I have a strict mindset that the init and d_init files are NOT modding, and NOT cheating. A lot of people say "you can't set the pop cap to 50, that's cheating" but really, let's be honest. The init and d_init are the [Escape] options window that wasn't included in-game. Instead it was included out of game in a .txt because DF isn't the most polished program and it's MUCH easier to put options outside the program to be read.
Running the dungeon, really, is pointless. There's no true reward, although items of value can be sold to merchants easier than coins can be used, even this is moot because adventure mode is fairly barren. You get 500 gold coins and what? What're you going to do with it all, really? The whole point of any dungeon would be 1: The challenge of puzzles and traps and combat, 2: The social of talking about success or failure on the forums, and/or 3: the RP value of including a story within the dungeon.
Puzzles and combat, you have to handle that yourself when making the dungeon.
Talking and bragging, you'll do this a lot better if there's a scoring method or some amount of randomly-generated content that makes each play unique and able to recall the strange twists that happened. If we're going to do random dungeons, then we can just leave that for Toady to implement or play another Roguelike, because the joy of building the dungeon is actually building it. The scoring via dorfbuck value is a fairly simple but workable means to determine success/failure. It encourages the player to explore all the nooks and crannies and look for paths that aren't easily visible. I mean, the large waterfall in the dining hall is neat, but who would think to swim through the drainage pipe on the off chance that there's a single granite boat sitting on a submerged ledge? Someone trying to beat their high score, that's who! Especially if you say ahead of time, "There is X☼ treasure hidden here, find it all" then players have something to do, and can tell, or not, the location of spoilers and tricks and whatnot.
The roleplay value, is odd... DF does very little to allow the DM room for expansion. But, shortcuts can be taken. For instance, you could mod in a dozen new stone types, each the same unique color, like bright green, something you rarely see. Each stone has a different name, and each is placed at a specific point in the dungeon. Included with the world data, you should send a folder of text documents by the same name. This way, when a player walks into a room of cast obsidian and sees a single bright green tile of "Entrance Block Floor" then they can look in the folder for a text file named "Entrance" and read the descriptions/hints/warnings that are listed there. This way, you can store vast blocks of text outside the game, and have cue cards for when to read the specific files. There are other methods, but this is the most reliable and simplest that I've come up with. But this is Dwarf Fortress, the average player is used to running the game with 2-5 windows open at a time. It's a game of pieces and utilities, and I'm certain that any rational player won't mind having to thumb over to read a well-written description of their surroundings. "Rational" being relative, of course, and meaning "irrational bearded midget".
Author
Topic: Dungeonbuilding for Adventure mode thread! (Read 2976 times)