Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 5

Author Topic: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?  (Read 8426 times)

knaveightt

  • Bay Watcher
  • "Safe Gambler"
    • View Profile
What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« on: March 27, 2014, 09:41:53 am »

Hello! I must be new here...  ::)

I've been dabbling with dwarfs for the past year now, but more recently have decided to *really* start getting into the [fantastic] game. Tried to get my mates into it as well; many of them just slam into the cliff face of the learning curve. I kindof enjoy that..

The very few that do stick with it. Well, really the other ONE person I know that is more enthusiastic about diving into DF, was a friend I used to play some rogue-likes with. Got me wondering, what was your gateway game/activity/internet escapade that ultimately got you into DF? Perhaps you just stumbled into the game hopelessly unaware? Found one of a thousand LPs online? Maybe you wish the world was represented in ASCII?

I was an avid Nethack fan. Gradually moved over to dcss, then found this crazy "Dwarf Fortress" thing with adventure mode. Played adventure mode -> pretty cool -> tried fortress mode -> WTF!? > understood z-levels -> WTFFF!?!? Awesome.

How about you?
Logged

YvAd

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2014, 01:32:15 pm »

Saw a couple graphics about the difficulty and hilarity of it online, then started playing it. A lot i haven't even tried yet, mostly power and dwarf computing wise.
Logged
In the newest version, vampires deny being vampires. Try face-stabbing instead.

dreadmullet

  • Bay Watcher
  • Inadequate Comedian
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2014, 01:41:15 pm »

It was a series of game diaries on Rock, Paper, Shotgun that finally inspired me to dive into the game. It's a tale of someone running one of their first forts, interwoven with hilarious writing. Along with making me laugh way too hard, the things he was describing made me go, "Wait, what? You can actually do all of this in a game?", so I had to check it out.
Logged

Witty

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2014, 03:29:09 pm »

Alpha minecraft and dcss
Logged
Quote from: Toady One
I understand that it is disappointing when a dwarf makes a spiked loincloth instead of an axe.

Remuthra

  • Bay Watcher
  • I live once more...
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2014, 03:38:55 pm »

I watched some footage of it from One-F Jef.

Zaerosz

  • Bay Watcher
  • ☼sperm whale leather thong☼
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2014, 04:24:08 pm »

I read Syrupleaf.
Logged
くコ:彡

NAV

  • Bay Watcher
  • I have an idea!
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2014, 05:01:51 pm »

I watched some footage of it from One-F Jef.
This. Then I read Boatmurdered. Then I played DF.
Logged
Highmax…dead, flesh torn from him, though his skill with the sword was unmatched…military…Nearly destroyed .. Rhunorah... dead... Mastahcheese returns...dead. Gaul...alive, still locked in combat. NAV...Alive, drinking booze....
The face on the toaster does not look like one of mercy.

Beast Tamer

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2014, 07:43:14 pm »

First I heard about it on TVtropes, dug a little deeper, read the whole page about it, got interested, downloaded the game, then lost my first fort to a beserk miner. I haven't stopped loving it since.
Logged
There is currently a minor problem in that the veteran demons fighting in the corpse factory have failed to die in the 2 year battle and have become legendary unkillable gods of war. I may have misjudged this possible outcome.

Jalapeño Cheesepuffs

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2014, 07:57:52 pm »

Back in '08 when I was a young'n, I came across it on the freeware software list on apple.com. Didn't really get into it until at least '10, when I started reading some things about it. It definitely left an impression when I first saw it, though.
Logged
"The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr. Brain has long since departed"

-Edmund Blackadder

StupidElves

  • Bay Watcher
  • I coveted that wind, I suppose.
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2014, 09:46:39 pm »

Read about it on TV Tropes when I was reading a list of Nintendo Hard games.
Logged
Accidentally made over 5000 copper maces once. I have no idea how that happened.

