I happened upon this game the other day.... you'll need the Lazy Newb pack to actually make any visual sense of the screen...

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=59026.0

It includes the game.


Basically, you generate a world complete with a history, then you locate a site, get your expeditionary dwarves and items together, then go and build a fortress.

It's insanely difficult, the learning curve extends somewhere past God's left nipple... but it's absolutely hilarious. Literally... anything... can happen!

If anyone is looking to see what kind of things can happen in the game I would recommend looking up BoatMurdered. It is a forum's Let's Play filled with the kind of evil that only internet folks can think up.

But this game is damn hard to learn, so many different menus and buttons to press and so much detail on the screen that is hard to work out. Watching a few tutorials on Youtube or reading the wikis tutorial will be a great help to anyone looking to get into the game. Using DwarfTherapist will also make assigning Dwarfs jobs far easier then trying to get through the menus.

The game has also spawned a few copy cat style games, Towns and Gnomoria. While they aren't pure clones and in some ways better they do cost money and are lacking the detail that Dwarf Fortress has gained over the years of being made.

It absolutely has to have some kind of graphic package too - the ASCII, while ingeniously employed, is too psychadelic for me!

I have to say - this is probably the 'perfect' game for me. I've designed a game that's kind of a cross between this and Civ. Just can't convince any programmers to help me!

Yes I agree that it needs a graphic package used with it, otherwise working out what things are takes too much time. The game is amazingly made, lots of small details that make it feel alive. Stuff like having a craftsman carve events you just watched onto his items, sometimes this even turns into a unique thing about that fort. BoatMurdered had cheese and elephants crushing dwarves, until they invented the lava flooding weapon then it was dead bodies.

The LazyNewbPack is a great way to go for anyone looking to get into the game, it has the graphic packs and other programs you might need to use. Remember failing is fun!

I always like the idea of these games, but at the same time I'm also daunted by the high level of skill and understanding required.

Thomas Eshuis wrote:I always like the idea of these games, but at the same time I'm also daunted by the high level of skill and understanding required.

The learning curve is astounding in this game. It really throws you in without a clue what's going on, what you want to do, and how you would do what you wanted to do if you knew what it was.

However, I pretty much get all my enjoyment from the learning curve. Especially in a game like this that has massive possibilities about what you can actually do. Designing the fortress alone is fun - but making it meet all the necessities adds a whole lot of consideration.

This is my game for the forseeable future!

This game sounds relevant to my interests. I may take a look at this tonight, in between other random wibble.

Sendraks wrote:This game sounds relevant to my interests. I may take a look at this tonight, in between other random wibble.

If pinging Dwarves to their doom via spring-loaded retracting bridges turns you on, then look no further.

I have to say that it was an accident... my very first bridge.... just testing it closed... and PING....

I wondered if it was just a graphical glitch at first, then a ghost of that dwarf came back to haunt my fortress until I built her a memorial stone. It read: First Dwarf in Space.

Spearthrower wrote:

Sendraks wrote:This game sounds relevant to my interests. I may take a look at this tonight, in between other random wibble.

If pinging Dwarves to their doom via spring-loaded retracting bridges turns you on, then look no further.

I have to say that it was an accident... my very first bridge.... just testing it closed... and PING....

I wondered if it was just a graphical glitch at first, then a ghost of that dwarf came back to haunt my fortress until I built her a memorial stone. It read: First Dwarf in Space.

Don't break that bridge, you now have a catapult to remove people you don't like. Enemies, animals, Elves, more Elves, traders, cats....oh the cats and dwarves that are being lazy.

The bridges were there to allow traders in while keeping the base safe, so I had an airlock for the trader.

Unfortunately, on my first game, I forgot to let the traders out until I got a series of messages of people going stark raving mad. Opening the door rather swiftly, it was quite a surprise to see my guests go streaking off through the hills, dropping their items and clothes as they went. Not sure how it affected my relationship with my Dorflord, but I got some steel armor and weapons!

This is the joy of the game I think, little random things that make it so fun.

DarthHelmet86 wrote:This is the joy of the game I think, little random things that make it so fun.

The detail and interconnectedness is awe-inspiring, and that awe is increased by several orders of magnitude when you consider it was written by just one person.

It's got serious potential commercially, although the menu system is really disordered. With a UI overhaul... and graphics... I think this game would spawn a cult following.

I've heard there are other games like it being made commercially, but only read a few mixed comments. Anyone tried them? I heard one was called Gnometown, or something like that.

DarthHelmet86 wrote:The game has also spawned a few copy cat style games, Towns and Gnomoria. While they aren't pure clones and in some ways better they do cost money and are lacking the detail that Dwarf Fortress has gained over the years of being made.

I actually own both and they are good games but are still in early days, DF has been around for years now...and actually has a cult following .

DarthHelmet86 wrote:

DarthHelmet86 wrote:The game has also spawned a few copy cat style games, Towns and Gnomoria. While they aren't pure clones and in some ways better they do cost money and are lacking the detail that Dwarf Fortress has gained over the years of being made.

I actually own both and they are good games but are still in early days, DF has been around for years now...and actually has a cult following .

Can you give me a break down on those 2?

I think towns is the one I spotted that actually ended up with me finding DF - it was up on Steam. IIRC the comments on Steam Forum were 'nice idea, but come back and tell us when it's finished'. Is the Gnome one in a similar state? Are they much less complex?

It is a bit hard to explain them really. Gnomoria is really a clone of DF with graphics but being in Alpha it is lacking a lot of content. Though the creator is adding it all the time and cleaning up bugs as he goes. Towns is a bit different from them both, less about making a fort into a hill and more about making a town sitting out in the open. It is more complete then Gnomoria but nowhere near as full as DF.

Both are early stage indy games, I wouldn't recommend buying them unless you want to spend a small amount of money to watch a game grow as you play.

Yeah, I think I'll wait considering I see DF having plenty of legs in it yet! Especially as I just found a mod that seems to increase the complexity by yet another order of magnitude!

I picked up game of dwarves as it's only a few quid.... but it's not very good really. There's no game to it as there's really no threat whatsoever. Maybe good for kids though.

DF is still captivating me. I bought Darksiders II the day I found DF and I still haven't played it!