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Messages - Combatjuan

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1
DF General Discussion / Re: Dwarf Fortress Talk: Questions by email (link inside)
« on: January 08, 2010, 04:49:33 pm »
I humbly request a special guest appearance by Threetoe on the show sometime when it is convenient.

My reasons:
 * I enjoy the stories that he posts.  I'm admittedly not all that well-read in fantasy, but some elements of his stories are fresh and unique to me.
 * When Toady talks about the game, he always uses the 1st person plural.  This emphasizes to me how closely the two must work together.  I'm curious how similarly the two would respond to the same questions.
 * From the video of the last meetup, I got the impression that Toady's and Threetoe's personalities are quite distinct.  I'd appreciate hearing about the plans for the game from a different angle.  Though I also got the limited (and perhaps wrong) impression that Threetoe is shy, at least relative to Today (who appears not to be at all), so I don't mean to request that he put himself into an uncomfortable situation.

Either way, thank you Threetoe and Toady for an amazing game, and thanks to all the people who put these talks together.

2
DF General Discussion / Re: Anouncing The PathFinder Project
« on: October 21, 2009, 02:05:43 pm »
Not sure about the boost include problem, but I had to:
#include <limit>
#include <algorithm>

and comment out one of the printfs on account of 64bitness.

This was on Ubuntu 9.04, x64.  I lack mercurial foo and made no attempt to update them.

3
DF General Discussion / Re: Anouncing The PathFinder Project
« on: October 20, 2009, 12:46:50 pm »
I'm interested in helping with this project especially since I am in the process of making a game that would make good use of it.  And I think that lots of the needs of DF intersect with my needs (dynamic, 3d, tile-based world, multiple movement types, possibility of multi-tile creatures, etc...).

I do not, unfortunately, have much time available to me in the next two weeks so I certainly can't do much in the way of maintaining and setting up a test framework for all this (at least until that time).  Someone posted a suggested API a few pages back that seemed quite reasonable to me.

I am convinced that the best approach to this is to construct a test interface and an API and start coding and let the competing ideas compete on real tests.  Let's see which regioning turns out to be most efficient.  Let's see if those who want a more general solution can write a fast such solution in a reasonable amount of time and if those who want a specific solution can do so while still making it sufficiently extensible/adaptable.  I know of no other way to answer such questions.

And then I'll go and be a hypocrite and add that I don't have time to get a github going or an API spec or anything.  And I'll also offer this consideration which I don't think has yet been mentioned:
 * I believe that the map is broken up into 48x48xMAX_HEIGHT tile sectors and that these sectors are dynamically loaded (in adventure mode) as one moves over the map.  It might make sense to confine our higher level regions to being within a sector since these may need to be culled from the tree much like door/drawbridges (the above-posted Dragon Age pdf article actually took this approach anyway).  And relatedly, it also sounds like Today is making some changes to how sky is being handled as well as various underground layers, though I doubt they will affect things significantly.

4
Curses / Re: Dragslay
« on: October 20, 2009, 11:36:35 am »
Thanks chaoticag!  That was quite the historic thread.  I encourage others to go back and read it (it started in 2001!)

To summarize its contents:
 * Dragslay was apparently completely awesome and reached its peak in ~1996.
 * It included things that Dwarf Fort adventure players long for and presumably, will eventually receive in spades.
 * Toady attempted to resurrect Dragslay briefly in 2008 on his own computer.
 * The BASIC versions were the most complete but no compiler/interpreter could be found to legally run them in this enlightened new age.
 * The C version that Toady found was missing some features (maybe significant ones?) and was all Borlandy and so had trouble running on a modern system.  Graphics were especially problematic.
 * Toady was/is too busy to keep working on it and neither the source nor any binaries were provided.  Last post from Toady on the subject was April 2008.

So I guess my original question for Toady/Threetoe stands:  Any chance of releasing it in some form (even a horribly broken source form)?  I think anyone who wrote programs during their Jr. High/Highschool years used variable names like "schlong".  In my opinion, such novel history is to be celebrated.  Although I suppose I'd be pretty hesitant to release any of my work from that era...

