What gamedevs can learn from Dwarf Fortress?
The inspiration
Three out of four (as of the moment of writing, the fourth part is not freely available yet) parts of the Dwarf Fortress documentary are a must-watch if you like solo gamedevs.
What can be learned?
The first versions of Dwarf Fortress remind me of the following picture:
The game started with an ASCII-made user interface. Then, it slowly improved and improved. But still, it was working from the very beginning, it just wasn’t pretty (debatable!). Graphics were added later.
It’s the same way Breath of the Wild was prototyped—they started with an NES version to check certain mechanics before moving to 3D.
These are blueprints on how to improve your game before working on making your game pretty. An experienced developer would be capable of doing his project’s structure in a way that would allow him to work on all aspects of the game in parallel. 😉
Of course, it would be ideal to do all that in less than 20 years.
So… what is the skateboard version of your game?
Dwarf Fortress is a GOAT contender for me. Been playing on-and-off for nearly fifteen years and I totally agree with your framing of its evolution. It might be the most iterated-upon video game in the history of the medium. I also highly recommend the Noclip docs, as well as the interview they did with Tarn back in 2020.
Also loved the comparison to BotW's development — Nintendo has never lost its laser-focus on excellent core gameplay design, which I think is coming into sharper relief these days as most other major publishers shift their priorities elsewhere.