I'm curious as to what people think about the long term future of Dwarf Fortress.
Firstly, do we have reason to expect that the game will still be active, updated, and supported out to the end of this decade? I'm not sure what, if anything, Toady has said about the very long-term future of the game.
Second, what do people think Dwarf Fortress will be like by then, assuming it continues to be updated that long?
My own hopes are that Toady keeps pushing ahead with the pure simulation, so that we're much closer to the complete 'Fantasy World Simulator' from the top on down. From living breathing civilizations down to individually tracked, and breeding, squirrels in the forest. I'd like to be able to embark each of the races and have separate modes, appropriate for each. Control a Dwarf Fortress or a Human Town/City or a Eleven TreeHome, etc. With appropriately different options for each. Plus a civilization or Empire mode where you can act as the leader of an entire civilization or Empire. Or a hybrid of the two : Start off as a Dwarf Fortress or a City or a TreeHome and then be able to expand your control out into the world and create your own Empire(sounds like Army ARC is already heading in that direction). I'd like adventure mode to be more playable and for the world to be so incredibly well simulated that it really feels like a living, breathing, real fantasy world. Lastly, a "god mode" where you can play as a deity within the game and have basically total control over anything you want : play as a distant and wrathful God....compete against other Gods for more worshipers....or manipulate ever single little detail in every corner of the world just to tinker with things.
Oh, lastly, sentient AI for every intelligent entity would be nice, hahaha
I don't ask for much! But seriously, it'd be cool if organized groups within the game world exhibited an "intelligence" at least approaching that of something like an ant colony, I.E. emergent collective intelligence with cascading levels of loyalty and chains of command, etc. I suppose you could argue that the game already approaches this, and will get closer once civilizations have more memory and politics, and things like Guilds are introduced, etc.)
Anyway, would love to hear other people's opinions on the very long term future. Part of what excites me about this Game/Simulation is more the potential of what it could be rather than the game as it currently us.
