So this happened to a guy that worked for me. Loved video games, super talented front end dev. Made a horror game in Unity at evenings and weekends with his best friend. Launched it on Steam. Very low sales. But he learnt a huge amount about marketing and game design based on player feedback.
Designed a second game, put all the marketing learnings into it, 48 hours after launch the biggest streamer on twitch was streaming it.
4 days later he quit working for me. Couldnt be happier for him.
The biggest thing I saw was that 2 guys, Unity, unity asset store and some upwork artists made a really pretty decent game. I love how this has come full circle. I'm 47 and back in the 8 bit days games were made by 1 or 2 people. 15 years ago this just wasnt possible, but now with unity, unity assets, remote for hire work, steam and twitch for marketing you can legit make it as a 2 person studio. I love it.
The distribution of Steam and viral marketing of Twitch have revolutionised indie development for the better. In addition to this, as an asset he now has a Discord server with 10ksss+ subscribers. I doubt he will ever pay for a $ of traditional above or below the line marketing.
The flipside is that it's a lottery. Steam is overflowing with new indie games every day, and many very good ones die in obscurity. You really have to get lucky and go viral
But yeah, the entry fee for that lottery is at a historic low, which is still great (especially for hobby devs who don't care about the rest!)
After four years working on my retro game nearly full time, and several launches, I still don't understand marketing enough to understand what to do differently.
A lot of the advice out there is something like: "create a community" or "go join several communities" or "get to know other indie devs on Twitter". To me, this simply feels fake. I don't really participate in any online communities. I spend enough time in front of a computer for work and I prefer to socialize with my real life friends.
Besides, I simply have no idea how to get any kind of attention on social media. I created an eight-page booklet that recreates the first issue of Nintendo Power, except with my characters in place of Mario and Wart. It's an homage, because I developed a retro game. Somebody suggested that I post it on a retrogaming subreddit, where many others were posting fan art, and those people should recognize the magazine cover that I recreated. Well, I posted my PDF and it got about 4 upvotes. A simple photo, posted around the same time, of the very common TMNT NES cartridge got -- 800? 900? I stopped looking.
I understand that what I made is not going to be for everybody. I'm not expecting to be a millionaire. But damn if I can't figure out how to even get it in front of people. Everywhere I try just gets ignored.
The game is pretty substantial too. Mac, iOS, and Windows versions all done by me -- custom game engine -- 40+ hours of gameplay -- about a 5-6 hour minimum play time if you start from scratch and you know what you're doing (I was shooting for 3.5ish hours to equal Mario 3 or Mario World in "size" or "depth"). Lots of fun secrets. Nothing repeated. Challenging, but not as hard as Dwarf Fortress. Real life playtesters (not friends or family) asked me to reset the game so they could start all over again.
I just wish somebody else could do the social stuff. It all just makes me want to stop programming altogether. My brain just does not work along the lines of "how can I phrase this email to get this person's attention?" So I realize cold calling is a numbers game but I seem to be ignored no matter what I do.
I want to make great stuff, and I really don't care about attention/fame/money -- but what's the point of working so hard if nobody gets to enjoy it but me?
If you are still in contact with the guy, could you ask him what the marketing learning actually were? Everyone has their own take on marketing and it's honestly really difficult to get the concept with most posts about it being so fluffy.
I'd honestly love some cliff notes or a bulleted list from someone who has actually succeeded, especially if they ( like me ) had no marketing experience beforehand.
Love your comment, but I want to add something to this:
> 15 years ago this just wasnt possible
Actually around 2003 to 2006 I was doing that. Back then we were releasing games on PocketPC, which sold around $20. It was basically 1 programmer and 1 artist, or some could do that all by themselves.
But then came a period where mobile became really popular, and a lot of money started flowing into that game platform.
But I do agree that now you have both the platforms and tools for small game developers to pull off some very nice games.
> The biggest thing I saw was that 2 guys, Unity, unity asset store and some upwork artists made a really pretty decent game. I love how this has come full circle. I'm 47 and back in the 8 bit days games were made by 1 or 2 people. 15 years ago this just wasnt possible, but now with unity, unity assets, remote for hire work, steam and twitch for marketing you can legit make it as a 2 person studio. I love it.
