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[Johnny Chthonic]

As most of you are aware, the next version of Dwarf Fortress will more or less destroy almost everything we know about the game. Even people who have been playing for years will essentially have to re-learn almost everything about the game. Due to all the press that will be circulating, the game will be sure to draw many new players - however, the wiki and players on the forum may not be able to offer the new players as much help as usual. I am worried that this may drive new players away, and I think as thanks to Toady we, the players, should make a concerted effort to document the new information about the game as quickly as possible. I realize this will not happen for a while, but I want us to be prepared when it does.

What I am proposing is this: those who are active on the wiki already could be made into loose teams or groups devoted to updating old information, creating new pages as necessary, and generally trying to make things easier for new players there. Of course, this will also be beneficial to old players who are confused by a new feature or need to look something up. Those who tend to provide information to new players on the forums already or those who have adjusted more quickly to the new version can set up threads for new players to ask questions in, and generally help people out who need it.

Does this sound like a good idea? The thing I really want to avoid is to have a bunch of gaming news websites shooting wads about "NEW DF VERSION!!!" then have people follow their links to realize that not only is DF a hard game to learn, but none of the information we provide is up-to-date yet.

Perhaps we can get into contact with Toady and have him provide a small group of people with information beforehand, so that we can release a new version of the wiki with the new release of DF?

Your thoughts?

[Neonivek]

This new version isn't changing as much as you say it is in terms of gameplay.

It makes a few enemies more difficult but that could be done by looking through the Raws.

Otherwise Fortress mode plays the same except for a few new options.

It should take less then a few days to document all the important gameplay changes. After that is done you can go onto the little things like Creature Raws, Poisons, and other such things.

[Johnny Chthonic]

Hmm. Maybe I'm overreacting. We'll definitely need new pages for health care, sqaud controls, the way armies, sieges, and megabeasts work...

I think the modding section will need a re-write, too, since the general idea seems to be that modding will have to be done differently.

[Neonivek]

Well not Armies. Your not dealing with them yet.

[Capntastic]

The best part about wikis is that anyone can sign up and edit them.   So you should feel free to do so when the new version comes out.

[wilsonns]

When the new version comes, I'll research to create my own guide about health care(like a workshop placing guide)

[Neonivek]

I think a better strategy would be to tell the board not to hype the game until a few weeks after the next version is released

[Aqizzar]

It makes a few enemies more difficult but that could be done by looking through the Raws.

I think this comment bears further mention.  The Wiki doesn't even have the raws and the way they function properly documented now, and the new version, if the preliminary raws Toady posted way back in December are any indication, the constituent parts of a creature will be spread across three or four different files, all of them with huge blocks of tags.

What I'm saying is, it'd be nice if, come next version, the raws get properly documented.  That's a task nobody can take on just by themselves, since there's plenty of stuff any individual will miss.

[Warlord255]

I'll be more than happy to help try and crack what I can for the wiki.

If we organize this, priority one should be new controls - new content (caves, antment, etc.) should be put off until that is completely handled. New tutorials, references and guides should be finished before any of that.

[DG]

The "Cool things you just noticed in DF" thread is going to explode come the next update, but other than that we shouldn't notice too great an upheaval. Most of the people¹ who need help getting started usually come to the forums without even knowing about the wiki. I expect a large wave of veterans will return to the game with the next release so there'll be many people willing and able to answer questions on the forums.

Having said that, the wiki is a very valuable tool and props to everyone involved.


¹ I think, at least.

[asper]

The Wiki is a big Spoilerpedia already, must you people immediately ruin the mystery the new features will bring? Let people figure stuff out for themselves for a change...

Just ranting. But I do think the Wiki is far too spoilerish.

[Lesconrads]

Spoilers... yea...
I think so aswell - the wiki kinda kills the fun of exploration. On the other hand: when I started the first time, I created a world (that's easy) and chose "prepare"... and then I was like "WTF ima do with brazillions of items I have no idea about". Then I started the game and was like "WTF thousands of options I have no idea what to do"... so there should be 2 things. 1) A detailed game howto and 2) a "how long do plump helmets need to grow and what is their value-modifier"-collection.

[Manchild]

If a new wiki set is done, or some kind of help thing implemented online, i say at the very least that it should be(in the beggining at least) very short and concise. offering the most basic of info.


then, after a month or two....or untill we have killed the damn thing....

we should then update the older info with newer, more elaborate(not the word i was thinking of...something different, to explain better) than that that was first put up. for example, smelting. if it were redone, then i would say a few sentences would suffice, to explain how to start the process. meybe a recipe chart like we have now. then after a short period, update the thing to make it more elaborate, and to explain how it works....



hell... and if the new version is a whole hell different than this one, why not just start a new section of the forum/wiki devoted to JUST THE NEW ONE. and keep the old stuff for the oldskoolers like me...


tho i would like to see the ingame help be more helpful.... has it been changed at all? it should help alot to have a larger help database in the game itself.

[Rowanas]

I've thought of this as well. It would be nice if toady could release just a few things to us so that we can start on the new DF wiki. The current version wiki will have to be archived and copy/pasted where appropriate.

[Kardos]

I'd say if you don't want spoilers, don't visit the wiki, just do a forum search/ask a question.