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[clinodev]

Consoling stressed out worshippers

https://steamcommunity.com/games/975370/announcements/detail/3330909474103825899

Hello again, and welcome to 2020!

We're still on track for January to be the month where the update to Classic DF is released. (Remember, the Steam version of DF is called Premium DF.) I've been cleaning things up and adding the last few features. For instance, dwarves in craft guilds can now hold skill demonstrations, and priests can give various types of sermons and console worshippers that are stressed out. Player adventurers can also give sermons if they choose.

Once that release is up, and we've handled whatever issues arise, the code work on a Premium DF will begin. I imagine that'll change the nature of these news posts a bit! The first order of business will likely be getting the artists fully up and running with the ability to see more of their work in play. I have to rework most of the guts of the display, so it'll take some time before we have new screenshots together. We'll be doing that before moving on to the broader interface updates and quality-of-life changes.

This should be an exciting year! I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together.

- Tarn

[Loud Whispers]

git the hype train choo chooing

[clinodev]

Steam Community Update 30 January 2020: "Babies control moms with random crawling AI"

https://steamcommunity.com/games/975370/announcements/detail/1711866668247680497

Full text:

Babies control moms with random crawling AI
Hello!

Yesterday we put up the last major solo release of Classic DF! There'll be some bug fixing now (which applies to all versions, including the future Steam release), and then we'll be pivoting entirely to Premium DF graphical work, which should be pretty exciting.

So far, the bugs don't look so bad... we did change the mount code, and apparently babies carried by their mothers (who are treated as 'riders') now control their mothers' actions with their random crawling AI, making the mothers wander aimlessly. It's straightforward to fix, but another odd tale for the DF chronicles. A mercenary company was hired to attack its own fort... a world history crash... it all seems manageable. We also need to fix an old raid crash, something to do with equipment settings. Once the worst is handled, the next era of DF can begin in earnest.

- Tarn

---

Kitfox's Note

Don't forget to sign up for the DF newsletter (https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?url=http://www.kitfoxgames.com/sendy/kitfox-subscribe)! Once work on Premium DF starts, I'll be sending emails out there so you get these updates right in your inbox. Or, of course, find us on Twitter (https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?url=http://www.twitter.com/kitfoxgames) and the like.

- Victoria (manavee)

[Loud Whispers]

Can't wait for all the new passion to be thrown into the community. It is exciting!

[Peyotle]

Is it getting a macOS version?

[clinodev]

Is it getting a macOS version?

From the most recent DevLog:

In terms of the Steam release, yeah, I do not personally have the experience to sell a Mac or Linux product.  If I can't easily get the build working, and I can't marshal the expertise in whatever way, then it won't come to those platforms, whether that's eventually paying somebody to help or however it'll work.  I can't afford it now and don't feel comfortable asking for volunteers in this context, and I doubt my ability to put together a 'properly bundled' OSX app that works on whatever version is the latest and to keep it working through future deprecations.  Additionally, I haven't been closely following where the current notarization issues are at, and that might be prohibitive as a separate matter, depending on exactly what's going on.  I know some of my peers decided to leave the platform, but their situation might be different.  Others have struggled through it.  I'm all for getting it worked out, but it'd need to be a solution that sticks and which I can maintain more reliably.

So, not right away, anyway.

[Criperum]

ptw

[clinodev]

Who owns the tomb after a mummy comes back from the dead?

https://steamcommunity.com/games/975370/announcements/detail/3735110149834154834


Hi again!

We've been keeping up the bug fixes as the last standalone Classic DF release stabilizes. Now-corrected highlights include the game getting confused about who owned the tomb after a mummy came back from the dead, leading to the mummy's zombies sieging themselves, and two dwarven spies diligently maintaining their enemy cover identities even when they came to live in the player's fort, confusing the local soldiers and starting civil wars. And lots of more mundane fixes.

It has been an adventure steering this fairly massive ongoing project from the villain work toward the Premium DF work since the Steam announcement last year. We should be ready to fully switch gears and work on Premium DF around the change of the month. Fewer news items about odd quirks and strange features, and more about graphics and user experience, but I imagine we'll still see some strange things happen, ha ha. They'll just be shinier now.

Scamps, my cat, turned 11 this week! (Picture included.) I have to revert most of his code additions, but he's always kept up his confidence and continues to try his best on the keyboard nearly every day.

- Tarn

[clinodev]

Steam Community Update 4 March 2020: "Necromancer experiments are potential citizens"

Full text:

Necromancer experiments are potential citizens
Hello!

Soon we'll be done patching the last major standalone Classic DF release. Fixed some oldies, like an ancient bug causing dwarves to teleport through walls when they are charged by an opponent and tumble backward in a certain way, and some new ones. For instance, the new necromancer experiments can sometimes escape from the tower and try to eek out a life in a village, and this sometimes means they can migrate to your fortress, as visitors or potential citizens. That's all fine, but they still casually ripped out doors and broke furniture. This is now fixed, ha ha.

