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[Putnam]

That's good. Also, something that would be really cool, albeit impractical, is a music generator. Y'know something that generates simple 8-bit quips randomly based on certain parameters. It would be cool to eventually get emergent masterpieces after the many, many things that just sounded off and weird.

8-bit? Nah, the standard MIDI that Bay12's had in earlier games should do well enough and probably sound better.

There isn't really a tentative release date, but it feels like it's close, could be another month, maybe two.

Then again, it felt close last month as well, and half a year before that. You know.

You may notice that Toady hasn't done one of those "So I got started on another gigantic undertaking" posts in a few months.

[SuicideJunkie]

There isn't really a tentative release date, but it feels like it's close, could be another month, maybe two.

Then again, it felt close last month as well, and half a year before that. You know.

You can tell when it is truly close; that's when you see the wacky amusing bugs outnumbering feature talk in the dev feed.

[CaptainMcClellan]

That's good. Also, something that would be really cool, albeit impractical, is a music generator. Y'know something that generates simple 8-bit quips randomly based on certain parameters. It would be cool to eventually get emergent masterpieces after the many, many things that just sounded off and weird.

8-bit? Nah, the standard MIDI that Bay12's had in earlier games should do well enough and probably sound better.

That would be awesome! I've only been playing since the 2012 release and I haven't gotten around playing any of the other versions (or any other Bay12 games ) so I didn't even know that was something in Toady's scope. I mean, a MIDI synth is pretty standard and universal and it would be quite pleasant. It would also nigh require the addition of pianos as an instrument though! ( Or at very least, one of their predecessors, since Toady has already said he doesn't want to bring tech beyond the 14th century. )

[Putnam]

...The song in DF is a live performance by Toady himself, so some MIDI compositions (the likes of which you can hear in Armok 1 and such anyway) shouldn't be too far out

[CaptainMcClellan]

I figured, I just wish Toady had a professional composer to make a bunch of DF Music so that I don't have to have the theme replaying for hours on end. ( Or just a time manipulation device giving him 3 days for each of our hours. Ah well, at least this way we get to have him around longer. ) Also, where does one get the first Armok game? I couldn't find it.

[Putnam]

http://bay12games.com/armok/

Calling it a "game" is pretty generous; you'll quickly see why they switched to Dwarf Fortress as opposed to this.

[CaptainMcClellan]

Yeah, yeah, I know. Dropped in pre-pre-alpha, dev got super annoyed with it, complexity overload to the point of impossibility for one person. I want to play it for the same reason I play indev Minecraft, to see and feel the "process" not because it's inherently good. Also to see the progress from point A to point DF.

[CaptainMcClellan]

I'm playing it. It's not the worst thing I've ever played/seen. As it's seperate game it feels incomplete. ( I mean that in terms of I want to see it completed.) Having played it for all of two seconds, I would like it to be completed. It is open-source now, right?

[Putnam]

What, Armok 1? No. I don't think it's salvageable. For one, I doubt they still have the source code lying around; for another, the game is designed so badly as of now that it would be far easier to start over from the beginning, which is exactly what Dwarf Fortress is.

[CaptainMcClellan]

Fair enough. Still, the concept of a 3d or at least isometrically projected "normal sprites" game of DF or the like would be cool. And I know Armok one would always be lame in comparison to DF, but if expanded, cleaned, and taken in a slightly different direction it could still be ok. I mean, it looks about like Early Runescape did. And look at how far they've come. Mind you, I realize that Jagex has like hundreds of dev workers. Actually, as I see it, the way to revive Armok 1 into something playable ( besides getting legible font and a consistent and professional looking GUI ) would be to simplify it. It looks too feature over-loaded to be practical. Plus, as I'm sure I'll come to find out even more later, there are obviously design flaws. That doesn't mean the scrapping of an idea entirely, just perhaps mostly. As for whether or not it's worth it, that's all in the eye of the lunatic dev. Many people would say Dwarf Fortress "isn't worth it". I disagree. The problem is, I have the desire but not the skill or consistent willpower. Still it is highly possible, I'd even say probable, to salvage a worthwhile game from Armok 1. It'll just be different and lesser than it's original intention, but considering the scope of the thing, that's ok.

[Putnam]

Again, much easier to make a new game from scratch then to build off of Armok 1's code. This is not a matter of ideology, it's a matter of practicality. Simplifying Armok 1 enough to build off of its core would take ten times as much work as building the core from scratch.

[CaptainMcClellan]

Haha. Alright. I don't have the perspective necessary to build from scratch though. At least, not by myself. I need a developer who is dedicated and insanely detailed, not to mention already has a good familiarity with coding. Basically, I would be the Zach of the duo, great for ideas and planning with, but doesn't really touch the code himself. And to be honest, I don't think that it'd work unless I had at least two more on a team. So, all this is just a pipe dream.

[Putnam]

Nah, screw that. Get more motivated to learn what is required for stuff.

Here, learn some coding.

[CaptainMcClellan]

Mm. Already a member. I guess I'm better off than I thought. I've gotten my feet wet in C, C++, Python, and Ruby. I've also worked with Blender, several game makers, several music scoring programs, and varied digital art. Somehow, I still can't manage to process it into a game.

[Chagen46]

Nah, screw that. Get more motivated to learn what is required for stuff.

Here, learn some coding.

Okay, I know I'm just coming in from nowhere, and this might be a necro, but holy crap I'm glad I read this thread and saw this link. Learning about coding is pretty damn fun and cool. Thanks for the link, man.