Page 1 of 1

Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-genet

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 5:28 pm
by Bersaelor
Hey guys,

I really enjoy playing factorio and now I'm working on something remotely similar. Actually, we also have a lot of bugs and a lot of management ;)

Here's a first screenshot (from the underground management of one's ant hive):
Image

And here's another one of the surface with bugs, beetles, plants and butterflies (everything has attributes and code and reproduces including the plants):
Image

We put all a lot of sweat and sleepless nights into this to make this happen, hope it was worth it :)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/17 ... ndbox-game

Or
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =343656291

Here's our latest Dev-Update showcasing the hive-intelligence:
http://youtu.be/_T1T4SWK8W4

What do you think, I'm happy to answer all questions!

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:03 pm
by n9103
Here's one: Why's your first post an advertisement?

Original unfiltered text:
I got a question for you:
Why is your first post one of you whoring out your game, instead of actually participating in the community you'd like to exploit?

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:04 pm
by Boogieman14
n9103 wrote:Here's one: Why's your first post an advertisement?

Original unfiltered text:
I got a question for you:
Why is your first post one of you whoring out your game, instead of actually participating in the community you'd like to exploit?
I like the unfiltered one best.

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:31 pm
by Bersaelor
I'm not trying to exploit anyone, I loved Factorio and I'm trying to create more interesting strategy games like it.

So I thought here would be a good place to share the news!

Also, the people working on Dwarf Fortress, FTL, Planets and others were very excited about our project and encouraged me to share on more gaming-related forums :)

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:44 pm
by n9103
With few exceptions, the people of Bay12 don't care for 1st post advertisers either. I've witnessed more than my share of collective hostility at such posts, being a regular over there as well.

I will concede this point: I've seen worse attempts at reaching out to a community only to advertise to it.

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:32 pm
by LordFedora
At least it was more then one line, posted into the correct fourm (unless ssilk ninja moved it and didn't tell us)

and he responded to people talking to him...

i don't know, i like him, can we keep him?

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 10:09 pm
by n9103
I'm not opposed, but their first post is rather rude, and only one step above a spam bot in my eyes.
Other than pointing out that breech of forum decorum, (and the following refutation of false pretenses) I've nothing more to say against them.

All that aside, the game does look like it has potential.

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 9:57 am
by MF-
When talking about xkcd, it would be nice to link the relevant comic.
(Aside from not creating an account just to post ads)

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 11:44 am
by Bersaelor
n9103 wrote:With few exceptions, the people of Bay12 don't care for 1st post advertisers either. I've witnessed more than my share of collective hostility at such posts, being a regular over there as well.

I will concede this point: I've seen worse attempts at reaching out to a community only to advertise to it.
Well the thread over at Bay12 got over 60 posts now, one person went as far as declaring that we are possibly working on his new favorite game and the overall reaction was overwhelmingly positive.
Although I admit I'm a long-time DF-player and much more part of the community.

I can understand how you see this as an advertisement but since Factorio is an equal underdog like we are (which I bought and supported myself because it's awesome) I thought it's worth it.
And let me assure you, even if the Kickstarter reaches it's goal I'm not making one buck since it will all go to the designer, the translation, the music and website maintenance. Myself I'm working on it solely because I want to finish it and see people play it plus the off-chance that maybe the release on steam will get me my private-savings-investment and maybe a little bit for a years worth of time back.
That's why I answered the question "Are you a spam-bot" with "no" ;)

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 12:04 pm
by User_Name
Yep, people on bay12 were so much nicer.
Probably has something to do with the fact that, despite similarity between the two games, in DF player tasked with the goal of making large community live happily, while in Factorio your avatar is a sociopath who left his planet to live alone with machines for the rest of his life.

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2014 7:27 pm
by ssilk
This looks a bit like sim ants.

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:21 am
by Xecutor
In one of forums I'm visiting often admins prohibited links in the very first post. And there is 'introduce yourself thread' as a place for proper first post :)
Works well.

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 7:30 am
by ssilk
@Xecutor: can you explain that a bit more? Sounds promising...

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 8:11 am
by Xecutor
ssilk wrote:@Xecutor: can you explain that a bit more? Sounds promising...
I don't know all the technical details, I'm afraid.
They basically added some kind of condition:

Code: Select all

  if postCount(user)==0 and newPost.containsExternalLink() then
    displayErorMessage()
  end
And one more items was added to the forum rules.
Actually there was already a rule like 'It's always nice to introduce yourself in <this> thread before posting anything else'.

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 8:46 pm
by kovarex
We were in the exactly same position with Factorio. The only way to let people know was to go on similar games forums and write a post about it. I don't see a reason, why would we want from someone to write something else (introduction etc) just for the reason, that the post about the game wouldn't be his 1st post.

So for me, it is not rude, especially when it is in offtopic.

From the experience, I would just inverse the safety fund and the rest.
I mean safety fund happens to eat 95% :)
Image

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:08 pm
by Nova
I would like to know what that has to do with xkcd. :)

Re: Formicarium: DwarfFortress + Simant seasoned with xkcd-g

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:31 pm
by Darthlawsuit
n9103 wrote:Here's one: Why's your first post an advertisement?

Original unfiltered text:
I got a question for you:
Why is your first post one of you whoring out your game, instead of actually participating in the community you'd like to exploit?
I got a question for you: How do you think I discovered factorio and bought into the kickstarter?

Answer: I seen a post just like this one on the Dwarf Fortress or Gnomoria forums.

I have no idea how you can criticize him for promoting his game when Factorio started off the SAME EXACT WAY. Really we need a forum dedicated to "other games" so other games have a place to promote their games and people like me can easily find new types of games that sound interesting. As one of the kickstarter funders I support offering other game devs a place to pitch their ideas.

Also against the whole "introduction" post. Just make a forum to funnel game promotions into and it will be a problem that fixes itself instead of forcing everyone to make a lazy first post so they can post elsewhere, introductions on the internet mean nothing.