While it's certainly possible it's very much the exception rather than the rule here. Let's take the parts of a game and individually look at why:
* Gameplay - This is where small indies really shine it possible to create a game with some cool gameplay. The problem here is that to create something that people actually find fun is rather hard. Most Indie games are boring as shit, they often have a single gimicky gameplay feature. You can try this yourself to come up with something that's truly fun. Sit down for 30 minutes and build a game that's unique and fun, you'll fine it's really hard. That's why the AAA game studios don't really do that. They use other techniques to sell the game like using and big well known IP. Most AAA gameplay is not unique and often is really not that fun for this exact reason. Note also here most indie devs who have never actually made a hit with tell you to just work on making the gameplay in your game really great. It's a cop out.
* Art - This is one of the hardest parts. You can kitbash a bunch of asset store stuff but then your game looks like a hodgepodge mess. You can hire an artist but if you want something really good looking you won't find them on upwork selling their labour at sweatshop rates. Really good artists are specialists in specific areas like character design, concept art, environment art ...etc. Trying to just find someone on upwork who will do all of that really well for you is basically impossible. Also note if you use stuff off the asset store you will need your artist to match that style which is actually really hard. To get really good art for a game you have to hire a team and build from the ground up. That's very difficult for indie teams most of which have no money to spend on art.
* Sound - Great games have great soundtracks. Often composed by someone with a lot of experience. These people are hard to find and even harder to convince to work on a game. Again like the art it's not something people are selling for cheap on upwork. Note also that you will want stuff in the game like jumping sounds, landing, clicking all that stuff. You can again find packs with this on the asset store but they often just won't have that sound you are looking for and mixing sound packs make the game seem cheap. The sound design has to be all one piece of work really. Think mixing 8-bit era sounds with more modern stuff it doesn't work.
* Testing - Often not looked upon but testing your own work doesn't work. You need someone independent to look at what you've done and break it. If you've ever played Bethesda Games you'll see what poor testing looks like. Note that the larger the scope of your game the amount of testing becomes exponential. The big AAA game studio have more testers than devs by far. If you look at many of the small indie game this really can kill the game. The devs chuck something together which looks ok and is fairly unique but is so poorly tested that no one is willing to buy.
All in all it's possible to do but really hard and I would say they got really lucky.
> The distribution of Steam and viral marketing of Twitch have revolutionised indie development
Yes but not in the way you think. Before anyone was able to put stuff on these shops getting on Steam was a one way ticket to $$$$. There where curated stores and even being in them meant you got a seal of approval from the likes of valve. Now-a-days the steam store is filled with so much asset flip junk "indie games" it's become a meme. To be seen on any of these platforms is now a real miracle. Again on twitch getting picked up by a big streamer is like winning the lottery. The vast majority of streamers on twitch make no money and have such a tiny audience getting on their streams would only net you double digit sales if you are lucky.
As of right now, and barring any future misfortune, this is a great feel-good story for any engineer. These guys brought their passion to life and created something unique and special that has been meaningful to thousands upon thousands of people over the last 20 years. It feels great to see them succeed in this way, and I hope they can continue to work on this for as long as they enjoy it. Congrats to Zach and Tarn, wishing them all the continued success.
They are definitely in 'set for life if we make wise choices' territory. In another month I'm betting they will be in 'set for life even if we make foolish choices' territory. I'm really happy for them. They really stayed true to their passion and I'm happy to see them rewarded for this.
> In another month I'm betting they will be in 'set for life even if we make foolish choices' territory.
I hope so, but it is amazing how quickly one can burn through money by making foolish choices. Or just being unlucky. I can’t be the only one who remembers esr being worth tens of millions on paper, then losing basically all of it.
Are they? 300,000 units * $30 = $9M - 30% Steam tax = $6.3M in a single year take out federal taxes (just gonna call it 36% and ignore SFJ/MFJ), leaves them about $2M each. I'm sure they're some sort of a legal entity in WA state and will owe the b&o tax too.
They deserve it absolutely but $2M each does not put them in a position of "fuck you" [1].
I'm happy for their success. However, I'm dismayed that it was their inability to pay for healthcare that landed them in this (albeit good) situation. It's not a situation that should be forced on citizens in a modern country, for which this particular example is a feel-good ending, but there are many more (orders of magnitude more) feel-bad endings, so to speak.
