Will this version have a more normal control scheme?

[gleem]

i.e. you right click the ground, open up a drop down menu, and click dig rather than having to use the number keys and such

[Pip]

if anything the steam release is perfect for some major control scheme changes that otherwise wouldn't be welcomed that much by hardcore players.

[Sham]

Reading the reddit page, it sounds like that's a couple updates away. Also, even if it doesn't happen, Dwarf Fortress is so easily moddable and Workshop support is so easy to integrate that I can see people uploading control schemes to it within minutes of release, provided DF doesn't shift its internals too much for Steam's release.

[Tooslow]

Originally posted by Sham:

Reading the reddit page, it sounds like that's a couple updates away. Also, even if it doesn't happen, Dwarf Fortress is so easily moddable and Workshop support is so easy to integrate that I can see people uploading control schemes to it within minutes of release, provided DF doesn't shift its internals too much for Steam's release.

Hahahaha.

Ahhh.

I wouldn't get my hopes up. There's usually days or even weeks before major mods, like DFHack or DwarfTherapist, get fixed after a DF update.

To the best of my knowledge there are no mods relating to the control scheme, because the controls are hard-coded and no "hooks" exist to access them.

IF this is the incentive to make the UI moddable then it's going to be a revolution.

I haven't checked it out for a while but the potential has been there, for years, to play DF in 3d using Armok Vision or Stonesense, with an interface layer feeding keypresses to the main game. Since DF is only using one thread, I guess this wasn't the worst hack.

[Stargazer]

I desperately hope for true mouse support.

[Tooslow]

Originally posted by Arleushka:

I desperately hope for true mouse support.

Stuff like edge scrolling and context menus? Yeah, it'd be nice, and if the control scheme/interface wasn't largely hard-coded, as I mentioned above, then it'd be possible.

Tarn shied away from any of this before because he didn't want to spend time working on the UI when the game wasn't even half "complete". Done right, he could put the time in to make it accessible and leave it to modders to actually pretty up the interface with "skins".

I can't see it happening.

[PhaseDB]

If they'd update the UI scheme i'd be screwed, the way it is now is hardcoded in my brain

[Tooslow]

OTOH - Vulture for Nethack is a thing. Not an updated thing, but there's no reason you can't have a mouse friendly overlay on a Roguelike.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/341390/Vulture_for_NetHack/

The thing that makes it almost impossible is that DF is closed source and probably not really fit for any kind of collaborative development.

With Tarn coming around to the idea of commercialising the game more formally, who knows?

The two brothers have basically sacrificed any kind of conventional career path on Tarn's vision. Now they're older reality is hitting them. One serious illness affecting development means they'd be looking at dwindling donations/Patreon income, with likely little provision already made for their retirement.

Even on Steam most of the sales will be in the first few weeks, so if they screw that up they won't be getting an avalanche of new attention just a flurry of review bombing.

I genuinely think this is an interesting time for them, with the potential to be a complete disaster.

Originally posted by PhaseDB:

If they'd update the UI scheme i'd be screwed, the way it is now is hardcoded in my brain

If the UI was moddable you could change it back...

Oh, and to be very clear, you probably shouldn't buy Vulture - it hasn't bee updated for years.