DigitalGhost

[Digitalghost]

• Name: Jason "Digitalghost" Gauci
• From: Mountain View, CA
• Skills / Tools: Complex Adaptive Systems, Large scale machine learning & AI. I've spent the past 10-or-so years at various AI research labs. Currently @ Google Research.
• Found via: Was looking for an open source minecraft engine to make a game inspired by dwarf fortress but with minecraft graphics

I love the visuals of minecraft but I don't like playing the game (crafting by memorizing/googling the arrangement of the resources on the grid, breaking/placing blocks one at a time in an FPS perspective, killing zombies feels like a gimped version of Doom 1).

I love the gameplay of dwarf fortress (laying blueprints, watching little ant-like dwarves scurry around doing chores, setting high-level orders like "make 10 bows", keeping dwarves happy) but I don't like the visuals.

I would like to work with you guys to bring the best of these worlds together, with an emphasis on the game design. I think that there are a number of interesting game design issues to tackle:

• It is possible to get "game over" (like a tower defense) or does the game go on even if your town is wrecked (like in Sim City)?
• How do you get more/less minions? In dungeon keeper, you get a distribution of minions based on the tiles you have explored/built and the total number of minions is based on the number of portals you claim. In Dwarf Fortress, you get more immigrants based on the net worth of your fortress (every item has an intrinsic value). In Starcraft, you buy minions with resources that you mine.
• At what level do you manage? I like how in dwarf fortress you begin by micromanaging each workshop & dwarf, but as the game unfolds you get the manager screen where you can make more general orders "e.g. build 10 beds". This is similar to how in Civilization IV you begin by micromanaging a few cities, but onces the civilization grows you turn on Governor Mode on most cities and only micromanage the few that matter.
• Should minions be created with one job (Dungeon Keeper) or let you assign jobs (Dwarf Fortress) or should anyone be able to do anything (Sims).

These are just a few of the interesting game design questions we would have to answer.

 

[Cervator]

Hello Digitalghost and welcome! Those are some very good questions and indeed the sort of stuff I really am eager to dig into deeper

Will be thrilled to have your help to get there!

Forgive me if I'm a little short on time these days, got a cross-ocean trip to still finish the logistics for - starting in less than a week, wee! I'll try to circle back here with some more thoughts or links when I get a chance

 

[Digitalghost]

Cool! I'm actually working on a really simplified version of the game and would love to talk about it sometime and see if we have the same ideas.