I see you've made quite a bit of progress since I last checked in. This might be the thing to bring me back to Minecraft at some point. I'm curious though, from the looks of it the platforms are the only thing that works when connected to the pulley system. Are there any plans to expand this?
I can imagine a lot of additional flexibility if even just the blocks placed directly on top could move as well. I was thinking of how to create a mine cart elevator to make up for the weakness of powered rails and thought it would be really great if rails or blocks in general that are placed directly on the platform will move with it (just the layer above the platforms). That way I could make a 3x3 elevator with 3 block long powered rails and arrange the top of the elevator shaft to have a button and block so that once the elevator arrives I could continue on my way. Or even automate the process with a detector block.
Well said and exactly my point on the side, people keep buying these bad games and it keeps on a slippery slope of quality degredation. I miss the days of the NES, SNES, n64 and playstation when I could go to toys r us with saved up allowance and buy a name brand game and know it will be quality.
Like I said in a previous post there are some cases where piracy (i.e. bad games or games that got a bad review) are justified. But kids that outright pirate every game left and right and get mad (best example probably here is bowser) when people question are a cancer on the industry and need to get a mcjob.
Overall I think the trend of people continuing to buy bad games is limited to a small minority of gamers. Most gamers who really have a wide range of gaming interests will buy a lot of different titles and aren't usually in it for repeated sequels like Call of Duty and the like. I think Assassin's Creed is the only series that I've really taken a liking to and that is largely due to the very high standards Ubisoft has set for the series. Outside of this, my last few years worth of purchases are unique titles.
The thing is those kids pirating games do so because that's their only option. How many kids have a big enough income to actually go out and buy a game every month? If they didn't pirate the games then they simply wouldn't be playing any games. The companies aren't losing out due to this kind of piracy. I honestly don't know of a lot of piracy going on among the older generation of gamers that work regular jobs, for them owning a hard copy in a case is still preferred.
step 1: millions of people pirate game
step 2: company loses money (dont bring up the original copy was bought argument)
step 3: company goes back to what sold the most
step 4: company keeps cranking out same said title over and over
step 5: consumers keep buying the same crap (yesI know this is their fault)
step 6: quality of gaming overall deteriorates
These steps are not at all related...
One thing to consider is who pirates what. Is a good game more likely to be pirated than a bad game? Vice Versa? I'd be more inclined to believe that more people pirate lower quality games because they want to play it but don't consider it worth the money; whereas, people are more willing to buy a good game because it is worth it.
Companies only lose money to pirating if the pirate would choose to buy the product if they couldn't pirate it. That is most certainly not every pirate. I would bet most would simply give up on the idea or buy another game they want more.
The game that sells the most is likely to be the best of the games regardless of pirating. I don't see bad games selling better than good ones because of pirating.
Companies producing sequels probably has more to do with the reduced amount of effort required. It takes far less work (read: money) to produce a sequel than it does to come up with an entirely new story, characters, interface, gameplay, and so forth. Even if it sells half as many copies as the original it could end up earning the company more money simply because it was cheap to make. If the game is good it can be great for fans (Assassin Creed series) even if it is mostly just more of the same. Entertainment is entertainment even if it isn't completely original.
If consumers keep buying bad games then companies will keep making them. This is exactly why Call of Duty is still around. This however doesn't mean that there aren't still good games being made regularly. It may take a more experienced eye to find them. Gems like Lost Odyssey are still out there you just need to find them hidden in the massive listings of releases. Really just getting a subscription to a good gaming magazine can solve that problem.
I think the fact that so many games are being releases just disguises the overall quality of gaming. There are a lot more titles in general and a lot of smaller start up companies trying to get in on the action. The big successes just don't stand out as well in the volumes of mediocrity that happen to take a share of the spotlight.
But exactly why should a non-free game NOT come with a demo? Is it because the developers/publishers are so ashamed of their product that they refuse to let us have a demo or even a 1 hour trial?
Or maybe they had to push the game out faster than they planned and didn't have time to make a demo? ...
People saying it is short aren't taking into account that it is a $10 game. It is easily long enough by a large margin to to be worth the price tag and it isn't like the developer's have stopped making content.
Even if you just play through once and take a good look around it call it done once you've collected the molten gear, you'll get a good 20 hours of play time and should be quite satisfied with the journey there.
I never played the game... thats why i ask. Some times games copies others but bring new things to the experiense. I sow some vids talking about it so i wonderd what the guys in the forum would thing...
If you are really looking to learn more the best way is to either check out the main site at fortresscraft.com or just get the demo and try it out. Most anyone really interested in the game discusses ideas on the fan forum. The developer forum is more for high level development discussion though some like to discuss ideas there as it is easier to get Arcas' attention there.
