PRACTICE 2016: Tarn Adams

PRACTICE 2016: Tarn Adams
Long-term Simulation Design in Dwarf Fortress
November 12, 2016
Tarn Adams is the co-founder of Bay 12 Games. His main project is Dwarf Fortress, a fantasy simulation game which he works on with his brother Zach. The game is distributed free of charge and has developed a strong niche following, but it is also known for its difficult interface and text-based graphics. The brothers work on game design together, while Tarn does most of the programming.
practice.gamecenter.nyu.edu
gamecenter.nyu.edu

[@Marqan]

"People do things with stuff." - Tarn Adams, 2016 May we never forget his wise words!

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

History of humanity in a nutshell.

[@tenhovergonha8739]

Could be resume as: people do things with things... Or even most simplified as "things do things with things". Or better: things happen.

[@shayneoneill1506]

Reminds me of Kurt Vonnegans great advice;- "We where put on this earth to fart about, and dont let anyone tell you otherwise"

[@botplays6893]

@@tenhovergonha8739 Or better... Things.

[@ethanhoward389]

I love how unassuming but intelligent and powerful the Adams Brothers both are

[@Baleur]

9:32 what a wonderful man. He's created a masterpiece, and yet apologizes for everything he knows is still unpresentable about it. Then we have AAA studio CEO's that dont even bother apologizing to their customers, after releasing completely unplayable broken games on releases day, for 60 dollars (or 100 dollar collectors edition)...

[@deepfakestudio7776]

yeah like Cyberpunk

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

@@deepfakestudio7776 Cyberpunk is the most recent example Mass Effect: Andromeda was a similar story.

[@SightForMemories]

Games stopped being fun around 2010, now it's all about the migthy bux!

[@ledumpsterfire6474]

At this point, it's been going on so long that we need to stop placing accountability on corporate shills who are going to continue being corporate shills no matter what, and start staring down the fucking legion of morons who keep doing early access and pre-orders, directly supporting that behavior. Past a point, you stop blaming the murderer who keeps going free, and start looking at the people who keep letting him go.

[@pawelsawicki1750]

I think Tarn Adams is one of the best English speaking lecturer I have listened to. There is something in his voice that makes me feel like I could even listen to him reading IRS reports :) Not to mention his mind, it is obviously truly remarkable piece of tissue. :)

[@ledumpsterfire6474]

Probably won't surprise you to know he actually was a teacher, back before DF really started hitting its stride.

[@MajkaSrajka]

We need a system that calculates how good Tarn is about creating systems - and then system to evaluate it.

[@shcode805]

...your nickname sounds distinctly slovak... is it?

[@livedandletdie]

I call that system, Dwarf Fortress Player Base.

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

All craftsmanship is of the highest quality.

[@MajkaSrajka]

@@shcode805 Nah, Polandball here.

[@SightForMemories]

Tam adams is a periodic masterclass of a human, he deflected that gender ole shite, like no other would.

[@usbornestreet]

This is unbelievable. The amount of work this guys have put into this is amazing.

[@PlayerSalt]

So happy the game is now a financial success for the creators , lets hope the game has a bright future and this is just the start of a new era

[@shcode805]

What an absolutely brilliant man, yes. Also, what an absolutely amusing and... cute man. O:-) I love watching any talks of his I can find, not only because of all the information value, but also just because I love his vibe.

[@Baleur]

O:-) wow is... is that a.... is that a bald-spot smiley? Exceedingly cute indeed..

[@artificercreator]

This is amazing! Good work, making videogames is the ultimate challenge; one can try to simulate from physics to human behaviour; and dwarf fortress tackles lots of them!

[@matlaw]

tarn is clearly a very smart, genuine person, and so forth

[@lucasforni7638]

Incredible talk !

[@johnnycamine]

Tarn is a hero to humankind; his work and his spirit will save us all

[@powerpc127]

20:48 "It just works." Tarn Adams, 2016. Wait, what?

