News Dwarf Fortress (yes, THAT one) is coming to Steam!

lashman

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just got a store page! :)


Prepare for the deepest, most intricate simulation of a world that has ever been created.


  • Not just generated geometry -- a whole simulated world. Generated rise and fall of civilizations, personalities, creatures, cultures, etc. Infinite hours of gameplay.
  • Now with graphics! (Optional ASCII mode available.)
  • Steam Workshop integration for easier modding
  • A lifetime “living” project - created/updated since 2003, with no end in sight
  • Generate your unique world and manage a bustling colony of dwarves, even as they probably mine towards their eventual demise.
  • Optional ADVENTURER MODE: explore the generated world as a single hero in an RPG
  • Optional LEGENDS MODE: read the history of the generated world and your games in it
  • A new endless hobby, just for you!


The legendary Dwarf Fortress is now on Steam! Build a fortress and try to help your dwarves survive, despite threats of starvation, dragons, and madness.



In this complex construction/management/roguelike simulation, every generated world brings a unique challenge, whether it’s dwarves with their own simulated personalities or aquifers. Observe what makes your civilization fall into eventual decline, and learn for next time… until something else inevitably goes wrong.

The combat model includes skills, body parts, material properties, aimed attacks, wrestling, pain, nausea, various poison effects, and much more.

It’s difficult to convey the depth of the generation. Hundreds of animals and monsters, many of which are randomly created for each world, as well as generated poetry, musical forms, instruments, and dances for your dwarves to practice and perform. A dynamic weather model tracks wind, humidity, and air masses to create fronts, clouds, storms, and blizzards. Over two hundred rock and mineral types can appear, in their proper geological environments.

Your purchase includes Dwarf Fortress Classic if you prefer to play without graphics or music or Steam-specific features, in the “classic” beta branch.

Remember: Losing is fun!



Nothing substantial is new or changed, under the hood. It’s still good old Dwarf Fortress, but with graphics support and music by default. A few bells and whistles won’t change that.

You may already be familiar with the tile set mod packs from Michał “Mayday” Madej and Patrick Martin “Meph” Schroeder. They’re collaborating on an all-new, from-scratch tileset, as seen in the trailer and screenshots. Meanwhile, Dabu has composed a few musical tracks, to match the seasons, and some other audio bits and pieces.



Command your dwarves as they search for wealth in their generated mountain. Your dwarves will need a steady supply of food and beer, but they’ll also need your guidance in surviving attacks from hostile civilizations, the wilderness, or even the dead.

  • Craft treasures and furnitures from various materials
  • Establish a barony and support the increasingly demanding nobility
  • Read your dwarves’ thoughts to keep them happy
  • Build floodgates to divert water for farming, and/or prevent magma mishaps
  • Build structures and watch your dwarves discover and build their culture, like taverns, libraries, temples, honey, wax, pottery, animal training, bookbinding, and more.


Choose a sentient race from your generated world (usually dwarf, human, or elf, but potentially goblin or animal person) and quest for glory.. Or seek vengeance.

  • Recruit people to join you on your journey
  • Explore without cumbersome plot restrictions, from capitals to catacombs, labyrinths to bandit camps.
  • The original nemesis system: Meet adversaries from the previous games
  • Earn a reputation as a hero, soldier, thug, musician, etc, with various civilizations
  • Stealth system with vision arcs, respecting vegetation density and other factors
  • Use signs like shoe impressions and animal tracks to hunt and avoid danger
  • Steal a mummy’s treasure or learn forbidden secrets from a necromancer’s tower
  • Visit your retired fortresses and meet your old dwarves -- even ask them to join you!



  • The original inspiration for RimWorld, Prison Architect, Minecraft and more.
  • One of the first video games acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York
  • Updated for over 16 years by two brothers, Tarn “Toady One” and Zach “Threetoe” Adams
With the goal of simulating all of existence, Bay 12 estimates they’re only about 42% done.
 
Last edited:

KainXVIII

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Dwarf Fortress contains detailed descriptions of violence, and 2D sprites inflicting violence on each other. The dwarves also drink alcohol heavily, and alcohol consumption is required for a fortress to run smoothly. Dwarves can experience mental anguish, and in extreme cases this can lead to them taking their own lives or the lives of others.
:steam_pigblanket:
 
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lashman

lashman

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From the Kitfox (publisher) newsletter:

Dwarf Fortress??! :O
Hey sword smoochers, cultists, and moon hunters! We're interrupting your regularly scheduled Boyfriend Dungeon love letters (don't worry, they're still coming) to let you know that we're going to be publishing a truly legendary game to Steam and itch.io!

Please welcome the Dwarf Fortress to the Kitfox den... now with graphics! Dwarf Fortress is famous for being continually updated for over 16 years by two brothers and is considered a lifetime "living" project, with the goal to simulate the universe, including civilizations, magic, etc. It's of such cultural importance, it's been featured in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It's inspired tons of other world-generators, like Minecraft, Terraria, RimWorld, and more.

The Kitfox-published version of the game will include integrated Steam Workshop support, so you can finally dip your toes into the infinite possibilities. And Steam workshop! Hopefully all worth the new price tag (though still available for free, without the fancy additions, from the dev.)