Healthcare and basic income are crucial for moving towards the next stage of civilizaiton. Like you said, I'm really glad it worked out for them but so, so many people don't get so lucky or are willing to take such a big risk.
How many more dwarf fortresses could we have if we gave people the safety net to follow their dreams? Instead of worrying about basic necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare.
> "I'll have to rework… my, uh, whole life, figure out what the heck's going on there. I don't really have any ideas or plans right now. I've just been thinking about dwarf stuff."
> "My wife has plans," Zach said. "We live in a tiny little house, so buying a new house, that's a major goal."
I wonder why not he but his wife thought about improving their material circumstances? So content with his life, or so focused on the code, or something else?
I love that they straight up said the game won't get any big discounts in the near (~2 years) future
>Q: When is the game going on sale?
>Not soon! And not for very much discount! Bay 12 and Kitfox are going to keep working on this for ~30 years, so it doesn’t make sense to follow normal Steam discounting. For example, we might discount 10% in a couple of months, but we also might not! We certainly won’t be discounting for more than 15% for at least two years!
I’ve often marvelled at these guys and their approach: making one game into your life’s work. Rimworld is perhaps another example of continuously added depth/complexity (although perhaps too soon to call that Tynan’s “life’s work”). Perhaps it’s something peculiar to this genre - so-called management sims.
It seems to me a phenomenon that - while perhaps not unique in art - is both rare and very well suited to this medium.
I'd wager it's because of the step back the player takes from the actual world. Like, Dwarf Fortress adventure mode exists, but it gets tedious. Carefully deciding which molar of your opponent to grab while grappling isn't the most engaging gameplay. But when you take a step back, and are making general instructions to your dwarves like "Go fight these goblins", the added complexity makes for some very memorable moments.
Combine that with a gameplay loop that basically demands a sprawling amount of new things to do (since the dwarves basically handle themselves in the steady state), and you've got a recipe for some truly expansive games.
Plus every modern game in the genre is directly inspired by Dwarf Fortress, who is made by someone who really seems like he just wanted a way to get people interested in his high fantasy world simulator.
I am so happy for them. I remember reading about how they struggled living with their parents in their 30s. I could imagine how much self doubt they must have had executing the long term plan of doing a user friendly steam release... will it actually work? And it has! Bravo.
I'm so happy for these guys. Selling 300,000 copies @ $30 each is life-changing money. Over the years they've accepted donations but from what I've seen it's tended to a few thousand dollars a month. Decent but not a lot for 2 people.
I still find DF really inaccessible but this Steam release will prompt me to give it another go. Whatever the case, I'm happy for their success.
Classic DF is inaccessible during the first hour only if you follow a good tutorial. Most anybody willing to slog through that hour will be able to get it.
Lots of AAA games these days won’t even have you playing that quick (though for different reasons)
As an observer since the initial release, Tarn repeatedly refused requests to compromise by expanding the team or involving a publisher. It was a genuine passion project the sort of which rarely succeed financially. I couldn't be happier for them!
Now that money worries are (hopefully) not an issue anymore, I really hope they consider releasing the source code.
Due to being written in C++, mods are quite restricted in what they can do (especially in comparison to more recent games like Rimworld that are trivial to decompile due to using C#). Especially frustrating because performance really isn't up to par - a lot of the old generational forts from a decade+ ago are really only possible now if you tailor your gameplay to account for performance issues.
Me: "Dwarf fortress! It's that game I used to play when I was in college working at the IT helpdesk. They finally added graphics!"
Partner: "I wouldn't exactly call those graphics..."
Me: pulls up copy of DF Classic
Partner: "...I see your point. And this game is fun?"
Me: "Imagine The Sims, if your sims could fight and you can only instruct them to build rather than building it yourself. And then set it in Lord of the Rings."
Partner: "Oooookay. How long have you been playing today?"
Me: looks at clocklooks at clock again "Would you be mad if I told you six hours?"
Partner: "...I'm going to leave you to it."
11/10, amazing game. So happy for Tarn and Zach, they deserve every last penny of this.
