I would say though that Civilization has always had obviously bad choices that aren't clear to new players - most games take this approach where the player is given a lot of obvious choices to feel good about rejecting. I think that with a proper tutorial there'd be a much more immediately interesting set of choices. I strongly agree with this - before I realized that plump helmets are an absolute necessity for an early fortress (you have a lot more freedom now - but for a while not immediately building a plump helmet farm would be a really bad decision) I really struggled to have fun - once you've got a general idea of which decisions aren't totally stupid then you reach the interesting choices. This is but one such area that can be brought about through the mechanics of the game, not to mention swimming practise in 1/2 depth water (7 is fully deep) and more.Ī truly wonderful game, and I'm honoured to have a crayon drawing from them, to have been like yourself a part of its history.
And another floodgate to create a defensive section, should invaders breach the entrance. Have some drain away to create mist in a common area, everyone loves mist.
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I can build cisterns to hold water, underground reservoirs, a series of mechanisms to refill the water, and to move it to consumption points, through the use of labelled levers, but be sure to smooth the stone, lest you get dusty water. The depth of what can be achieved is what amazes me as an engineer. Then we got packs like the "Lazy Newb" pack, and with Steam coming too, it'll become even more accessible to folks. With tilesets, things became easier, and then with Dwarf Therapist, easier too. I played a lot of ADOM in the old days, and naturally jumped onto DF when it appeared.
I've played since 2006 and while I don't find much time these days, I return to it every few years to scratch an itch. that is quite possible in DF - it's just not going to look like a triple-A game. Ascii graphics make that game clearly legible while still allowing the imagination to roam and beautiful structures to be created - making a multi-z-level dining hall with balconies adding extra floor space around the roaring fire in the middle of the hall with dwarves dancing merrily around it. I've frequently heard talk that cell-shading adds artistic flair or bloom allows better tooling around creating bright scenes - but the immensely obvious and clear style that DF achieves brings precisely what it needs to bring to the table. building a floodgate and switch mechanisms). A good example is lava-safe metals which are pretty clearly highlighted in areas where it might be relevant (i.e. damp/warm stone warnings) but generally when a feature is added that feature gets consistently signaled in all the UI portions that need it and information is sanely repeated. Some of these have been accumulated over time (i.e.
That all said - I would say that DF doesn't fall into a trap very common in modern games: it never lies to you in the UI for simplicity, it is clear about what it's doing and most of the errors are relatively clear to comprehend. I also think that people who have been with it longer have a leg up here since the UI has slowly accumulated more complexity over time - the military interface and trade interfaces in particular are pretty hard to grok. I wouldn't say that nested menu driven interactions are entirely suitable - and I think that the first time you go through it helps immensely to have a tutorial open that will lead you through some basic things (designate chopping some trees for lumber - for instance). I think to understand the UI you've got to have grown up with vim or emacs where offering a wide range of features via rather shallow keyboard interactions to enable power users. I am glad to be around now at the birth of computing, but it is all too easy to envy the people who will be young in the 22nd century. Gamemakers like Tarn, possible multiple generations of gamemakers, polishing these things will have some remarkable outcomes. If humanity survives to 2121, there are going to be some amazing games. Furthermore, not enough people have been exposed to computers yet.
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Thirdly, it is impossible for this sort of art to be a true lifetimes work because computers havn't been powerful enough to do this sort of thing for the full 50 years it takes to dedicate a life to one thing. A lifetime has not actually passed, but still there is a singleminded dedication here that is unusual. The second thing to observe is it appears to be a life's work. The exact nature of the art is a bit difficult to pin down - certainly isn't an exercise in graphics and the plot is inconsistent between playthroughs - but nevertheless.
It is important, when contemplating Dwarf Fortress, to realise a couple of things.įirstly, and most obviously, the game is clearly some sort of work of art.