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[Honour3]

I appreciate the feedback I've received. Answered quite a few questions.
Thanks ^^

[Naros]

Brook's Law be damned; this isn't late into a project. It's still in the alpha phase!

Extra hands would absolutely increase the development speed, but it's Toady's choice, and quite frankly I rather like the way DF has turned out, so he's doing something right.

[Encyclopath]

I'm sure it's been said before, but, for better or worse, DF does not have the mass appeal of most other indie games. It's probably the niche-iest of niche-markets, as amazing as it is. I so wish the new release was done, but at the same time, I can understand the desire to own the code you're working on. It's a compulsive thing, at least for me, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if the person who wrote this particular game was as compulsive as I am.

Thank you for the speedy and informative replies + info guys ^^

On the topic of development speed, given his donations and how active this community still is (as I see, again), why won't he hire staff to assist? Notch of Minecraft got a few people in way later than he should of, why won't Toady? He can afford a single hired hand, surely? Over $30k in the last 4 years, each year. Can't he hire a guy? Yes it's a jump and if he is risk-adverse then he may not want others interfering until he REALLY CAN throw away money.. but $40k+ in each of the last 2 years.

Dwarf Fortress doesn't APPEAR to have the same SALES figures (because nothing Dwarf Fortress has never had a price tag); perhaps open another line of funding in the form of Official Ownership of a Dwarf Fortress copy - charging £5 a piece during alpha is what got Minecraft going - although it's more simple, 1st-person gameplay more easily shows where the money is going. If nothing else, this rant has made me consider donating some more - but good god man, why isn't a rocket up this project's ars* already?

He doesnt have help, with programming, because he doesnt want it. He doesnt even like programming with his brother.

[Farmerbob]

<snip>

 I want Toady to be rich, I want a quicker development schedule, I want full publicity, I want every other game to look at DF and many of them to try aspire to make such a great game. This won't happen if it's controlled and progressed by only 1 set of hands.

<snip>

  Toady aparently is satisfied with the way things work now, and his work is moddable enough that a great number of people can take what he has done and run in many different directions with it.

  If Toady wanted to be rich, I imagine he could be making a great deal more money than he is now.  His talent for implementing absurdly complex code in a way that it is user configurable is quite evident.

  IMHO, Toady considers himself to be rich because he makes a living doing something he enjoys doing, and that he can do from his home.  Not a lot of us can say that.

  I play DF on and off, maybe two months a year, three at tops, because I tend to burn out on it after a while, go away for a few months, then return, lurk and post in the forums for a while, then start playing again (rinse, repeat).  I do this with pretty much every game I play, whether it's Wurm Online, Everquest 1, DF, or (currently) SWTOR which I am fairly sure that I'm not going to stick with long after I finish the storylines, because the post-storyline content seems really weak from what I've heard.

  I am highly respectful of Toady's coding ability, and his stick-tuitiveness, and am perfectly happy for him to continue to develop at the pace and manner which he wishes, even though I, like you, sometimes get impatient and want the next cool thing "right naow!"  heh.

  *salute* Toady

[HeliumFreak]

Thank you for the speedy and informative replies + info guys ^^

On the topic of development speed, given his donations and how active this community still is (as I see, again), why won't he hire staff to assist? Notch of Minecraft got a few people in way later than he should of, why won't Toady? He can afford a single hired hand, surely? Over $30k in the last 4 years, each year. Can't he hire a guy? Yes it's a jump and if he is risk-adverse then he may not want others interfering until he REALLY CAN throw away money.. but $40k+ in each of the last 2 years.

To be honest there are numerous people who have offered to work for him for free including signing NDA's and hes still said no. The only person who hes allowed even minimal access to is Baughn because his SDL knowledge was better than Toadys

[Andeerz]

And I respect Toady's decision to keep things the way they are.  He has a creative vision for the game, and the more people work on a creative endeavor together, the higher the chance will be (well, the chance might be 100%) that creative visions will conflict.  In other words, too many cooks spoil the soup! 
     

[alesia]

This game is a labor of love.  It's not about the money, and it's not about us.  Dwarf Fortress is Toady's baby.  I'm just grateful we get to play it.

[Honour3]

Alrighty.

I just thought it may be possible for Toady to hire/acquire 1 helper and go Steve Jobs, controlling every little bit he does and then placing him in the corner on "idle" whenever he wants. But that could take it out of the man, and the figures may not be astronomical enough for Toady to even dare risking what could allow him to work on DF independantly for even a single additional month (in a scenario that all fans die and god himself doesn't personally take over the responsibility to fund him - 99% sure it would happen).

