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Dwarf Fortress - Written by Isabelle
By: Optimalcynicist Date: July 8, 2019, 8:52 pm
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So, Dwarf Fortress, eh? What can I say that hasn’t already been
said… Not much, but I can at least give my own opinion of the
game; especially since it’s coming to steam within the next
decade! That last part’s a joke, I hope. Just a disclaimer, this
whole segment is going to be quite long as I have quite the
opinion of the game and how it’s progressed over the years, as
well as where I hope it goes and the current state of the
project.
Of course, as a further disclaimer, all of what I’m writing here
is my own opinion! But I would love it if you would form your
own opinion by going to
HTML http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
and
playing the game for yourself. Don’t be afraid of the ASCII.
It’s there as a rite of passage! Throughout this piece, I will
be sprinkling links and sources to various mods and tutorials
for you to follow if you’re interested in playing this game, but
without further ado, let’s dive right in!
Dwarf Fortress is a game about managing a fortress of Dwarves.
Sounds simple enough, right? Well, what about when you add a
dash of emotions, a few drops of invading enemy forces and a
splash of chaos? Things don’t go so well!
The beginning
Dwarf Fortress wasn’t always such an immersive simulation of a
game. At one point it was simply 2d and flat. Most of the moving
cogs which make up today’s game were but a sparkle in the eye of
the developer: Toady1, aka Tarn Adams.
[center]
HTML https://tracetcg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Trace_news_team_pfp.lnk_-600x281.png[/center]
[center]Lovingly taken from
HTML https://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Update%201-2/[/center]
As you can see from above, there wasn’t much else to do other
than dig into the side of the mountain. Or, what resembled a
mountain. Nowadays, we have a full 3d experience where we can
dig up and down or build monuments to different gods. Before all
of it was just this. Despite only having two dimensions, this
captured people’s imaginations!
For example, a type of “let’s play” sprung up around Dwarf
Fortress called a “Succession Fortress”. This involved several
people playing as the fortress’s overseer for a few in-game
months at a time. Once each person’s time was up, they would
save the game and hand it off to the next person, then write up
about what happened during their time. These write-ups were
usually in the form of diary posts of the non-existent overseer.
Now, you must be asking, why? Well, it’s fun! Obviously fun is
subjective, but for most of the people who played Dwarf Fortress
at the time, it was amazingly fun to see what sort of
shenanigans the previous overseer would get up to during their
time in office. For example, one overseer might start work on
the barracks, which would later be scrapped in favor of a
storeroom by a later overseer. There was no way of knowing what
was going to happen!
The most notorious of these Succession Fortresses is called
Boatmurdered. This fortress can be summed up in a small
selection of words: “Oh god, so many elephants!”
Boatmurdered started off like any other fortress, with the
dwarves digging into the wall and wondering why there were just
so many elephants milling about. But soon enough, it became
clear as to why there were… they were plotting! Slowly, the
fortress developed, and more and more migrants would make their
way into the fortress, allowing it to grow and prosper. A few
deaths occurred here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary
for a healthy fortress.
Quickly though, they had dug too deep and too greedily. Demons
had flooded from the depths to try and lay waste to the dwarves!
Thankfully they were quickly repelled, and life went on as
normal… for a time.
[center]
HTML https://tracetcg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Picture1-600x449.png[/center]
[center]Eventually, the Fortress ended up like this…[/center]
Soon after, as siege appeared full of goblins! Then monkeys!
Then Goblins again; trying to steal children! Then… well, the
most obvious thing happened… the bookkeeper went mad.
Since you would only really be playing for a maximum of several
hours, it was quite easy to play in multiple Succession
Fortresses at a time, increasing the playability of what, at the
time, was a rather linear game.
You’ll care for this little guy more than your family!
Another thing which was attractive to gamers at the time was
that, while the game was in ASCII (which you can see in the
picture), Tarn made sure to make the world as detailed as
possible (at the time). So, while a Dwarf was simply a character
on the screen, they would have basic emotions, have fey moods
(which ended in varying levels of horror) and have different
likes and dislikes. This only expanded the possibilities; people
became attached to their dwarves and didn’t want them to become
hurt.
Because of this, whole stories were created around those dwarves
which had defied all odds and stood out amongst the rest as
shining examples of what a Dwarf should be!
The main example of this is Tholtig Momuzidek Lelumdorn, or
Tholtig Cryptbrain, the Waning Diamonds!
To preface, there’s a mode in Dwarf Fortress called Legends
mode. Legends mode allows the player to see what almost every
single Non-Player-Character has done within their world.
Now, Tholtig wasn’t a normal dwarf. Well, she was at first, but
due to tragedy, she would go on to hold the record (and still
does) for the most sentient warriors slain by a single dwarf.
In the end, she racked up two thousand three hundred and
forty-one kills. While I do not have the words to give justice
to Tholtig, the original post does.
HTML http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=42702.0.
Suffice to say, many more Legends Mode stories exist and are
just waiting to be read!
Of course, that’s just one side of the story, so to speak.
During the years in development, Tarn has made great strides to
add features into the game which the community wanted. For
instance, he stopped a bug where animals could rent rooms in the
fortress. He then went on to add cat butchery. Then in 2012, he
made it so undead cats could adopt dwarves! How thoughtful.
These “bugs” only really show up in the game due to the complex
mess which is Dwarf Fortress. Take “Cats dying for no reason –
alcohol poisoning?” as an example. The reason why cats were
dying to alcohol poisoning is due to them walking through
alcohol, which is a liquid in the game, and getting covered in
it. The cats would then go on and clean themselves, thus
becoming unwittingly drunk. This would continue until the cat
dies.
