The Fortress of the Dwarves

Alright folks. It's that time again.... a new game review!

I know it's been a few months since I've posted, but I have been playing new games and working on my own games more without wondering about which game to review and I've finally decided on what my next review will be... So enjoy!

Dwarf Fortress:

http://bay12games.com/dwarves/

Dwarf Fortress Wiki:

http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Main_Page

Welcome to the world of Dwarf Fortress!

Here's another nostalgic game of a time when graphics weren't important and gameplay was.

(Of course, this game isn't really nostalgic, as the current version is from September 2008)

What is Dwarf Fortress?

Well, it's kinda hard to give it a proper description but I'll try my best:

Dwarf Fortress is a game where you manage a group of Dwarves in the creation of their Fortress.

That's a quick description of it.

What you really do?

Here's a copy from the Dwarf Fortress Wiki:

Dwarf Fortress is an ASCII game which includes both a roguelike adventure mode, and the more popular Dwarf Fortress Mode, which focuses on the creation and survival of a small dwarven settlement. It has a very steep learning curve, partly due to its ASCII graphics, but also due to the fact that it is one of the most complex games ever released. Dwarf Fortress is completely free.
Before you play, you must generate a world to play in, which persists until you create a new one. World generation can be time consuming, even on modern computers, but be patient. It's worth it.

Dwarf Fortress has three major game modes and a fourth non-game mode:

• Dwarf Fortress Mode: In this mode you manage a number of dwarves whose task is to create a fortress.
• Reclaim Fortress: Once you have created and abandoned or lost a fortress, you can take a band of military dwarves to fight the monsters that now inhabit it. If you succeed, the fortress is yours to play in once more, just like in the standard dwarf fortress mode.
• Adventure Mode: In this mode you explore the world in a fashion similar to Rogue, NetHack, or Angband, completing quests and killing monsters. In adventure mode you can uncover details about your world's legends.
• Legends: In the fourth mode you can read more about the legends of your world, provided you've discovered them through adventuring.

An important part of Dwarf Fortress is that it creates a randomly generated, persistent world for you to play in. (The world is only "on" when you are actually playing in it, however.) When you die in either the adventure or fortress modes, your next game will be in the same world, albeit a few days later. You can visit your old fortress, or get revenge on the monster that killed your adventurer. If your fortress or your adventurer had done anything of particular note, there's a chance that the game will generate a legend for them, which you can read about in the legends section. (Provided you've discovered enough information about the legend.)

The first alpha version of Dwarf Fortress was released on the 8th of August 2006 after nearly 4 years of development. (Which started in October of 2002)
Note that while Dwarf Fortress is technically still in the alpha stage of development, it is fully playable, and definitely enjoyable.
If you are interested in the history of the development of the game you can look at the development log.

Now, that's a big mouthful. Here's the deal.

Yes, it's very complex, yes it's complicated. And yes, it's rewarding to watch your dwarves dig deep into the mountain, creating rooms your designed, growing food, harvesting, cooking, mining, forging, building furniture, etc etc...

And this is just the tip of the iceberg for that's just a simple version of events. You can find water pools underground, lava rivers and vents (which can heat your forges so you don't need to go outside and chop wood to keep the fires stoked)

The possibilities are endless. The amazingly cool part of this is you can die (and yes, another game where you WILL die, multiple times while you learn) is that you can play in the same world, but in different locations. Creating multiple fortresses across the world.

And then, when you tire of Dwarf Fortress Mode, you can play as an Adventurer, (Though I haven't tried it yet), and travel the same world, discovering your fortresses as you explore. In order words, the world is solid (you can regenerate a new one if you like) but you can just keep playing the same world over and over and I doubt you'll ever find everything out about the world, it's just too big.

Well, that's all for today on this review, my verdict. Try this game. It's free, and given time, it's definitely fun. Plus, if you find it too hard to play with just ASCII graphics, then check out the Dwarf Fortress Wiki and get a graphical set and Mod the game so you can play with graphics.

The Return of the Madman

Hey folks. It's been over a year since I last posted and much has happened.

Laid off twice, and now unemployed. Such fun!

But nothing is completely bad. Since the second layoff I've decided to start programming video games again with the help of my friends. Things are coming along well too for a couple of amateurs in the biz.

