Places and Zones Dwarf Fortress Steam Updates
Author: Not Alex,
published 2 years ago,
Hello!
We've been continuing along with our usability work. That isn't just tutorials, but a few final menus to give some helpful overviews and otherwise provide information. Let's take a look at the new Places tab for an example.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//34693670/6adc62690f6ff0273a885193dcbce2e628dcd55a.png[/img]
Here's an ordered list of the zones. The most important part is the recenter button - it's easy to lose your garbage dump or dungeon, placed somewhere on the hundred elevation levels and then forgotten until you need it again. The meeting areas all display the tavern/library/temple/etc. they are associated with, and barracks show their squad.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//34693670/fb56c8501c36de6a9f9ede1976daf411b4943ca4.png[/img]
The larger locations, which can be made of several zones placed over multiple elevations if you like, also get their own list. Hospitals display the number of patients if you have any.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//34693670/e85eef30931cb1a689a9ac8fca462da6a340d52a.png[/img]
Here's the stockpile list. It places stockpiles with custom names at the top of their category (Zach named a few of them here.) Determining how full a stockpile is can be complicated by containers like bins and barrels, but the occupancy number here gives some idea of how close each stockpile is to needing expansion.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//34693670/8f2c597fe243ba470b8d13ea9cd3fbb480d7b48a.png[/img]
Like certain zones, workshops can be easy to misplace, and this alphabetical list lets you pop over to a given workshop without trouble. The assigned master of the workshop is shown below the name, and the list also shows the current task. It prints "+ X tasks" if there are additional tasks set for the shop.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//34693670/0e51ed3ad2a646dd13a5110e08814a587ae422da.png[/img]
Farm plots aren't as easy to misplace, since there are usually only a few layers where they can logically be set down, but it's nice to have an overview of what's currently growing and ready to harvest.
These are all still subject to change - they're a bit sparse and there's always more information we could display - but things are continuing to come together.
- Tarn