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[DizzyCrash]

When is the next release!? The game has been in a unplayable state without modding since like 2012! this is getting a tad bit unreasonable, why not release what you have done so far! I would be willing to pay good money for the current release of DF...

[Knight Otu]

When is the next release!?

When it's ready and vaguely playable in both modes.

The game has been in a unplayable state without modding since like 2012!

Citation needed.

this is getting a tad bit unreasonable, why not release what you have done so far!

Because it would most likely be in a less playable state that 0.34.11. Toady hasn't done any real stress tests outside his current development focus so far, so we haven't heard about many random crashes and other problems, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist.

I would be willing to pay good money for the current release of DF...

The current release? The one you called unplayable?

[Witty]

If you think the current release is "unplayable", you're going to want Toady to take his sweet time for this release. If he were to release it as it is now, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't even be able to get past worldgen without encountering a slew of bugs and crashes. 

[DizzyCrash]

When is the next release!?

When it's ready and vaguely playable in both modes.

The game has been in a unplayable state without modding since like 2012!

Citation needed.

this is getting a tad bit unreasonable, why not release what you have done so far!

Because it would most likely be in a less playable state that 0.34.11. Toady hasn't done any real stress tests outside his current development focus so far, so we haven't heard about many random crashes and other problems, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist.

I would be willing to pay good money for the current release of DF...

The current release? The one you called unplayable?

umm.. I said unplayable without modding it and that is true, there is no debating it, when half the races dont even appear on the map or have cities, believe it or not that affects the game in a major way.

[DizzyCrash]

If you think the current release is "unplayable", you're going to want Toady to take his sweet time for this release. If he were to release it as it is now, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't even be able to get past worldgen without encountering a slew of bugs and crashes.

But he has been working on it straight for almost 2 years! how much could possibly be left?

[Witty]

If you think the current release is "unplayable", you're going to want Toady to take his sweet time for this release. If he were to release it as it is now, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't even be able to get past worldgen without encountering a slew of bugs and crashes.

But he has been working on it straight for almost 2 years! how much could possibly be left?

Hugging, of course! . Next up is kissing and hair styling.

In all seriousness, there are like 3 other things left, plus bug fixing. This release has been the victim of some very nasty feature creep, and is still probably many months away from being in a semi-playable state.

[CaptainArchmage]

When is the next release!? The game has been in a unplayable state without modding since like 2012! this is getting a tad bit unreasonable, why not release what you have done so far! I would be willing to pay good money for the current release of DF...

I second this....

Except for that the game is “unplayable” at current. The game is currently playable. I’d also be willing to get the release today or tomorrow and put up with screwy bugs or even crashes. It was in an even worse state during DF2010.

[Knight Otu]

umm.. I said unplayable without modding it and that is true, there is no debating it, when half the races dont even appear on the map or have cities, believe it or not that affects the game in a major way.

Then you have a way looser definition of "unplayable" than I do, and if your example makes the game unplayable for you I would assume that you'd call all released versions of DF unplayable. Is that the case?

But he has been working on it straight for almost 2 years! how much could possibly be left?

The devlog recently had the answer to that:

In terms of these finalizations I've been doing, there are six left. Doing a test run with a dwarven adventurer from depot to depot through a tunnel, the liaison commenting on the world situation in dwarf mode, that information screen I mentioned in the FotF thread not too long ago, the plant list, some checks with guards/intruder and some sort of nod to vampires/gods ruling civilizations (since it gets stranger and stranger for them to be there without any comment at all). Then we'll have a steaming pile of game that needs to be debugged and otherwise made playable.

I've struck out the ones that apparently are done by now.

