Money is not the goal here, but it is a metric that indicates in general terms how engaged people are with what you're doing.
People are very engaged with Minecraft. It's spawned an entire subculture, and the impact it's had on gaming in general is considerable. It appeals to all ages, to people with wildly different expectations, and continues to provide an enjoyable experience for millions of regular users even years after they picked it up.
This is largely because you can do something useful, even if almost inconsequential, right away, and from there you can explore, discovering more depth, uncovering new aspects of the game, engaging with it by degrees. You can have fun without ever crafting a single thing, that's purely optional.
Dwarf Fortress is not any of these things and it's not for a lack of interesting content or game depth. It's that the interface is insane. It's only slightly more coherent than something like Losethos/TempleOS (http://www.templeos.org/). If you don't commit to learning Dwarf Fortress you won't be able to do anything.
I've tried on several occasions to get in to Dwarf Fortress, but the level of complexity is staggeringly high. There are tutorials that cover the basics, but these are hours long. The only game I've seen that's similar is the painstakingly realistic A10 simulator (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huVi6rdPE4I) that has an 800 page manual. At least it has a manual, though!
User interface is extremely important. Don't think it's something users will get used to.
Comments
Money is not the goal here, but it is a metric that indicates in general terms how engaged people are with what you're doing.
People are very engaged with Minecraft. It's spawned an entire subculture, and the impact it's had on gaming in general is considerable. It appeals to all ages, to people with wildly different expectations, and continues to provide an enjoyable experience for millions of regular users even years after they picked it up.
This is largely because you can do something useful, even if almost inconsequential, right away, and from there you can explore, discovering more depth, uncovering new aspects of the game, engaging with it by degrees. You can have fun without ever crafting a single thing, that's purely optional.
Dwarf Fortress is not any of these things and it's not for a lack of interesting content or game depth. It's that the interface is insane. It's only slightly more coherent than something like Losethos/TempleOS (http://www.templeos.org/). If you don't commit to learning Dwarf Fortress you won't be able to do anything.
I've tried on several occasions to get in to Dwarf Fortress, but the level of complexity is staggeringly high. There are tutorials that cover the basics, but these are hours long. The only game I've seen that's similar is the painstakingly realistic A10 simulator (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huVi6rdPE4I) that has an 800 page manual. At least it has a manual, though!
User interface is extremely important. Don't think it's something users will get used to.