[@stupidrainbo]

The difference with him is that it does, so he's off the hook!

[@pnutdraws]

dude , i was watching other interview where tarn was mentioning about how he doesnt really like actively working on bugs something like that & the game to get to its finished state will take a long time, which is understandable with something like this, but to me it seems like Todd saw what hes saying and miss understood and is trying to be him but failing badly especially with 76 etc

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

@@pnutdraws Todd attempting to mimic Tarn's mannerism makes a surprising amount of sense.

[@pnutdraws]

@@JarthenGreenmeadow in what way?

[@burtturdison4445]

He's trying to talk in a way that dummies like you and me can actually follow. And I'm still having issues grasping and fully understanding what the brothers have created there. I think this dude is so extremely smart he has no idea HOW smart he is.

[@MisterTingles]

huh... I know why I'm here, but KZbin very apparently does not, since for the first time in all the years I've been using the platform... there are *Zero* recommended videos for me to click on... we've done it, ladies and gentlemen. we reached the end of the rabbit hole, this is as far as it goes... no dwarves have ever descended deeper into the bedrock than this...

[@TheJommy34]

I think it is less about youtube running out of video to recommend you and more about it bugging. Like how youtube would still recommend a very general and popular set of video when you first create your account even thought you are using it for the first time.

[@fidelrivera2887]

I will not lie... 80% of what he says goes right over my head... but I love his talks. Awesome guy!

[@TheOtherBradBird]

The dependent topics are mostly formal logic and data structures if you want to satisfy that curiosity. Those topics can be dry as fuck though.

[@agollumcalledgandalf]

is Tarn wearing the same sweater in every public appearance? I've only seen a handful of his interviews and speeches but I think he was sporting the same design in each of those

[@ryuuji159]

is his lucky sweater

[@NoConsequenc3]

if it aint broke dont fix it and when Tarn has to fix something he has to fix everything around it you're asking him to replace all his underwear and you don't even know it!

[@snocoldman]

Yeah I noticed that too. I really liked the design and assumed it was Bay1 Games merch, but apparently they don’t sell anything like that.

[@GMCiaramella]

The absolute mass of data that this game must work with... crazy... 10.5 trillion variables

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

Theres a reason it lags modern systems.

[@dntbther9298]

I believe it lags because doesn't support multiple cores, so basically if you have a 4Ghz 12 core 24 threads intel CPU , the game will only use 1 core at 4ghz, so about the power of a 2006 pentium 4, albeit that single core is probably thrice as fast due to modern optimizations, but still 90% of your CPU is doing nothing.

[@MirrorHall_Clay]

@@dntbther9298 it's been shown in the past that multithreading isn't really the cause of most of the performance issues, since most of the game's systems are fairly lightweight it tends to be a small number of standout things causing problems. Thankfully since there's finally another programmer to help Tarn, bug fixes and optimization should come in a lot more; just days after Putnam started work there was a patch improving one of the most standout performance killers

[@dntbther9298]

@@MirrorHall_Clay yeah, with another talented programmer which i read a comment saying that they're a specialist in optimization/crunching complexe math, the game will definitely improve quite a lot. Now tarn can focus on creating new content after bringing adventure mode to premium DF and also maybe make the GUI a bit less clunky.

[@MirrorHall_Clay]

@@dntbther9298 it also helps that Putnam already knew how the game works really well even before seeing the actual code, really a great person to bring in all around

[@clonger204]

Was that Boatmurdered at the start?

[@felipea.barretto7503]

It was!

[@stegwise]

28:25 she was annoyed by the lack of chairs

[@shepherdsgamingrun]

There were enough chairs, but none of them are menacing with spikes of pyrite.

[@faxmachine1162]

@@shepherdsgamingrun spikes of leather*

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

@@shepherdsgamingrun Someone was sitting in the one she claimed as a family heirloom.

