What is Dwarf Fortress?
Dwarf Fortress is a single-player "ASCII" game (uses letters and other symbols to represent creatures and objects) which includes both a roguelike adventure mode, and the more popular Dwarf Fortress Mode, which focuses on the creation and survival of a small dwarven settlement.
Dwarf Fortress has a very steep learning curve, partly due to its ASCII graphics, but also due to the fact that it is one of the most complex games ever released.
The first alpha version of Dwarf Fortress was released on the 8th of August 2006 after nearly 4 years of development (which began in October of 2002).
Note that while Dwarf Fortress is technically still in the alpha stage of development, it is fully playable, and definitely enjoyable.
Dwarf Fortress is developed by Tarn Adams with help from his brother Zach. Tarn Adams declared the game his life's work and said he expects another 20 years before it will be complete. Development is supported solely through donations, and contributors receive either short stories or crayon drawings as thank-yous from the developers.
System Requirements
Windows requires XP SP3 or newer.
Linux runs natively or using Wine.
Mac needs Intel chip.
Beefy CPU recommended
Where can I get it?
Dwarf Fortress is free and you can download it from the Bay 12 Games: Dwarf Fortress pagehere.
Dwarf Fortress Starter Pack
Game Modes
Fortress Mode - the more popular of two modes of gameplay in Dwarf Fortress, with the other mode being Adventure mode. It is often the mode implied when one talks about Dwarf Fortress. In fortress mode, you pick an embark location, and then assign your seven initial dwarves some starting skills, equipment, provisions, and animals to bring along. After preparations are complete and your hardy explorers embark, they'll be faced with the fortress site you picked down to every little detail, from geologically appropriate stone types to roaring waterfalls to ornery hippopotami. Rather than control individual dwarves, you design everything and your dwarves will go about implementing your designs on their own.
Adventurer Mode - also called Adventure Mode. Create a single adventurer (dwarf, human, or elf) who starts out somewhere in one of your generated worlds. You can receive quests, venture into the wilderness to find caves, shrines, lairs, abandoned towers, and other towns and settlements. You can even visit your abandoned fortresses and find whatever riches were left to be guarded by the creatures that sealed their fate.
Legends Mode - one of the three main methods of interacting with an already generated world. You cannot start Legends mode (or Fortress or Adventurer mode) until you create a new world. Legends Mode allows you to inspect the history of a world. Many players choose to design a world where the option Reveal all history is set to YES. However, if you set the option to NO, then the the vast majority of the world's history will be hidden from Legends mode, and only uncovered by brave adventurers. In fact, there are many ways for an adventurer to uncover the past. Talk to people in civilized sites and they will tell you of their families, surroundings and local histories. Past events can also be found by viewing coins or items with images, or by visiting abandoned fortresses and viewing the engraved tiles within. You don't have to have an adventure or fortress game active in order to use legend mode. Some players simply enjoy Legends mode for the option of looking at the interactive historical map, or to read about the last time their favorite kingdom went to war, or for the ability to export lists of all the sites and governments active in the world.
Gameplay
This section will explain some of the many gameplay elements in Dwarf Fortress.
World Generation - to begin playing Dwarf Fortress, you must first create a world to play in.
Mining - an essential part of building a fort in Dwarf Fortress. There are several reasons you might want to mine, such as searching for various stone types, ores and gems, or simply to create the basic tunnels and rooms in your fort. Mining refers to either the skill that performs mining, the labor associated with it, or simply the task or job of performing said labor.
Workshops - where materials are processed by dwarves into more valuable or useful items.
Military - one of the most important aspects of a successful fortress. Even with many traps, drawbridges and other defenses, your military will still need to fend off goblin sieges, megabeasts, titans, and fiendish underground beasties. Using a combination of squad orders and scheduling, you can set up an elaborate offensive, defensive, or balanced military structure for your well-equipped soldiers to follow. Turning your dwarves from useless migrants into bloodthirsty killing machines never hurts (unless you're the enemy).
Farming - the act of growing crops for food, alcohol production and cloth manufacturing. While small forts can easily be sustained by plant gathering, hunting and trading, farming is vital to large settlements.
Alcohol - the favored drink of the dwarves; a dwarf will drink booze an average of four times per season to satisfy their thirst, and although they can subsist on water, without booze they will work increasingly slowly. Dwarves like to have some variety in what they drink, and will garner a bad thought if they are forced to drink the same variety of drink repeatedly ("has been tired of drinking the same old booze lately"). Every dwarf likewise has preferences for various types of drinks, starting hidden and then appearing as each type of drink becomes known to your fortress. Thus alcohol is important both for maintaining your fortress (at a minimum) and (with some investment in variety) for keeping your dwarves happy.
Nobles - dwarves appointed to office and rule over your fortress. They can make demands and set mandates which get in the way of the running of your fort, and get upset that other dwarves have nice rooms, but can also serve vital managerial roles. At least some of them.
Sieges - large scale assaults on your fortress by other civilizations, normally goblins and necromancers. They are usually announced with the message screen "A vile force of darkness has arrived!" (the message screen differs depending on the attacking race, the previous one is for goblins), and the main screen shows the "SIEGE" tag along the top for the duration.
Links
Bay 12 Games
Dwarf Fortress File Depot
Dwarf Fortress Stories
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