Dave Fortress - Part 02

Shame Dave moved on, i really enjoyed his input.

After being mentioned on this weeks episode of the Bombcast, I decided to check this series out. They said it didn't last long but I didn't realize it was only 2 episodes lol. Everyone sounds so bored and frustrated through the whole episode. "Final episode question mark?!"

It's been a whole year and I still can't get enough of this.

Hahah, Drew's comparison of Dwarf Fortress to Matrix encryption is dead on.

I'm busy having my mind blown by Drew's GoldenEye reference over here. It felt oddly familiar, but I never would have guessed where it's from. How does his mind store all these random quotes, and how can it access them so quickly and effortlessly?!

Incredible as always. Hope we get a third installment, how could they leave us hanging after the...

seriously.

The dynamic between these guys is absolute dynamite. Always love seeing them on a Quick Look!

Fsck the haters. MOAR DWARVES!!!

Not going to lie: This is boring as piss. Kinda feel ok having not watched it until now.

I love this series because there is no way I could possibly play this game without giving up within about two minutes. But watching others play it? I'm glued to my iPad. I would love to see a similar series playing Eve Online. It's another game I know is great, and the stories that come out of it are amazing ... but I could never have the patience to actually play it.

Just wanted to chime in (super late to the party) and say that I found this series fascinating and hilarious.

It was good to finally see what this Dwarf Fortress thing actually is and how batshit crazy it is. Thanks guys!

"I just see blonde, Burnett... dwarf."

While I understand that this might not be everyones cup of tea - to me this is what Giant Bomb is.

I mean you don't really come here for the blockbusters exclusive coverage of the latest first-person, right? You come here for the bombcast, which is mostly a discussion tangentially related to games but more about interesting developments and novelties in the 'industry', as well as the game culture in general.

Same thing with 'Flight Club' and quicklooks that, at their best, take a look at something that is novel or has slipped under the radar of most people.

This is very much in that vein in my opinion. In fact I think Giant Bomb has been too much of a popular games site lately - I suspect many people here couldn't care less about the new FIFA or Call of Duty (or if they do, they'd be better served elsewhere).

I love these videos, a lot. I will be very very sad if they go away.

I'm enjoying this. Definitely needs face cams though, especially for this kind of game.

Best episode ever. MORE

This is better when you can see everyone's faces on the video.

I'd have to echo the sentiment that this series should probably stop. While I personally find it completely hypnotic to watch (and I really applaud the team for having the balls to do it), I think that subscriber vids probably shouldn't focus on games as highly devisive as Dwarf Fortress. TOO Niche.

This is mad-boring, y'all.

Something about that music loop is comforting

That poor dingo.

Props to Vinny on the obscure Bunnicula reference

"Vinny, you're kinda loud."

"It's not me, it's chat. I'm just a vessel."

Flip upside down and eject

@heartlessomen said:

while i understand what they're trying to do with this...and i hate to say it, but i agree with some of the people on here, that this is probably my least favorite bit of content on GB as of late. And it's not the crew...I think it's just the subject matter....bleeding boring it is.

but for those of you that enjoy it, make sure you keep your voices heard! just because I don't like it, doesn't mean I have to watch it, right?

Yeah, I know what you mean. Part of the problem for me is that I just can't fathom how any part of this simulation program is fun to play. I feel like we might as well watch them run a weather forecast algorithm or Folding@home.

Feel free to disagree, of course, but with precious little subsciber content, I would prefer it to be something else. Ok, my secret agenda, straight up: I'd like them to do a retrospective on Freespace.

@heartlessomen said:

while i understand what they're trying to do with this...and i hate to say it, but i agree with some of the people on here, that this is probably my least favorite bit of content on GB as of late. And it's not the crew...I think it's just the subject matter....bleeding boring it is.

but for those of you that enjoy it, make sure you keep your voices heard! just because I don't like it, doesn't mean I have to watch it, right?

Yeah, I know what you mean. Part of the problem for me is that I just can't fathom how any part of this simulation program is fun to play. I feel like we might as well watch them run a weather forecast algorithm or Folding@home.

