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[Benny]

We'd also like to thank the people at Valve for showing us around and letting us mess with their stuff yesterday. There are a few DF fans there and one of them invited us over to take a look and hang out, which was pretty cool

Valve... as in Valve of Steam? Or a different one, in either case, whats the details? :O

[Tormy]

We'd also like to thank the people at Valve for showing us around and letting us mess with their stuff yesterday. There are a few DF fans there and one of them invited us over to take a look and hang out, which was pretty cool

Valve... as in Valve of Steam? Or a different one, in either case, whats the details? :O

Toady meant Valve Software for sure.

[Aqizzar]

Oh god, I just checked this to see if there was an update, and BAM.

Valve invited Toady to look around their offices, because they're fans.

Prediction: Valve will license/hire Toady like they did the CounterStrike guys, and throw gobs of developing power at the most potentially lucrative project ever.

It's all my favorite things in one.

[Rilder]

Valve would just force Toady to make DF into a linear storyline game and not allow DF to be downloaded out of that crappy lil program called "Steam"

(Yeah I don't like Valve)

[Kardos]

Oh god, I just checked this to see if there was an update, and BAM.

Valve invited Toady to look around their offices, because they're fans.

Prediction: Valve will license/hire Toady like they did the CounterStrike guys, and throw gobs of developing power at the most potentially lucrative project ever.

It's all my favorite things in one.

It might be faster for Valve to just build an office building around Toady's apartment building so they can at least claim that Toady works at Valve.

[Guy Montag]

I don't think a game like DF would be lucrative at all if it was commerically released, it would fulfill a small niche market, at best. Something like the the Hearts of Iron series. All the strategy games of late are very simple and visually appealing, and generally have a point or a plot, or a goal to them, something Dwarf fortress is not.

If they wanted to make a game that made them money, a complex, extremely detailed simulation game that relied on "emergent" gameplay with absoutely no goals or endgame besides the ones the player comes up with themselves, would NOT be their best bet. If they proposed a game like Dwarf Fortress it would either be A. rejected, B. Compromised and watered down so much it would be inferior to DF, or C. A complete and total commerical failure (with a dedicated fanbase however!).

They'd want something easy and lazy to make that appeals to a larger market and sells 40$ copies, not something massive and ambitious that targets a small niche market like DF does.

Least thats how I see it.

[bombcar]

DF style games can be popular and profitable - after all, the Sim and SimCity series are basically modern DFs without the blood.

[Benny]

Valve would just force Toady to make DF into a linear storyline game and not allow DF to be downloaded out of that crappy lil program called "Steam"

(Yeah I don't like Valve)

Steam is one of the greatest things to happen to PC gaming in a long time And Valve are practically legends in my eyes, I think more developers should handle things like them

Also theres nothing to say that this would mean Dwarf Fortress being sold on Steam, but they do do free stuff that this would kind of come under (Mods, videos, etc) Valve do free tours I'm sure as well occasionally to people, again modmakers have been around and commented on stuff, tried upcoming games and got their thoughts and stuff. Or theres always the potential job offer, Valve have been known to offer people jobs that have shown their ability at games making (Kim Swift and crew from the original Narbacular Drop and the Counter Strike chaps, not forgetting Turtle Rock)

[Kuromimi505]

It would be great if Toady could get some ideas on how people could help or how to delegate tasks in a way that's still acceptable to him. Our thirst for blood is great and needs to be sated with updates.

[Sir Finkus]

Valve would just force Toady to make DF into a linear storyline game and not allow DF to be downloaded out of that crappy lil program called "Steam"

(Yeah I don't like Valve)

Steam is one of the greatest things to happen to PC gaming in a long time And Valve are practically legends in my eyes, I think more developers should handle things like them

Also theres nothing to say that this would mean Dwarf Fortress being sold on Steam, but they do do free stuff that this would kind of come under (Mods, videos, etc) Valve do free tours I'm sure as well occasionally to people, again modmakers have been around and commented on stuff, tried upcoming games and got their thoughts and stuff. Or theres always the potential job offer, Valve have been known to offer people jobs that have shown their ability at games making (Kim Swift and crew from the original Narbacular Drop and the Counter Strike chaps, not forgetting Turtle Rock)

I got to visit the valve offices as well, it was pretty cool.  They even let me playtest goldrush and badlands.  Also got to see an early build of left 4 dead.  Fantastic developers.

[Greiger]

Valve seems pretty cool in my eyes, they actually seem to listen to their playerbase and don't charge $5 to download every single update like some folks do.

Heck I read that any expansions to half-life 2 are given to half life 2 owners for free (as long as they have steam I assume).  I can't figure out any other reason why Lost coast ended up on my steam games list ready for download without my input.

As for Steam, we had a "discussion" about that about a month ago didn't we?  It's not as bad as folks make it out to be.  All I've seen from it so far is convenience, and what people have complained about has pretty much been fixed. 

Spoiler: rant (click to show/hide)

Yes you have to have an internet connection to install a game, once, then you can just switch to offline mode and never turn it on again. And all steam games I bought retail states that it requires an internet connection on the box if I recall.  As long as the game is linked to your steam account you can install it on as many computers as you want, then lose the CD, or hell lose the CD first then download the whole game onto those computers latest version.  Nothing annoys me more than having to juggle CDs just to switch games.  You can leave the steam community off if you want, or leave it on and have a chat system that dosn't require an alt-tab and is barely noticeable resources wise.

EDIT: PSST hey Toady, did they show ya what the sniper upgrades are gonna be?  You can trust me...

[Patarak]

I'd love to do a long post about how Valve's games have been glorified mods since the past five years and that Steam is icky to touch but being right isn't a good enough reason to spam the place up.

Regardless, I severely doubt Valve is going to do anything for DF. As I understand it, Toady's visit was just a neat excursion via invitation.

[Aqizzar]

I'm afraid I may have started this argument.  Let me say that my little statement was more joke than anything, and have nothing in particular to say about Valve's products.  And yeah, I know they basically give tours to anyone of gaming notoriety in the North West.  Might be why they only release one title a year.

But come on.  Wouldn't it be awesome if Toady suddenly found himself lumbered with a support staff to teach and direct?  Think how much sooner we'd get updates!

[Mel_Vixen]

I think valved only wanted to show its own workers what a real Programmer is .

[JoRo]

But come on.  Wouldn't it be awesome if Toady suddenly found himself lumbered with a support staff to teach and direct?  Think how much sooner we'd get updates!

This is Valve we're talking about.  Speed isn't something they're really known for.