What then do we say about purchasing a "license" to own the game? It's something that people would receive in exchange for donating and even though it would mean setting a figure of some kind (he may not want to put any price to it) it would open up donations from a very slightly different customer.
I am one of those people to be honest, but this discussion may have converted me - at least once I'm employed again.

"License" idea section of the post belongs in the suggestions area, but I thought I'd mention it here for people who read my initial post, of which discussing licensing was a major purpose (originally intending to increase production rate).

[Kogut]

"hire/acquire 1 helper" - please, use search

[Dwarfu]

... and god himself doesn't personally take over ...

He already gets all his disaster ideas from playing DF...

[IamanElfCollaborator]

There are people, me included, who can't actually raise the funds to actually get DF if it is made to be licence-only, unless we go through a lot of trouble and a lot of time which by the end of we hate DF for putting us into this mess in the first place.

[alesia]

Alrighty.

I just thought it may be possible for Toady to hire/acquire 1 helper and go Steve Jobs, controlling every little bit he does and then placing him in the corner on "idle" whenever he wants. But that could take it out of the man, and the figures may not be astronomical enough for Toady to even dare risking what could allow him to work on DF independantly for even a single additional month (in a scenario that all fans die and god himself doesn't personally take over the responsibility to fund him - 99% sure it would happen).

What then do we say about purchasing a "license" to own the game? It's something that people would receive in exchange for donating and even though it would mean setting a figure of some kind (he may not want to put any price to it) it would open up donations from a very slightly different customer.
I am one of those people to be honest, but this discussion may have converted me - at least once I'm employed again.

"License" idea section of the post belongs in the suggestions area, but I thought I'd mention it here for people who read my initial post, of which discussing licensing was a major purpose (originally intending to increase production rate).

You're really missing the point here.  DF is not Minecraft (thank Armok).  DF is not going to be Minecraft.  DF has its own model - Toady works on it, we donate when and what we can.  Toady likes the model.  (Most) DF players like the model.  This has been discussed, to death, many times before.  Why are you so determined to make DF into something it's not?

[Farmerbob]

Alrighty.

I just thought it may be possible for Toady to hire/acquire 1 helper and go Steve Jobs, controlling every little bit he does and then placing him in the corner on "idle" whenever he wants. But that could take it out of the man, and the figures may not be astronomical enough for Toady to even dare risking what could allow him to work on DF independantly for even a single additional month (in a scenario that all fans die and god himself doesn't personally take over the responsibility to fund him - 99% sure it would happen).

What then do we say about purchasing a "license" to own the game? It's something that people would receive in exchange for donating and even though it would mean setting a figure of some kind (he may not want to put any price to it) it would open up donations from a very slightly different customer.
I am one of those people to be honest, but this discussion may have converted me - at least once I'm employed again.

"License" idea section of the post belongs in the suggestions area, but I thought I'd mention it here for people who read my initial post, of which discussing licensing was a major purpose (originally intending to increase production rate).

You're really missing the point here.  DF is not Minecraft (thank Armok).  DF is not going to be Minecraft.  DF has its own model - Toady works on it, we donate when and what we can.  Toady likes the model.  (Most) DF players like the model.  This has been discussed, to death, many times before.  Why are you so determined to make DF into something it's not?

Most people who make the suggestions related to Toady getting help aren't aware of how many times it's been beaten to death in the past.  Your last sentence, though perhaps accurate, was a bit over the top.

In this day and age, it's uncommon to encounter a person who makes a living doing a job they like in the way they want to do it, so it's understandable to find that many people here, after seeing the development pattern of the game, think they see room for improvement.  I know I did at one time, dig hard enough and you will see me making similar arguments in the past.

In a corporate world, yes, there would be room for improvement, but Toady's an independent operator and happy with how things are working for now.  Maybe some day he might pick up a helping hand.  He has collaborated at least one time before.  I'd like to see Toady pick up a helping hand to port DF into a multithreaded application, however I'm perfectly happy to let Toady make that call if and when he's ready.

*shrug*

[TheIcelandicManiac]

Any news about when the new Version will hit?

[SalmonGod]

Any news about when the new Version will hit?

It sounds to me like anytime now.  Probably within the next couple days.