Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Capntastic]

Well, short term, greater interest cant be bad - media awareness, player numbers and so on. Long term? Just have foreboading that the DF project will become unsustainable in the longer term, and with too much awareness from the gaming industry comes greter pressure to take the money and run.

I can easily see how reading about how Toady's wholly invested himself in the project regardless of financial gain would make that leap into your head.

[Aqizzar]

I have to say, it's so beautifully poetic that the example image of a fortress, taken for the New York Freaking Times (and finally it's not a placeholder screenshot from the 2D era), shows a puny little fortress that has already lost a dwarf, and it's carved out of good old, dependable, eye-gouging orthoclase.

[MonkeyHead]

Hey, no need to jump down my throat 

I did say I was stuck between thinking of it as good or bad - not that I had decided. I am only concerned that some big executive somewhere might be tempted to offer a sum Toady could not refuse at some point.

[thvaz]

It's cool that Richard Garriot is a fan of Bay12's work.

[Yolan]

Hey, no need to jump down my throat 

I did say I was stuck between thinking of it as good or bad - not that I had decided. I am only concerned that some big executive somewhere might be tempted to offer a sum Toady could not refuse at some point.

Captn T's point is that as the article shows, Tarn and Zac aren't in it for the money. DF is their life. You could offer them tens of millions and they wouldn't take it. You are free to be concerned, but it's kind of unnecessary.

[kaijyuu]

I honestly dunno if I'd want to end up like that working on my magnum opus.

[KaelGotDwarves]

If Tarn would take it I would send him some juice and food. God damn.

Great article though. Much respect for a 33 year old guy living out his dream.

[Capntastic]

I did say I was stuck between thinking of it as good or bad - not that I had decided.

I'm just pointing out that it's not something you need to 'decide'.   The facts are all self-evident, Toady's in for the long haul, and it's pretty impossible to think someone would pay him to stop developing the game or whatever.  The 'worst case' scenario, which is possible but ultra-improbable, would be some game execs give him a million dollars and replace him with a team that can handle multithreading and graphics and UI and all that and tries to package it for retail, like all of the crummy Nethack clones.  Lots of people unhappy, but lots of people happy.  And even then I'm sure Toady would work a clause in to be able to develop DF as he sees fit in his own time.

It's cool that Richard Garriot is a fan of Bay12's work.

Toady should try to get invited to stay at the castle.

[MonkeyHead]

I honestly dunno if I'd want to end up like that working on my magnum opus.

Yea, I think thats where my concern comes from - the lifestyle is unapealling to me. Granted, I shouldnt assume others feel the same as me. I just find it hard to accept that someone would turn down big offers to keep it up. Good luck to the guys.

[Rose]

Man, it's nice to see some mainstream recognition going on.

[Siquo]

If Tarn would take it I would send him some juice and food. God damn.

Yes, indeed. Or a  "Tarn, eat your veggies, we can't have you die before version 1.0 and oh yeah we care about you, too"-intervention.

[Rose]

Wait... this means DF is now too mainstream for me to play it.

[Ethicalfive]

So Toady's gotten a 300k offer to license DF?
Damn. That's a lot of cash. I know I would have probably caved in, because hey, 300k.

Good for him to stay strong though. He's got balls.

I think that was an offer for the name alone. Tarn turning it down to protect his life work as selling the dwarf fortress name would impact the game negatively.

I wish the interface would get some love before DF gets too much lime light though. Even a weeks break from coding just to reorganise the UI(not even fundamentally overhaul it) or if touching the UI is such a sin then add a 'new to the game walkthrough tutorial' option where the players hand is held long enough that the UI becomes intuitive to them would help to retain some of the inquisitive users that come in from the publicity but are driven off by being lost and confused (anyone feeling the need to debate this, instead go and take a read through the many 'your first DF experience' 'your first memory of DF' etc posts and you'll see a clear recurring theme).

Tarn may not care about the money, but holding onto another 5-10% users who might otherwise leave prematurely(as in the above mentioned threads i'd wager it's a much higher percent) could make the difference between between programming it up in a small apartment, drinking strange tasting water(been there and understand his dependance on soda) and one bad meal a day as opposed to programming in a fancy 2 story home with meals prepared for him by his personal chef.

[Aqizzar]

It was a very poetic article, if a bit bittersweet in description, but it was definitely praising, and high praise from people like the New York Freaking Times and Museum of Modern Freaking Art.

Also, while I was reading the part about Tarn coding through the night and sleeping by day, drinking Dr. Pepper and subconsciously rocking in his chair to no tempo, I was sitting in my draped-up messy room, drinking Dr. Pepper and subconsciously rocking in my chair to no tempo, contemplating whether I should go to sleep at 6AM or stay up later.

[thvaz]

It's cool that Richard Garriot is a fan of Bay12's work.

Toady should try to get invited to stay at the castle.

Heh. My bad. It is Richard Garfield. He is a lot cooler than Richard Garriot, anyways.