Minecraft! (single player dwarf fortress)

Gordon_Cameron · 2010-09-30T06:49:11.000Z

Just goes to show studio executives have no idea what people want to buy.

I dunno, it’s not as if people aren’t buying Madden, or Starcraft 2, or Halo Reach…

JM1 · 2010-09-30T07:08:43.000Z

Gordon Cameron:

Is there some ratcheting up of the survival element, e.g. larger hordes of enemies on successive nights that require ever more elaborate fortifications?

No. But it sounds like you’ve yet to find a cave system.

Does your fort have iron, or gold, or redstone, or diamond? If not - these things are very useful and very pretty. And can be found in monstrously complex cave systems that are gorgeous to look at and full of things wanting to kill you. :)

Gordon_Cameron · 2010-09-30T07:24:09.000Z

No, guess I haven’t dug far enough. I dug down a while, made some hallways, found lots and lots of grey rock or ore, and eventually started to dig back upwards. Eventually I reached the surface, which unfortunately was underwater and I drowned.

All pretty cool, mind you…

Teiman · 2010-09-30T07:29:51.000Z

Gordon Cameron:

No, guess I haven’t dug far enough. I dug down a while, made some hallways, found lots and lots of grey rock or ore, and eventually started to dig back upwards. Eventually I reached the surface, which unfortunately was underwater and I drowned.

All pretty cool, mind you…

you could always have some dirt blocks equiped, and if you see this, use the dirt to block the water flow. Easier to say than to do, but It works to me. If you are digging a scalator up, you can place the torchs in holes in the walls, safe from the water.

Anyway, water generate sounds, you will ear the water before getting there. The water sounds spread about 10 tiles.

DeepT · 2010-09-30T07:49:05.000Z

Directional sound would be really nice in this game. Often I hear zombies and stuff underground and it takes a good while to find them. I suppose if the sounds were simply much louder if you were looking in the right direction, that would suffice.

JM1 · 2010-09-30T07:51:40.000Z

Yeah, sounds plays a very underrated role in this game.

It might be easier for you to go scouting for caves rather than just digging. Take a wander and see what you find.

Just make sure you have some armour, weapons, some bacon, a load of picks, at least a stack of torches, and planks. You’ll find that you can dig out coal and iron, but you can’t dig gold or redstone (I think) or diamond without smelting some iron for picks. So keep enough planks for a crafting table to make the furnace.

Tman · 2010-09-30T09:15:44.000Z

On sounds - if you play on peaceful, you’ll miss a lot of cave systems. The moaning / sounds of the monsters are a huge clue there is something behind what looks like a solid wall.

DoomMunky · 2010-09-30T09:59:33.000Z

I just found the most beautiful cove. I’m still not sure what I’ll build there, but my brain is clicking along in excitement. Exploring is SO FUN in this game.

Something I’d like to do is build craggy fortresses on inaccessible hilltops and spires. Just have them out an about in the world. Have the insides be boring as hell, but with cool mountain fortresses everywhere, wouldn’t traveling through the landscape be sweet? Good use of all my built up stone and cobblestone, too.

Pogo · 2010-09-30T10:15:37.000Z

Gordon Cameron:

It still feels more sandbox than game, though. I have never seen a zombie, just heard them groaning, but as far as I can tell it’s not very hard to avoid them by hiding in holes in the ground. For the rest of it, is it just the sandboxy “urge to create” that makes one dig elaborate underground fortresses? I felt a certain gameplay “pull” in the quest for coal, and a nice reward-endorphine-rush when I was able to make my first torches and light my way underground. But what followed was a lot of rather aimless digging, with the vague idea that Thar is Gold Down Thar, or some other ore I haven’t seen yet, rather than any pressing gameplay reason to go beyond the status quo.

I agree with you in some respects, but the nice thing about a sandbox game is that you can decide what you find fun. I don’t find grinding out huge hallways out of rock to be fun at all. Go exploring and find yourself some caves to spelunk. Then you’ll see the most puzzle-ish aspects as you navigate a cave full of monsters and lava pitfalls and figure out how to approach it all, and also figure out how to find your way back to your hovel.

Teiman:

Anyway, water generate sounds, you will ear the water before getting there. The water sounds spread about 10 tiles.

You won’t hear the ocean. Only flowing water makes noise.

Marcin · 2010-09-30T10:18:54.000Z

Stone goes surprisingly fast when you start actually building with it. :)

That cove looks like it’s asking for a couple of junks, docks, a wharf, maybe a hut … and a bigass ship in the middle.

Alternately … that overhang could be a start of some sub pens. Partly glassed sub pens.

You know, I think what I really want is some massive fuckoff doors that slowly open from the side or from above. I mean MASSIVE, like 20x10. Or bigger. :D Would need some bigger workbenches first, of course … could be a great goal for the eventual horde survival mode. :)

Becoming · 2010-09-30T10:30:32.000Z

I think everyone would love to have some real “castle bits” like a working portcullis and drawbridge.

I know I would.

Pogo · 2010-09-30T10:32:45.000Z

Well, that’s when you start talking about wanting to move whole blocks.

And when you start talking about that, you start talking about major engine re-writes that will probably never ever happen.

SpoofyChop · 2010-09-30T10:33:30.000Z

I think something that would be really cool would be hydraulic blocks that can shrink or grow depending on whether water is fed to them.

That way you could have massive movable doors that would be powered by the hidden hydraulic blocks.

Teiman · 2010-09-30T10:50:20.000Z

Minecraft is basically a celular automata, and theres a lot of things that can be made with that. Even, or specially, lifeforms. Water is halfway there…

Marcin · 2010-09-30T10:53:21.000Z

Pogo:

Well, that’s when you start talking about wanting to move whole blocks.

And when you start talking about that, you start talking about major engine re-writes that will probably never ever happen.

I don’t know, doors are already composed of 2 movable blocks, each affecting theo ther. You can clearly see that if your multiplayer is glitchy - sometimes the top half of a door lags behind the bottom, or vice versa.

Pogo · 2010-09-30T11:02:34.000Z

“Movable” is a strange term to use there. The blocks don’t move, they stay put. All that happens is that an animation is triggered, the door graphic moves from the front two faces of two insivible blocks to the side faces of those blocks. The blocks are then given the property of “not solid,” and you can walk through them. There is no moving.

Trap doors would be great, and I think should be one of the things he soon considers making, as it will make trap layouts much more compelling right now (instead of using a whole iron door as the trap door to a masterful lava trap).

mok · 2010-09-30T11:06:02.000Z

Does anyone have any good lego like castle plans online? I have found some, but still looking for one that would be cool to build and would fit in with this game.

Pogo · 2010-09-30T11:12:34.000Z

Plans? No plans. Just build!

DoomMunky · 2010-09-30T11:22:37.000Z

Google “mountain castle”. It’s rad.

Teiman · 2010-09-30T11:40:03.000Z

We, the spanish, did some fun Fortress back in 1500+, in asia and america.

It can be a challenge to make one of these, but it give bonus points to fight pirates.

Most of these fortress where made next to the sea, to protect ports…