If you want to see where the game is going you can check out the creator's youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectorGames
This video is particularly relevant to the central plans for the next installment of the game:
Like Minecraft, FortressCraft isn't finished so to really find out how the game is different you have to dig through all of the dev plans which are sort of outlined on the main site and scattered about various videos and posts about future plans such as the video above.
I hate fortresscraft because of how horrible the movement is and how bad the engine is, not because it's a minecraft clone. I hope craftworld isn't this bad when it comes out.
Let's start by saying this post is a pretty serious fail... There is clearly a facts and opinions list provided and yet the facts and opinions aren't even accurately separated...
Let me fix that:
Facts
Minecraft took the BASIC IDEA from infiniminer: build and destroy blocks.
FortressCraft took the BASIC IDEA from infiniminer/Minecraft: build and destroy blocks.
Fortresscraft added new features to make it different: relics, and rayguns (pvp).
Fortresscraft incorporated community ideas: trampolines
Fortresscraft incorporated a limit on one of the most powerful (and dangerous) blocks (find a detonator, detonate TNT, mission accomplished.)
FortressCraft's later chapters will further differentiate the game with new and unique content: Minions, Machinery, Fortress vs. Fortress PvP
The rest are clearly opinions or a lack of understanding of the game material, likely due to having never played the game or having spent any time investigating.
Now my world will be hardly efficient. I will have just enough gold to maintain my existing railroads.
This is my main concern. Unless the change to boosters actually makes them give significant momentum (notch doesn't seem to understand the difference between speed and momentum so it may be what he means) I will have to take basically every bar of gold I have ever mined on my server to update my network or use the retarded looking looping boost which would make myself and my friends sick...
Honestly, if he disappoints with the booster change (and given his history these past couple of patches...) I may consider just spawning a few stacks of the rails and being done with it. As it is, I may have to tear up a good half of my station just to make it work. That doesn't even account for the fact that my hopper may not work anymore (hopefully carts will still push enough to make it work). Either way, I know I won't be spending hours in the mines just to find the unreasonable amount of gold necessary just to get my current network running let alone the time it would take to install the long distance lines planned.
as for FC... yea... we'll see what will happen in the next few days... so far it's just minecraft classic with relics and better graphics... if that doesn't change till chapter 3ish i doubt i'll be interested in the game... :smile.gif:
If it doesn't change until chapter 3 there will be plenty of upset fans; however, with some talk of minions making a possible sneak appearance in chapter 1 and the modeling in place for pipes, mine cart tracks, and mine cart signaling I think there will be a lot coming sooner than originally planned.
I also lost a lot of time yesterday to Terraria LPs :smile.gif:
that's the thing tho, isn't it... too much planing :smile.gif:
i love building a mega-fortress as much as the other dude... but while in minecraft usually it's just "let's place a tower here... then i'll make a wall... now i'm out of stone so i'll mine a bit... now another tower would be nice... well since i have 2 towers and a wall i might as well build some steps here" and so the castle slowly forms by itself...
DF you can't really just "take it as it comes"... and i guess that's really the main problem for me now that i think of it...
like i said before... DF is a nice game... it's just not something for me tho... cause even tho i love planing and organizing and stuff... the feeling is just off in DF for me...
Have you considered lowering the population cap? One way to slow things down is to simply have fewer workers. A lot of people do it to save framerate but it also cuts down drastically on the amount of stuff to micromanage. You need far fewer bedrooms, less food and beer, less general space, and so forth. Then you can focus just on what you are interested in doing and let the few dwarves get around to it as they find time.
the funny thing is... i'm trying to think of ways to improve it atm... and improving the graphics is actually the only thing coming to mind... and that means UI too ofc... but due to how the game is coded i don't think that's possible :smile.gif:
i think if the UI was more point'n'clicky and gave you a better feedback (like dwarf therapist for example) the game would be a LOT more fun and a lot more people would actually play it :smile.gif:
that's why i kinda wonder what fortresscraft is planing... :smile.gif:
The UI is a mess and toady is working on it. He has his way of doing things and sometime I'm sure he'll get to it. He's already started moving to allow for more mouse support as the military interface shows. He seems to prefer the gritty details about the game itself more than the interface so as players we just have to accept what we get sadly. I do like the fact that he is well organized and takes one project at a time and when he does get around to it we can expect devotion to it until the job is done.
