So, I've recently discovered a game that's been out a while called Dwarf Fortress.. (http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/).
first of all, i'm not pimping their (free) game for no reason..
As many of you might remember, I'm as hardcore an elite I, II, and III game as any of you. But something caught my attention about this game that I wonder if we'd get to see in E4.
the SHEER AMOUNT of procedurally generated material in this game makes the replayability phenominal.
One of the greatest strengths of Elite (especially FFE) was the procedurally generatedness of it. While it was static for the most part, it was obviously generated from seed.
If we could see anything near the level of procedurally generatedness in the e4 universe, that game would so rock.
I mean, even the HISTORY of the world in Dwarf Fortress is generated from seed, and the dwarves you start out with have individual profiles and histories and genealogies which are part and product of the procedurally generated history.
hell even their facial features are procedurally generated combinations of features; different shapes of ears, nose, cheeks, colors of eyes..
very much like the face-generator in FE2..
..or the planets and their inhabitants, commodities, and governments and whatnot in Elite 1.
I know we all have impossibly gigantic expectations of Elite IV.
But after seeing Dwarf Fortress, I've boiled my Elite 4 wishlist down considerably.
I hope the cards fall in that direction.
I remember something about Frontier having bought the rights to some procedurally generating tree algorithm (maybe for Outsider?), but I hope they find many more uses for it..
Again, apologies for going on and on about an unrelated game.. but I DO hope, if you check out Dwarf Fortress you see what I wish we'll see in Elite 4.
Procedurally generated galaxies with procedurally generated expansions of territories, and historical wars and historical figures and events which paint an emergent picture of our galaxy's history and expansion..
Every time a new galaxy is generated, a new history would be born! we could spend our days roaming the galaxy just learning about the history of the place, and all the combinations of missions for nobles or coroporations which have arisen and the chance to get our own line items in the passage of history. the sheer amount of wars or trade routes between colonies.. different every time a new galaxy is generated..
died? don't regenerate a new galaxy, play the last galaxy, maybe a few years later? find your old wreckage, or old properties and reclaim them!
god.. how awesome would that be..
k, that's enuff.
Another US$0.02,
-m
P.S., and yes there's a Linux version of Dwarf Fortress
P.S.S. Also, did you read Steam is coming for Linux? if E4 is released on Steam, now maybe I stand a chance of playing it after all!! ^_^
first of all, i'm not pimping their (free) game for no reason..
As many of you might remember, I'm as hardcore an elite I, II, and III game as any of you. But something caught my attention about this game that I wonder if we'd get to see in E4.
the SHEER AMOUNT of procedurally generated material in this game makes the replayability phenominal.
One of the greatest strengths of Elite (especially FFE) was the procedurally generatedness of it. While it was static for the most part, it was obviously generated from seed.
If we could see anything near the level of procedurally generatedness in the e4 universe, that game would so rock.
I mean, even the HISTORY of the world in Dwarf Fortress is generated from seed, and the dwarves you start out with have individual profiles and histories and genealogies which are part and product of the procedurally generated history.
hell even their facial features are procedurally generated combinations of features; different shapes of ears, nose, cheeks, colors of eyes..
very much like the face-generator in FE2..
..or the planets and their inhabitants, commodities, and governments and whatnot in Elite 1.
I know we all have impossibly gigantic expectations of Elite IV.
But after seeing Dwarf Fortress, I've boiled my Elite 4 wishlist down considerably.
I hope the cards fall in that direction.
I remember something about Frontier having bought the rights to some procedurally generating tree algorithm (maybe for Outsider?), but I hope they find many more uses for it..
Again, apologies for going on and on about an unrelated game.. but I DO hope, if you check out Dwarf Fortress you see what I wish we'll see in Elite 4.
Procedurally generated galaxies with procedurally generated expansions of territories, and historical wars and historical figures and events which paint an emergent picture of our galaxy's history and expansion..
Every time a new galaxy is generated, a new history would be born! we could spend our days roaming the galaxy just learning about the history of the place, and all the combinations of missions for nobles or coroporations which have arisen and the chance to get our own line items in the passage of history. the sheer amount of wars or trade routes between colonies.. different every time a new galaxy is generated..
died? don't regenerate a new galaxy, play the last galaxy, maybe a few years later? find your old wreckage, or old properties and reclaim them!
god.. how awesome would that be..
k, that's enuff.
Another US$0.02,
-m
P.S., and yes there's a Linux version of Dwarf Fortress
P.S.S. Also, did you read Steam is coming for Linux? if E4 is released on Steam, now maybe I stand a chance of playing it after all!! ^_^