I love the voiceover screencapture of how to play the game on the Steam demo videos. Would like it if more apps had tutorials like that from the creators.
This is so amazing and inspiring. I was actually sitting down lately and thinking about what my next project is, as I've been working on a few other projects for a few years now, but nothing that will make any money. I think it could be fun to work on that kind of game for a long time, and not feel that pressure to deliver anything. Then hire some people at the end to make it more palatable, I guess. Question is, how much is luck when you work on something for that long? I think that in that time-frame you can do anything you set your mind to!
I’ve played for about two hours over the last decade. So playing the game hasn’t given me all that much pleasure. But I got considerably more pleasure reading Let’s Plays, so I dropped the 30bux on general principle. Congratulations to them.
It might sound condescending, but the daunting is part of the !fun!
I strongly recommend just digging in, and it's never been easier than right now. The DF Wiki is one of the most comprehensive video-game wikis that exist due to a very passionate, very tight-knit community; and has excellent guides on how to play your first game.
I'd recommend playing one fort while strictly following a guide so that you can learn the interface and concepts, then try another fort totally on your own to experience the chaos in full.
The new release adds graphics (instead of the ascii art styled graphics) so maybe that might be less daunting.
I say this only from observation, having never played the game. I saw a headline recently about the graphics update and you can see it in the videos on the Steam page:
The graphics package removed my big complaint: that trying to figure out what each particular character stood for in which context was not fun.
The complexity is daunting, but also a big part of the fun. Since I started playing the new version I find myself constantly sniped by trying to re-design the UI in my mind.
Yeah. I like the idea of this game.
But I'd love the idea if I could romp around in it with a friend or 15.
But multiplayer is hard baked in from the start. This game will never happen.
So someone else will copy what they've done and add multiplayer and get that bag.
there are a lot of ('fun' in community parlance) rough edges, but just getting food and drink down isn't too difficult and unlocks about as much of the rest of the game as you want
that is, figuring out or looking up-
- how to get a small farm plot going ('plump helmet' is the staple food)
- how to brew drinks at a still (set it to repeat- brew-able plants will be used indiscriminately, generally plumphelmets, and seeds will be left behind for planting)
from there, you'll start to see messages about (cancelling the brew job due to) needing more barrels/rock pots, which aren't difficult, neither are beds and mugs, which you'll see dwarfs complaining about
oh and you'll obviously want to set up stockpiles, which will keep your workshops from getting all cluttered...
anyway, the new game-start options make it easy to turn off attackers, which should ease fortress-management enough to figure out any other features you want to work on:
-centralized job management with a 'manager' and an office, which will also let you schedule jobs to occur as needs arise
-getting charcoal and ores for forging is of course a big one
hopefully the new interface makes it even easier to see what is going wrong, things that you can get a head-start on the next time you start a fortress
Congrats! I bought it with no intention falling down the rabbit hole again; rather, I owe them for all the time I spent playing in high school. So happy for them both!
Respect to the developers for their effort. But I would never get into dwarf fortress because to me the idea is kind of insane. I get that it is fascinating to try and model complex
real-world behaviour into a video game. But the truth is you can spend 100 lifetimes worth of time perfecting these systems that try to appear like a physical world (but really aren't) by trying to preprare for every possible situation the player can get into. And in the end you don't even come close to preparing for 0.1% of the possibilites.
So on one end you are mercilessly sacrificing gameplay for complexity to the point where the game devolves into manual reading. And on the other hand the complexity is never going to be enough.
Maybe in the future AI Networks will be able to come up with convicing game-systems like in dwarf fortress on the fly to offer an illusion of complex emergent behaviour.
They deserve all the money they will get from their game. I am really happy for them, they allowed us to play DF for free for so long that I would not be mad if the sell price on steam was higher. DF is an awesome game and I hope they continue to improve it and to add content.
[+] [-] dabeeeenster|3 years ago|reply
Designed a second game, put all the marketing learnings into it, 48 hours after launch the biggest streamer on twitch was streaming it.
4 days later he quit working for me. Couldnt be happier for him.
The biggest thing I saw was that 2 guys, Unity, unity asset store and some upwork artists made a really pretty decent game. I love how this has come full circle. I'm 47 and back in the 8 bit days games were made by 1 or 2 people. 15 years ago this just wasnt possible, but now with unity, unity assets, remote for hire work, steam and twitch for marketing you can legit make it as a 2 person studio. I love it.
