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[clinodev]

If the release of the game generates enough money, would you be willing to hire additional programmers. This could dramatically increase the speed at which you will be able to move through your update/feature timeline. This would also free you up to do more work on the design end of the game which would benefit everyone.

PatrikLundell's answer is definitely the general vibe, but Toady has been quoted:

He does see money changing a few things. They might hire someone to help with graphics programming in the future so he can focus on developing Dwarf Fortress’s upcoming features, like a long-gestating magic system. He wants to keep paying the artists to work on the game after the initial Steam release. And if money as a concern really does go away for life, he says, why not release the source code?

PCGamer, 26 March, 2019

So it might be closer to the standard "Maybe, we'll see!"

[voliol]

- Spending ever increasing parts of the time on managing others rather than doing the work that's actually enjoyable. That, in turn, risks killing the interest in the project, and can thus lead to it being abandoned.
- Lack of control and knowledge, i.e. things written by others may not be easily understood. Toady has had bad experiences in the past, with some things written by somebody else not being readily understood (and thus not updated).

Code of others being difficult to understand also piles onto the issue of managing, because Toady's code must also be understood.

Toady has no professional programming education, afaik. This doesn't mean he can't code - we have all seen Dwarf Fortress, a game that runs smoothly for what it is. Rather it means that he (in all likelihood) lacks knowledge on practices for managing a code base used by multiple people. How to best do documentation, class structure, unit testing, version control, and such. Having programmed as a profession for 15+ years, Toady has no doubt developed ways to manage the code that work for him. But these procedures aren't guaranteed to be up-sizable to a team of 2 or more, and even if they can, these won't be industry standard. This means either reworking the procedures, or training the new programmers to use the unorthodox style of the Toad. Or both.

Doesn't mean it can't be worth it though, just that the initial hurdle is higher.

[PatrikLundell]

Well, one hurdle has already had to be climbed, by the fact that he's aiming for being able to do new releases of the latest released version while working on the next one. I believe the latest release is, in effect, a test of that.
Obviously it doesn't mean everything has been taken care of, just that he's found a way to handle that part.

If he was going to aim for significant contributions from external parties, the first task would probably be to set up a configuration control structure capable of handling that (as well as dual "active" versions multiplied by different targets [assuming those will return]), while still not being such a pain in the ass that all joy is sucked out of the work.

Whenever you work on pre existing code you have to largely stick to the conventions used, and adapt to that usage. Sure, it can be tempting to rewrite things in a "better" way, but then you should have a valid reason for why that way is better (and "this is what I and my buddies have always been taught and used, while the current implementation is an eyesore" isn't valid, while reduced maintenance costs without sacrificing legibility (for Toady), and significant performance gains (again, while remaining readable) are valid ones).

[WereDragon]

will adventure mode exclusive creatures/items still be graphically ready by the release date? I want to import a fortress that already has divine metal once the steam release happens.

Secondly will saves work seamlessly between steam and the free version? For instance if i wanted to port a save from the steam release to the free release to do something on adventure mode, and then port it back after i am done, will that be possible without issue?

Finally, on the topic of adventure mode, will we be able to actually customize our character instead of randomizing it?

[Paaaad]

will adventure mode exclusive creatures/items still be graphically ready by the release date? I want to import a fortress that already has divine metal once the steam release happens.

Secondly will saves work seamlessly between steam and the free version? For instance if i wanted to port a save from the steam release to the free release to do something on adventure mode, and then port it back after i am done, will that be possible without issue?

Finally, on the topic of adventure mode, will we be able to actually customize our character instead of randomizing it?

I suspect the first point may be somewhat moot for you once the release drops- wouldn't be surprised if we hit a break in backwards compatibility, given all the changes that have been made. There's the Hospital's transition from Zone to Location just as one thing I can recall offhand.

[clinodev]

will adventure mode exclusive creatures/items still be graphically ready by the release date? I want to import a fortress that already has divine metal once the steam release happens.

Secondly will saves work seamlessly between steam and the free version? For instance if i wanted to port a save from the steam release to the free release to do something on adventure mode, and then port it back after i am done, will that be possible without issue?

Finally, on the topic of adventure mode, will we be able to actually customize our character instead of randomizing it?

I suspect the first point may be somewhat moot for you once the release drops- wouldn't be surprised if we hit a break in backwards compatibility, given all the changes that have been made. There's the Hospital's transition from Zone to Location just as one thing I can recall offhand.

