Hello good folks!
You might have previously seen the thread that was started by Muz (
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=174595.msg8021413#msg8021413 ) about the game I made.
Really at that point it was just a wee prototype I created and made public and went a bit out of hand. The server was struggling with performance, the architecture didn't scale and I was struggling keeping the updates ahead of what players did and I ended up overwhelmed, coupled with my mental health issues at the time I decided to close the game server giving the players a big final event as a send off.
The community was so enthralled with the game that some folks went ahead and grabbed the now open-sourced code of the game to setup their own server. I did help them some and it went for a little while, but the passion I saw prompted me to consider again what I did wrong that Soulforged ended up the way it did. And that's how we arrive to the new release!
I rewrote the game engine, I altered the core game system (now using Action Points instead of real-time) and created a whole new area, resources, monsters, recipes and a bunch of new and improved systems. The game would be a sliver of what it is now without the community and the feedback I received across both original (now called Soulforged Zero) and the current version, so a big shout-out to the community! I take every comment and question a lesson and I pour all that I learned into this new version.
Please take this post as an invitation to give the game a try! We've been online for about 4 months now, updates are delivered almost daily and most importantly I solved the core problems that SF:0 had making the game much more sustainable for me to manage, removing all of the stress that the old version caused. Most importantly the content is in a better state (still more to come!), where there are no empty areas or unusable items.
The page:
https://soulforged.net/But that's not all that brings me here today! As today is the day that I kick off the hack-the-game campaign! I bet many of the denizens of Dwarf Fortress Forums are technologically inclined and you might be interested in the little challenge I issued. The prizes aren't much, it's best I can afford on a self-published basis, but I hope the overall concept is enough to maybe spark some interest. <3
More about the campaign, including the rules and limitations:
https://soulforged.net/#/hackTheGameThank you for reading my post and I wish you a wonderful day! <3