I'm going to resume updating this blog with obscure video games as I find them. But I have also added a new blog: Diary of a Video Game Developer

I figured that with everything that's happening to the games currently in development, a record of how things progressed might be interesting to some.

Another Random Thought about Freedom

Some of you who've read my blog might remember a past post about me discussing freedom. Well, I've a new one coming to me in just 2 short weeks.

Ladies and gentlemen... I'm actually moving out. That's right, I'm leaving my sister's house and moving into an apartment! Whoohoo!

What does this mean to me? Well, first off, I'll be in the city, I'll actually have transportation to and from my apartment everyday! It's a new concept that I haven't had for a year.

That's right, one year I've lived here, when there's only two buses in the morning to take me to work on the weekdays, and two buses at night to take me home on the weekdays. The weekends? Nada, I get to stay home and be stuck. And with winter coming up, well I didn't want that again. Cabin fever settles in quick.

Secondly, I can be who I want. That's right. Right now, living with my sister, out of respect for her, I don't invite my friends over, it's not my place. And it's just too far for them. Hell, I felt bad for one of my friends driving me home when we started a Rock Band night with 4 of us. Sure, he's not really too far from me, but it's still a decent distance. Bongoo, thanks for the rides home, I really appreciated them.

Speaking of Rock Band! I'll actually be able to get it. I'll also be picking up a PS3 so that the entire band will be online if we can't get together in person. It's not going to be an urgent purchase but I will be getting it.

What else can I talk about... hrmmm... well I guess that's it folks.

This is your friendly neighborhood Madman signing out!

Game Review #2

Alright, it's been over a year since I've posted a single entry, and I figured it was time for a post so here it goes: The second Game Review!

Now, with the upcoming release for Fallout 3, I thought I would review another deep difficult survival genre game.

Welcome to: The Unreal World!

I can hear you ask, The Unreal World? Isn't that the popular First Person Shooter?

That's where you're wrong my friends, let me educate you on this little gem. With some hard facts:

The year the project started: 1990
That's right, this game comes from the days of DOS!

Number of team members when started: 1
Another amazing fact, this game... for over 15 years, was done by 1 person! To me, this is amazing, especially for the level of detail the author has put into this game.

Now, when I say details, I'm not talking about graphics and such... that's not this games strong point. I would say the graphics are functional and show you exactly what you need to know. No extra fluff. In fact, I've played this game in it's DOS days, and I still play it as the author with a new programmer to help, has now made it working in Windows XP and Vista. The bitmap images... are the same. I think they were updated with higher resolution images... but they still look the same. Why change something when it works right?

No, the details I'm talking about involve the gameplay. This is a turn based game. In that every move you make is a turn. But the way the game is designed, this doesn't feel turn based. There is time to the game. Every action takes a different amount of time, so a turn can be short, or long.

Now, what can you do in The Unreal World? Well, here's where the details take over. This isn't your average quick starting game. You have a steep learning curve. I'll guarantee that you'll die... many, many times while you learn all of the controls.
Now, this game is different... there's no story, so Sami made this game very very open ended and realistic. You actually have to live to survive. Especially at the start, this game is not for the faint at heart, this will try your nerves from day 1. First thing you'll want to do is find yourself a decent spot to lay camp.
Camp? Yes, camp. This isn't a modern day game, nor medieval. Think of this as a game based on a simple Age of mankind. A day of Nomads and small villages and the world was still wild.
And how do you make camp? Well, first, you need wood... so go chop some trees down, next with enough wood, you can build yourself a shelter.
Next, get more wood. How do you expect to cook your food? With this wood, make a pile on the ground and light it. Tah-dah! You have fire! There a basic shelter is ready, remember to keep feeding wood to the fire or it'll go out. I tend to pile my wood, and light it once I'm ready to cook.

Next, food? Your character is human after all... he needs to eat and drink. So, you have many choices on food. Hunting, gathering, fishing, planting, trapping... the list is various. Choose your method and have at it. This is what usually kills me still... not enough food.

From here... what can you do? Well, you can build stuff. That's right, you're not going to survive the wilderness with the clothes on your back and... maybe a knife. You'll need to gather materials and make your own tools. Don't you feel special when you make that first stone axe? Now you can cut down larger trees that your knife wasn't up to the task for.

