Typing Fingers

DF part 3: Preparation

2008-09-06T15:07:00.001-07:00

Ugh. I'll fix this momentarily.

Choose 'Start Playing'.

Then 'Dwarf Fortress'.

Then freak out at the mishmash of ASCII characters.

Now calm down. Just keep an eye on the stuff on the right third of the screen... we're looking for a starting location with the following properties:

Temperature: Not freezing or scorching
Trees: Preferrrably woodland or greater
Other Vegetation: Sparse or greater
Surroundings: Not haunted

We also want at least one green-colored layer, and no rows of blue ~~~~'s. A river or brook is also nice.

I find a likely site after a few minutes of searching. Press E to embark.

And I always choose to prepare for the journey carefully.

More options! I set ability points like so:

10 miner (for all your digging needs)
10 wood cutter (for all your wood cutting needs)
6 carpenter/6 mason
6 carpenter/6 mason (for making all the junk you need)
6 grower/6 herbalist
6 grower/6 herbalist (for planting all the food you need)
7 stone crafter (for making a bunch of touristy crap to sell to people)

Then press TAB to bring up the second part...

Even more stuff!

1 copper pick (If you've only got one miner, you don't need more than one)
1 steel battle axe (Ditto for wood cutter)
1 iron anvil (Many strategies have you not take an anvil along, and instead buy one from a trading caravan when it comes around. Since it's worth 1000 loadout points, you could instead take along a full year's supply of food instead. I just take it because I end up needing to burn points anyway.)
70 plump helmet spawn
5 sweet pod seeds
41 pig tail seeds
5 rock nuts
5 dimple cut spawn
5 cave wheat seeds (Lots of pig tail and plump helmet seeds, since that's what I'm gonna be planing, and five of everything else because, while I might not plant them, it's nice to have them in case I do want to.)
31 of each of the four starting alchohols (As I mentioned in Game du Jour, sober dwarves work at half speed, and need access to water. Both problems are solved by always having extra beer on hand.)
77 turtle (Food. Also, eating turtle produces shells and bones, which can be used for several things.)
4 dogs (Dogs are useful for companionship, protection until you get your military up, and an emergency food source.)
2 cats (Cats hunt down vermin and such. Also emergency food.)

And that's that. Next: Strike the Earth!

DF part 2: World Generation

2008-09-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

After loading up the game, you're presented with three options:

Create a new world. The second option is for advanced users, and the third option is for really advanced users.

This is good advice.

World generation is like ten times faster than it was a few months ago.

Well, that's about it. Next: Preparation

DF part 1: Setting up

2008-09-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

Dwarf Fortress isn't necessarily hard, it just has a learning curve that's more akin to a cliff than a slope. It doesn't help that 70% of that cliff is simply trying to figure out how the game works, either. So to try and smooth things out a bit, here's a documented playthrough of (how I play) the game.

This post is just listing the init.txt settings, and can probably be skipped by most people.

Disclaimer: This is using version 40c. Your play experience may change depending on your version.

Step one: Download the game.
Step two: Extract the game from the zip file.
Step three: Open the game folder, then data then init, then open init.txt.

The game's just fine straight out of the box, but there's a few options I like to change. Thankfully, the init file is well-documented.

My changes:

[SOUND:OFF]
[INTRO:OFF] After playing the game a few dozen times, I just prefer to load up a music player instead and skip the intro.
[WINDOWEDX:800]
[WINDOWEDY:600]
[FONT:curses_800x600.bmp] I like the 800x600 tileset better than the 600x300 one. It's just personal preference.
[AUTOSAVE:SEASONAL] Dwarf Fortress, after all this time, is still in alpha stage (which means there's no guarantee that there aren't any game-crashing bugs). I don't know why this isn't set to at least YEARLY as default.
[PAUSE_ON_LOAD:YES] The game starts paused when you load it up. Useful if you're easily distracted.
[VARIED_GROUND_TILES:NO] This is the one setting I'm changing just for this playthrough. I normally like the mix of punctuation marks that represent the terrain, but it might make for confusing screenshots.
[ENGRAVINGS_START_OBSCURED:YES] See above, but I usually change this one anyway.
[SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS:YES] Lets you see how much water remains in a pool at a glance, instead of having to inspect it manually.