The distribution of Steam and viral marketing of Twitch have revolutionised indie development for the better. In addition to this, as an asset he now has a Discord server with 10ksss+ subscribers. I doubt he will ever pay for a $ of traditional above or below the line marketing.
[+] [-] brundolf|3 years ago|reply
But yeah, the entry fee for that lottery is at a historic low, which is still great (especially for hobby devs who don't care about the rest!)
[+] [-] todfox|3 years ago|reply
A lot of the advice out there is something like: "create a community" or "go join several communities" or "get to know other indie devs on Twitter". To me, this simply feels fake. I don't really participate in any online communities. I spend enough time in front of a computer for work and I prefer to socialize with my real life friends.
Besides, I simply have no idea how to get any kind of attention on social media. I created an eight-page booklet that recreates the first issue of Nintendo Power, except with my characters in place of Mario and Wart. It's an homage, because I developed a retro game. Somebody suggested that I post it on a retrogaming subreddit, where many others were posting fan art, and those people should recognize the magazine cover that I recreated. Well, I posted my PDF and it got about 4 upvotes. A simple photo, posted around the same time, of the very common TMNT NES cartridge got -- 800? 900? I stopped looking.
I understand that what I made is not going to be for everybody. I'm not expecting to be a millionaire. But damn if I can't figure out how to even get it in front of people. Everywhere I try just gets ignored.
The game is pretty substantial too. Mac, iOS, and Windows versions all done by me -- custom game engine -- 40+ hours of gameplay -- about a 5-6 hour minimum play time if you start from scratch and you know what you're doing (I was shooting for 3.5ish hours to equal Mario 3 or Mario World in "size" or "depth"). Lots of fun secrets. Nothing repeated. Challenging, but not as hard as Dwarf Fortress. Real life playtesters (not friends or family) asked me to reset the game so they could start all over again.
I just wish somebody else could do the social stuff. It all just makes me want to stop programming altogether. My brain just does not work along the lines of "how can I phrase this email to get this person's attention?" So I realize cold calling is a numbers game but I seem to be ignored no matter what I do.
I want to make great stuff, and I really don't care about attention/fame/money -- but what's the point of working so hard if nobody gets to enjoy it but me?
[+] [-] fire|3 years ago|reply
I'd honestly love some cliff notes or a bulleted list from someone who has actually succeeded, especially if they ( like me ) had no marketing experience beforehand.
[+] [-] koonsolo|3 years ago|reply
> 15 years ago this just wasnt possible
Actually around 2003 to 2006 I was doing that. Back then we were releasing games on PocketPC, which sold around $20. It was basically 1 programmer and 1 artist, or some could do that all by themselves.
But then came a period where mobile became really popular, and a lot of money started flowing into that game platform.
But I do agree that now you have both the platforms and tools for small game developers to pull off some very nice games.
[+] [-] conradfr|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] darkteflon|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] j-bos|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Dave3of5|3 years ago|reply
While it's certainly possible it's very much the exception rather than the rule here. Let's take the parts of a game and individually look at why:
* Gameplay - This is where small indies really shine it possible to create a game with some cool gameplay. The problem here is that to create something that people actually find fun is rather hard. Most Indie games are boring as shit, they often have a single gimicky gameplay feature. You can try this yourself to come up with something that's truly fun. Sit down for 30 minutes and build a game that's unique and fun, you'll fine it's really hard. That's why the AAA game studios don't really do that. They use other techniques to sell the game like using and big well known IP. Most AAA gameplay is not unique and often is really not that fun for this exact reason. Note also here most indie devs who have never actually made a hit with tell you to just work on making the gameplay in your game really great. It's a cop out.
* Art - This is one of the hardest parts. You can kitbash a bunch of asset store stuff but then your game looks like a hodgepodge mess. You can hire an artist but if you want something really good looking you won't find them on upwork selling their labour at sweatshop rates. Really good artists are specialists in specific areas like character design, concept art, environment art ...etc. Trying to just find someone on upwork who will do all of that really well for you is basically impossible. Also note if you use stuff off the asset store you will need your artist to match that style which is actually really hard. To get really good art for a game you have to hire a team and build from the ground up. That's very difficult for indie teams most of which have no money to spend on art.
