Z-dimension

[willow512]

Are there any plans to go into the Z dimension in Rimworld? It'd give some interesting building options.

[Produno]

I remember Tynan stating its a mammoth of a task and would take huge amounts of though and complications to implement, so im guessing not, or at least any where in the near future.

[Robitski]

I thought he said it was possible, but it would only become a possibility in the beta stage of the game. I'm not sure how it would work out though... Digging underground would be cool, I guess, but then again you could also build upwards, giving new defense possibilities that might un-balance the game.

Well, when modding becomes popular somebody will probably make it into a mod : P

[Galileus]

After (imho) mediocre Towns and Gnomoria I actually like the no-z approach of RimWorld. It allows much more focus and removes a lot of frustration with your pawns getting lost on some edge while building walls around their house and so on. It allows the story to take focus and improves the game over all. I'm a big fan of Z-axis in 3D games, but I prefer my isometrics with little of it.

[Sky_walker]

After (imho) mediocre Towns and Gnomoria I actually like the no-z approach of RimWorld. It allows much more focus and removes a lot of frustration with your pawns getting lost on some edge while building walls around their house and so on. It allows the story to take focus and improves the game over all. I'm a big fan of Z-axis in 3D games, but I prefer my isometrics with little of it.

Totally agreed. I see no reason to add Z-axis. Game can be equally interesting without it.

[willow512]

Sure the game can be interesting, but the colonies will never match the intricacy of a dwarven fortress. And you can say about gnomoria and towns what you like but people have created some brilliantly good looking structures there.

I personally think a 2 or 3 level building would be nice. But if not, then it's still a great game. I just wanted to know what the status was, so thanks for the update.

[AspenShadow]

This is what Tynan has said previously on the topic of Z-levels:
"I am afraid that there is basically no way a modder would ever be able to mod Z-axis into the game. It is a beast of a feature. Here's some basic issues you'd have to handle:

-Pathfinding
-Lighting spilling over Z-levels
-Save/load of a geometrically larger amount of stuff (e.g. 200x200 map = 40k squares, 200x200x10 = 400k squares!)
-Line of sight for shooting
-AI tactical analysis of shooting lines of sight etc
-Cover usefullness varying at vertical angles
-Interface for moving through Z-levels
-Rendering visible lower Z-levels while being on higher ones

I could go on and on... Anyway, there is tons to do in RimWorld, my general thought is that the best cost/benefit move is to leave Z-levels to Towns, DF, Gnomoria, Stonehearth, and all those other games and focus on what RimWorld is really uniquely about: AI Storyteller, tactical AI, and so on.

So that's another way of explaining why I'm not planning Z-levels soon."

While he says that it may be possible further down the line, I suggest you take that with a pinch of salt.
If it happens it will be a long way down the line.