March is here, and with that, the code work on Premium DF kicks into full swing. It'll be an interesting change of pace, to say the least, and it'll be cool to see all the artwork Mayday and Meph have been working on come to life.

- Tarn

---

Kitfox's Note


This update was originally going to be posted a week ago, but we were at PAX East! Sorry about the lateness.

It was nice to see some of you in person! The floor was packed with people, and it's always refreshing to be able to talk to fans of the game in real life. We only had the trailer of DF showing but even then... y'all are excited!

- Victoria

[Pancakes]

Has there been any talk about steam trading cards, custom chat emoticons, or profile backgrounds being available for the steam release?

[clinodev]

Has there been any talk about steam trading cards, custom chat emoticons, or profile backgrounds being available for the steam release?

Hey there!

This would probably be better asked in the Future of the Fortress thread (remember to color your question lime green), but I'll link it to the Kitfox folks just in case they want to comment. I vaguely remember Toady being asked about trading cards, and giving a "that's interesting, we'll see"-style response, but that would be about a year ago, so it's probably worth asking again now that he's actually working on the Premium Steam/itch release.

Incidentally, this thread is really just a mirror of the actual Steam announcements, because they often contain little news tidbits not shared elsewhere, and not everyone is on Steam. The announcements are official, not this thread, which I maintain just to keep everyone in the loop (I also post them on Steam, and in a Discord bot channnel that gets distributed to over 50 other Discords). I would be shocked if anyone at Bay 12 or Kitfox reads this thread at this point, and despite a couple rumors, nobody's sent me any money yet!

[Pancakes]

Gotcha, will be asking there. Thanks!

[clinodev]

Steam Community Update 12 March 2020 "The code work on DF Premium is underway!"

Full text:

The code work on DF Premium is underway!
Hi again!

We released the last standalone Classic DF patch at the end of February, and therefore: the code work on DF Premium (AKA the Steam version) is underway! The artists have sent me their work to this point, and now my first job is to get them a test version they can use to improve existing tiles and add new ones.

Since Dwarf Fortress's display to this point has just been a uniform grid, the initial step was to rework the innards so that we can display multiple tile grids of different sizes or whatever else we need. This is done now. Next I'm implementing the first pass list of the hundreds of identifiers the artists will be using to plug their work into the game.

There won't be anything new to show for a while still, but it was exciting to see the larger graphical grid displaying some grass and stone underneath the existing menus, rather than by itself as in the trailer. Like, welcome to 1987 or something, I know, ha ha, but this is going to be pretty cool. There's always some iffiness in dealing with technical hurdles, rather than the more straightforward work of updating existing content, so this is good from the standpoint of removing uncertainties as well.

- Tarn

Kitfox's Note


Hi!

So I've been posting lil' peeks at the new sprites in DF Premium via Twitter, but might as well share them here too, right? Place your votes on the most deadly DF hump, heh.




From the Wiki.

Cheers,
Victoria

[clinodev]

Steam Community Update 26 March 2020: "An actual look at graphical improvements"

Full text:

Hello!

Okay, now I can show you what I meant about the graphical improvements last time instead of trying to explain in words, ha ha.

For reference, here is a hillside in Classic DF:



This is a cutaway view at one altitude. This view has been pretty confusing for new players. All you need to know is that it's a grid of uniform size, and the upward triangles are ramps. Dwarves can walk up those to the next highest level.

Here is a similar view in Dwarf Fortress Premium. First off, you can see the new graphical tiles displaying alongside the old to-be-updated interface instructions.


Our work from last time got us away from the Classic's DF uniform text grid. The artists have done a great job with preparing shadows and shading to indicate that those ramps go up, and not down. For any of its faults, the upward triangles did give us that, and now we have it here. We'll do some additional work later on in the process that further bolsters the three dimensionality of the game.





The ramp situations can get pretty complicated! There are still some shadows and situations to patch up, but it's going well. In the second image there, you can see some brown jasper gems in the lower wall, and some hematite ore striping the upper wall at one spot.

But that's not all we've been working on:



This is a small fort with a carpenter's workshop, log pile, and constructed block wall outside. Inside, we have a mason's workshop with a stone stockpile, some doors placed, a metalsmith's forge under construction, and a larger meeting hall. The dwarves have smoothed the walls in the meeting hall - they generally like smoothed stone better when it comes to the value they place on their bedrooms and so forth. By the end, the smoothed stone color will match the surrounding stone.

Here are some domesticated animals by a pool of water.



The artists are still way ahead of me, but I'll keep working to support all of their creations. The process continues!

- Tarn

Kitfox's Note


Hey everyone! Hope you've all been staying safe and inside. <3

Remember you can get all of these updates in your email inbox if you sign up for the newsletter... with exclusive bonus pics of Tarn's cat, Scamps!

Cheers,
Victoria

[Loud Whispers]

Hot damn those ramps actually give an impression of depth