Feel free to disagree, of course, but with precious little subsciber content, I would prefer it to be something else. Ok, my secret agenda, straight up: I'd like them to do a retrospective on Freespace.

Message to Drew: stay away from my pets please.

The Dingo (2012-2012)

Rest in peace.

It's probably been mentioned already, but Dave should probably look into loading up Dwarf Therapist alongside DF to better allocate duties.

This is a good series and I would love to see it continued with a new embark!

Dave's insight at the end was probably right, though - these would be better when he has the time to prepare. It's not fun to watch someone who seems frustrated and not enjoying themselves at all, and probably rather stressful.

@heatDrive88 said:

What's that "slice the pie" reference from? I know I have heard that before, and I can't find anything on the internet to support what it's from. It has been wrecking terror in my brain for a few days now.

It's from their SWAT random PC game. Pup, the LEASH is not a toy! What are you, a comedian?! EDIT: Ah, I see somebody already told you. Great video though, that old lady is crazy.

I love Dwarf Fortress content! It's great.

@boggler12: Ah yes, I remember this now. Thanks for the reminder.

These videos are great, keep make them, it's a nice relaxing video to view to unwind.

This is great, should do more.

while i understand what they're trying to do with this...and i hate to say it, but i agree with some of the people on here, that this is probably my least favorite bit of content on GB as of late. And it's not the crew...I think it's just the subject matter....bleeding boring it is.

but for those of you that enjoy it, make sure you keep your voices heard! just because I don't like it, doesn't mean I have to watch it, right?

@mrfluke said:

@brokenpilot said:

This, is one of the most disappointing series from giant bomb. It's mind numbingly boring.

its all a matter of opinion duder, i find this series to be one of the better pieces of content on the site.

This series has been one of my favorites

@heatDrive88: It's from an old Random PC game video.

http://www.giantbomb.com/random-pc-game-police-quest-swat/17-5130/

What's that "slice the pie" reference from? I know I have heard that before, and I can't find anything on the internet to support what it's from. It has been wrecking terror in my brain for a few days now.

Finally someone acknowledged that this soundtrack sounds like something Jean Baudin would create.

@DoctorWelch: Jsyk, thebigJ_A just seems like some crazy weirdo elitist. Your argument totally makes sense and he sounds like he's just being bullheaded for the sake of it. I recommend not continuing the conversation with him. I completely agree that if the game had a decent mouse-based interface, it would explode. It's a huge reason for why I can't even be bothered to try it, despite really enjoying these videos. And yes, I'm aware that in Internet world that probably says something super negative about myself.

@thebigJ_A said:

You've been delving, that's good. Keep doing so, maybe actually play the game, then we can talk.

Delving (aka playing), and everything I've said I stand by. If you want to believe that a better interface wouldn't help the game, than that's fine if you just want to stay stubborn.

@Jrad: The thing is, even if he is bad at making that kind of stuff it's not like he would have to do all that much to actually improve it. Just some basic menu changes and some basic mouse control would make this thing a million times more playable. Obviously if he wanted to make it optimal or near perfect it would take a shit ton of work, but even just some basic UI improvements would help.

After playing for most of the weekend I feel like the game isn't super hard to understand, it's simply just difficult to learn and remember how to implement each system. I really love what the game is doing, and I really think if he could get someone to make an understandable UI it would make this game explode.

Dwarf Fortress is something you keep running in the background.
 
I mean, it has auto-pausing and everything.

Gotta say this is probably the most relaxing feature Giantbomb has done in a long time. This is great stuff to watch at the end of the day.

@DoctorWelch said:

@thebigJ_A said:

Try not to argue from ignorance. It misinforms and makes you look silly. It would be utterly impossible to make this game in text. It's a game about building and designing, creating and destroying. You could not do anything approaching what this game does with text. That's just asinine. The graphics, if you choose to call them that (I fail to see how numbers, letters and punctuation are graphics, but have it your way), are there for functionality.

