But anyways: while Dwarf Fortress isn’t quite Zork I in terms of influence, there’s a good reason people are pushing to have it added to the game canon. Tynan has never denied that Tam Adams was an inspiration, or tried to hide the influence DF had on Rimworld’s development (hell, the highest difficulty in Rimworld has always been called ‘losing is fun’). And while the two games are clearly similar, the core design philosophy is pretty different. Rimworld’s goal has always been a compelling story through fairly structured gameplay, where DF has always emphasized emergent gameplay and adherence to the simulation. I’ve played both since pretty much they came out (oh fuck I’m old…), but rimworld’s gameplay loop, core modability and not-awful-UI really won me over for casual gameplay. In their current incarnations, both are amazing games, but the question was “comfort game”, and this is my answer.
Nitpick
I really don’t mean this as a dunk on Rimworld, but
(slightly-patronizingly-phrased linguistic tip: including the ‘but’ there is an implied contradiction that severely undercuts the sincerity of the preceding sentiment. I believe your sincerity, many people just don’t know about that weird semantic quirk.)
(And in a ‘hey dude’ moment, FPS death was a thing way way before DF. I remember it killing my cities in SimCity 2000, for example.)
Alright fair point on the nitpick. I meant that less as an attack on Rimworld and more of an expression of respect to Dwarf Fortress. That’s where that load-bearing “but” came in to play. Point taken though. I have great respect for both games and the developers of them. I admit I am on Team Dwarf if we come to blows though, I played that one first and it is, to date, one of the most genuinely incredible pieces of software I’ve ever encountered.
Absolutely no hate for Rimworld though. It’s a good game through and through.
Er… isn’t DF multithreaded (now)?
But anyways: while Dwarf Fortress isn’t quite Zork I in terms of influence, there’s a good reason people are pushing to have it added to the game canon. Tynan has never denied that Tam Adams was an inspiration, or tried to hide the influence DF had on Rimworld’s development (hell, the highest difficulty in Rimworld has always been called ‘losing is fun’). And while the two games are clearly similar, the core design philosophy is pretty different. Rimworld’s goal has always been a compelling story through fairly structured gameplay, where DF has always emphasized emergent gameplay and adherence to the simulation. I’ve played both since pretty much they came out (oh fuck I’m old…), but rimworld’s gameplay loop, core modability and not-awful-UI really won me over for casual gameplay. In their current incarnations, both are amazing games, but the question was “comfort game”, and this is my answer.
Nitpick
(slightly-patronizingly-phrased linguistic tip: including the ‘but’ there is an implied contradiction that severely undercuts the sincerity of the preceding sentiment. I believe your sincerity, many people just don’t know about that weird semantic quirk.)
(And in a ‘hey dude’ moment, FPS death was a thing way way before DF. I remember it killing my cities in SimCity 2000, for example.)
Alright fair point on the nitpick. I meant that less as an attack on Rimworld and more of an expression of respect to Dwarf Fortress. That’s where that load-bearing “but” came in to play. Point taken though. I have great respect for both games and the developers of them. I admit I am on Team Dwarf if we come to blows though, I played that one first and it is, to date, one of the most genuinely incredible pieces of software I’ve ever encountered.
Absolutely no hate for Rimworld though. It’s a good game through and through.