[Tawa]

Seriously, there is a difference between "unplayable" and "buggy". "Unplayable" is a game that is either so ridiculously difficult you cannot do anything significant without devoting your life to it, or a game that has so many bugs, problems, and disruptive "features" that it is impossible to play in its intended way. "Buggy" is a game with a few major programming flaws but is otherwise still beatable without unrealistic amounts of effort or is at the very least enjoyable without being overly frustrating. Most gamers today would consider NES platformers "unplayable" because of massive hitboxes for enemies, massive jumping puzzles, or unrealistic time restraints; these are valid claims. In DF Adventure Mode, which is what you seem to be considering, the combat system works fine, if the physics are a bit silly; interactions with NPCs work fine, and the bit about civ sites is both easy to get over with and takes two or three minutes to fix on your own anyway.

Seriously, get your priorities straight, man. If you feel the current system is too buggy, play Cataclysm or Nethack or something to get your fix of rougelikes for a few weeks until DF2014 comes out.

Also, ignore the people who claim that DF2014 is unlikely, they're just making dwarf jokes. As Knight Otu said, there are only three more bits of features left and some minor debugging before we get a steaming pile of !!=Dwarf Fortress=!!.

[CaptainArchmage]

Let me add something more here:

1) There is opinion and there’s fact. As a matter of fact, some of us (i.e. myself) can play the game as it is without problems. Other people need or just prefer utilities such as DFHack, DF Therapist, and so on. Other people use mods because of “OCD” (term used liberally - not necessarily because of psychological disorder) - for example, when the new release comes I’m going to fix the language files and mod the new plants to produce more products.... with syndromes.

Take this example from a recent devlog:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

4  I decided to try to haul a backpack of black zircons from the fortress of Whirllancers to Paddletaker on the other side of the mountains, six world map tiles away. The broker was at the depot (they aren't nearly as tardy as your own brokers), and I made the first deal... I think I traded my socks and trousers, maybe more. The tunnel opened out into the first cavern layer, which was watery at this point, so it was actually a large bridge over a pool. Guards were milling around, but before long I was all alone with only the various funguses to keep me company. The tunnel has a smooth and civilized floor, but it is often open to the underground wilderness. In fact, I was accosted by a wild troll at the first corner. Managing to skewer it, I carried on. There was another bridge... and a cave crocodile decided to attack, providing more food for the journey.

As a matter of fact, Toady seems to be able to play adventure mode and dwarf mode reasonably OK from the devlogs. Being able to walk down a tunnel between dwarven fortresses indicates the game can be played for 10 minutes - 2 hours without a serious crash taking place. This usually takes effort. I’ve devoted quite a bit of time, crash-free, to an adventurer recently and no really - if there were game-breaking bugs Toady would have trouble playing that out. For many people, the log would have been:

Bought some black zircons from Whirllancers and left the fortress to cross the mountains. Got attacked by bogeymen. The end.

2) There are going to be unhappy people when the release comes out, no matter how well “polished” it is. That is why DF releases don’t have a polish phase.

[Hiiri]

I would be willing to pay good money for the current release of DF...

If this was possible, we'd have endless amounts of people complaining about how a person DARES to release a game in such a state! Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[neblime]

this is getting a tad bit unreasonable,

yeah, how dare he not release a great, 100% free game faster.  what an ass.
edit - seems pretty good without mods to me, but I've never tried so maybe i don't know what i'm missing.

[ShadowHammer]

-snip-
umm.. I said unplayable without modding it and that is true, there is no debating it, when half the races dont even appear on the map or have cities, believe it or not that affects the game in a major way.

I'd like to agree with everyone who has already mentioned that this in untrue, because I am currently playing the game without mods, and it's going perfectly fine. Well, by fine, I mean everyone is dying, but they are dying for intended reasons, not because of bugs.

[Dyret]

He's probably only playing adventure mode, so I can sort of understand his frustration, but 'unplayable' is still utterly false.

[Indricotherium]

I'm reminded of the old In Living Color skit:

"Chill, baby baby, chill. Chill, baby baby, chill. Chill, baby baby, chill. Chill, baby baby, chill. Chill, baby baby, chill. Chill, baby baby, chill. Chill, baby baby, chill. Chill, baby baby, chill."