5
Curses / Dragslay
« on: October 19, 2009, 01:15:22 pm »
Toady talks about dragslay a lot in various interviews, but in this latest interview with "Just Press Start", he said that it was more fleshed-out (in some sense) than the DF adventure mode.

I've searched the googles and the forums and the wiki and couldn't find a place to download this historic game.  Does anyone have a link?  Was this game lost forever in a hard drive crash or 3 1/2 inch disk getting coffee spilled on it?

Toady/ThreeToe:  If either of you still has a copy of this, what are the chances of putting it up for download somewhere?  Bonus points for the source whether it be the BASIC or the C version.  (-8

6
DF General Discussion / Re: What does the dev log countdown mean?
« on: November 17, 2008, 01:51:03 pm »
Draco18s: Yeah.  I should have provided a link to that topic in my original post.  I guess I was looking for something more specific than "they represent things that Toady needs to get done".  Thanks for the link.

7
DF General Discussion / Re: What does the dev log countdown mean?
« on: November 17, 2008, 01:08:07 pm »
In that case I'm surprised by Toady's ability to identify the number with such precision.  He should get some kind of award.  I'm curious if this list of doom exists in digital form somewhere.

8
DF General Discussion / What does the dev log countdown mean?
« on: November 17, 2008, 12:34:13 pm »
I've been following the development log of dwarf fortress for a couple years now (actually 23 months).  I've enjoyed it thoroughly and I think I've come to understand a bit about the way Toady thinks.  But for the past few months, I've been a little lost.  I'm not exactly sure what this numerical countdown represents.

Quote
I'm going to move on to explicitly planning and coding the framework for the underground for this release. As usual, I'll post a larger blurb here in a day or two once I get that sorted out. That'll be the last category of changes, and then the idea is to go back and get everything finished up. That will take a while of course, a long while, and there will likely be countdowns again. I'm always about the countdowns.
- Toady, Dev Log 2008.10.14

So here's what I think is going on.  "Coding the framework" means developing the new objects and structures that will now hold the game data and perhaps also rewriting the raws to handle the new format?  Since adding new entirely new objects in and new properties to existing objects is pretty trivial from a coding standpoint, am I to understand that the entire object system is being reworked into a new (possibly extensible) version?  And that these numbers are the numbers of objects that are left to be converted?  Or do the numbers also include the raws being filled in for the new object hierarchy?

If I understood right, the previous objects had lots of bit flags and rather than using full pointers, Toady was using byte or multi-byte sized offsets from various locations in memory (maybe from the start of the geographical chunk?).  Is that system being replaced by full vectors and maps and whatnot?  I've been writing C++ professionally for 7 years and I'm still constantly learning better ways to do things so I think I'm sort of projecting my own lessons on the dev log.

From the way the bloats and features and whatnot are recorded, I have gathered that Toady makes actual todo lists--todo lists of epic length.  So my imagination has Toady next to his computer with a 52 page print-out of objects that he checks off as he updates them.

It doesn't really matter of course.  Whatever it is will be done when it is done.  But just about every morning I check and see what the current number is and if Today has posted anything exciting.  I feel like I could be more encouraged watching the number drop if I could relate to it more--if I knew what it meant.  Can someone please explain to me what is actually going on?

9
DF Suggestions / Dwarf Mode: Region Finder Additions
« on: July 23, 2008, 02:00:10 pm »
Toady,
   Thanks you.  This is my favorite new feature by far.  Your dev log called your implementation "basic" and I understand that you plan your own additions probably including the one I'm about to suggest.  I also understand that you just kind of threw this feature in and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but disclaimers aside...

   Could you add a simple "weight" field to each finder option so that the user could rank how important each aspect was to them say on a scale of 1 to 100 (or perhaps an enumeration of low, medium, high, required).  The algorithm would them, obviously, sum these weights when evaluating regions.  This would allow me to easily say, for example, that I was looking for a region with magma of some sort, and it would ideally include a river, and it would almost certainly have either an underground river or a pool, and that a chasm is a bonus, and the rest I don't care about.

Keep up the good work!

10
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: My current fortress design
« on: April 05, 2007, 01:40:00 pm »
Regarding the hallways:
I misunderstood how your bridge system was working.  That is rather clever.  You should have plenty of hallway for a low population fortress.

