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[darius]

My friend asked me about DF history. Unfortunately i am with it only since 3d ver. Is there any way to get short history of DF and Toady? (including what gave the push to donation based fulltime development, what was before (ARMOK I) and so on.)

[Amalgam]

I don't think anyone's compiled anything of the sort, no. We pass down our history through song and verses!

But yeah, I think a community timeline would be a very nice thing. Could put it on the wiki or something.

[Dragros]

A wiki article must be started!

Designate the stone smoothers and prepare the Legendary engravers!
We have a big job ahead...

Maybe some help from Toady or ThreeToe is in order?

[Stormrage]

I started playing 2d cause i want to know what is the ending. It's terribly slow! And the world gen is even slower. And I can't construct walls or floors! And I can'y build a bridge over the magma lake... How do I cross it?

[Dame de la Licorne]

And I can'y build a bridge over the magma lake... How do I cross it?

In the 2D version, you can only use steel/adamantine to build over the magma river.  Dig until you find the hematite (it's the only iron ore present in 2D).

[Stormrage]

I've heard stories of batmen popping out of the chasms and attacking everybody. Will they do it on random occasions or only if I drop some Alunite on their heads?

[RedWick]

I've heard stories of batmen popping out of the chasms and attacking everybody. Will they do it on random occasions or only if I drop some Alunite on their heads?

Both.  You can stop the chasm attacks if you drop magma into it.  iirc, this'll spawn a nasty reprisal at first, but if you handle it, you won't have to worry about chasm attacks any more.

Also, keep an eye on rivers and wells.  Frogmen and lizardmen love to jump out at random times.

[Savok]

I've heard stories of batmen popping out of the chasms and attacking everybody. Will they do it on random occasions or only if I drop some Alunite on their heads?

Randomly, but your trash does aggravate them.

If that trash happens to be an incandescent aggregate of minerals and mineraloids, they probably won't mind. At least, they won't attack you for it.

Edit: RedWick, ye ninja!

[R1ck]

My friend asked me about DF history. Unfortunately i am with it only since 3d ver. Is there any way to get short history of DF and Toady? (including what gave the push to donation based fulltime development, what was before (ARMOK I) and so on.)

Perhaps this is what you're looking for?

[darius]

My friend asked me about DF history. Unfortunately i am with it only since 3d ver. Is there any way to get short history of DF and Toady? (including what gave the push to donation based fulltime development, what was before (ARMOK I) and so on.)

Perhaps this is what you're looking for?

Not quite. I also found that page (as all dev_next since 2004) but those are only features for dwarf fort. What i am looking for is prehistory and maybe some old forum threads on how everything started (if they exist)

[Kardos]

Toady learns to code on his Daddies knee.
Toady and Threetoe make games throughout life.
Toady goes to university for math, makes Armok I in process.
Toady gets math job, hates it.  Gets idea for DF.
DF, a short idea, turns into a grand idea, Toady hand in resignation for math job.
Math people aare nice and let Toady keep job until first version of DF is released.
DF is released.  Being a donate game from the beginning, Toady and Threetoe are surprised to to get a steady stream of donations from month one.
Toady finally leaves math job and starts on DF fulltime.
3D-DF comes late fall 2007.
Underground and creature re-write comes soon. 

End.

[puke]

river and chasm attacks didnt seem to happen at all in the last 2D versions.  they seem to have been broken at some point, and never fixed.  I seem to remember some discussion on the topic, so im pretty sure it wasnt just my forts.

early games, frog and snake men would always ambush me at the river bridges, antmen and batmen would come in waves from the chasm.  then after a few versions it just stopped happening altogehter.  not sure exactly when.

there was also a very limited number of things you could do outdoors, and even fewer that you could do more than a few tiles from the cliff face.

initial flooding of river and magma was also Fun...  nile farming... seasonal mud drying...

I wasnt playing back when undead invasions were in the game, that sounded like a Fun time.

[Footkerchief]

Toady learns to code on his Daddies knee.
Toady and Threetoe make games throughout life.
Toady goes to university for math, makes Armok I in process.
Toady gets math job, hates it.  Gets idea for DF.
DF, a short idea, turns into a grand idea, Toady hand in resignation for math job.
Math people aare nice and let Toady keep job until first version of DF is released.
DF is released.  Being a donate game from the beginning, Toady and Threetoe are surprised to to get a steady stream of donations from month one.
Toady finally leaves math job and starts on DF fulltime.
3D-DF comes late fall 2007.
Underground and creature re-write comes soon. 

End.

Yeah, this is a good summary.  A lot of audio interviews start with Toady talking about DF's history, so you could check those out if you want more details.

[darius]

Toady hated his job? That i didn't know.

[Footkerchief]

Toady hated his job? That i didn't know.

He hated doing math research, yeah.  Another place to read up on DF's history is Bay 12 Reports like this one, where he talks about events leading up to quitting his job.