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Not sure why Dwarf Fortress is on the front page, but I will always upvote. If you're intimidated by ASCII visuals, consider wishlisting the graphics release,
by brown 4y ago
Not sure why Dwarf Fortress is on the front page, but I will always upvote.
If you're intimidated by ASCII visuals, consider wishlisting the graphics release, scheduled for Dec 6, 2022: https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/
- kennu 4y agoNice to see there is a release date now! Wishlisted quite a while ago already, when no date was set.
- agiacalone 4y agoLove the ASCII version, but totally buying to support the devs.
- deelowe 4y agoAs soon as I learned why Tarn needed to put out a paid release on Steam, I committed to purchasing even if I never play it.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- MikeTheGreat 4y agoYou can't just leave a comment like that and walk away from it. :) Why did Tarn need to put out a paid release? (I think I know / I kinda remember, but hey - there's no better place to tell us why we should be helping a fellow geek)
- deelowe 4y agohttps://gamerant.com/dwarf-fortress-interview-new-age-health-problems-inspiration/ https://gamerant.com/dwarf-fortress-interview-new-age-health...
- bombcar 4y agoA hospital/illness scare made them realize they have nothing setup for illness/insurance and need a more secure source of income. It's probably true that if word got out that Tarn or Zack needed medical care, the donations would flow like water, but it's understandable wanting to prepare.
- ilyt 4y agoAmerican healthcare system
- nonethewiser 4y agoAs I recall he had some medical issues to pay for. The other brother didnt have insurance nor a regular income... just his split of the DF donation money. It bring up a lot of criticism of healthcare in the US which I don't quite understand. Yes, healthcare is expensive in the US, especially without insurance. It has been for a while, so dont be surprised when not having a regular income nor insurance puts you in a bad spot. It was poor planning as much as it is expensive healthcare. It basically amounts to one day realizing "oh shit, $35,000/year and no health insurance isn't enough money. This is the fault of the United States."
- munk-a 4y agoVery briefly as a counter example - these folks made a thing that thousands maybe tens of thousands of people treasure. They've worked on it as a passion project and when ill luck befell them they had to scramble to secure funds. Yes, we live in a capitalist system but supporting neat art like this and exploratory projects is a societal investment that the US has stiffly refused to make. The more we provide social safety nets the more folks will be free to do experimental and artistic work and give us gems like dwarf fortress. This isn't the fault of the United States - the US has made a choice in how the game works and they weren't playing by the rules laid out for them to follow. The expected course was for them to work in some job that robs them of their free time to produce a work of this caliber and if they had done so they'd be just fine... and we wouldn't have dwarf fortress.
- nonethewiser 4y agoThis is the business model that they have chosen. Then they found it to was untenable so they chose a different business model. As part of that, they are addressing some of the largest weaknesses in the game. The game is not getting worse, it's getting better. Beyond that, the United States doesn't owe people who make art in exchange for donations anything extra. We can argue about the merits of different healthcare systems but the point remains that they realized their plan was poor so they changed course - the United States inflicted no damage on them.
- 4y ago
- mjamesaustin 4y agoJust a heads up, if you purchase on itch.io rather than Steam, the devs receive a larger share of the revenue. (Though obviously it's not integrated into Steam, if you prefer that.) https://kitfoxgames.itch.io/dwarf-fortress https://kitfoxgames.itch.io/dwarf-fortress
- mminer237 4y agoYou can also just donate directly: http://www.bay12games.com/support.html http://www.bay12games.com/support.html They used to personally make a crayon drawing for each person who donated. They stopped in 2020, but I made sure to get one of the final ones before then: http://www.bay12games.com/support.html http://www.bay12games.com/support.html My $10 was a small price to pay for all the hours of fun I got. (I'll surely buy the Steam version too though.)
- mminer237 4y agoWhoops, I messed up the links. This is the drawing I got: https://matthewminer.name/assets/my_dwarf_fortress_crayon_drawing.jpg https://matthewminer.name/assets/my_dwarf_fortress_crayon_dr...
- rococode 4y agoAs a Rimworld lover who couldn't quite get past the ASCII in Dwarf Fortress, I'm super excited for the upcoming release! Rimworld has been a blast and I've heard the two games have many similarities (with Rimworld maybe being a slightly more approachable game that's a bit shallower).
- tstrimple 4y agoI love ribworld as well! It's my most played game by far at this point. The mod ecosystem is simply outstanding. That being said, it doesn't even attempt to be the simulation engine that Dwarf Fortress does. It feels like DF is a simulation engine first, with emergent game play almost as a side effect. As much as I like DF, that simulation first development process can be felt during almost every interaction in the game. It's not so bad once you've committed everything to muscle memory, but the learning curve is no joke. https://i.stack.imgur.com/iECXl.jpg https://i.stack.imgur.com/iECXl.jpg
- krisroadruck 4y agoif you like these games you might also like Oxygen Not Included. It's side-on view instead of top down, but is another excellent little ant farm to sink a couple thousand hours into. Sort of a Rimworld meets Factorio type vibe.