We're so, so, so, so (I guess I should stop at 4) jazzed to be working with Bay 12 Games on this, and help them reach more people. Seriously. We've been waiting to hit the send button this email for months. And then we did!

Well, first we pushed the teaser trailer live. THEN we pushed send. Then you got this email! Finally! We did it. (Yes, you totally wanted that play by play of my email sending process.)


Why are you publishing this?
Well, our Captain Tanya is friends with Tarn, and they've worked together on other things (PAX panels, textbook editing, etc.), so they feel they can trust each other. Plus Dwarf Fortress deserves to reach as many people as it can, even if that means it needs graphics and some publishing assistance. For more details, like what's going on with the old ASCII Dwarf Fortress Classic, check out our FAQ.

And/or, you can also ask Tarn your questions directly at the AMA's he'll be hosting on Reddit tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Boyfriend Dungeon is still coming along (see you at PAX East..?) and Six Ages is well on its way to a release in late spring/early summer. :)

Lots of exciting things happening! I can't stop using exclamation marks! Come chat about this on Twitter and Discord! Wow! Wow!!!

See you around,
Victoria and the Kitfox fortress
 
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Madventure

The Angel of Deaf
Nov 17, 2018
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Oh my god! I just wish it was being put up for happier reasons!
I've tried so many times to play Dwarf Fortress and felt like an idiot every time because I could never get going in it even with tutorials and stuff I will totally grab this
 

KenOD

MetaMember
Oct 25, 2018
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Always a game I appreciate for existing, but I'll never be able to play it for more than 30 minutes before wishing I was playing something else.

Glad it exists, it'll make a nice random gift to people.
 

Ex-User (307)

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Dec 11, 2018
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It was hilarious. Thanks.
Really tempted to try Rimworld as a gentler first step.
RimWorld is really, really, really good, but make no mistake, it's still pretty tough to figure out at first! It's worth it, but people certainly bounce off of it.

I think RimWorld is worth playing in the interim to DF's release anyways since it has a slightly different theme (sci-fi).
 
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lashman

lashman

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Cool, as most I was always curious about it but not to the point of actually messing with it and adding graphics and stuff so releasing it in a neat package like this might get me to finally give it a proper try.
same
 

EdwardTivrusky

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Dec 8, 2018
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Be aware, it's reputation for being tough is warranted. However, once it clicks it's a creative sandbox of Dwarfy misery and chaos and mayhem and frustration and despair and sometimes satisfaction. It has never clicked for me but the community and tutorials are fantastic.

It's another game that isn't quite for me but i am so glad exists and i have enjoyed the game vicariously through other players for years so i almost have a duty to buy it just to say thanks to the mad bastards.
 
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lashman

lashman

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Also why I stay away from Eve Online. That and I'm not sure I could do indepth with ASCII, so maybe this will be what gets to to take a look
but Eve Online is just Excel with prettier UI ;)
 

prudis

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The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
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Hi again!

We released the last standalone Classic DF patch at the end of February, and therefore: the code work on DF Premium (AKA the Steam version) is underway! The artists have sent me their work to this point, and now my first job is to get them a test version they can use to improve existing tiles and add new ones.

Since Dwarf Fortress's display to this point has just been a uniform grid, the initial step was to rework the innards so that we can display multiple tile grids of different sizes or whatever else we need. This is done now. Next I'm implementing the first pass list of the hundreds of identifiers the artists will be using to plug their work into the game.

There won't be anything new to show for a while still, but it was exciting to see the larger graphical grid displaying some grass and stone underneath the existing menus, rather than by itself as in the trailer. Like, welcome to 1987 or something, I know, ha ha, but this is going to be pretty cool. There's always some iffiness in dealing with technical hurdles, rather than the more straightforward work of updating existing content, so this is good from the standpoint of removing uncertainties as well.

- Tarn



Hello!

Okay, now I can show you what I meant about the graphical improvements last time instead of trying to explain in words, ha ha.

For reference, here is a hillside in Classic DF:


This is a cutaway view at one altitude. This view has been pretty confusing for new players. All you need to know is that it's a grid of uniform size, and the upward triangles are ramps. Dwarves can walk up those to the next highest level.

Here is a similar view in Dwarf Fortress Premium. First off, you can see the new graphical tiles displaying alongside the old to-be-updated interface instructions.


Our work from last time got us away from the Classic's DF uniform text grid. The artists have done a great job with preparing shadows and shading to indicate that those ramps go up, and not down. For any of its faults, the upward triangles did give us that, and now we have it here. We'll do some additional work later on in the process that further bolsters the three dimensionality of the game.



The ramp situations can get pretty complicated! There are still some shadows and situations to patch up, but it's going well. In the second image there, you can see some brown jasper gems in the lower wall, and some hematite ore striping the upper wall at one spot.

But that's not all we've been working on:


This is a small fort with a carpenter's workshop, log pile, and constructed block wall outside. Inside, we have a mason's workshop with a stone stockpile, some doors placed, a metalsmith's forge under construction, and a larger meeting hall. The dwarves have smoothed the walls in the meeting hall - they generally like smoothed stone better when it comes to the value they place on their bedrooms and so forth. By the end, the smoothed stone color will match the surrounding stone.

Here are some domesticated animals by a pool of water.


The artists are still way ahead of me, but I'll keep working to support all of their creations. The process continues!

- Tarn