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[existent]

What if the game included a multiplayer mode, where two people could play simultaneously? Now, that would create a lot of unique challenges, but it would also be a lot of fun. And, it would help veterans demonstrate things to new players.

Here's what I'm thinking: remove pausing from the game, obviously, and allow two (or more? probably not) players to embark on the same site. Each would get his seven dwarves, and they would only react to his commands. Unfortunately, designations or building or the like wouldn't pause gameplay, but that would also allow for some fun PvP.

Imagine, you get to ATTACK a crazy defensive structure, instead of always hiding behind it. You'd be able to watch your friend build his fortress across the map, and you two could kill each other, or work together on a project, or just screw around.

FPS would take a double-hit, not even taking into account connection lag. I'm not thinking of "matchmaking" or anything, just two people connecting directly to each other, so you could play with friends/other forumites.

Then, you could have a GTA-style adventure mode multiplayer.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wow....... this is a terrible idea.

A man can dream, can't he? Oh, in a perfect world.....

[NW_Kohaku]

You DO realize that not only is this extremely commonly suggested, but that Toady has specifically responded to these requests by saying that he has no interest in multiplayer, other than the "multiplayer" that occurs through the sharing of saves, right?

[existent]

You DO realize that not only is this extremely commonly suggested, but that Toady has specifically responded to these requests by saying that he has no interest in multiplayer, other than the "multiplayer" that occurs through the sharing of saves, right?

Like I said..... terrible idea. I just wish it was more feasible. Really, what I want is to be able to more easily get my friends into the game, which would be way simpler if we could play together.

[alfie275]

Didn't someone make a program that basically sends a live feed of the screen? Could be more feasable, Toady would just have to add multiple view points/inputs. Perhaps he could even just add it as a RAW, then it outputs player 2's view into memory, and reads player 2's input from memory, so a thirdparty can use the DF memory hacking library to create their own client/server.

[JanusTwoface]

Try DFTerm for cooperative play (ASCII only).

Also, the search function is your friend. Multiplayer really has been brought up and shot down dozens of times.

[existent]

Also, the search function is your friend. Multiplayer really has been brought up and shot down dozens of times.

I'm usually pretty good about that... I guess the lack of sleep is getting to me.

[Daetrin]

Honestly, Spore-esque asynchronous multiplayer, where people's generated content gets pushed out to others for   filling out their world makes the most sense for DF.

[daveybaby]

Spore-esque asynchronous multiplayer

Agree with this. I really like the idea of being able to having shared access to a generated world stored on a server.
Players pick embarkation points or get allocated them at random and upload their progress to the server.
Then you could explore the world in adventure mode containing hundreds of fortresses from different players.

To be honest i doubt toady would have to have much to do with this, just provide some way to merge savegames/generated worlds together. Let the community handle the rest.

[Rex_Nex]

Very, very feasible idea, and that would be the next best thing to full-blown multiplayer, in my opinion (To those of you who dont like the idea of multiplayer, just think about it for a minute. Think of the possibilites, the fun, everything. DF would get more attention then any other rougelike made so far!) once toady throws out a "bit" of the source for us to work with. Hell, even without a source, making a seperate program that uploads savegames/worlds/worldgen recipes/etc into a server with a good chatbox and GUI in it would be amazing and possible. Call it Dwarf Distopia and have Toady support it a bit with links and whatnot, and your set!

My mind already tingles with the idea o.o

[thijser]

With this sytem there are some problems first of all you would need an AI capable of handeling any fort. And there is modding how can the sytem handle objects that were made using a mod.

[Rex_Nex]

Mods would either have to be unsupported, or would have their own worlds to themselves. Just having Dwarf Distopia/whatever the DFOM system is called scan all the readable files in your dwarf fortress directory and compare them to the defaults would fix it.

[JanusTwoface]

(To those of you who dont like the idea of multiplayer, just think about it for a minute. Think of the possibilites, the fun, everything. DF would get more attention then any other rougelike made so far!)

How is this any different really from DFTerm for cooperative play (ASCII only)?

Another strong point against multiplayer is that network code and the like introduces a lot of potential bugs.  It's not exactly a simple topic and there are a good number of things that will almost certaintly take up more of Toady's time.

once toady throws out a "bit" of the source for us to work with

Rather unlikely.  This is Toady's project and his livelihood.  Whether or not you agree with his stance, you're not likely to be able to change it.  Granted, what I think you are proposing would possibly require much less of the source (mostly just some way to merge worlds on updates) which could theoretically be a seperate program.

making a seperate program that uploads savegames/worlds/worldgen recipes/etc into a server with a good chatbox and GUI in it would be amazing and possible

Sure it's possible, but how is this really that different from a combination of the forums, wiki, and mostly the DFFD?  There are dozens of succession games that run just fine without a third party utility and there are whole threads and wiki pages devoted to worldgen recipes.

[Sergius]

What's to stop a player to just mess up the map for the other player with an army of miners...

There's literally no defense against miners except finding and killing them, which could be annoyingly hard.

[sweitx]

If you want asynchronous multiplayer...
A seperate program that automatically handles upload/download of a succession fortress (or at least a way to store a yearly sequence of fortresses)?

[NW_Kohaku]

Very, very feasible idea, and that would be the next best thing to full-blown multiplayer, in my opinion (To those of you who dont like the idea of multiplayer, just think about it for a minute. Think of the possibilites, the fun, everything. DF would get more attention then any other rougelike made so far!) once toady throws out a "bit" of the source for us to work with. Hell, even without a source, making a seperate program that uploads savegames/worlds/worldgen recipes/etc into a server with a good chatbox and GUI in it would be amazing and possible. Call it Dwarf Distopia and have Toady support it a bit with links and whatnot, and your set!

My mind already tingles with the idea o.o

The problem is that Toady already seems to regret the amount of source that he's already thrown out to the public, and isn't interested in doing any more.