the devlog, he seems to be puttering along just fine.  Adding more developers would probably just complicate things, and making it open source would probably result in dozens of forks of the project.

[Shurikane]

Dwarf Fortress: Source.



Imagine if we could output the DF runtime into GMod and see little ragdolls "teleporting" from tile to tile and watch the fortress unfold.

[Puzzlemaker]

It's diminishing returns; how many people can you have digging a hole at the same time?  Three?  Maybe even just two or one.  You tend to get in the way of each other.

Now, what if the hole was bigger?  How many?  How many until adding more becomes pointless?  Depends on how big the hole is, and DF is a large hole indeed.

Point is, the project has gotten so big, that putting smaller, time consuming sections online open source could help development significantly.  Put them on, say, "I want this to work like X", and it fly.  Later, when the objective is reached, absorb it, and close that "section".  No runaway trains or the like.

That's how I would do it, anyway, if I wanted to maintain as much control as possible.

[Guilliman]

Maybe he got a set of coding monkies to code DF to be multi threaded xD

one can only dream :3   DF is killing my quad lol

[Davion]

That's how I would do it, anyway, if I wanted to maintain as much control as possible.

The problem word being "maintain", as in he'd have to manage all the people and sections, making sure things are going according to plan. From what I've read that's exactly the reason he doesn't want to get involved in anything like that, plus there's the whole "Toady lives off donations" angle.

[Puzzlemaker]

Bleh I suppose that's true...

It is amazing how much he alone managed to accomplish, though.  I hope he can keep doing it, if he wont seek help.  I really do.   

[jockmo42]

I will say that Blizzard and Valve are two of the companies that really stand out in not wringing the neck of the customer.

Really? I heard from a friend that just moving her character to another server on World of Warcraft set her back twenty-five dollars.

[jockmo42]

EDIT: Whoops, forgot this forum doesn't auto-merge.

It's diminishing returns; how many people can you have digging a hole at the same time?  Three?  Maybe even just two or one.  You tend to get in the way of each other.

Now, what if the hole was bigger?  How many?  How many until adding more becomes pointless?  Depends on how big the hole is, and DF is a large hole indeed.

Point is, the project has gotten so big, that putting smaller, time consuming sections online open source could help development significantly.  Put them on, say, "I want this to work like X", and it fly.  Later, when the objective is reached, absorb it, and close that "section".  No runaway trains or the like.

That's how I would do it, anyway, if I wanted to maintain as much control as possible.

So he gets back some code that's completely alien to him? Or fizzles the game because it's so unoptimized? I don't know, but if I wanted something to run smoothly in an easily understandable way, I doubt I'd have many options other than doing it all alone.