I know that at least at one point, Zach was having to restart forts even between internal alphas of Premium, so it's a pretty safe bet backwards compatibility to 0.47.05 isn't going to happen (I'm pretty sure Toady's said so here.)

That said, I suspect iWereDragon is actually asking if divine metals will be in, perhaps in worldgen forts or reclaimed adventurer sites.

[PatrikLundell]

When/if Classic version is released, saves should be freely moved between the Classic and Premium versions, but still be restricted to the same/higher revision, so community forts should still work, regardless of whether the participants use the Classic or Premium version, as long as they're using the same revision (or moving upwards in the revisions for revisions that have backwards compatibility).

One of the changes made for the Premium RELEASE (as opposed to version) is to separate the tile set from the save, so each participant in a community fort could use their own tile set without impacting anyone else, so while a Premium version user could select between the Classic and the Premium tile set, a Classic version user is restricted to the Classic tile set (and both of them would have access to independent tile sets, although I wouldn't be shocked [but still dismayed] to see that some may be available only through a Premium version vendor's site, and thus unavailable to anyone else, including those having purchased the Premium version from another vendor).

[voliol]

I imagine graphics sets on Steam Workshop (the proprietary hosting by Steam) only will either need to be there as they are variants on the official Premium graphics set, which legally shouldn't be spread outside of Premium, or have a creator who's not on the forum/DFFD. In the latter case it should be possible to ask for permission to mirror it here. I imagine some creators will not give that permission, because people are people, but I can't come up with any strong argument why so they should be a small minority.

Also afaik itch.io purchases will come with a Steam key. The reason then to buy it directly from Steam will be... that Steam counts early purchases somhow differently depending on whether they came from a key or not? Something like that.

[clinodev]

Itch vs Steam comes down to "Purchased through Steam" keys getting their reviews to count, as I understand it. The "free" itch.io keys can't give valuable /steam reviews, but they pay Bay12 slightly better.

[BlueManedHawk]

I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me like it would be really weird to break backwards compatibility with the premium release.  After all:
   - we're in the middle of two parts of a release (the Villains release)
   - while this has added quite a few things, most of them are graphical/usability improvements that (to me) shouldn't interfere with the gameplay itself
   - Myth and Magic is definitely going to be a breaking release, so if this was also a breaking release, that would be two breaking releases in a (relatively) short timespan (compared to the lifetime of DF2014)

[Ziusudra]

I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me like it would be really weird to break backwards compatibility with the premium release.  After all:
   - while this has added quite a few things, most of them are graphical/usability improvements that (to me) shouldn't interfere with the gameplay itself

Except the save format itself has been changed to separate out mods and graphics - I would think that alone makes backwards compatibility very difficult at best.

[☼Obsidian Short Sword☼]

Someone could always make a python/lua script to convert between saves(My python skills are subpar). But I don't think we should put that burden on Toady One.

[BlueManedHawk]

I'm certainly no expert, but it seems to me like it would be really weird to break backwards compatibility with the premium release.  After all:
   - while this has added quite a few things, most of them are graphical/usability improvements that (to me) shouldn't interfere with the gameplay itself

Except the save format itself has been changed to separate out mods and graphics - I would think that alone makes backwards compatibility very difficult at best.

What's stopping the game from just supporting both formats for a bit?  I guess it would lead to a bit more resource usage, but, like, relative to the scope of DF as it is, i doubt it would be that much more.  I'm not an expert, though.

[clinodev]

What's stopping the game from just supporting both formats for a bit?  I guess it would lead to a bit more resource usage, but, like, relative to the scope of DF as it is, i doubt it would be that much more.  I'm not an expert, though.

It's mostly the general problem of anything "just taking a couple hours" or "a few days" and there being tens of thousands of us with our own little wish lists.

Relatively few people are going to want to bring a world forward in general, in light of the new release. Zach's hinted at endgame conditions and nobles being different, so it may well be that forts you'd want to bring forward will be stuck because of past decisions anyway. Even now, older forts very often don't get many newer features when brought forward, because they're worldgen things, like you can update a 0.44.12 world to 0.47.05, but you won't suddenly get altars and dice in worldgen temples.

On the up side, it has been done before, and Tarn's said somewhere it should be technically possible. It's likely someone will try their hand at a convertor.

If not, hey, 8 years of backwards compatibility is a fantastic run, and at least we won't have to explain to people that DF:2014 IS the current version of the wiki anymore!!

[TheFlame52]

I believe NComannder made a converter for Archcrystals when it updated to a newer version (as in, a dfhack script that added the new stuff) so it should be possible.