* Sound - Great games have great soundtracks. Often composed by someone with a lot of experience. These people are hard to find and even harder to convince to work on a game. Again like the art it's not something people are selling for cheap on upwork. Note also that you will want stuff in the game like jumping sounds, landing, clicking all that stuff. You can again find packs with this on the asset store but they often just won't have that sound you are looking for and mixing sound packs make the game seem cheap. The sound design has to be all one piece of work really. Think mixing 8-bit era sounds with more modern stuff it doesn't work.
* Testing - Often not looked upon but testing your own work doesn't work. You need someone independent to look at what you've done and break it. If you've ever played Bethesda Games you'll see what poor testing looks like. Note that the larger the scope of your game the amount of testing becomes exponential. The big AAA game studio have more testers than devs by far. If you look at many of the small indie game this really can kill the game. The devs chuck something together which looks ok and is fairly unique but is so poorly tested that no one is willing to buy.
All in all it's possible to do but really hard and I would say they got really lucky.
> The distribution of Steam and viral marketing of Twitch have revolutionised indie development
Yes but not in the way you think. Before anyone was able to put stuff on these shops getting on Steam was a one way ticket to $$$$. There where curated stores and even being in them meant you got a seal of approval from the likes of valve. Now-a-days the steam store is filled with so much asset flip junk "indie games" it's become a meme. To be seen on any of these platforms is now a real miracle. Again on twitch getting picked up by a big streamer is like winning the lottery. The vast majority of streamers on twitch make no money and have such a tiny audience getting on their streams would only net you double digit sales if you are lucky.
[+] [-] agentwiggles|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TrevorJ|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jujube3|3 years ago|reply
Sure it seems that way now, but what happens when a volcano appears under their house and it floods with lava? Or they go to war with the elves?
[+] [-] eadmund|3 years ago|reply
I hope so, but it is amazing how quickly one can burn through money by making foolish choices. Or just being unlucky. I can’t be the only one who remembers esr being worth tens of millions on paper, then losing basically all of it.
[+] [-] ilyt|3 years ago|reply
...which was entire reason for Steam release in the first place
[+] [-] datalopers|3 years ago|reply
They deserve it absolutely but $2M each does not put them in a position of "fuck you" [1].
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdfeXqHFmPI
[+] [-] NaturalPhallacy|3 years ago|reply
"So, what the hell DO you do if you are unlucky enough to win the lottery?" https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vo34/whats_the...
It's got some dark news, but real advice that seems legit.
[+] [-] satvikpendem|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] serverholic|3 years ago|reply
How many more dwarf fortresses could we have if we gave people the safety net to follow their dreams? Instead of worrying about basic necessities like food, shelter, and healthcare.
[+] [-] bombcar|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Y_Y|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nonethewiser|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ElijahLynn|3 years ago|reply
> "I'll have to rework… my, uh, whole life, figure out what the heck's going on there. I don't really have any ideas or plans right now. I've just been thinking about dwarf stuff."
> "My wife has plans," Zach said. "We live in a tiny little house, so buying a new house, that's a major goal."
[+] [-] lostmsu|3 years ago|reply
Just bought the game out of respect even if I don't get to play it.
[+] [-] bartvk|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] haunter|3 years ago|reply
>Q: When is the game going on sale?
>Not soon! And not for very much discount! Bay 12 and Kitfox are going to keep working on this for ~30 years, so it doesn’t make sense to follow normal Steam discounting. For example, we might discount 10% in a couple of months, but we also might not! We certainly won’t be discounting for more than 15% for at least two years!
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/975370/view/36316205...
[+] [-] darkteflon|3 years ago|reply
It seems to me a phenomenon that - while perhaps not unique in art - is both rare and very well suited to this medium.
[+] [-] OkayPhysicist|3 years ago|reply
Combine that with a gameplay loop that basically demands a sprawling amount of new things to do (since the dwarves basically handle themselves in the steady state), and you've got a recipe for some truly expansive games.
