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Author Topic: Lets brainstorm a little bit - What could new Steam players use in a mod?  (Read 24099 times)

Meph

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MasterworkDF started once as a project to increase FPS, fix bugs, add a bit of atmosphere and expand on vanilla features without deviating too much. Obviously at some point that changed a bit.

Now I'm wondering what a good mod could be for people completely new to DF, coming from Steam. They get graphics and a few UI changes. But what could we, the modding community, add to that?

My idea would be a somewhat extended all-races-playable mod, with about .. lets say 10 new items, 10 new workshops and 10 new creatures (pets) per race. A few basic gameplay changes, like kobolds can't dig / produce metal, humans can buy stuff with gold, elves make heavy use of plants, goblins make heavy use of corpses. A couple new nobles here and there.

That should keep people occupied for a while. ^^
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scourge728

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A "Learn Ascii mod" where it just removes the graphics, and you can't uninstall till you defeat the clown car in ascii

Broms

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I think having descriptions on every reaction would be fantastic. Maybe something like an official description and then a related tip or suggestion? Oh now that I mention it, it would be extra fantastic if reactions also mentioned what skill they use in their descriptions.
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FantasticDorf

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I think having descriptions on every reaction would be fantastic. Maybe something like an official description and then a related tip or suggestion? Oh now that I mention it, it would be extra fantastic if reactions also mentioned what skill they use in their descriptions.

You can achieve this a little bit via CATEGORY, which is what is used for vanilla game instrument descriptions but also applies to modding (I have some on my elves). I think the game should be considerably simplified where possible possibly cutting the game entirely down for a mod to a straightforward dwarves v goblin conflict so that gobboes don't really actually have any other targets to attack by editing out the entitites and some basic suggested advanced worldgen worlds or seeds ready on file.

Adding what is essentially a development panel of cheats (generate water at workshop, free food, metals etc) may also be pretty straightfoward for taking a load of the shoulders of players so they can just jump straight in.
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Superdorf

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+1 to the All Races pack; that's the first and only mod I've ever really used. I'd love to see it fleshed out a bit.
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Pillbo

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I like the ideas, I'd also say something like the Modest Mod.  An option for people to get started with the game slightly less complex in terms of materials/stone etc. before they go full in. Could be good for a tutorial if that's still an option.

Maybe the ability display items with simplified names (inventory: shirt, trousers, shoe, shoe).

As much clarity added to any menu as is reasonable. Like a bit of text at the bottom of the screen that give more context to what a highlighted menu item means. Greying out menu items that aren't usable with an explanation when selected- "You can't built a Bed because you have none available, make some from wood at the carpenter's workshop", "You don't have any of this type of metal, it's created from Stone1 and Stone2 at a Smelter" so that large menus seem less intimidating. Also cycling usable menu options to the top would be really helpful especially at a forges and smelters when players have a small amount of ore and metal.

An easier way for people to understand what's happening in game without constantly pausing and scanning screens, something like DF-Log would be helpful. More info available with the hovering mouse over an object/creature, like a dwarfs current task or inventory.

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Pillbo

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+The ability for people to view legends while having an active fortress. Even if it's just an image of the world from when the fort was started stored at game start.  Maybe it could be updated in a simplified way periodically (annually?) while running a fort. People always want to check out the legends to learn about things they hear of in gameplay and they won't necessarily understand why they can't.
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Shonai_Dweller

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+The ability for people to view legends while having an active fortress. Even if it's just an image of the world from when the fort was started stored at game start.  Maybe it could be updated in a simplified way periodically (annually?) while running a fort. People always want to check out the legends to learn about things they hear of in gameplay and they won't necessarily understand why they can't.
Bear in mind that the current version of openlegends has a tendancy to destroy sites and unleash hell (unless it's been fixed recently?). Not much fun for new people.

A way to modify siege triggers for each civ/megabeast would be good. People so often wonder where their goblins are at. Then it turns out they're playing with a pop cap of 40...