These quotes sum up this bug feature: “Gotta say I don’t mind
the drunken brawls – they’re kind of funny – but the cat
massacre I could do without.” And “It was like the cat was
drinking an entire mug of beer (which would likely kill it).”
The mixture between the game mechanics working together
(oftentimes unintended) and the human mind can make even the
most mundane time with the game blossom into a glorious tale of
cats becoming drunk and getting into brawls with crafts-dwarves!
Another unintended side effect of the various mechanics of the
game is that players have become ever increasingly inventive
with how they solve the various problems. Since the game left
the realm of 2d and transitioned into 3d, the added complexity
has actually opened up a whole new world of inventions!
Essentially, there are five layers to any map which is created
and played on. The overworld, which is the top level. Digging
down far enough we’ll come to the first cavern level, then the
second and finally the third cavern level. Just under the third
cavern, we’ll find the magma sea and connecting “Clown Circus”!
[s]Spoilers[/s]
Now, have you ever wanted to spew magma over your enemies? I’ll
assume you said yes. Some players also had the same idea and
developed the Pump Stack, a method of bringing magma all the way
from the sea and onto land. All it takes is one dwarf, or
mechanical power, to pump it up and cover the landscape with
fun!
Another invention which players had created was called the
“Flamethrower Bunker”. This involves trapping a dragon in a
cage, which isn’t an easy feat as dragons are typically
trap-proof, then release it into a sealed bunker. This ends up
with any invaders being roasted by the said dragon.
A less toasty, and less intensive, invention is simply a
greenhouse. Digging out the top layer of dirt will allow any
above-ground crops to be grown below ground (if they’re in the
sunlight). A layer of glass can protect dwarves if invaders
arrive. This is as simple as it gets, but it shows how people
can imagine different inventions, despite the minimalistic
graphics!
I’ve been talking a lot about how the game used to be, but not a
lot of how the game actually played and I’d like to remedy this.
This section will go over what happens when you start a new
game. If you’re still reading this and you’re intrigued, then
great, let’s go!
When starting the game up, we’re greeted with an upbeat and
rather happy sounding movie. Despite not having played the game,
we’re shown what to expect throughout the game, what with
dwarves fighting, mining and well, dying.
“Don’t worry, he’s okay… kind of…”
[center]
HTML https://tracetcg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Picture3.png[/center]
This is important as it sets the theme of the game. No matter
what you do, some of your dwarves will die. This is inevitable.
But don’t worry, that’s all part of the !!FUN!!.
Upon choosing a new location to embark on, you’re given seven
different dwarves. Each of these dwarves will have lived their
simulated lives up until this point; each of these can be found
in Legends mode. The details of which will vary depending on
what they did and how famous they are.
At this point, you’re given the option to outfit your dwarves
with various equipment. You’re also able to choose the dwarves
skills from a list. This is done by buying the equipment and
skills with points. You can also save these loadouts for future
embarks.
Afterwards, you are placed down in the world, at the location
you’ve chosen to embark on, and will be left to fend for
yourself.
[center]
HTML https://tracetcg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Picture4-600x328.png[/center]
This is the embark I had chosen. As you can see, I chose a
location with a stream as well as lots of flat land for my
dwarves to farm and potentially flood with magma!
From here, we have any number of options. We can cut down trees,
which are multi-level and will explode in a shower of logs (be
careful, some of them might bludgeon your dwarf’s head in), we
could mine into the side of the mountain, or we could set some
dwarves up to fish and gather food.
This brings us nicely into the realm of graphics; namely ASCII.
I’m well aware that some people dislike this design, and
although I’m not one of them, I can see why people have this
opinion. I personally believe it helps to inspire creativity and
while it takes some time to get used to, seeing a “d” next to
“g” with red “~”, will simply translate to a goblin has just
bludgeoned a dog on sand.
It wouldn’t be a discussion about graphics without mentioning
the UI. In fairness, the UI can be a bit pants. It relies a lot
on memorizing the key-binds and combination of keys required to
build a specific thing. But, once you get it down, you’ll find
yourself remembering that d-b-d will let you designate items for
dumping, or that d-d will let you designate where dwarves should
mine.
The UI has been the same since the game was first created and at
this time, it’s not on the list to really be changed. Despite
this, the gameplay doesn’t particularly suffer, especially once
you remember the different key-binds!
[center]
HTML https://tracetcg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Picture5-600x286.png[/center]
Left: Mayday’s pack. Right: Obsidian Tileset.
Now, for those who still wish to not play due to the ASCII
graphics, there are numerous graphics packs out there that can
change up the appearance of the game! For example, here are two
different examples of graphics packs side by side:
These packs are in addition to hundreds of different ones which
can be found here:
HTML http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.34:Graphics_set_repository
Graphics aren’t the only parts of the game which can be modified
to your heart’s desire. Wish for a harder game? Well, the
Fortress Defence mod has you covered! It adds ten new hostile
civilizations which will want to knock down your doors!
Wish you could research and create even greater weapons than
what’s in the game? Awesome! Masterwork Dwarf Fortress has you
covered! Not only does this give you a greater amount of
freedom, but the mod can allow you to play as Orcs, or even
Kobolds if you desire!
But, in the end, it’s your choice whether to play Dwarf
Fortress. I can only give my honest opinion about the game, as
well as portray some of the history which makes the game so
famous among pc gaming It’s no wonder Polygon ranked Dwarf
Fortress #24 on its list of 500 best games of all time!
In my opinion, this is a game that everyone should play. Not
only because I say so, but because if you don’t you’ll be
missing out on one of the best games ever made!
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and I wholeheartedly implore
you to go and download the game!
[center]Written By TCG Isabelle[/center]
[center]To view story on our official website go to
HTML https://tracetcg.com/dwarf-fortress-with-tcg-isabelle/[/center]
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