Rimworld vs Dwarf Fortress

[a high blue cat]

This or Dwarf Fortress.

[Fabio]

Dwarf Fortress is like a huge graphical downgrade version of Rimworld and on top of that it's free.

Do you really want to compare the 2 games?

[Pizzarugi]

Dwarf Fortress is a game you have to pay respect to, for it helped start the whole town sim genre and is considered by some to still be one of the best despite the ASCII graphics (which can be fixed with a texture pack).

[pagey88]

Is there anywhere to get Dwarf Fortress, everyone talks about it but personally I have never played :(

[Grishnerf]

both good games but to be fair.
dwarf fortress has 14 years of development and content, RimWorld has ~3 years.
imagine RimWorld with 14 years of development and content.
;)

[Faya AOP]

This

[Onirim]

You can take Dwarf Fortress here : http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
The major differences between the 2 are :
- Dwarf Fortress is 3D (you can build and mine up and down, so you play on a 3D environment, not in 2D. So Rimworld present a smaller environment.
- Dwarf Fortress UI is a mess, full of keyboard bindings, and the mouse isn't usefull. Rimworld is far more user fiendly.
- In general, Dwarf Fortress is more complicated, have more options, more AI, more... of everything.
- Dwarf Fortress is incredibly ugly. With an texture pack, he's just ugly. Rimworld have faaaaar better look.
- Dwarf Fortress is a free game, not Rimworld.
:)

[Red]

If you play DF make sure to download the Lazy Newb Pack launcher so you can use a texture pack. Both games are great in their own way. DF has a lot more depth though, both literally and figuratively, with Z levels and a lot more content.

[SIT_ROM.exe]

Dwarf fortress is the better game, in my opinion...

Rimworld is easier on the eyes...

...

I suggest you pick up both, DF is free...

[7FOUR]

DF is free, so you can get both. Play DF for the well developed and rich features, then hop on RimWorld when you're sick of fighting DF's horrid UI and just want to pick up and play something.

[Name Lips]

I've played DF for years.

It's HARD. It's hard to get into. It's hard to learn to play. It's hard to interpret the screen to understand what's going on. It's hard to figure out what you're supposed to do. And it's hard to figure out what to enjoy. There's no hand-holding at all. No tutorial, no instructions.

And I absolutely love it. Every time there's a new release, I go back to playing it. I'm sure I've logged thousands of hours in DF.

Once you realize what's going on in DF, the scope blows you away. The sheer quantity of things that are being simulated, the complexity of the interactions, and the depth of the things you can do are amazing.

But these things are also a weakness. The game is more complex than it needs to be. It aims to be a simulation more than a game. There's no reason the game needs dozens of types of rock, all with individualized density, hardness, and heat resistance. It doesn't need dozens of types of edible plants, all of which are functionally identical in terms of what you can do with them in the game.

The game generates an actual world based on acutal geographical concepts, rain shadows, currents, wind, and temperature. Lakes and rivers flow across the terrain the way they should. Forests and biomes appear where they should. But you can't tell... from the perspective of the player, it's functionally identical to a randomly generated terrain.

The game generates an actual history of the world. Each individual, his name, his abilities, the objects created, politics, alliances, wars, trade. Growth and destruction of empires. Artifacts created and lost. Every individual's life and death, through the generations. Gods and religions are generated and tracked. Books and songs. Unique musical instruments. All of this history is browsable and visible if you know where to look, and impacts things -- like the art your dwarves choose to create, and what is available for trade.

Every update adds more and more complexity. Temples and libraries, inns and museums. New industries, professions, and skills. Unique monsters and horrors that invade from the depths. Nobility and their insane demands.

But increasingly I worry that, for a newcomer, it just makes it harder and harder to get into. Once you master the learning curve, there's STILL so much to figure out that it can be overwhelming.

And a lot of people hate the sandbox. There's no goal other than enjoying yourself. There's no way to win, and infinite ways to lose. There's not even a real sense of progression -- you have access to everything from the outset (no research or ways to unlock things incrementally). It really is far more a sandbox simulation than a game, and this drives a lot of people nuts.