Yeah, there's raiding, but even having the option would make people aware that such a trigger exists.
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Putnam

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 I'm just going to release a crap ton of mini mods and see what the "market" decides

TomiTapio

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A workshop that trains the dodging skill.
An entertainment-workshop that spreads a calming gas.
Reactions to easily destroy excess bodyparts, stones etc.
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==OldGenesis mod== by Deon & TomiTapio. Five wood classes, four leather classes. Nine enemy civs. So much fine-tuning.
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Pillbo

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+The ability for people to view legends while having an active fortress. Even if it's just an image of the world from when the fort was started stored at game start.  Maybe it could be updated in a simplified way periodically (annually?) while running a fort. People always want to check out the legends to learn about things they hear of in gameplay and they won't necessarily understand why they can't.
Bear in mind that the current version of openlegends has a tendancy to destroy sites and unleash hell (unless it's been fixed recently?). Not much fun for new people.

I've heard of that happening, I thought it might be better to create an image of the world's legends at the beginning of fort creation, or even just after confirming a world to prevent the risk.  Just having something available so people can see the world gen history of things they encounter along the way.

Reactions to easily destroy excess bodyparts, stones etc.

Agreed- a crematorium, or funeral pyre, or anything to clean up bodies and junk without resorting to atom smashers.
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Eric Blank

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Expanded adventure mode reactions - to make clothes, backpacks, weapons, etc. out of things they have access to, like animal fur, leather, bones.

Simple ones, mind. No extra tools, just the reagents the product will be made from and your edged tool if applicable. Too "realistic" and i, for one, find i feel like im wasting time selecting tools, getting them out of my bag etc.

A simple change to make dwarves mostly stress-resistant, because it can take a long, long time to figure out how to prevent your dwarves going completely bonkers. Although thats half the Fun.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2019, 11:49:14 pm by Eric Blank »
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I make Spellcrafts!
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Shonai_Dweller

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A simple change to make dwarves mostly stress-resistant, because it can take a long, long time to figure out how to prevent your dwarves going completely bonkers. Although thats half the Fun.
Steam is coming after Villains release bug fix phase. If Toady's attempts to fix stress inexplicably all fail, he'll probably just remove it from the game. So, not really necessary. Dwarves going bonkers and prevention of such bonkery is part of the game (once it's slightly more balanced).

I don't think Easy mode in which Nothing Happens is particularly what new people are looking for. Motivation to keep dorfs happy keeps people playing and exploring the game.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2019, 12:54:55 am by Shonai_Dweller »
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Sabin Stargem

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For me, one of the bigger issues is world generation and ensuring an embark has all the features I want.   More often than not, my tweaks fail or take an age, and it isn't easy to figure out how to ensure a successful tweak.

My thought on that is that maybe an chosen embark site could be "regenerated" by the player, independent to the rest of the world's history.   For example, I wanted to have high-savagery terrain in my embark that is Good, Evil, and Neutral.   But recreating the entire world for this combination was messy and tedious.

Another thing that I would like:  A ballpark estimate of how much CPU & RAM an embark would require to run decently.   I find that an embark over a certain size would cause DF to freeze.
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Ptasznikt

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I would love to have mods, that have mods that are realistic(sometimes to the point of irrelevancy) concerning resource manipulation - making several kinds of steel, that differ only in way of producing, not really in their stats, etc. - all these packed into one.

Whenever fantasy is concerned, I would kill for sophisticated and coherent imaginative metal/alloy system, that would go beyond the realism, but still would be balanced, and playing to the rules(as imaginative as they would be)

I would also download every mod, that would give some small alterations to the dwarf civs giving them some flavour - "Chinese" dorfs loving nefrite and placing dragon statues in each corner, "Egyptian" dorfs obsessed with pyramids and nobles requiring great tombs, "Greek" dorfs engaged in philosophy.

Summing up - whenever I hit the new game, it takes me only several hours to dive into mods. Whenever I look into mods, instead of downloading multitude of mods, I look for coherent and balanced modpacks - not only in the way, that they work together, but they are fashioned to give the notion of being the one mod.
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