quote:
Originally posted by Torak:
<STRONG>Sure it was uncalled for, but im not going to tolerate with someone who says "This game is in ASCII, so I wont play it until it gets graphics."</STRONG>
Why not? That's an awful lot of people you won't be able to tolerate. Some people just can't cope with ASCII interfaces. It's understandable; the way a game looks and feels is an important part of what it is.
Regarding this idea, though... well, on one hand, it would attract more people to Dwarf Fortress, which I think is a good thing. Dwarf Fortress is a good game, and we all want more people playing it, whether we agree with them on the look and interface or not.
...on the other hand, the biggest advantage of a more fancy interface to Dwarf Fortress would be the increased amount of information that the screen could show clearly. With more detailed graphics, things like 3D environments, objects in clouds or underwater, large numbers of objects in the same place, 'special' effects, water/liquid depth, and so on could all be shown much more clearly. Very minor details could be used to influence the display, showing details like quality to the player easily at glance.
Hey, that all sounds good, right? But there's a catch... several catches, really. All that will require support from Toady. It would have implications for designs, for game balance, for the way the underlying 'interface system' is designed, for what information the game tracks and reports at all... you get the idea. Having an interface that Toady isn't really involved in eliminates many of the benefits. It also splits the community; suddenly, people are barely talking the same language, making requests, suggestions, and bug reports based on an entirely different-looking game that shows information differently... you get the idea.
I'm not sure it would be a bad thing; it might be worth trying. But I'd sort of rather wait for a far-future version of the game where Toady designs a new interface himself, even if that's years and decades away when everything else is complete.