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[bombcar]

A significant number of minor improvements have snuck in during the OpenGL/SDL code enhancements; a similar interface for dwarf task management would remove the main remaining hurdle for large fortresses (basically an XML or similar interface for programs like Dwarf Foreman to use).

[Karnewarrior]

Why do I get the feeling DF is the product of Toady One being in a Fey Mood, and he'll eventually finish it and become a Legendary Programmer?

I hope for ThreeToe's sake that it isn't a Fell mood.   

If Toady Does all the programming, what does ThreeToe do? Just moderate the forums? draw dorfs? Make sure scamps doesn't...Do what cats do?

[quinnr]

This thread made me register, etc.

I was talking online with someone about DF, and we were discussing the graphical aspects of the game. And eventually, we came to the agreement that the ASCII is what makes DF great. Not because of the 'hardcore' idea, or the idea that it forces away casual gamers, but for the reason that without ASCII, and a more 'traditional' engine in place instead, then there would be no imagination left. From what I've read on the forums, people are really imaging what their forts are like, rather than relying on the graphics to show them. ASCII allows you to make up your own story.

ASCII is most of what I love about DF, plus the gameplay is "fun"!, and it has no paticular goals, which is also great.

[nil]

If Toady Does all the programming, what does ThreeToe do? Just moderate the forums? draw dorfs? Make sure scamps doesn't...Do what cats do?

That stuff and this.

(plus I think he has a day job)

[monk12]

Download Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress! All programming is of the highest quality. This game menaces with spikes of kitten bone. On the game is an image of dwarves in pixels. The dwarves are laboring. The artwork relates to the creation of the first fortress in 2002.

[Footkerchief]

If Toady Does all the programming, what does ThreeToe do? Just moderate the forums? draw dorfs? Make sure scamps doesn't...Do what cats do?

That stuff and this.

(plus I think he has a day job)

And ASCII art rewards, and game design/brainstorming.

[ebenezer]

I'm just a newbie to the game (but ultradwarfenly proud for having climbed the learning curve), and imho a significant advantage of the independent development is that Toady values the feedback from us players. I don't think that the average DF player matches the target of a corporate - there are millions of potential customers out there that don't want in-game depth as badly as WE want it, and the corporate won't listen to us geeks. I have the impression that Toady does.

[Yagrum Bagarn]

Eater of Vermin,
It's nice to be on a forum that so avidly avoids flaming.  It's too closely related to tantrum spirals.  Your ability to simply admit mistakes is welcome here.

Hell, in DF, it's necessary.

I understand that the next release includes a lot of rewritten under-the-hood code.  In addition to being a huge step forward, it also contains a lot of those easy fixes if my memory serves me right.

[Kyronea]

I don't want to see anyone but Toady working on this game. I searched for a long time for a good, quality gameplay-based game that would hold my interest for a long time, and I've finally found one.

Now, mind, I did have to use Mike Mayday's graphic pack to play it. I couldn't quite stand pure ascii--I'm just too visual. Once I had that, I was fine. I needed no more graphics than that, and I think the same would be true for a lot of people out there who might not know about this game yet. (Certainly games like the Avernum series prove that.)

So since I don't want anyone else to mess with the game and potentially mess it up for everyone, I think I'm just fine with just Toady developing.

[zchris13]

From what i've read Toady wants to work alone for the most part and from what i've read turns down any offer for help, and as for the release, well idiotic people today its all about the graphics, and the steep learning curve doesnt help...

It's a cliff, not a curve.

[Blargityblarg]

With murderholes and battlements.

[Lord Dakoth]

Download Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress! All programming is of the highest quality. This game menaces with spikes of kitten bone. On the game is an image of dwarves in pixels. The dwarves are laboring. The artwork relates to the creation of the first fortress in 2002.

Win.

I agree with ASCII making the game experience more enjoyable. IMO, no graphics engine is ever going to be "perfect," with perfect blood splatters and unit models, but your imagination can make the graphics as perfect as you want. Plus, whenever I'm doing calculus, I always wonder what the floodgates and socks are decorated with.

Also, the forums. I've been a member of several gaming forums, and this is the best one yet. Almost everyone is friendly, we don't spend all our posts going "lol" and "mai d00d culd own ur d00d," instead we invent epic stories about our ass-kicking ASCII dwarves' adventures.

[Beanchubbs]

In my opinion, this game isn't as well renowned as it should be because of its graphics, and how hard it is to try to figure some things out in it. I've had many friends try the game but not like it for these two reasons. Most of the gaming population in the world doesn't like complexity and prefers eye-candy, and because DF caters to neither of these things, it is not as famous as a game as it really deserves to be. That's why I think a lot of people don't like it, as for why Toady has decided to stay solo, I have no clue because I mostly just stick to Dwarf Mode Discussion and Community Games & Stories like the troll I am.

[silhouette]

Those who are not capable of passing the graphics do not have what it takes to pass the cliff of a learning curve and are not worthy of df!

[JoystickHero]

introducing a custom screen size

Wow, there are still people who don't play 40d16?[/spam]

Several reason. If you've ever worked in game development, even with small indie groups, there are people above you who want certain things. All it takes is one exec with a stupid idea to ruin a game, especially if they wrench it out of his hands and bastardize it.

Money complicates things. Toady's doing just fine with donations, there are certain members of the community who will happily pay a bit of money now and again to support him so he can keep doing what he's doing now. (I'll be one of them as soon as I get some cash.)

A corporation would want a deadline. I personally believe that Toady will continue to work on and improve Dorfort for the rest of his life, and there's nothing wrong with that.

This is Toady's game. He's sharing it with us because he wants to, not because he has to. Sure, the community provides suggestions and bugfixes, but this is his baby, and he decides what he wants to do with it.

Toady is the man who Peter Molyneux wishes he was, and them trading places would be a Twilight Zone ending in Peter begging to go back to his old life. The learning curve to Dorfort is ridiculous, and it's got a very limited demographic. Have you seen how poorly console roguelikes have sold? Chocobo's Dungeon/Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is the exception, not the rule, and even those games have specific goals. The day that a game like Dwarf Fortress survives as a mainstream game is the day that humanity evolves from its current state into enlightened beings of pure energy who grace the universe with knowledge, wisdom, and stupidly convoluted traps.

That said, rock on, Toady One, you hold a place in the Geek Pantheon. (*rimshot*)