Tools, clothing, food... heck, you can build your own House! And Cellar/Smokehouse! That's what I call detail.

Now, I've been told that you can marry and have a family... but... never survived long enough to find out. Heh eventually.

What else can I say? Hrmmm... sounds? They sound the same as they did in the DOS version, same as the graphics, they're functional. That's all I care about, as long as it plays well, I'm a happy camper.

Alright, in a nutshell... if you like hard RPGs and are up to the challenge? Try The Unreal World. Believe me, if you give it a chance, and look deep, you'll find a rewarding experience that'll make you want to keep coming back for more.

For more information about The Unreal World visit: http://www.jmp.fi/~smaarane/urw.html

Game review #1

Alrighty folks, I said when I started this blog that I would occasionally review games.
I'm not going to review anything mainstream, or something that's been on the news and game review shows. Why bother stating the same thing.

There shall be no star ratings from me. Just my honest opinion on what I like about the game, and maybe things I dislike.

What I will do is review some of the smaller company games, you know the type, games that less than 10 people worked on from start to finish.

Today's review shall be about... dum dum dum... Mount & Blade

Mount & Blade? You ask, what is Mount & Blade.

Well fellow readers, let me take you into the world of Mount & Blade.

Let's start off with who made it: Tale Worlds. Never heard of them either? They're a smaller independent company from Turkey. Last I heard, only 2 people are working on this game.... that's right, you heard me 2!

For a small casual game, I could understand only 2 people working on it. But this isn't your small casual game. This game is massive, and very very open ended.

Oh I know, some people will complain and argue that games like GTA and even Oblivion are open ended. This is a different type of open endedness... first off. Unless both GTA and Oblivion. You don't explore the world from a 1st or 3rd person perspective.

World travel is done on a map, and you can see armies marching around as you travel.
Enter a Castle, Town or Village, and you'll be brought to a 3rd or 1st person perspective. Get into a fight with another army, or even with a group of one of the many various types of bandits and this is where I find the fun starts.

Each battle is unique. You can say this for almost every game, but with Mount & Blade is different. First off, the landscape that you'll be fighting on is going to be randomly generated. That's right, no two battles will ever be the same because the land is constantly different.

Second, the battles can become massive! 200+ soldiers per side can be in one battle. Sure, they've put a limiter to how many can be on the field at once. But that just means you'll have reinforcements joining you as you lose men, and the same for them.

Third, and my favorite part... cavalry!
When is the last time you've played a game, in 3D where you actually had a cavalry group at your command? I love these guys. Obviously cavalry moves much faster than your foot soldiers, and with Mount & Blade, you can control each type of unit separately.

I personally love having a horse for my own character, armed with a lance and a sword/shield combo, I plow through opposing armies.

Yes, you heard me correctly... a Lance! Ever watched a TV show or a movie depicting knights using a lance? Same thing... get your horse up to speed, watch your character lower to lance and plow into someone... if the hit strikes, and the enemy isn't blocking, he's pretty well dead.

This works against every type of guy. But, each hit will slow you a little, causing you to raise up the lance and have to pick up speed, making you vulnerable to a quick attack from a close enemy.

So... the idea's you can make in this game are endless. You can hold everyone back, wait for the enemy to come close, and unleash everyone at once. Or send out a specific type... say, your cavalry to soften the enemy a little, then launch your archers, and finally for the kill, send the footmen in. Sometimes I mix it up just to see what happens. It's usually easy to get new men back in your army.

Speaking of your army... they can be upgraded! You're not the only character with experience gained from fighting. Even your lowliest footman can become a veteran spear fighter.... if he lives long enough at least. :)

So what's the purpose of the game? Well there's many. You can try to just survive... don't align yourself with any of the nations and see how long you last. You can be a robber, and attack trade caravans. Heck, be a trade caravan, making gold buying and trading between villages. The possibilities are whatever you can think of.

But the main primary purpose that Tale Worlds has made Mount & Blade, to recreate medieval combat as best as they can, and personally I feel that they've got it really close.

Even then... why stick with just Medieval combat. Mount & Blade is a moddable system, everything from nuclear wastelands, to Chinese history can and probably has been made for it.

Now, there are a few downsides to Mount & Blade.