GENERATION 29:
The first time you see this, copy it into your signature on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

r_sarvas

  • Escaped Lunatic
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2014, 09:52:07 pm »

For me, it was the 2010 BoingBoing article on how a Turing Machine was created in-game...

http://boingboing.net/2010/04/15/colossal-turing-mach.html

One look at the screen shot in the article was all it took - I've been hooked ever since.
Logged

DG

  • Bay Watcher
  • Pull the Lever
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #11 on: March 28, 2014, 02:52:23 am »

I was looking for free games and playing random rogue-likes. I played ADOM for a while and lost my ascii virginity to it, but it was pretty boring and didn't hold my attention for long. I kept searching and came across DF, I don't remember where, and we've lived happily ever after. Whenever I reflect on what it is now, compared to the 2D version I first played, I am amazed.
Logged

Tawa

  • Bay Watcher
  • the first mankind all over the world
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #12 on: March 28, 2014, 09:44:18 am »

Step One: I got Minecraft.
Step Two: Looked up Minecraft on wikipedia.
Step Three: Go to the DF link at the bottom of the page.
Step Four: Go to the DF site.
Step Five: A few months later, DF time.
Step Six: Look back on how boring Minecraft was.
Logged
I don't use Bay12 much anymore. PM me if you need to get in touch with me and I'll send you my Discord handle.

Talvieno

  • Bay Watcher
  • Hello, Death. How's life?
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2014, 09:49:49 am »

I'm actually not entirely sure.

In the Internet circles I frequented, you always heard little mentions of it here and there: people would talk in whispers about the difficulties or majesties of Dwarf Fortress, while others would say they wish they could play. Still others would talk about how it was the best game they'd ever played, but they were always brief, nondescriptive comments that didn't really leave me hungering for more. Finally, I found it on the Minecraft entry in Wikipedia, noted as a game Notch supposedly tried to copy when he made Minecraft - but failed. As anyone who knows of Notch's work knows, the man has never made an original thing in his life, so for there to be something he had unsuccessfully tried to create... that had my attention.

Unfortunately, not for long. I downloaded the game, started it up, and was beset by what seemed a psychedelic array of random colors and symbols (ASCII), and I couldn't make one thing from the next. As a result, I became convinced that it was just an inside joke and not actually a "modern game", abandoning the attempt. (Ironically, when I first played Minecraft, I also thought I was being pranked, that it was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen, and abandoned it for a year or so until prompted by someone to give it a second shot. Now I'm back to thinking it's pretty dumb. :P)

Later, however... Something brought me to Boatmurdered. I don't know what it was, I don't know where it was, and I don't know who it was, or if there even was a "who". I began skeptically: "Oh, this is that game, the one that's the inside joke, but who cares, I'm bored and don't really have anything else to do." And as anyone who's read Boatmurdered knows... it leaves you wanting to play the game.

So I did.

Cue digging into a murky pool from the side because I thought it was some sort of gems and didn't understand z-levels, which then turned out to be water. I was convinced my dwarves were drowning to death and abandoned the attempt in panic. This was followed by a "mighty" year-old fortress in the "sky" (read: on a hilly plateau with 2z+ slopes) that was eventually swarmed by goblins (read: they went up the slopes I'd built my walls around because I didn't understand z-levels). My third fort lasted longer, primarily because I'd finally adopted a graphics pack and had discovered z-levels and how to use them to my advantage... and from there, as I drafted everyone sloppily into a military to fend off a goblin ambush, and died a horrible, horrible death from a tantrum spiral... I was hooked.

so... I'm one of the few people who learned to play by throwing themselves into it, rather than the wiki, forums, or tutorials.
It was a bloody mess.
And it was glorious.

Step Six: Look back on how boring Minecraft was.
Aye. That it was.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2014, 12:14:49 pm by Talvieno »
Logged
Quote from: Mr Frog
Talvieno ... seems to be able to smash out novella-length tales on demand

g2knee

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: What was your gateway to Dwarf Fortress?
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2014, 11:52:05 am »

Boatmurdered.  Hook, line, and sinker.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 5