Bay 12 Games Forum

Quote from: Goodgame on January 19, 2009, 01:13:55 pm

I wasn't actually trolling, just curious if any ASCII purists would declare a Fatma or something to see a DF-inspired '3D' game.

That's just about the precise, literal definition of trolling right there.  Trolling is based on "fishing for a response", so yeah.

The difference is that Trolls relish igniting flame wars.  My intent was to find out what the DF fans thought about my idea.  Which is the result.

I wasn't actually trolling, just curious if any ASCII purists would declare a Fatma or something to see a DF-inspired '3D' game.

Mainly I specified HL2 since there is a very large, multiplayer modding community with freely available models, especially through Garry's mod.  Also HL2 is pretty cheap, was a best seller, and goes on sale regularly so it'd be pretty affordable for new players to get ahold of the mod. I also wasn't thinking an absolute fidelity, Toady's stamp of approval, kind of port.  Really just something inspired by DF fortress mode.

Also it would be multiplayer and team-based,  mainly open-ended, team vs. environment or objective-based. Though a further development might be goblins vs. dwarves.

I think the main technical constraints of Rogue-likes in a 3D engine are: 
1. procedural generation of levels (can Source support that?)
2. can levels be remapped durring play like Dwarf Fortress?  E.g. Digging would violate a room definition (i.e. 'brush' if you know Hammer, the HL2 mapping program).   Could Source remap a room during play, without crashing?
3. Maximum number of players and character models that the game could support, since a primary game goal is to increase population.

Content-issues, props, would be less of a problem, and much less so if the game-play were low-fidelity inspired. E.g only one type of workshop with a skill system, instead of a dozen of workshops. 


Turn-based wouldn't be a problem because it would be FPS and also RTS-like.  There already are successful HL2 RTS-FPS hybrids, and those would be a good template for the mod.  Players would be the individual works, with perhaps a mayor giving orders and coordinating with the team, but without absolute control over the players.  A leader with a good strategy can still lose, thanks to an uncooperative team of dwarves.

Dwarf Fortress-like interface issues wouldn't be a problem mostly, since any AI bots would be window-dressing, not to give orders to.   Rather the team of players would do the real work.  A HUD-like system where a 'mayor' communicates with the team by designations would be possible. Again, I've seen it successfully executed in RTS-FPS hybrid mods.

Mapping-wise, DF2 is rectilinear, so that would be a fit with HL2 mapping. And the mod could keep to a subterranean theme if outdoors mapping couldn't be done nicely, but I know it can be done somewhat decently from the RTS-FPS hybrid mods.

If you're curious about what I mean by a RTS-FPS hybrid mod of HL2, examine this: http://www.empiresmod.com/

I like the stock classical guitar music.  When it gets tedious, or a watch the dwarves cycle through sleep one too many times, I know I've been playing DF for too long.

It's possible the bags have been marked to be moved to a Finished Goods pile, no?  That would preempt their being marked to collect sand, no?

Temporary workaround is do dissolve the Goods stockpile, I suspect.

Good ideas, especially about bringing adventures and quests to Dwarf mode.

Legendary Flirter?  Before long all the dwarves start resembling the same parent. I shudder to think of what they make if they grab a workshop in a Strange Mood.

I didn't enjoy indirectly losing my Legendary Leatherworker to kobold thievery, due to him enjoying destroying the building that kept him alive over the cave river.

How about a chance they self-mutilate, an alternate response?  Perhaps they 'trade' a few levels of Attributes to calm down the tantrums?   "So and So has sacrificed for their art."

I can understand the intent, but I think it's unrealistic, and DF seems to be trying for realism as much as gameplay.  Really the flow is gravity or pressure dependent.  Short of reversing gravity, or digging deeper down, the only way to reverse the flow is to have some sort of pump device (a gigantic bellows?).