First off, it's still in Beta, the final version is shortly coming out, but you can always play the Beta, it's freely available as a level limited version. And Tale Worlds is selling registration for full version at a lower cost than the final will be. Your registration from the Beta will work with the Final. But keep in mind, if you play it now, it's still a Beta edition, there will be little bugs and glitches. Sometimes... funny glitches. Read the Tale Worlds forum and you'll find some fun physics glitches that have happened.

Secondly, bugs... it's beta, expect some bugs, expect some bad values in say... moral deterioration of your army. These values are constantly being tweaked... I've been playing Mount & Blade for a few years now, and I've seen lots of changes and improvements thanks to everyone who has played the game and posted suggestions and comments on the forums.

Third, I found the learning curve to be moderately steep, the controls for attack take a bit of getting used to, but it's not horrible, just awkward when you first start playing, now that I've been playing a while, it feel intuitive. Just wait until you get into a one on one fight with the opposing army's officer and get into a sparring fight, as each of you swing and block, parrying each other trying to find an opening to land that final blow.

So, my verdict? Try this game out! Especially if you're a medieval buff like I am. Trust me, give it some time, learn the controls and I hope you'll come to love this game as much as I do.

The weather, and the folks who try to predict it...

Can anyone tell me why we haven't discovered a decent way to predict the weather accurately?

We have all this equipment, satallites in orbit around the planets, and yet we still can't predict what the weather will be in 24 hours.

Now, I know, they even give us weekly forecasts, but I never follow those... I take weekly forecasts with a grain of salt.

But... comeon... 24 hours? Can't we get even that 100% right every day?

What brought this train of thought around? Well, my motorbike is now legal, and I've been riding it all weekend... when the weather was clear at least.

Thursday the forecast started by saying that Saturday and Sunday were going to be bright and sunny.

What did we have? Clouds, and rain, along with thunderstorms. That's where the grain of salt comes in. I remember is saying that Friday was going to have the thunderstorms, what did we have? Beautiful sunny skies until the evening. Then just a little rain.

Oh yeah... our weather technology is great isn't it?

Every time I see the incorrect weather predicted I'm reminded of a comedian I heard of awhile back: Why is it in any other job, if you lie, you'd get fired. But weathermen can lie on screen and still get to work the next day?

Come on people, let's get with the big picture. Let's find a reliable way to predict the weather... or even better, let's work on weather control. That way we can limit thunderstorms and hurricanes and tornadoes. Think of the lives that could be saved, the damage that could be prevented.

Freedom and the ability to be free.

Here's a thought I've had for awhile.

Freedom... specifically what it means to the individual person.

What does it mean to have freedom? What is it that truly makes us free?
Is it being free from decision? No, we are humans, we have to make decisions every day, good and bad.

Is it being free from responsibility? This I have to say is also no. No matter who you are, you are responsible... for yourself, for the environment, there's always something you're responsible for.

Is it the ability to go where we want, when we want? Ahhh... here's where the tricky part is. Can we truly ever just stop what we're doing and get up and go. Well... yes you could. But what are the repercussions? If you have a job, you may lose it. If you run out of money, you're stranded wherever you are. So we're not 100% free in this sense. Though I do believe this aspect of freedom contains the closest definition of freedom, with a bit of the first 2 aspects.

So, how are we free then? Are you free? Think to yourself about that.

Myself, my freedom has enlarged itself suddenly and very quickly. Those who know me know that I love motorbikes and have been working on my first one, getting it ready for the safety inspection... disappointed with the first inspection when it failed, getting a few more parts and finishing the repairs. Well today, my bike has passed inspection. It's declared safe to ride.

I can now go and transfer the ownership under my name completely and legally ride it on the streets. My area of travel has just gotten a whole lot bigger. Before, I was limited to two early morning buses to take me into town, and two in the evening to get me home. And only on the weekday. Weekends were a bust. I have to bike 14kms just to get to a bus. By then, I'm hot, sweaty and tired. I wouldn't want to inflict that on anyone, friends, family, etc...

Now, with my motorbike, after a bit of practice, I can hop on and leave, no need to worry about the bus, or the temperature during the day. (I've been severely dehydrated just from biking in the heavy heat)

What do I think freedom is? It's the ability to not be 100% dependent on something. Like the bus system. Sure, bad weather I'll take the bus, I have no problems with that. But on a nice day, why should I have to go home and be stuck there?