Bay 12 Games Forum
Dwarf Fortress => DF Community Games & Stories => Topic started by: TooMuchPete on June 06, 2010, 11:38:37 pm
-
Sooo... playing my turn of a run-of-the-mill succession game, I started feeling bad because I was having all of the Fun. Chatting with my fellow players, we came up with what I think is a "new" twist: a hybrid between a succession game and a golf scramble.
For those who aren't golfers, the way a scramble works is like this: on any given hole, the golfers on a team all tee off. Then, they decide amongst themselves which ball was the best, and they all take their next shot from that same spot. Rinse and repeat until the ball is in the hole.
In DF-land, it would work something like this: Each player would...
- Download the current version of the world
- Play for one year of game time
- Do a write-up for their year, upload maps, etc.
- Vote on which other player's world they like best
Then the votes are tallied, the "winning" fortress is used as the "current version" and everyone starts over again at step one.
It's a format that doesn't depend on everyone doing their turn in a timely manner, is more playing than sitting around and watching someone else play, and could provide for some really interesting choices. It might also allow a player to play their turn more aggressively knowing that there will be more conservative options to fall back on if it all goes straight to HFS.
So... has this been done before? Was it awesome?
Regardless of the answer to those two questions, who's interested in getting one kicked off? I'll do all the hard work, you just have to play DF and do some nifty write-ups. (and isn't the fun part bragging about your fort anyway?)
-
Sounds great, count me in.
A couple thoughts:
I think some time should be allowed in the thread to argue about saves and potentially change players' minds about which save to go with, not locking in votes all at the same time, let's have a discussion before the vote.
It would seem that, unless we were going by awesomeness of writeup, this would lead to people focussing more on what they've accomplished than stylish writeup. There is nothing wrong with this, perhaps the game should embrace one style or the other though?
Either way sounds really good. This and Sparkgear take the boring part out of succession games, but Sparkgear seems pretty dead right now.
Also, in the interest of democracy, let's vote on the best stupid dwarf-language translation name for the fortress instead of just taking the random one we're given.
-
This sounds like a good time. I'm in, and I'll see how long I can keep consistently finishing a year as well.
-
I like this idea, and I'd like in too. What real life time length do we have for finishing each of our group years?
-
Actually really like this idea... never really participated in a succession fort before, but it's worth a shot. Count me in.
I guess all we really need is a world and agreed upon starting point, that way we'd have a variety of entrances and starting builds to vote on.
-
I like this idea, and I'd like in too. What real life time length do we have for finishing each of our group years?
That's pretty flexible, I think. My original thought was a week or two to play the year and do the write up, then a week for discussion and voting. I'm open to other suggestions, too. A week and a half for playing and then a few days for discussion and voting would probably work as well. A lot of it depends on the number of players -- if there are a ton of people, you can afford to go with a shorter turn-around time. To start, while we're still working out the kinks in the format it might make sense to have a little extra time built in.
If anyone has thoughts about something being a really good or really bad idea, I'm all ears.
I imagine that this game would work suitably well like succession games start where the host generates a world and pitches it, but for this game (at least) I'd like to try a scrambled start, too: interested players generate a world with a few stipulations and then we vote on those.
If you want to get a head start, my thought was to do stock 31.05 (unless there are major objections) and a 4x4 map. I imagine that the voting for the initial round will be based not only on how awesome the map is, but surrounding civs and savagery, the starting load out, and even the name of the civ/fort/etc.
Of course, if nobody wants to gen a world, I can just do one and we can start with that.
-
I'm in too!!!
Let us know when I can start...
-
@TooMuchPete - Sounds like a good plan! When do we start? Oh, and should we stick to worlds of a particular size? The island/normal map thing I don't think would really matter, but participants with slower computers might be less than thrilled with the idea of using some gigantic world map, can take a little while long to load :P
This has much "Fun" potential >:D
-
I'm interesting, though next couple of days are no-no for any succession or community forts.
Also, I suggest the normal world size, 3*3 map. Not big elevation differences above the ground is also plus. Could ease the pain of those with slower computers (me for example).
-
I like the idea, I'm in.
-
Awesome -- looks like we have enough interested to get started.
Because I imagine this kind of game will lead to a flurry of board posting and discussion, one thread per game would probably be a real pain. More threads per game would clutter up the Bay12 forums, so I've tossed up a forum for our use, including instructions on how to get involved in Round 0: the scrambled start.
Check that out here:
http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/
-
Still, some general discussion can be done here as well, to keep thread alive for future participants, right?
Otherwise, good idea with the new forum.
-
Definitely, I think it would be great to have discussion here and maybe some updates posted for the benefit of b12 folks who don't want to visit another forum.
-
Ah, great idea. I picked the wrong time to start up a community fort :( Still, I'll be keeping an eye on this.
Again, great idea.
-
What if we copied all the winning file links and associated posts into this thread. The forums could hold a lot of the voting and discussion, the "winners" and people's commentary about those particular entries could be moved back over to here to keep the thread alive (and maybe provide a more coherent narrative of what actually happened in the chosen set of timelines.)