Plus every modern game in the genre is directly inspired by Dwarf Fortress, who is made by someone who really seems like he just wanted a way to get people interested in his high fantasy world simulator.
[+] [-] LAC-Tech|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cletus|3 years ago|reply
I still find DF really inaccessible but this Steam release will prompt me to give it another go. Whatever the case, I'm happy for their success.
[+] [-] colechristensen|3 years ago|reply
Lots of AAA games these days won’t even have you playing that quick (though for different reasons)
[+] [-] dvzk|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ImprobableTruth|3 years ago|reply
Due to being written in C++, mods are quite restricted in what they can do (especially in comparison to more recent games like Rimworld that are trivial to decompile due to using C#). Especially frustrating because performance really isn't up to par - a lot of the old generational forts from a decade+ ago are really only possible now if you tailor your gameplay to account for performance issues.
[+] [-] nameless912|3 years ago|reply
Me: "Dwarf fortress! It's that game I used to play when I was in college working at the IT helpdesk. They finally added graphics!"
Partner: "I wouldn't exactly call those graphics..."
Me: pulls up copy of DF Classic
Partner: "...I see your point. And this game is fun?"
Me: "Imagine The Sims, if your sims could fight and you can only instruct them to build rather than building it yourself. And then set it in Lord of the Rings."
Partner: "Oooookay. How long have you been playing today?"
Me: looks at clock looks at clock again "Would you be mad if I told you six hours?"
Partner: "...I'm going to leave you to it."
11/10, amazing game. So happy for Tarn and Zach, they deserve every last penny of this.
[+] [-] Aleksdev|3 years ago|reply
Lol
[+] [-] ElijahLynn|3 years ago|reply
source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/
[+] [-] fwsgonzo|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chaostheory|3 years ago|reply
To my knowledge, Dwarf Fortress is the closest thing to Hari Seldon’s Prime Radiant
[+] [-] User23|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdhn|3 years ago|reply
On a side note, I feel like I should like Dwarf Fortress, but every time I look at it, it seems completely daunting.
[+] [-] vermilingua|3 years ago|reply
I strongly recommend just digging in, and it's never been easier than right now. The DF Wiki is one of the most comprehensive video-game wikis that exist due to a very passionate, very tight-knit community; and has excellent guides on how to play your first game.
I'd recommend playing one fort while strictly following a guide so that you can learn the interface and concepts, then try another fort totally on your own to experience the chaos in full.
[+] [-] flanbiscuit|3 years ago|reply
I say this only from observation, having never played the game. I saw a headline recently about the graphics update and you can see it in the videos on the Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/
[+] [-] intrepidhero|3 years ago|reply
The complexity is daunting, but also a big part of the fun. Since I started playing the new version I find myself constantly sniped by trying to re-design the UI in my mind.
[+] [-] _carbyau_|3 years ago|reply
So someone else will copy what they've done and add multiplayer and get that bag.
[+] [-] smegsicle|3 years ago|reply
that is, figuring out or looking up-
- how to get a small farm plot going ('plump helmet' is the staple food)
- how to brew drinks at a still (set it to repeat- brew-able plants will be used indiscriminately, generally plumphelmets, and seeds will be left behind for planting)
from there, you'll start to see messages about (cancelling the brew job due to) needing more barrels/rock pots, which aren't difficult, neither are beds and mugs, which you'll see dwarfs complaining about
oh and you'll obviously want to set up stockpiles, which will keep your workshops from getting all cluttered...
anyway, the new game-start options make it easy to turn off attackers, which should ease fortress-management enough to figure out any other features you want to work on:
-centralized job management with a 'manager' and an office, which will also let you schedule jobs to occur as needs arise
-getting charcoal and ores for forging is of course a big one
hopefully the new interface makes it even easier to see what is going wrong, things that you can get a head-start on the next time you start a fortress
[+] [-] Y_Y|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dan-g|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GaryPalmer|3 years ago|reply
So on one end you are mercilessly sacrificing gameplay for complexity to the point where the game devolves into manual reading. And on the other hand the complexity is never going to be enough.
Maybe in the future AI Networks will be able to come up with convicing game-systems like in dwarf fortress on the fly to offer an illusion of complex emergent behaviour.
[+] [-] tranxen|3 years ago|reply
Good job guys !