- ericbarrett 4y ago> is another excellent little ant farm I call ONI my "dollhouse." It's such a sleeper compared to similar games. The art and sound effects really elevate it. Klei has such a unique art style and it's really shown off. Also has a much more interesting "survival" curve than most; you'll be presented with many many hours of challenges trying to get a sustainable base, without cheap tricks like ever-escalating interruptions based on quantitative progress (looking at you, Rimworld.)
- bombcar 4y agoThe new version is going to fix some of that; the normalization of menus, etc, will go a long way to "making it feel more game-like".
- jrm4 4y agoWhoooaaa. So, this has been a game that's always fascinated me, though when trying to play myself I nope out within minutes. On one hand, graphics might get me there -- and yet, even to me, it feels kinda wrong :)
- PeterisP 4y agoThe Lazy Newb Pack (and other third-party options) has been an easy way to get cute graphics for Dwarf Fortress for many, many years now.
- signalToNose 4y agoBut the UI has all joy and ease of Emacs
- andremedeiros 4y agoThank you for reminding me, I've been meaning to wishlist this for a while. Excited they finally have a release date set!
- schlauerfox 4y agoThe technical complexity got me through a really tough time where I could hide in the world, ascii only on a pavilion convertible laptop. Good times, impenetrable gameplay.
- ilyt 4y agoThe Steam version OP mentioned fixes that
- lelandfe 4y agoI am not holding my breath that the complexity is fixable - although I will certainly settle for “not impossibly Byzantine” when it comes to controls
- ilyt 4y agoKitfox (the publisher) did a video with dev and someone new to DF [1] playing it for first time, while it might not be "pick up and go" yet it looked massively more approachable. There is even rudimentary tutorial to set up the basics and a bunch of guides. Also most of the DF complexity comes organically during gameplay and not all at once - if all you do is set up food source and some bedrooms you already buy yourself a lot of time to fuck around. The discoverability of systems should also be much better - [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLN8cOcTjdo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLN8cOcTjdo
- lelandfe 4y agoHadn't seen this – thanks for the link. My excitement for this release has risen from excited to very excited :)
- PhasmaFelis 4y agoIs the UI getting an overhaul as well? I could probably deal with the ASCII, but I'm picky about UI design, and what I've heard about the interface sounds like it would make me have a tantrum and smash my menacing rhyolite cave sock.
- tptacek 4y agoCareful what you wish for. Some of the Dwarf Fortress endorphins are a product of the horrible user interface; asking for a more intuitive interface (at times) is like asking for an easier Soulsborne boss. Ask enough times and you have Horizon Forbidden West instead of Bloodborne.
- PhasmaFelis 4y agoEnh... In an action-y game, there's a strong argument that mastering difficult controls can be half the fun. In a menu-based management game, I want the controls to be as streamlined and intuitive as possible, always. It should be my knowledge and planning ability being tested, not my muscle memory. Or to put it another way, if I'm pretending to manage a fortress, losing because I was too focused on expansion and didn't stock enough food and ammunition to survive a siege can be fun. Losing because I was fully prepared but forgot how to tell my minions to raise the drawbridge and man the walls is just frustrating.
- bombcar 4y agoThe old UI is like a well-worn sock for me, fits perfectly and I know where the holes are. But yes, the new version has an entirely redone UI to greatly organize and simplify things. The updates here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/975370 https://steamcommunity.com/app/975370 go into more details - there's even a tutorial!
- jibe 4y agoThey’ve revamped the UI. Here is a dev blog post with an early screenshot from 2021. https://steamcommunity.com/games/975370/announcements/detail/4816004515020626336 https://steamcommunity.com/games/975370/announcements/detail...
- RektBoy 4y agoASCII is not a problem, since there is ton of graphics packs. But controls, controls are ridiculous. I can't just enjoy it. And I play very hard games, indie games, Ultima Online which you need to script own things to play properly. But DF is another beast.
- jessfyi 4y agoThe version being released on steam also includes extensive UX/UI updates, OP just left that out.
- ilyt 4y agoThe graphics version also did MASSIVE pass on every control. Like, instead of going "select bed, make bedroom, repeat 40 times", you can just make rooms, put beds, doors, etc, then just select whole area and it will make a bedroom out of each of those rooms. camera controls are normal WASD now, most of the things can be done with mouse, there are tabs on panels and hyperlinks in legend browser and thousand other little things. It will be coming eventually to free ASCII version too
- sdenton4 4y agoDoes the framerate still decline steadily to zero as you expand your fortress?
- etempleton 4y agoI am excited for the graphics release as I have always been fascinated by Dwarf Fortress, but do not think I have the patience to learn how to parse the ASCII visuals.
- ncr100 4y agoThe fun of game software (truly): http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=8410 http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=8410 Bug title: "0008410: Crash due to zero-size weasel" <3