Kind of Minecraft meets Dwarf Fortress. Timber and Stone is a roguelike (meaning the game autosaves and you can't reload, when you're dead, you're dead and you have to start over). I kickstarted it a while ago but it just hit 1.0 and is available to the public for the low price of $20. It's rough around the edges for a released game but it's still really fun and like minecraft will be continuously updated.

Homepage: http://www.timberandstonegame.com/
Kickstarter (Complete): http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/110 ... -and-stone

Here's a Let's Play I like, there are many:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTBpIzUF ... v0VcnscAAG
This is episode 19 because this is where he starts over with 1.0 release... prior versions were with beta releases.

I played with the earlier beta (I'm a backer too) and can barely last 2 nights before being swarmed by spiders and skeletons. I have only begun playing the 1.0 version and I have not passed the first day yet. WIll see how long I can last through this one.

I heard it's quite easy now, with Robert planning to increase the difficulty in the coming updates.

I haven't seen a spider yet in my games. In my first game I got a goblin archer on day 2 and there is a one hit kill issue with them that is supposed to be resolved in 1.1 so that was pretty rough. Coupled with the fact I didn't have pause on enemy sighted set I lost my forager before I even realized there was an enemy and my infantry I sent to kill the archer to a one hit shot so I just tried to stay away from him eventually losing another guy who wandered too close a few days later and then the remainder of my people starved to death.

In my current game I sighted a skeleton on day 2 but with pause on sight turned on I was able to make my forager run and this time my infantry had no problem dispatching him. I'm only on day 3 or so and I just noticed a message about a goblin killing a boar but fortunately this time it's not an archer. He's on the other side of a large map so I'm leaving him alone for the time being but I don't suspect my infantry would have too much trouble with him. I've made what I consider good progress on my buildings and am up to 8 people so this game seems to be going fairly well for me.

It's supposed to be hard though, it's a rougelike so the whole game is really just to see how far you can get before you die... because you WILL die, rofl. I'm having a ton of fun with it.

I like what I see, but I'm going to have to see how it evolves first.

My biggest problem is that when I see games like these that not just claim, but implement some of the stuff from Dwarf Fortress, but not to the same extent as DF, I always find myself comparing.

So in this case, I see "Ooooo, 3D dwarf fortress" and it looks like a watered down version, I end up passing it over. Hopefully it turns out great though.

DWMagus wrote:My biggest problem is that when I see games like these that not just claim, but implement some of the stuff from Dwarf Fortress, but not to the same extent as DF, I always find myself comparing.

If I'm reading you correctly and what you're saying is that if it's a similar type of game to Dwarf Fortress then it must implement most, if not all, of the features of Dwarf Fortress or you're not interested then I believe you don't need to bother watching how Timber and Stone evolves. I don't think any game that begins development this much later than dwarf fortress (started in 2006), is developed by one guy, has reasonable graphics (I would say better than Minecraft, certainly better then Dwarf Fortress) is going to catch Dwarf Fortress in features. Heck if Dwarf Fortress completely ceased development right now it would likely take years for a graphical game to match it's feature set and development on Dwarf Fortress has not ceased.

Like Limit Theory Timber and Stone is one guy doing everything. I'm amazed by how much he's been able to do in such a little time and while it will likely never match Dwarf Fortress in features it's got a solid set of features that are constantly growing and is already a pretty fun game in it's own right. At just $20 I think it's well worth the investment in an lone developer to help him continue his work. If everyone took a wait and see what it's like when it's complete approach there would be no kickstarter, no minecraft, and probably no limit theory. If it's not your type of game that's one thing, but if it looks like something you'd be interested in then I'd say give it a try if you can afford to. If you're not sure then take a look at the wiki, some let's plays on youtube, visit the forums... hopefully you'll like what you find and help another promising lone developer make an amazing new game.

DF is just one guy making it too, the 2nd guy just does ideas really and helps draw crayon pictures. I don't have anything else relevant to add to the conversation though.

Asmodai wrote:

DWMagus wrote:My biggest problem is that when I see games like these that not just claim, but implement some of the stuff from Dwarf Fortress, but not to the same extent as DF, I always find myself comparing.

If I'm reading you correctly and what you're saying is that if it's a similar type of game to Dwarf Fortress then it must implement most, if not all, of the features of Dwarf Fortress or you're not interested then I believe you don't need to bother watching how Timber and Stone evolves.

What I'm saying is that I have a hard time differentiating it. I just see "Clone, clone, clone, goose", etc. Not just limited there, I see the same thing with half of the minecraft clones running around as well as most other games.

The reason why I said that I'd wait to see how it evolves is because it will give me a chance to see if they go down the same path or add enough variance to pique my interest. It's one thing to be a game that is nothing but a subset of features of another, and to watch the development path of the game go down a different route. Besides, it's on my radar and I'm not outright dismissing it.

And as credit, I did watch some of the let's play (episodes 19, 20, and 21), so to be fair, I did give it a decent chance and not just overtly dismissed it (the LP's actually gave me more insight than the KS).

But when it comes to KS in general, I'm pretty reserved. I've only backed two games on there. If the game is good, then I'll buy it once it comes out. If it came down to the wire and they were still short on their funds, I'd consider donating, but usually I wait.

Truth be told, I want it to succeed, because I need a better time sink than DF, because even veteran players get frustrated with the way their fun is from time to time.

Asmodai wrote:Here's a Let's Play I like, there are many:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTBpIzUF ... v0VcnscAAG
This is episode 19 because this is where he starts over with 1.0 release... prior versions were with beta releases.

I never bothered with Minecraft, don't flame me, but personally I just didn't get the point of it. However last night whilst I was working I fired up the above youtube video and and first I thought "this game isn't for me", however as it played out over a few hours whilst I worked, by the end I was thinking "I have to get this!". Have purchased it tonight, just waiting for my password to the members area to get the file.