And that's it. Feel free to mess around with the init for your own games, this is just how I set things up.

Next: World Creation

Why I like direct download so much

2008-08-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

Games are so damn easy to lose, and they keep getting smaller. And for PC games, you need to find both the cd AND the serial code(s). I swear, I've bought the Dialbo 2 battlechest like two or three times now because I keep losing either one of the four discs or one of the two serial codes.

Oh, and when I said monday? I meant next monday.

Hiatus

2008-08-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

Game Du Jour will be going on a brief hiatus. Next update will be on monday, most likely.

Game Du Jour: NPC Quest

2008-08-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hamumu Games (Dr. Lunatic, Loonyland 1 and 2) is one of my favorite indie developers, and the owner/head programmer also is active in the indie community, and is a judge for some award I forget the name of. A while back, he took part in a 24-hour programming contest, and later took his entry, polished it up, and released it for free.
Premise: Outfit your adventurer with gear, assign points to his stats, and choose where to adventure!

Hook: That's it. You have no more control over your guy than that, you just have to sit and watch him fight enemies.

Gameplay: Er, I've run out of things to put here.

The game isn't the most riveting thing ever, but it's good for an hour or two when you're not in the mood for anything terribly cerebral.

Huh

2008-08-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Could have sworn I'd turned on 'anyone can comment, registration not required'. Well, it's turned on now. Comment away!

Game Du Jour: Shift 1, 2, and 3

2008-08-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

Portal? Not quite. Just a trio of flash puzzlers that seem kinda portal-esque.

Premise: You're taking part in a dangerous experiment, possibly against your will.

Hook: You can Shift through the floor, turning the world upside down and making the ceiling the roof etc.

Gameplay: The second game mixes things up with gravity-changing arrows, but things start to stale in the third game and you'll likely just be playing it to get the end of the story.

Go and play it.

Edit: I didn't post this at 3 AM like it says. The blog settings are being screwy.

Game Du Jour: Trackmania Nations Forever

2008-08-19T03:50:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big fan of racing games, I'll admit. I can count on both hands the racing games I've bought (and on one hand the ones I've enjoyed). But Trackmania, I like Trackmania. Tight controls, fast cars, excellent physics, and none of that goddamned rubberbanding A.I. that I hate so much. If I can prove I'm faster than the computer, then let me finish the race in peace. Don't give it speed boosts and cheats to keep things "interesting". When I want interesting, I'll increase the difficulty myself, thankyouverymuch.

So, anyway, Trackmania Nations Forever. Completely free standalone expansion for Trackmania United Forever. You don't need to have United, but if you do, your custom paint jobs and stuff carry over into Nations.

Premise: Fast cars, insane stunt jumps, enjoyable gameplay, lots of content for a free game.

Hook: Level editor, lots of user-made content, full integration with United Forever if you get it later.

Gameplay: There's this one jump that's like so tight that you can hear the car's undercarriage scrape against the edge of the platform as you land. It's awesome. The best racing game I've ever played (bar Trackmania United Forever). Go and get it.

Game Du Jour: Dwarf Fortress

2008-08-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today, we'll take a look at the instant cult classic, Dwarf Fortress.

Premise: Seven dwarves (Snow white not included, har har) set out to establish a new place to live, seek fortune through mineral wealth and/or craftsdwarfship, and ultimately establish a Dwarf Fortress.

Hook: Starvation, thirst, drowning, goblin invasions, elven ambushes, human retribution, elephants, carp, child-snatchers, thieves, lava, cave-ins, fire, colossi, dragons, insanity, and nobles, to name a few.

Gameplay: Dwarf Fortress is like a mix of Spore, Nethack, Dungeon Keeper, and the Sims.

Spore: Right when you start playing, the game procedurally generates an entire world, running rivers and lakes, eroding cliffs, scattering mineral wealth... It's interesting to watch. The world also stays persistent from one game to another, so if you defeat a colossus in one fortress, expect to see references to it in your next ones.