The time it would take to implement a "better" control scheme would absolutely not take a fraction of the time it takes to implement a system, it'd take orders of magnitude more (if you knew the game, and it's development, you'd know why). And it would be unnecessary work, to boot. The controls work as they are, they work very well, in fact. It just takes time to learn them. It's like, say, learning how to use high-end video editing software. Intimidating at first, but extremely powerful once you learn it. They're not perfect, no (the game's not done, after all), but they give you the power to control the many functions. On top of all that, you and I couldn't afford a PC that could run this game if they put in anything remotely approaching modern graphics.

You are the one speaking from ignorance if you don't think this game could be purely text. It's ASCII based and the controls are on the keyboard only. It's extremely easy to see how you could simply be pressing the arrow keys, number keys, letter keys, enter key etc, and get purely text based feedback. Then, right after saying it couldn't be text you call the symbol graphics not graphics....it's either one or the other, it can't be both. You're both saying it has to have graphics, and you don't see it as actually having graphics.

Then you go on to try and say that the unique interaction of complex systems is easier to create than than basic mouse control...that is simply false. If you don't understand and we can't agree, than we may as well stop talking about that point. Also, mouse control would greatly improve functionality, and basically cut the learning curve in half. It's the reason why we have mice in the first place. So really, any argument against putting a better user interface in this game is just stubbornness.

And lastly, the graphics Dave is playing with aren't the real graphics. And in addition there are other mods out there that actually give the game pixel graphics that are basically at a modern standard. The Mayday one might not be exactly up to the standard of modern pixel graphics, but it's pretty close compared to the original.

So, if you are going to respond again, don't simply call me ignorant and then give reasons that don't make any sense. When I posted my first post about this it's true, I only knew what I saw in the videos. Since then, discussion has spurred me to delve deaper into this crazy thing, and I have since discovered a lot about the game. No matter what though, one thing is still clear, and it's the point I've been making all along, that a better user interface using some mouse control will only make this game better.

You've been delving, that's good. Keep doing so, maybe actually play the game, then we can talk.

@DoctorWelch: You're right when you say that a better interface would improve the game for some people. A better interface could let more people play it. On the contrary, the hardcore fans of Dwarf Fortress don't really give a shit about the interface, and I side with them on this one. Tarn is just one man, and I'd rather he continue adding features. He's already said he's terrible at crafting decent UI, and his foray into mouse control (see: the military screen) wasn't exactly stellar.

Kobold Camp showed that mouse control can be done well enough in a game like this. Dwarf Fortress does have a semblance of mouse control (you can rightclick when designating to move the cursor to where you clicked; you can leftclick to paint a tile with the current designation) but it's not terribly useful.

Tarn's making the game he wants to make, and he's releasing it to the public so he can afford to get it done. He gets something like $4000 in donations every month, which is enough to support him. They're donations, though -- not purchases; no one is entitled to the game, nor should he feel compelled to work on things he doesn't want to. And for reference, there is a 'text' display mode for the game that is literally little more than a console window. I know that's not what you mean, but the fact is that the graphics serve a purpose, and interactive-fiction style would make DF little more than a glorified singleplayer MUD.

OH MY GOD LOOK AT ALL THESE CHICKS.

These are so boring, yet so damn entertaining. I love the random PC video games that Dave does.

Speaking of which, are he and Vinny going to be doing more of those "Random PC Games" series?

@forkboy said:

@Sil3n7 said:

This Dwarf fortress stuff is very boring guys. It's the only videos I've watched on this site that aren't up to standard unfortunately.

Don't watch them then. They appeal to others.

I won't. I have paid for subscriber content and am voicing my opinion on them spending their Friday shows making something I enjoy.

@Sil3n7 said:

This Dwarf fortress stuff is very boring guys. It's the only videos I've watched on this site that aren't up to standard unfortunately.

Don't watch them then. They appeal to others.

This Dwarf fortress stuff is very boring guys. It's the only videos I've watched on this site that aren't up to standard unfortunately.