As was said Dwarves?! and Delve Deeper have basically nothing in common with DF (aside from the characters being dwarves, which are hardly a unique creation of DF). That said, even if they did, even if somebody tried to simply make a polished, commercial version of DF, I'd support it.
Don't get me wrong, I can understand why Toady would prefer games not copy his and potentially horn in on his passion (and extra spending money) but ultimately imitation can help bring innovation and can help to polish the title. Pick virtually any game you truly love and odds are its taken a lot of cues from earlier games (even something as simple as how to set up the UI), to suggest that every game (or any piece of media for that matter) should be completely unique is not only an impossible goal but also shooting the medium in the foot. There is no reason to re-invent the wheel every time, if somebody decided that DF was a great game but they felt they could do better then I say they try, if they do better great! If they don't then perhaps they at least can offer up something that they did right, if it totally sucks then at least it can be a learning experience.
I don't support deliberate copyright violations or anything, but I do think that the only way to end up with gaming (or reading, or cinematic) masterpieces is to allow creatures to.. Basically steal ideas from other people and then try to find a way to make them better.
As for DF.. Honestly while it would have its advantages even if somebody made a completely 3D, crisp version of DF that still contained all the features I'd still prefer the original, the use of ASCII allows my imagination to take control in a way it cannot do when there are true images and that is a big part of the magic of DF for me. That said if somebody else created an ASCII game that was extremely similar to DF but with far more bugs hammered out, a better UI, and going in a direction I preferred I would probably move to that, why wouldn't I?
There is a reason we all aren't still playing Doom and Wolfenstein (or if you prefer multiplayer Unreal or Quake).
So yea, right now the issues of 'commercial versions of DF' is making a mountain out of a molehill.. Worse really in that the issue doesn't exist to begin with, at best the examples are sort of similar or share a similar theme but that is where the similarities end. But I support game makers to continue trying to improve on the games they love. DF itself is an attempt to improve the fantasy world simulator genre which existed far before DF did after all, and dwarves themselves are hardly an original creation, but I love what Toady has done with it.
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Topic: Commercial DF-likes (Read 19573 times)