[@matheusguimaraes5811]

This guy is just fantastic, I'm no game dev and have no interest in the matter, but I love watching his talks

[@TimmacTR]

Amazing. Anyone knows if the slides are online somewhere?

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

right here kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3Wzk2OgpreladE

[@GabrielAlejandroZorrilla]

He always uses the same hoodie

[@sylumgand]

Nothing can replace a good comfy hoodie.

[@brekezek]

@@sylumgand Maybe he bought 10 of them

[@gloverelaxis]

Great talk!

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

Adventure Mode: Very Easy, Very Square Tarn: 7:10

[@enkephalin07]

Like most of the players, he's underestimating the benefit of maximizing focus. A focused character can hit well above their weight and achieve greater successes with less skill. That goes for all units, fortress and adventurer mode.

[@gossamera4665]

I really enjoy listening to Tarn, he's a well read man with a lot of interesting insights (despite some bad takes) but he's also the archtypical programmer running wild, adding needless complexity to things just for the sake of it. Looking at his presentations, it becomes clear that he has no idea on how to present things in a readable manner, clashing colors, small text in a bad font etc. At least at the time when this video was made, perhaps porting the game to steam will prove a valuable lesson on readabillity. I wouldn't say that he's good or bad at design, the insight part sure, but the implementation is another matter. A big part of game design is knowing when and what to cut. Still, you can learn a lot from his thought processes whether you're a game designer or a GM. Are the materials he used in his presentations available to view somewhere?

[@gossamera4665]

@Andrew Onymous He's been programming since he was a kid, I don't really think that's a fair assessment. In what way does he appear amateurish to you?

[@MrDeothor]

Beyond obvious need of nice, readable graphics and solid UI... I think this game also needs... magic. Beyond necromancers your dwarves are mundane as the rock they mine. It'd be cool if there were magic schools of different elements.

[@JustBuyTheWaywardsRealms]

Are you a fellow wizard?

[@Henryfordisright]

Sup

[@TruckTheDuck]

2:00 you're welcome

[@sparkwoodand21_com]

Him and his brother must have an amazing relationship.

[@benjiusofficial]

42:21 Dude... why? I didn't even need to hear the question. Just the tone of voice said 'This question is gonna be loaded with some bullshit.'

[@legendarydragoon]

Yea I was annoyed by the obviously loaded question as well, but I was really impressed with how well Tarn handled it. The guy is brilliant and creative, just let him create the world he wants to create without needlessly trying to bring real world issues into fantasy.

[@SquareNoggin]

For real, like he's got enough to worry about. I kinda thought this was the upside of making a medieval fantasy world in a game generally; you can kind of back away and go "hey man, these fantasy worlds are inspired by history and this is how it's been in our history as humans, your or my value judgements about that are kinda irrelevant" It seems an unfair expectation given how much of a minefield that whole topic is.

[@MrJonathanTeatime]

8:50 Tarn low-key dunking on minecraft.

[@Baleur]

0:30 DEREK

[@lkledu2]

6:30 it's always the aquaducts

[@katlynklassen809]

I don't game I am here to better understand the mind of God.

[@bsodcat]

The Terraria Developers need to watch this lol

[@drumstick4364]

0:58 MAAN

[@midnight_purple5461]

0:59

[@sebastianwardana1527]

says he doesnt know machine learning, programs behavior mimiking machine learning, just infinately more complex, if theres one guy who can help elon musk build skynet and our supposed second singularity, it is the guys who code dwarf fortress...

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

Dwarf fortress with machine learning would be terrifying.

[@SquareNoggin]

@@JarthenGreenmeadow Yeah I'd prefer these guys focus on making cool video gaming experiences than on ways to enslave us

[@stevenbong1553]

Wow what a waste of time and question about the gender of dwarfs….

[@television9233]

Agreed, imagine having to ask anything about the development of dwarf fortress and you waste it in a question that's not even worth the oxygen that was consumed.

[@ChimeratAlpha]

Purchased Asexual or Homosexual animals from a trader? ...There's a DFhack for that.