So, is Dwarf fortress some Ultimate game to end all games?

[Gennadios]

...

So no, not a shame. Not in my mind anyway.

Let me rephrase, I didn't have the patience for DF, not when existing AAA games gave me bits and pieces of what I was looking for in a game without quite as much of an investment. I was pretty impressed with what I saw of the product however, I don't doubt that the Dev was smart and extremely competent.

However, what you described is pretty much why it's a shame. The current state of the game is buggy but playable, and spending a year or so getting DirectInput running with the game will increase it's exposure exponentially.

We have an extremely smart yet selfish individual with the potential to rock the gaming world Minecraft style. Instead, he's making the game he wants to play, that pretty much requires a Doctorate in itself to figure out.

The true definition of genius lies in how many people you reach. Too many "geniuses" this past century ended up committing suicide or turning into jar of urine or bus ticket collecting nutcases before they really produced any tangible human benefit.

 

[Versuvius]

The interface is obnoxious until you don't need it. A few hours of use and you will memorise which list where what is and ...yeah. You memorise it. It becomes a null point with a bit of use :U

I am a big fat DF fanboy, all of my opinions will be biased.

With hanging rings of elk bone. It menaces with spikes of OH GOD I CAN'T STOP THINKING IN ARTIFACTS.

 

[The Madman]

The true definition of genius lies in how many people you reach. Too many "geniuses" this past century ended up committing suicide or turning into jar of urine or bus ticket collecting nutcases before they really produced any tangible human benefit.

I honestly think you're overreacting. I like Dwarf Fortress, consider it one of my favourite games even (And take it as a compliment that I'm apparently doctorate material for enjoying it!) but in the end it's only a game. Even it he decided to pack up and leave the project behind tomorrow while I'd be disappointed and maybe a bit upset, it would hardly be earth shattering.

In the end it's only a game and if its development makes the games creator happy and earns him a living, then good on him.

This kind of thing has been done many a time and always worked rather well, the idea of using game engines that are rather old (but theoretically have no limit, were just stopped using cause a newer shinier engine came round) then supercharging them to do more than ever before. So the reason it has so much depth is that is was built using an engine that inherently uses very few resources then giving it more resources than it could ever need = awesome.

Anology times : It's a bit like playing snes on a supercomputer.

I see what you're saying but that really doesn't apply here. This isn't an old game running at an improved capacity thanks to modern technology but a new project being built on modern technology and consciously making the decision to forsake graphics for added depth.

Believe it or not if you've ever played Dwarf Fortress you'll know that it's a bit of a system hog as well. There is a lot going on in that game behind the simple interface. I in all honesty can't think of another game like it.

 

[chaosyoshimage]

I keep telling myself I'll try this one of these days...

 

[Javarock]

Of the many things the games developer has on his to-do list, user interface and graphics are actually near the bottom of his concerns.

It's a bit of a shame how much some people love toiling in obscurity. No matter how great the game may be, some people just don't have the hours in the day to dedicate 6 hours to just figuring out the interface in a game.

For Dwarf Fortress it takes way more then six hours. It's part of the charm to be honest, because not everyone can play it. Anyone that does has learned it over a long period of time and probably still doesn't know everything in it.

 

[MidnightSt]

I tried playing Dwarf fortress last week, and I just couldn't figure out the frickin game controls AT ALL.

so yeah I was left high and dry on my own and tried finding tutorials, and the ones I found wanted me to download alternate versions or assumed I knew basic controls.

so can someone direct me to a link with a Decent tutorial or give me some pointers please!!

it's entirely possible you won't believe me, but once you get the basic philosophy of the controls, it's not actually that hard (controlling it, i mean, the game mechanics are a friggin killer, and will be, forever, that's kind of the point :-D)

in my opinion the absolute barebone basics are:
1. two sets of "menu/cursor movement" keys - arrows and numpad /*-+ , although there's not really a system which are used where, try arrows first, when they don't work, try the /*-+

2. all other relevant (character) shortcuts at any given point are written somewhere on the screen

once i figured this out, i was kind of able to learn the rest of the controls mostly by trial and error. it was pain in the ass, but not impossible.

the actual game mechanics are a completely different beast, you definitely really absolutely need to learn them from wiki. as the smart people before me said, keep it open all the time.

3. mindset of extreme patience, curiosity, and willingness to experiment expecting quick, unrecoverable, and definite failure at every step (and ability to see how hillarious and amusing all the ways you can fail in are) definitely required. "Losing is fun!" is the main motto of the game, after all.

4. caution: extreme micromanagement ahead.

 

[lRookiel]

some people just don't have the hours in the day to dedicate 6 hours to just figuring out the interface in a game.

6? Hah! Took me a week before I was ready to try it out.

You really don't fill me with much hope dude XD

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

some people just don't have the hours in the day to dedicate 6 hours to just figuring out the interface in a game.

6? Hah! Took me a week before I was ready to try it out.

You really don't fill me with much hope dude XD

I'm just being honest. The tools you need to enjoy the game don't come quickly, and you have to embed into your mind how things work.

You do the same with Terraria or Minecraft with the recipies, it's just that it's a lot shorter.

Read Boatmurdered though, and see if there's ANY other game where that could be played out.

DF is a very tough game to love, but it loves you back so much more.

 

[Veylon]

Somebody once said that Dwarf Fortress is a game from an alternate universe. And maybe that's the best way to understand it. It's relatively easy to pick up the latest shooter, RTS, or platformer because you've played a dozen or so games that work pretty much the same way, except with one or two differences. Dwarf Fortress is so hard to pick up because it lacks all the predecessors that make it comprehensible. In that alternate DF universe, there are a whole slew of games that led up to Dwarf Fortress, that trained players to understand it. Here, all your play experience is crap; you have to stare dumbly at your screen and keyboard as though you've never so much as touched a game in your life. It's humiliating and frustrating.

But even after that, Dwarf Fortress is a brutal game. There's no easy save-and-reload (let alone quicksave) to make experimentation easy. Monsters, goblins, and even random animals can annihilate your nascent community with ease. And, yeah, losing is fun is a mindset entirely alien to most games and gamers, but it's required to play the game without becoming enraged.

 

[Mrmac23]

I'm fairly certain that it's the best game ever. IF you can actually get around the freaking Death Star-sized obstacle of learning how to actually play it.

 

[Dumori]

DF is amazing I'd long give up playing it until recently after my massive fort of way too much time sunk into it failed due to an unforeseeable issues. Also cat lag DAMN CATS!

Still name me a game that maps every creatures vascular system internally?