Personally, I love the whole "base building" genre. There aren't a lot of games in it. DF, Rimworld, Gnomoria, Prison Architect, the old Dungeon Keeper and its clones, and a few more scattered here and there. In my mind it's an underdeveloped game genre, and its where most of my gaming hours have gone over the years.

[Grilvhor]

I've tried DF a bit, it's so hard to get into for many reasons: graphics, so many possibilities, the interface, no tutorials...

It's really not user friendly but i understand it had more depths.


Rimworld is user friendly, not that hard to get into, nice graphics.
You don't need to spend hours reading tutorials to play it, that's important for many people.

[Aurumlamina]

I love both games. Dwarf Fortress is the deepest game I have ever played content-wise, though it has a very steep learning curve. On the other hand, Rimworld is more streamlined, simpler, and easier on the eyes.

I recommend both, honestly. Pick up Rimworld first and if you like it a lot, expand into Dwarf Fortress for an even more complex game.

[Fabio]

Originally posted by Name Lips:

I've played DF for years.

It's HARD. It's hard to get into. It's hard to learn to play. It's hard to interpret the screen to understand what's going on. It's hard to figure out what you're supposed to do. And it's hard to figure out what to enjoy. There's no hand-holding at all. No tutorial, no instructions.

And I absolutely love it. Every time there's a new release, I go back to playing it. I'm sure I've logged thousands of hours in DF.

Once you realize what's going on in DF, the scope blows you away. The sheer quantity of things that are being simulated, the complexity of the interactions, and the depth of the things you can do are amazing.

But these things are also a weakness. The game is more complex than it needs to be. It aims to be a simulation more than a game. There's no reason the game needs dozens of types of rock, all with individualized density, hardness, and heat resistance. It doesn't need dozens of types of edible plants, all of which are functionally identical in terms of what you can do with them in the game.

The game generates an actual world based on acutal geographical concepts, rain shadows, currents, wind, and temperature. Lakes and rivers flow across the terrain the way they should. Forests and biomes appear where they should. But you can't tell... from the perspective of the player, it's functionally identical to a randomly generated terrain.

The game generates an actual history of the world. Each individual, his name, his abilities, the objects created, politics, alliances, wars, trade. Growth and destruction of empires. Artifacts created and lost. Every individual's life and death, through the generations. Gods and religions are generated and tracked. Books and songs. Unique musical instruments. All of this history is browsable and visible if you know where to look, and impacts things -- like the art your dwarves choose to create, and what is available for trade.

Every update adds more and more complexity. Temples and libraries, inns and museums. New industries, professions, and skills. Unique monsters and horrors that invade from the depths. Nobility and their insane demands.

But increasingly I worry that, for a newcomer, it just makes it harder and harder to get into. Once you master the learning curve, there's STILL so much to figure out that it can be overwhelming.

And a lot of people hate the sandbox. There's no goal other than enjoying yourself. There's no way to win, and infinite ways to lose. There's not even a real sense of progression -- you have access to everything from the outset (no research or ways to unlock things incrementally). It really is far more a sandbox simulation than a game, and this drives a lot of people nuts.

Personally, I love the whole "base building" genre. There aren't a lot of games in it. DF, Rimworld, Gnomoria, Prison Architect, the old Dungeon Keeper and its clones, and a few more scattered here and there. In my mind it's an underdeveloped game genre, and its where most of my gaming hours have gone over the years.

So basically it's a game so hard to enjoy it's not worth it, even with a free price tag. How the developer wasted his time creating something that complex for nothing amazes me. It would be infinitely better if he joined a decent team of programmers and art designers and created a game capable of competing with Rimworld, not that piece of entangled code lines he's producing for years to no end.

[Name Lips]

The creater does nothing but work on DF. It's his job, a one-man labor of love.

He actually makes a living off the donations he gets.

[Fabio]

Originally posted by Name Lips:

The creater does nothing but work on DF. It's his job, a one-man labor of love.

He actually makes a living off the donations he gets.

He's just not good enough to join a team I guess, so he works alone, like a street musician living on charity.

He's not hurting anyone creating his thing, but what a waste of good concept. At least the creator of Rimworld actually have an idea of what a game should be like. You know, enjoyable.