I think the interface and minion actions could make or break FortressCraft in the same way that decides whether some pick up DF or not. The one big thing in our favor is that Arcas really listens to the community so if the interface is garbage and we can offer good suggestions to make it work then we'll all benefit in the end. Seeing as we may get an introduction to minions in Chapter 1 we might get a feel for his plans before he goes all out with the design for chapters 2 and 3. There's a lot to look forward to that's for sure.
DF didn't do that... in df it was "ok... so i build a tunnel... right... then... where are the bloody steps so i can go down a level *check LP* aha... ok... now i guess a workshop... oh great... i don't have a dwarf that can do that... i have to make a new game now or wait... *uninstall*"
waiting should never be an option in ANY game... when a player thinks he's doing nothing it's a sign bad game design... a player always needs to have his "head in the game"... and when you're thinking about the game outside of playing it, even better... but when i'm playing it and i have a movie running in the background, that's not good...
I honestly don't remember doing a lot of waiting in DF except maybe in the early years. The high framerate early on tends to get the game past that quickly though before the first migrants arrive and the fortress starts thriving. There was always a massive list of things to do. If anything it was the other way around for me, I had to pause regularly just to keep up with everything that needed done without leaving half the dwarves idle.
As a note: Any dwarf can do any job, just not as well or quickly as a trained one.
I suppose it helped that I planned massive constructions making full use of the army of workers under my command. Building things like the 120 story tall pump stack and corresponding 15 waterwheel power station to run the thing took a lot of designation and crafting and pushed my workers to their limits. Even 150 dwarves at times didn't seem like enough. Keeping up with that while making sure there was still beer to drink meant I kept quite busy even as the game struggled to path 30 dwarves down the pump stack shaft to place floors and walls.
0
I can imagine a lot of additional flexibility if even just the blocks placed directly on top could move as well. I was thinking of how to create a mine cart elevator to make up for the weakness of powered rails and thought it would be really great if rails or blocks in general that are placed directly on the platform will move with it (just the layer above the platforms). That way I could make a 3x3 elevator with 3 block long powered rails and arrange the top of the elevator shaft to have a button and block so that once the elevator arrives I could continue on my way. Or even automate the process with a detector block.
0
Overall I think the trend of people continuing to buy bad games is limited to a small minority of gamers. Most gamers who really have a wide range of gaming interests will buy a lot of different titles and aren't usually in it for repeated sequels like Call of Duty and the like. I think Assassin's Creed is the only series that I've really taken a liking to and that is largely due to the very high standards Ubisoft has set for the series. Outside of this, my last few years worth of purchases are unique titles.
The thing is those kids pirating games do so because that's their only option. How many kids have a big enough income to actually go out and buy a game every month? If they didn't pirate the games then they simply wouldn't be playing any games. The companies aren't losing out due to this kind of piracy. I honestly don't know of a lot of piracy going on among the older generation of gamers that work regular jobs, for them owning a hard copy in a case is still preferred.
1
These steps are not at all related...
One thing to consider is who pirates what. Is a good game more likely to be pirated than a bad game? Vice Versa? I'd be more inclined to believe that more people pirate lower quality games because they want to play it but don't consider it worth the money; whereas, people are more willing to buy a good game because it is worth it.
Companies only lose money to pirating if the pirate would choose to buy the product if they couldn't pirate it. That is most certainly not every pirate. I would bet most would simply give up on the idea or buy another game they want more.
The game that sells the most is likely to be the best of the games regardless of pirating. I don't see bad games selling better than good ones because of pirating.
Companies producing sequels probably has more to do with the reduced amount of effort required. It takes far less work (read: money) to produce a sequel than it does to come up with an entirely new story, characters, interface, gameplay, and so forth. Even if it sells half as many copies as the original it could end up earning the company more money simply because it was cheap to make. If the game is good it can be great for fans (Assassin Creed series) even if it is mostly just more of the same. Entertainment is entertainment even if it isn't completely original.
If consumers keep buying bad games then companies will keep making them. This is exactly why Call of Duty is still around. This however doesn't mean that there aren't still good games being made regularly. It may take a more experienced eye to find them. Gems like Lost Odyssey are still out there you just need to find them hidden in the massive listings of releases. Really just getting a subscription to a good gaming magazine can solve that problem.
I think the fact that so many games are being releases just disguises the overall quality of gaming. There are a lot more titles in general and a lot of smaller start up companies trying to get in on the action. The big successes just don't stand out as well in the volumes of mediocrity that happen to take a share of the spotlight.
0
Or maybe they had to push the game out faster than they planned and didn't have time to make a demo? ...
0
Even if you just play through once and take a good look around it call it done once you've collected the molten gear, you'll get a good 20 hours of play time and should be quite satisfied with the journey there.
