Bay 12 Games Forum

  Dwarf Fortress
   Dwarf Fortress is an amazingly complex game. This becomes even more surprising when you discover that it is still a work-in-progress. It even defies simple categorization. Its two game modes play so differently they could be considered different games.
   The more popular, and more complete, "Dwarf Fortress" mode places the player in control of a new Dwarven outpost. You first choose a location for your fortress, then purchase equipment and skills for your starting seven dwarves. After they arrive, you must direct them in digging or building lodgings, farms, and a variety of workshops. There are a number of industries you can take advantage of, including cloth production, metal working, and glass making, limited only by the available resources. You must also provide food and drink, or you dwarves will eventually die of malnourishment. Yet another important consideration is keeping your dwarves happy, as an unhappy dwarf may throw a tantrum, possibly damaging property or injuring other dwarves. If a dwarf stays unhappy long enough, he or she can even succumb to one of several forms of insanity.
   In "Adventurer" mode, you play as a lone adventurer. Less refined than "Fortress" mode, this mode currently has no goals. However, you can wander the countryside, fighting various wild animals, exploring caves, talking to villagers, and occasionally dieing in amusing ways. The same combat system is used in both modes, but only in "Adventurer" mode can you make direct use of it. You can disarm your opponents, either by taking their weapon or removing their arm, break their joints, and even cause internal injuries that have realistic effects.
   What unites these radically different modes is the common world they are played in. Before you can play either "Adventurer" or "Fortress" mode, the game must generate a world. There are a number of options for customizing the world, but an element of randomness makes every game unique. First, the game generates terrain, places rivers, calculates erosion effects, and figures in rainfall and temperature to create a fairly realistic world. Then it places civilizations on the terrain, and simulates expansion and wars. Finally, if the necessary requirements are met, such as a playable civilization still existing, it saves the world and allows you to choose a game mode.
   For all of its values and interesting aspects, Dwarf Fortress still contains a couple of major flaws. Its depth and complexity lead to a steep learning curve, and its documentation is not as detailed as it could be. Also, instead of pictures or 3d models, in-game creatures and object are represented by colored ASCII characters. For example, a lowercase grey "c" represents a cat, but if it were dark red, it would represent a kitten, or if it were uppercase and yellow, it would represent a camel. However, there are plans to resolve these problems, although they will likely not get much attention in the near future. Despite these flaws, Dwarf Fortress is quite playable and enjoyable. Between the two game modes, Dwarf Fortress can easily provide hours of entertainment.