Nethack: This is where most people get turned off on the game. Dwarf Fortress shares a steep learning curve (more like a sheer cliff than a curve) with Nethack, and also its graphical simplicity. Your dwarves are bearded smiley faces, but everything else, from the ground to your pet dogs, are colored ASCII characters. So until you learn the code ("All I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead...") it'll look like a mess of stuff.

The interface isn't that optimized either, unfortunately, so you'll be using the thankfully easy-to-bring-up cheat-sheet for a while.

Dungeon Keeper: You don't control your dwarves directly. Instead, you set what they can and can't do (on an individual basis), and designate where to mine and where to build. If they're not doing something else, they'll get right on it. Unfortunately, they often are doing something else, so you'll want to set up tasks in advance of when you need them done. If you're planning on building a new wing of bedrooms, it's wise to order new beds, doors etc at the same time you start digging.

The Sims: Your dwarves are creatures of flesh (unlike Dungeon Keeper's imps, which are made of magic and can work non-stop) and they have their own needs, wants, and happiness. They need food, and if there's none available, they'll drop whatever they're doing (including, say, making more food) to hunt for small vermin to eat. They want a constant supply of alcohol, and if they're forced to drink *shudder* water instead, they'll drag their heels in their tasks as the massive hangover they've been holding at bay sets in. (Literally, they move and work at half speed if they're sober.) And there's a long list of things that can chip away at their happiness, including smelling rotting food, being outside in the rain, or having pets/family members die (and taking a further hit if they don't get a proper burial).

Should a dwarf remain too unhappy for long enough, he will throw a tantrum and start brawling and wrecking stuff. And since dwarves don't like being punched, they might in turn start a tantrum, and set off a chain reaction that decimates your entire fortress. Good stuff.

Really, I could go on and on about this game. Go and get it already.

Game Du Jour: Immortal Defense

2008-08-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of free games on the internet, enough to keep one occupied for a lifetime without spending a cent. Unfortunately, occupied and entertained are not the same thing, and sometimes you have to sift through some boring stuff to get to the good stuff. I'm gonna try to help you with that, with a daily installment I call Game Du Jour.

Basically, I'll be talking about a different free game (or decent-length demo) each day. The criteria are that it can't have a time limit on how much you can play, I have to find it entertaining, and it has to be free (or the free portion has to meet the previous criteria).

Today's game is the Immortal Defense demo, an indie tower-defense game. The 'demo' is a full third of the game, and has at least two hours worth of entertainment in it.

Premise: The evil alien Bakavh are launching an invasion on your home planet, using phasewarp technology to travel great distances in short amounts of time, ala hyperspace/warp drive/etc. To stop them, your people send you up into pathspace, where you can attack ships in phasewarp.

Hook: The procedure also makes you immortal. And based on the other two pathspace defenders you meet, perhaps slightly... off. Even in the demo, it's pretty clear that Aa has let the hero worship go to his head.

Gameplay: Like any other tower defense game, you place towers (points of will) on the field, and upgrade them as necessary. These towers shoot at and defeat enemies, which earns you points that you can use to build/upgrade more towers so they can defeat harder enemies. It's like a cross between an arms race and an RPG.

(If you're really that unfamiliar with what tower defense is, can I suggest Desktop Tower Defense? Or if you own Warcraft 3, just fire battlenet up and go into custom games, and try something that has 'defense' or 'TD' in the title.)

Immortal Defense takes the traditional archetypes like 'slow' and 'splash' towers, and subjects them to space radiation, changing them into twelve completely unique towers. Your splash towers, for example, are cheap, fast, and powerful, but can only fire at 90-degree angles. The 'Turning Point' towers, which reduce maximum enemy hitpoints and move around on their own, have no counterpart in other TD games.

Really, go check out the demo. You'll be glad you did.

Welcome!

2008-08-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Typing Fingers, my little space to write about games and stuff. Don't expect anything too grand, alright? I'm just one guy.