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DF is the most successful roguelike by far. It draws in over a hundred thousand US dollars a year. You are never going to make something as complex as DF "take

DF is the most successful roguelike by far. It draws in over a hundred thousand US dollars a year. You are never going to make something as complex as DF "take off" and sell millions as it's a niche topic by design. Most of the people interested in the Steam release are going to very quickly realize that the complexity and difficulty to learn isn't just in the UI and will probably give up on the game. Which I hope will not damage its reputation.

orf 4y ago
The topic in general isn’t niche - Rimworld has shown that. The issues around UI and complexity are somewhat self inflicted.
- DoItToMe81 4y ago
  Rimworld isn't comparable to DF beyond some basic shared gameplay mechanics. It plays differently and much more casually, particularly because it doesn't have the pitfalls of trying to simulate so many things. You'll never have to spend half an hour generating a world, for example, and your control over the game is much more direct.
  - orf 4y ago
    It’s undoubtedly the same kind of game. The difference is complexity: chequers vs chess. My argument is that Rimworld has shown that it’s not niche, it’s that DF was completely unapproachable (from the UI to installing it) which is self inflicted. The fact that they are making it more approachable and available in steam support this. Except they are now playing second fiddle to a large number of games in the same category. Lots of people here praise DF as some kind of wonder child: the developer doesn’t even use VCS! Amazing! Except it’s not. It’s a complete failure - we have an incredibly innovative game that the developer has completely and 100% failed to capitalise on its potential. And maybe that’s fine - maybe they don’t want to succeed. But that’s indistinguishable from not being able to. Whatever the reason, someone else has eaten their lunch - Rimworld is the 14th best selling game on Steam, with between 3 and 6 million copies sold. Call of duty sold 30 million copies for reference.
    - musicale 4y ago
      I think there's room in the gaming world for both DF and Rimworld. I don't see it as a problem that DF hasn't sold millions of copies (or any copies?) or that it has taken as long as it has to produce a version with a better gui and fix various performance and menu diving issues. As I see it the Steam version offers a better UI and performance and fixes some issues, and (hopefully) provides some revenue to keep development going.
jasonjmcghee 4y ago
Is this through donations? I was under the impression it was entirely free.

orf 4y ago

The topic in general isn’t niche - Rimworld has shown that. The issues around UI and complexity are somewhat self inflicted.

DoItToMe81 4y ago
Rimworld isn't comparable to DF beyond some basic shared gameplay mechanics. It plays differently and much more casually, particularly because it doesn't have the pitfalls of trying to simulate so many things. You'll never have to spend half an hour generating a world, for example, and your control over the game is much more direct.
- orf 4y ago
  It’s undoubtedly the same kind of game. The difference is complexity: chequers vs chess. My argument is that Rimworld has shown that it’s not niche, it’s that DF was completely unapproachable (from the UI to installing it) which is self inflicted. The fact that they are making it more approachable and available in steam support this. Except they are now playing second fiddle to a large number of games in the same category. Lots of people here praise DF as some kind of wonder child: the developer doesn’t even use VCS! Amazing! Except it’s not. It’s a complete failure - we have an incredibly innovative game that the developer has completely and 100% failed to capitalise on its potential. And maybe that’s fine - maybe they don’t want to succeed. But that’s indistinguishable from not being able to. Whatever the reason, someone else has eaten their lunch - Rimworld is the 14th best selling game on Steam, with between 3 and 6 million copies sold. Call of duty sold 30 million copies for reference.
  - musicale 4y ago
    I think there's room in the gaming world for both DF and Rimworld. I don't see it as a problem that DF hasn't sold millions of copies (or any copies?) or that it has taken as long as it has to produce a version with a better gui and fix various performance and menu diving issues. As I see it the Steam version offers a better UI and performance and fixes some issues, and (hopefully) provides some revenue to keep development going.

jasonjmcghee 4y ago

Is this through donations? I was under the impression it was entirely free.