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Dwarf Fortress Talk

Dwarf Fortress Talk is the official podcast of Dwarf Fortress, hosted by Toady One, Capntastic, and Rainseeker.

The podcast usually has a topic. This was in the past decided upon by forum polls, but later podcasts had current developments as their topics. Most talks feature questions from listeners, as well as outtakes (such as mistakes that did not belong into the edited versions). The isn't on a regularly schedule due to time constraints of the hosts, though ocassionally, only two of the hosts will be part of a cast.

Dwarf Fortress Talk 1 - Forum Questions

Posted Aug 6 2009; [Transcript|http://www.bay12games.com/media/b12_call_1_transcript.html Transcript]

The first Dwarf Fortress Talk mostly uses forum questions to start discussions on various development plans.

Dwarf Fortress Talk 1
How is dialogue going to work; will it pass the Turing Test?
Dialogue should improve in steps from the current model of canned questions and answers. Sentence construction from pieces, tone, and conversation between more than just two people should happen, and time should pass in conversations. Passing the Turing Test is not a consideration.
Will the 2D nobles make a comeback?
Having different groups in dwarven society is an important goal, as the fortress can be too calm until individual problems occur. The different pulls and needs of the groups represented by these nobles are an important factor in this, especially if a dwarf belongs to two conflicting groups. Family relations also figure into these dynamics.
However, these nobles won't be hardcoded. There is a start to procedurally generate entity positions with goblin society, which should eventually lead to nobles and groups like this.
Tracking just what happens due to these groups and relations is also important. You might get reports on guild meetings in a similar fashion to combat reports, using new conversation engines as discussed previously.
Can souls be applied to inanimate objects and/or as part of artifacts?
Not in the upcoming release (0.31.01 at the time) - souls exist for creatures in that release, though they can hold multiple souls in theory. But the soul separation should eventually lead to things like being in an object or being a ghost.
Do you have plans to leave constructed walls unengravable?
Toady One isn't against it, but it is a bit of a roadblock to have something be both an engraving and a construction, but not a big one. It also raises the question on what an engraved construction means - is it pre-carved, or is it carved after construction?
One of the arcs is focused on artifacts. What are some examples of quirks that you've thought to apply to them,...
There used to be basic artifact powers, but there haven't been detailed plans. Magic should feel magical, and artifacts shouldn't be some kind of +3 fire sword, however.
... and will artifacts be able to be created in more ways than a dwarf commandeering a workshop?
The first step is that dwarves can become attached to weapons and armor now, eventually giving them names - such as after killing a major foe. Artifact creation should also happen in world gen, and for non-dwarves.
After jumping is implemented how will the dwarves in fortress mode decide when to jump?
Jumping holds some issues in regards to pathfinding, and dwarves probably should only jump if in danger.
How will player created mod packs and graphical sets be affected by the upcoming major update?
"Pretty much everything will be broken ... but it'll be pretty easy to fix too". Supporting old mods is nearly impossible with major releases.
How large do you think the community is; what kind of feedback tells you about how widespread your work is and where do you think you're getting the most press these days?
How exactly long, wide and tall is a tile in Dwarf Fortress? Are they cubes?
"[B]ig enough to hold a thousand dragons as long as nine hundred and ninety nine of them are lying down" and "not so big that a dwarf doesn't have to crawl under another dwarf to get through a corridor".
It is a serious question whose answer has many repercussions - much may have to be changed to make sense, and it invites things like multi-tile creatures, which in turn would cascade to heavy pathfinding changes.
Are we going to have dwarven drunkenness?
It's clearly important that it comes in, but the question is how it works in game, as dwarves already drink a lot. For humans, it should work realistically. For elves, it is undecided.
For every new mechanic, there is the question on how the five stock races should interact with it, and now the underground animal people are getting civilizations as well, raising similar questions, such as their ethics. Civilizations are technically mutable right now, and could differ in certain aspects from others of the same type, but that isn't implemented right now.
Why ... didn't [orcs] make it into the game?
The terms orc and goblin are basically interchangeable to Toady One, and though the game is inspired by Tolkien, it shouldn't adhere too closely to the Tolkien universe, and will move away from it anyway.
Could my civilization made entirely of fuzz whose only organ is a pair of eyes function?
Their lack of hands would cause trouble. It isn't necessary for a creature to have blood or other things however - if it isn't defined for a creature, the game doesn't assume that the creature needs it after all.
What sort of books do[es Toady One] read?
Toady One reads less books than he would like. Several of those that he had read at the time are related to the design of the game in some fashion.
When starting a game what is your software architecture approach?
Is magnetite armour going to be picking up stuff?
Magnetism is a strange effect to code due to it being continuous, and is a bit of a magic-like effect, so if it happens, it may have to wait for magic to come in. Silverware shouldn't stick to it, though, even if inns and the like seem like they should come into the game.
Is there going to be an arena room at any point?
Arenas themselves are an important fantasy staple and should come in at some point, but it isn't clear how much dwarves themselves would appreciate blood sports, similar to the dwarven ethics on poison ought to make dwarves uncomfortable.
Long distance goal of Dwarf Fortress
Toady One and ThreeToe want a game that, when you start it and make a world, is in some way new, a story into which you can insert yourself. You could be an adventurer or a dwarven outpost. Ideally, you could play anything - it is planned even before version 1 that you could play the whole dwarven civilization when you achieve that level through play, and elven settlements and megabeasts should be possible as well.
Is magic in [...] Dwarf Fortress ... what are you planning on doing with it?
Magic should feel magical - if magic becomes too industrial, it may destroy the feel of fantasy, and adventurer spellcasters shouldn't just level up to get fireballs. But different people have different views of how magic should be handled, and modding may support the different views. Stock dwarves might be limited to magic artifacts, whose powers they might not even realize at first. Demons and other enemies may have malevolent magical powers.
Do you have any plans to make the dwarves have the ability to [prospect]?
The real problem here might be that mineral distribution is sub-par, so a better distribution might make this less important. Others may want to know where features are to avoid those breaking their fortress layouts. Mostly, it's a question of finging an implementation that keeps the feel of the game.