I. am. excite! For those who don't know: the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress, and the years of work that went into the game to get it ready for that release (and the ongoing post-release work),...
I've been working on a new modding system for the game made to accommodate new magical endeavors
I. am. excite!
For those who don't know: the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress, and the years of work that went into the game to get it ready for that release (and the ongoing post-release work), significantly changed the development roadmap and timeline of Dwarf Fortress.
Back in January 2020, after the first release of the v0.47 series of Dwarf Fortress updates, the "villains release", the next major item on the roadmap was the "magic update". That update was supposed to add procedurally generated magic systems to the game, and tie them in to enhanced version of the game's religion, mythology, and history generation systems. Tarn gave a pretty good breakdown of their ideas for the feature in this article from 2017:
The Steam release put all of this on hold though. I was always a bit sad about that because the upcoming magic update sounded like the coolest thing ever.
I totally understand why they went ahead with the Steam release, and I think it has been a great thing for the game. The financial security from Steam sales, being able to hire Putnam as an additional developer, and getting Tarn to finally version control his code, have all been worth the disruption.
I'm just really excited that things appear to be getting back on track. I'm sure there will be another year (or three) of foundation and polish work on some of the existing systems before they really dive into new magic content. It's great to be hearing more and more about it again these past few months though, after it being off the radar for years.
It's been my favorite game for many years now yet it still has so much room to improve and grow. The mods could be fun but I'll be happier to see some of the worst bugs get fixed. I've always...
It's been my favorite game for many years now yet it still has so much room to improve and grow. The mods could be fun but I'll be happier to see some of the worst bugs get fixed.
I've always wondered how much open sourcing the whole game might help it. I could also see it getting derailed completely from Tarn's vision for it though. Still, it's fun to dream about more detailed farming and economic systems.
No other games I've played have managed to come close to DF's emergent story building systems. You can play the game for years and still be surprised by new events and chain reactions from its interconnected systems. You never know what you'll get each time you Strike the Earth!
I. am. excite!
For those who don't know: the Steam release of Dwarf Fortress, and the years of work that went into the game to get it ready for that release (and the ongoing post-release work), significantly changed the development roadmap and timeline of Dwarf Fortress.
Back in January 2020, after the first release of the v0.47 series of Dwarf Fortress updates, the "villains release", the next major item on the roadmap was the "magic update". That update was supposed to add procedurally generated magic systems to the game, and tie them in to enhanced version of the game's religion, mythology, and history generation systems. Tarn gave a pretty good breakdown of their ideas for the feature in this article from 2017:
https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams-talks-about-simulating-the-most-complex-magic-system-ever/
And there was another article in 2022:
https://www.pcgamer.com/future-dwarf-fortress-creative-mode-will-let-you-sculpt-whole-worlds-create-homemade-gods/
The Steam release put all of this on hold though. I was always a bit sad about that because the upcoming magic update sounded like the coolest thing ever.
I totally understand why they went ahead with the Steam release, and I think it has been a great thing for the game. The financial security from Steam sales, being able to hire Putnam as an additional developer, and getting Tarn to finally version control his code, have all been worth the disruption.
I'm just really excited that things appear to be getting back on track. I'm sure there will be another year (or three) of foundation and polish work on some of the existing systems before they really dive into new magic content. It's great to be hearing more and more about it again these past few months though, after it being off the radar for years.
It's been my favorite game for many years now yet it still has so much room to improve and grow. The mods could be fun but I'll be happier to see some of the worst bugs get fixed.
I've always wondered how much open sourcing the whole game might help it. I could also see it getting derailed completely from Tarn's vision for it though. Still, it's fun to dream about more detailed farming and economic systems.
No other games I've played have managed to come close to DF's emergent story building systems. You can play the game for years and still be surprised by new events and chain reactions from its interconnected systems. You never know what you'll get each time you Strike the Earth!