Tracy Poff (2094) on 6/18/2014 11:33 AM · Permalink · Report

The reason for the major version number update, probably, is that it went from just Mike Stephenson being responsible for releases to Mike Stephenson + others, which people call the DevTeam. If you want the details, you can look here. It looks to me like the biggest gameplay difference is the introduction of alignment and gods, which is a fairly big update, but not, in my opinion, a big enough difference for us to consider it a different game. The difference from 3.0 to 3.1 might even have been bigger than that from 2.3 to 3.0.

Argument for them being the same game: the same developer, Mike Stephenson, continues to be responsible for the game (albeit with some help); the changes in that version are not substantially bigger than the usual differences between minor (e.g. 3.0 to 3.1) revisions; 3.0 was surely considered by both the developers and the players to be simply the evolution of NetHack, and not a separate, new game.

Argument for them being separate games: there was a major version number change; some additional developers were added to the project; a couple of new mechanics were added (which has also happened in many minor version upgrades).

Indra was here (20755) on 6/21/2014 1:50 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Terok Nor wrote--]I would like to hear some concrete arguments first, not just people saying "yes, merge". What are the differences between the versions? What prompted the increase in major version numbering? [/Q --end Terok Nor wrote--] [1] Firstly, it's a rogue variant many games of which notoriously have a streak of updating its games, many of which resulting in little resemblance to the original game.

[2] Never really understood the reasoning for splitting games, since in today's world, minor updates is the equivalent to major updates 20 years ago. Graphical difference? Check. Gameplay difference? Check. Especially if said game is online, downloadable, or freeware.

Example. See ADOM Dos vs. Windows screenshots.

[3] There is nothing remotely distinctive about this entry, that warrants itself to be split. Release info is vague, hence you can't argue it's done by a different developer. Credits are non-existent, hence same reason. No screenshots, so we wouldn't know if there is a difference anyway.

The release info on the original Nethack argues said game would be better off being deleted, as there's barely enough info to warrant a merge. Well, with the exception of one trivia entry and one review.