-
This sounds like a lot of fun, but what if you need the graphics pack to be able to play... I do ok without them but I really enjoy the game a great deal more with mayday's graphics. Would I be able to sub in those raws, and swap them back out for the defaults after my time is up?
-
I'm not super-familiar with the raw modifications that MayDay uses, but as long as they don't break the game when they're replaced with stock raws, I don't see why that would be a problem.
I also agree that posting the "winners" back to this thread would be a great way to track the narrative.
-
Well, I'm going to throw out a really generic embark idea so that everyone has lots of options - temperate or cold heavily forested area on a major river, preferably w/o waterfall. We'd get wood, plant life, water, and possibly ice at winter. And of course all that fun underground stuff.
Also just thought up an amusing rule, what do you guys think: You can never re-name a dwarf. Once the first canon save is selected, you can only name un-named dwarves and have to use the canon's nicknames, and likewise to the next canon save. Think it'd add a layer of fun craziness.
-
I'll do a couple tests tonight to make sure, he's added a nifty little app to quickly update the raws so nothing is manual anymore. If that tests out ok I'll definitely join this scramble.
After finally reading boatmurdered it's going to be interesting to see how other peoples play styles are incorporated.
-
Just did a diff of the stock 31.05 raws and the mayday 31.05 raws and all I saw were tile changes, no actual game mechanics changes, so using mayday should be fine -- just be sure to sub the raws back out to the defaults.
-
I'm in, but I think we may have to stick to screenshots and map uploads, since the map export seems to be causing a crash still. Should be fun though, I think I found an interesting site :D (Read: "suicidal site")
-
Also just thought up an amusing rule, what do you guys think: You can never re-name a dwarf. Once the first canon save is selected, you can only name un-named dwarves and have to use the canon's nicknames, and likewise to the next canon save. Think it'd add a layer of fun craziness.
My delete key doesn't work on custom names ???, so I play this way anyway, but I think it'd make a fun rule as well. Especially if we all know they can't be changed, so stupid names can be part of the decision process.
-
Bring on UristMcMiner the legendary carpenter!
-
Bring on UristMcMiner the legendary carpenter!
Hehehe. My own naming system is pretty different from what I've read other players do. Don't expect no 'Urist McSomeone' if I win a scramble :P
Well, I'm going to throw out a really generic embark idea so that everyone has lots of options - temperate or cold heavily forested area on a major river, preferably w/o waterfall. We'd get wood, plant life, water, and possibly ice at winter. And of course all that fun underground stuff.
^^
Anyone opposed to a site like this?
-
Bring on UristMcMiner the legendary carpenter!
Hehehe. My own naming system is pretty different from what I've read other players do. Don't expect no 'Urist McSomeone' if I win a scramble :P
Well, I'm going to throw out a really generic embark idea so that everyone has lots of options - temperate or cold heavily forested area on a major river, preferably w/o waterfall. We'd get wood, plant life, water, and possibly ice at winter. And of course all that fun underground stuff.
^^
Anyone opposed to a site like this?
Not really. But if I ever get a run on this, I tell this to you, I like crafting "new features" when drunk. You have been warned.
-
I object to the no waterfall notion.
-
I object to the no waterfall notion.
-
Well, I suggested it because of the FPS damage waterfalls tend to do, but I'm good with whatever popular consensus is.
-
Give me a world, and I will build you a Life...
Just gimme It would you please...
-
Hey guys if i'm not too late i'd like to come aboard, i've never done a community fort before but this sounds like a blast.
-
suggestion: the choosing starts before embark, even. we each gen a world, choose an embark, and post it. best is chosen continue as normal.
-
suggestion: the choosing starts before embark, even. we each gen a world, choose an embark, and post it. best is chosen continue as normal.
I agree, I hate choosing an embark area, but if we each gen a world, we have a way better chance of finding the 'perfect' spot.
-
Sounds good to me.
-
In that vein, I present this location:
(http://pix.sparky-s.ie/images/2ab3c_thumb.png) (http://pix.sparky-s.ie/2ab3c.png.html)
scratch that, the top stone layer is an aquifier. bad.
-
Which version are we using? I'm currently using .03 but i have no problems with any others.
Is there a vizualizer besides stonesense i can use with this version?
Finally, I found a great embark, 4x4 with surface magma, and a huge spire surrounded by a heavily forrested area with sand and a brook.
-
I was hoping to use .05 just for its latest fixes...
-
that's fine by me, as long as we can port this embark into .05
-
Sorry for my absence -- internet issues.
So my original plan was for everyone to pick an embark point, save, and then present that, we'd vote and then everyone would start from scratch. I wasn't totally clear on that, and over on the game's dedicated forums: http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/, a few folks have presented one year's worth of play from the get go, so there's a bit of confusion.
I really, really like the idea of the host generating a world and then everyone picking an embark from that, but I think we're just a hair too far along for that to be practical for this round.