0
If you are really looking to learn more the best way is to either check out the main site at fortresscraft.com or just get the demo and try it out. Most anyone really interested in the game discusses ideas on the fan forum. The developer forum is more for high level development discussion though some like to discuss ideas there as it is easier to get Arcas' attention there.
If you want to see where the game is going you can check out the creator's youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectorGames
This video is particularly relevant to the central plans for the next installment of the game:
Like Minecraft, FortressCraft isn't finished so to really find out how the game is different you have to dig through all of the dev plans which are sort of outlined on the main site and scattered about various videos and posts about future plans such as the video above.
0
There are actually about 48 blocks last time I counted.
And anyone who calls it a rip-off clearly doesn't have enough gaming experience to really make an informed decision.
0
What's wrong with the engine?
0
Let's start by saying this post is a pretty serious fail... There is clearly a facts and opinions list provided and yet the facts and opinions aren't even accurately separated...
Let me fix that:
FortressCraft took the BASIC IDEA from infiniminer/Minecraft: build and destroy blocks.
Fortresscraft added new features to make it different: relics, and rayguns (pvp).
Fortresscraft incorporated community ideas: trampolines
Fortresscraft incorporated a limit on one of the most powerful (and dangerous) blocks (find a detonator, detonate TNT, mission accomplished.)
FortressCraft's later chapters will further differentiate the game with new and unique content: Minions, Machinery, Fortress vs. Fortress PvP
The rest are clearly opinions or a lack of understanding of the game material, likely due to having never played the game or having spent any time investigating.
0
Funny how he says that while quoting an obviously unique feature of the game that clearly differentiates the entire game's focus...
I believe we call that sir a FAIL.
0
0
This is my main concern. Unless the change to boosters actually makes them give significant momentum (notch doesn't seem to understand the difference between speed and momentum so it may be what he means) I will have to take basically every bar of gold I have ever mined on my server to update my network or use the retarded looking looping boost which would make myself and my friends sick...
Honestly, if he disappoints with the booster change (and given his history these past couple of patches...) I may consider just spawning a few stacks of the rails and being done with it. As it is, I may have to tear up a good half of my station just to make it work. That doesn't even account for the fact that my hopper may not work anymore (hopefully carts will still push enough to make it work). Either way, I know I won't be spending hours in the mines just to find the unreasonable amount of gold necessary just to get my current network running let alone the time it would take to install the long distance lines planned.
0
If it doesn't change until chapter 3 there will be plenty of upset fans; however, with some talk of minions making a possible sneak appearance in chapter 1 and the modeling in place for pipes, mine cart tracks, and mine cart signaling I think there will be a lot coming sooner than originally planned.
I also lost a lot of time yesterday to Terraria LPs :smile.gif:
0
Have you considered lowering the population cap? One way to slow things down is to simply have fewer workers. A lot of people do it to save framerate but it also cuts down drastically on the amount of stuff to micromanage. You need far fewer bedrooms, less food and beer, less general space, and so forth. Then you can focus just on what you are interested in doing and let the few dwarves get around to it as they find time.
The UI is a mess and toady is working on it. He has his way of doing things and sometime I'm sure he'll get to it. He's already started moving to allow for more mouse support as the military interface shows. He seems to prefer the gritty details about the game itself more than the interface so as players we just have to accept what we get sadly. I do like the fact that he is well organized and takes one project at a time and when he does get around to it we can expect devotion to it until the job is done.
I think the interface and minion actions could make or break FortressCraft in the same way that decides whether some pick up DF or not. The one big thing in our favor is that Arcas really listens to the community so if the interface is garbage and we can offer good suggestions to make it work then we'll all benefit in the end. Seeing as we may get an introduction to minions in Chapter 1 we might get a feel for his plans before he goes all out with the design for chapters 2 and 3. There's a lot to look forward to that's for sure.
0
I honestly don't remember doing a lot of waiting in DF except maybe in the early years. The high framerate early on tends to get the game past that quickly though before the first migrants arrive and the fortress starts thriving. There was always a massive list of things to do. If anything it was the other way around for me, I had to pause regularly just to keep up with everything that needed done without leaving half the dwarves idle.
As a note: Any dwarf can do any job, just not as well or quickly as a trained one.
I suppose it helped that I planned massive constructions making full use of the army of workers under my command. Building things like the 120 story tall pump stack and corresponding 15 waterwheel power station to run the thing took a lot of designation and crafting and pushed my workers to their limits. Even 150 dwarves at times didn't seem like enough. Keeping up with that while making sure there was still beer to drink meant I kept quite busy even as the game struggled to path 30 dwarves down the pump stack shaft to place floors and walls.