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[10ebbor10]

Calling Dwarf Fortress "inaccessible" on PC Gamer was kind of indelicate.

Yeah, it's a bit of an understatement =)

I love Dwarf Fortress, but I'll admit it's UI and learning cliff do make it the very definition of inaccessible...then again the complexity that causes the latter and probably doesn't help with the former is one of the things we love about the game so swings and roundabouts

I always wondered if I saved up a few thousand dollars and donated it to toady with a note asking to pretty please abstract the interface so we could use third party things, if it would actually happen or even help at all.  Just a pipe dream of mine.

But yeah I am super excited for Maia.

I'm pretty sure it won't. At all. Toady doesn't seem like someone who can be bought.

[Xinvoker]

Calling Dwarf Fortress "inaccessible" on PC Gamer was kind of indelicate.

But Maia is looking to be a great game nonetheless. I hope you succeed, this is a game I would like to play.

The game is difficult, has primitive graphics, and has an obtuse AI, but it is not innaccessible by any means, or there wouldn't be anyone playing it. A player who doesn't know the game may never try it thinking it is really innacessible. It is a game that needs an high investment from the player. I'm certain Maia will need some degree of investment to learn as well.

Inaccessible in this context means "not easily accessible", not "impossible to access".
I guess dysaccessible doesn't sound good.

[Puzzlemaker]

Calling Dwarf Fortress "inaccessible" on PC Gamer was kind of indelicate.

Yeah, it's a bit of an understatement =)

I love Dwarf Fortress, but I'll admit it's UI and learning cliff do make it the very definition of inaccessible...then again the complexity that causes the latter and probably doesn't help with the former is one of the things we love about the game so swings and roundabouts

I always wondered if I saved up a few thousand dollars and donated it to toady with a note asking to pretty please abstract the interface so we could use third party things, if it would actually happen or even help at all.  Just a pipe dream of mine.

But yeah I am super excited for Maia.

I'm pretty sure it won't. At all. Toady doesn't seem like someone who can be bought.

I knooooow, it's annoying.  I just want an usable interface...

[forsaken1111]

I knooooow, it's annoying.  I just want an usable interface...

The interface is perfectly usable, it's just a bit tedious. Once you learn the keys for most things it becomes easier.

[Shades]

The interface is perfectly usable, it's just a bit tedious. Once you learn the keys for most things it becomes easier.

My definition of perfectly usable includes non-tedious to use.

[forsaken1111]

The interface is perfectly usable, it's just a bit tedious. Once you learn the keys for most things it becomes easier.

My definition of perfectly usable includes non-tedious to use.

The actual definition of usable would be something which can be used. If it is tedious, then there is room for improvement but you can accomplish almost any function within DF excepting military uniforms and complex stockpile setups with 3-4 clicks of depth. Setting up stockpiles is pretty tedious, as is setting up your military's uniform and schedule, but those are both very complex tasks. Even labors are easy enough now if you're ok with the default labor categories and just enable a whole category for a dwarf like I do.

One area I'd love improvement in is designating constructions like walls. Making a 100+ block length wall take quite a lot of pushing.

Still, its all usable, just not as user-friendly as it could be.

[GlyphGryph]

Much of DF is unusable without outside assistance at least.

*grumbles about the dwarven military and animal caretaking and having to work pretty much straight from the wiki for any chance of success*

A locked door is unusable to those who don't have the key, after all*. And this particular locked door doesn't ship with a key.


*Unless you enjoy playing the role of locksmith, of course. but whatever. This is all irrelevant.

[simoroth]

Sorry about the lack of updates. Have been grinding for more coverage. Thankfully I've had some success and a major UK newspaper is going to be running a big interview on their site!

I've bitten the bullet and added PCGamers description of the game, "Dungeon Keeper meets Dwarf Fortress on a primordial alien world", on the front page. I hate doing it, because I think name dropping is a manky thing to do. Especially since there is a line between recreating games and taking inspiration from them is very important to me. That said I immediately got an uptick in backers, having a quick reference point seems to really help.

[Tellemurius]

Theres no shame in advertising simoroth

[thvaz]

Sad to see that nowadays many people on this forum is pretty hostile to DF.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Sad to see that nowadays many people on this forum is pretty hostile to DF.

I'd hardly call all of the complaining about DF's interface hostile. At most it's just annoyed.

[Tellemurius]

The UI could be worse but i think its fine now, i just want mouse support and i would be happy

[MorleyDev]

Sad to see that nowadays many people on this forum is pretty hostile to DF.

Constructive Criticism is hostility? :S You can enjoy something and still acknowledge it flaws. You could even argue the acknowledgement of flaws and a willingness to look past them is the difference between worship and love

[thvaz]

Sad to see that nowadays many people on this forum is pretty hostile to DF.

Constructive Criticism is hostility? :S You can enjoy something and still acknowledge it flaws. You could even argue the acknowledgement of flaws and a willingness to look past them is the difference between worship and love

Hyperbole doesn't make constructive criticisms. But I think we had enough off-topic. Let's talk about Maia.

I think the feature where you can see your base in first person very cool. In XCom I wish we had this possibility - the base seems #D enough to allow it.

[MorleyDev]

Yeah the first person is pretty cool. If my memory isn't playing tricks on me it was also a feature in Dungeon Keeper where you could take control of your monsters and even fight as them...I don't recall it ever being useful to do so but you could.  I love the the aesthetics of Maia's first person from those screens too, that post-processing in first person definitely looks interesting.

Hyperbole doesn't make constructive criticisms.

That's just being snarky Is fun, a lot of people have that kind of sarcastic/snide sense of humour ^^