Since we have people with different ideas of where we were going to start (or where we should start), let's do this: submit whatever starting point you want for the game... whether that's "Hey, guys, I just created this world... choose an embark point and get to work" or "Here's the spot I chose, plus a year's worth of fortress playing". Only caveat: don't play more than a year of the fort before you submit it for consideration.
I'd prefer to handle most of the discussion and voting somewhere other than Bay12, simply because it would be nice to be able to split up into a bunch of different threads as the game goes on, and that would be really annoying for other folks around here, I think.
We're going to go with 31.06, since it seems to have a bunch of fixes (including the map export fix), and I'll put up a discussion and voting thread on Friday, we'll have the weekend to hash it out and vote, and then on Monday Real Play will begin.
So head on over to the forums and toss your hat in the ring. I'm excited.
PS: It's never too late to get involved, even once the game has started, that's part of the beauty of it.
-
I wonder... is there any reason to "sign up" for this? I think it by definition allows anyone to play at any time.
-
I wonder... is there any reason to "sign up" for this? I think it by definition allows anyone to play at any time.
In theory, yes.
In practice, I guess you would want to limit the number of players so as to prevent having to pick from too many choices.
Also signing up is helpful so that you can call for an early vote if all signed up players have finished their turn ahead of schedule.
-
Yeah, i hope to hop on for this one.
A quick question tho, do we post our save onto DFFD then make a thread and link to it on the dedicated forums?
-
No need to post your saves just yet unless you want to. Just present it in a way that you think the voters will like (DFMA, screenshots, whatever), and hold onto your save. Voting will be done this weekend, with a new save posted on Monday for interested participants to take a shot at the next round.
-
We've got a decent number of options for this first round of DF Scramble, but we're still taking submissions until 10pm Eastern, so you've still got time if you want to get in on the action for this round.
-
Submissions have closed and discussion and voting has begun on Round Zero of the inaugural DF Scramble!
http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/index.php/topic,8.0.html (http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/index.php/topic,8.0.html)
-
The zeroth round of DF Scramble is complete, and the save has been uploaded to DFFD (http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=2504). The news from Hatchetwiped (http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/index.php/topic,10.0.html) is as follows:
A thousand years ago, a small group of dwarves was looking for a new home, determined to make it in this dangerous world. They came upon what they believed to be a volcano. Exploratory digging after the initial fort was settled revealed an embarrassing fact: the top of the mountain held only a peak, and there wasn't a drop of surface magma to be found. The civilization that grew out of this faux pas came to be known as The Special Volcano.
This civilization became almost single-mindedly obsessed with volcanoes and magma, and whenever one was rumored to have been found, a group of explorers was dispatched to investigate.
After centuries of false alarms, with few successes to speak of, a group of dwarves who called themselves The Infallible Sword, set out to make their home deep in the heart of the latest volcano of which the mountainhomes had heard rumor.
It was to their most pleasant surprise that, in the early spring of 1051, they came upon that very thing: a volcano. The dwarves immediately set to work, led by Oddom Craftsbasis, the seven dwarves worked tirelessly through their first year, making great progress.
The plump helmet farms were coming along quite nicely, a bit of crafting was starting to be done, and the dwarves found that one among them had stumbled upon a hidden talent for armoring. After spending months at the anvil, Rigoth Pagedearth produced the finest low boot any of them had ever laid eyes on. He called this masterpiece in lay pewter "Pearsieges", for a reason none of them could quite fathom.
While Rigoth toiled away, Oddom (a legendary miner in addition to a fine expedition leader) finished his finest work: the design and implementation of the fortress's magma plumbing.
Over the course of their first year, they earned themselves 14 immigrants and suffered no deaths. Things have been uneventful thus far, but none among them know what the next year will bring.
If you want to get in on the action, head on over to the official thread (http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/index.php/topic,9.0.html). Remember: you need not have ever participated in the scramble to submit a save for consideration this time around.
-
This looks like a laugh.
I've never been able to get things working for community games and I'm hopeless at the new version, still going to keep track of this and may sign up after I relearn how to play.
-
Or just sign up now and use this as a tool. If you screw up, you just won't get as many votes. Eventually you'll win one though.
-
sounds entertaining, I will give it a go.
-
Excellent™
I wish to join in this Project.
-
Submissions are starting to trickle in for round 1 -- remember, the round closes at 10pm eastern tomorrow (sunday)!
-
Four submissions to choose from for this year of Hatchetwiped . . . please stop by and vote (http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/index.php/topic,11.0.html) (even if you didn't submit a save).
-
OMG Awesome Fortress™
Come and join in the next round.
-
After a bit of a slump, we're back on track . . . gome get in on Round 3! (http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/index.php/topic,14.0.html).
-
There's a couple of days left in Round 3 -- head on over to submit your save.
-
We have a couple of saves to choose from for this round -- I'm really hoping to get a bunch of them for next round, please stop by if you're interested (and if the schedule is moving too fast, let me know, it's almost too fast for *me*)
Come on over and vote! (http://dfscramble.circularfile.net/forum/index.php/topic,15.0.html)