a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by zebra2
zebra2  ·  1513 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski, February 5, 2020

Dwarf Fortress is a roguelike-inspired fantasy world simulator. That is, it procedurally generates a whole world with civilizations, monsters, religions, instruments, individuals, wars and history et cetera et cetera. The player then interacts with this world. There are two game modes, but it is most known for fortress mode in which the player directs a starting population of seven dwarves to inhabit a small area of the world and do whatever. You could say it's akin to Minecraft in that sense, which has cited DF as an influence.

DF has been in development for 13 years continuously, programmed by one person who does this full time via donations. He has said it will be his life's work. It's remarkable for it's unparalleled depth. For example, DF is anatomically detailed down to bones cartilage and nervous tissue, and combat between two creatures is a simulation of the material properties of the weapon being used against said organs and parts. That sort of depth is present in pretty much every facet of the game. Oh, and it's in ASCII. Currently, alpha version 0.47.01 is out.





kingmudsy  ·  1513 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Worth mentioning that it's going on Steam before too long because the brothers needed money for medical expenses.

If you decide to get into it now, download the "Lazy Newb Pack," a launcher for the game made by fans that includes some helpful utilities for getting started (as well as a tiles system that makes the game easier to look at for people who don't like interpreting ASCII).