11
DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: My current fortress design
« on: April 05, 2007, 01:36:00 pm »
It's a pretty looking fortress.  What tool did you use to draw the picture?

One concern that I have is that there is no buffer for noise between the workshops and the quarters, especially the noble quarters.  I'm not sure to what extent this angers dwarves, but being a picky sleeper myself, I'm especially careful to keep work done 16 squares away from my sleeping quarters.

The other concern would perhaps be traffic.  It looks like you're planning on keeping your population pretty low, but nevertheless, it may be a good idea to consider having some wider hallways.  I always figured that the difference between 1 width hallways and 2 width is rather phenomal in terms of movement efficiency.

-Charles


12
DF Gameplay Questions / Re: Emerald items
« on: February 28, 2007, 02:38:00 pm »
The wiki says something about how if any glass or jewel items are requested, the only way to satisfy their demands is to make a window out of those items.

Here is is:
"Finally, some nobles might demand a certain item in their personal rooms. They can demand a specific type of furniture, material, or both. If they don't get their wish, they will become more and more upset. Regardless of whether you have given them their demanded item or not, nobles will "forget about a demand" after some time. Important note: Encrusting doesn't count for making an item, so the only way to satisfy a gem item demand is to build a window (-[y]) out of cut gems."

You can read more at: http://dwarf.lendemaindeveille.com/index.php/Nobles#Demands


13
DF Suggestions / Silmarillion Inspired Suggestions
« on: January 12, 2008, 04:23:00 pm »
As I was reading the Silmarillion I kept thinking of it in terms of the World Generation now being worked on for DF.  I have to imagine that these two suggestions have been made before, but I couldn't find them in the search so forgive me.  Both relate to Fey moods (which occurred relatively often in the Silmarillion (and yes, I know Universe_of_DF != Universe_of_Tolkien)).

1.) Military dwarves/creatures should go fey.  They should get a temporary insane bonus to agility and strength and whatnot and be able to accomplish incredible feats, like the single handed slaying of a dragon or laying waste to an overwhelming goblin invasion.  Naturally this should not happen often.  If the dwarf survives, he/she should then become a legendary warrior of his/her weapon of choice.  Perhaps this is in and I've never seen it, but I've played a lot of DF.

2.) Fey moods should happen as historic events.  Combat fey moods should allow even a weak civilization to conquer huge chunks of territory.  Object creation fey moods should create incredibly valuable artifacts (e.g. the Ring of Power, or the Silmarils) which should add bonuses to the holding civilization (faster reproduction, more resources, etc..., or to the entity holding them like unnaturally long life, hit point bonuses, etc...) but also be a cause for jealousy and dissention.  They should be capturable or giftable and even tradable, but should be few in number and eventually end up (in year 1051 or whatever) at a particular place and be accessible to the adventurer or to capture via armies in fortress mode.

I have no doubt that Toady has thought of these things, and little doubt that others have posted about them, but I was so excited that I just had to.  

Cheers!  May your losses be incredibly fun!


14
DF General Discussion / Re: DF 3D map editor
« on: September 24, 2007, 12:17:00 pm »
Just a few screenshots of the utility in action please?

15
DF General Discussion / Re: Future of the Fortress
« on: May 17, 2007, 10:06:00 am »
Toady - A question and a comment.
Question: Do natural ramp squares (such as outside) represent "sudden" breaks in elevation such that they can't be built on, or are there gradual slopes everywhere and the ramps simply represent the boundary and therefore are buildable?  I assume they must allow for the building of at least roads and channels and simple things, what about say, a mason's shop?

Comment: Just my two cents, but I like the current look without the lines.  I know that the basic ASCII feel has 16 colors, but perhaps elevation could be represented by using HSV transforms on the colors and altering the saturation value (for colors) / brightness (for grays)?  I, for one, look greatly forward to a true tile version, but would really love (at some point long in the future) be able to play DF using an ASCII display module via SSH from a high speed Linux server.  Therefore if we could find some even slightly imperfect way to preserve the ASCII purity, I'd be for it.  But Toady knows best.

Finally, keep up the good work, I'm antsy but perfectly happy to wait as long as you want.    Short release cycles are nice for incremental updates and patches, but this update goes well beyond that.  Take your time, enjoy your new found freedom, and congratulations.


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