Please Note: This topic is a couple years old and Dwarf Fortress is an ever-evolving game, so much of the info in this OP is now outdated.
EDIT: April 1st 2010: OOOH FUUUUUUCK THE NEW DWARF FORTRESS IS HERE:
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/index.html
Released April 1st, in true Dwarf Fortress fashion. No mac or linux version yet, but they are imminent.
Want to know how huge DF is? This release has been in the works for well over a year (closer to 18 months), and took the version number from 0.28 to 0.31 :lol
NOTE: This new release means that all the info in the OP below is now outdated.
News:
Sept 30: NeoGAF succession fortress Fightanus announced: [link]
Helpful links for first-timers:
Download the game (without graphics): Link
Download the game with graphics (Win): Link
Download the game with graphics (Mac/Linux): Link
Probably the best step-by-step tutorial. Follow this, and you'll know how to play: Link
Video Tutorials: Link
Dwarf Fortress Wiki (ie your best friend): Link
~~~~~~
Various times I've seen Dwarf Fortress come up at GAF or elsewhere, I've heard people mention they wish they could get into it, but it seems too dense or the learning curve is too steep. This makes me sad. Other times I've heard people count the game's depth as an actual fault against it. This makes me even sadder. So in this topic, we're ALL going to play Dwarf Fortress. All of us. Yes, even you. I'm going to help you.
Because Dwarf Fortress is the most amazing game I have ever played. EVER. It's not the "best" (yet), but it IS the most astonishing.
First, a preamble:
What is Dwarf Fortress?
Dwarf Fortress is, and this is an extreme simplification, a simulation game. You control an expedition of seven dwarves, and begin the game with just the contents of your wagon. You must build a fortress to survive. Assign dwarves tasks like cook, miner, woodworker, doctor, build barracks, workshops, traps to catch invaders. Get a food supply going. Begin trading goods with your neighbors.
...but what makes it so amazing?
It's simple: Dwarf Fortress is most likely the most complex and deep game ever created. EVER. There's so much going on, I'm not even sure where to start.
I guess I'll start at the beginning (world generation). Before playing, you must generate a random game world. But this isn't like other world generation tools. DF's world generation fully simulates 1000 years of world history before you even play. The outcomes of wars, the effect rivers will have on the landscape... it is all simulated. The result determines what religion the various races practice, the names of cities are determined by the dead historical figures, and more.
This level of extreme, extreme detail carries over into the game itself. There are over 75 jobs you can assign to your dwarves. Miner, Glassworker, soapmaker, fishing, brewing, weaver, milker...
This depth manifests itself in strange and surprising ways every single time you play. One job you can assign your dwarves is to engrave the walls and floors of your fortress. Their engravings will actually correspond with things that happened previously (rampaging elephants killing half your dwarves, a goblin attack).
OK, I get it. It's deep. But what does this actually mean? For me, the player?
You know how open-ended games like Scribblenauts claim to have "endless possibilities?" And for a while, it seems true. The game is great. But then you eventually come up against the limits of the system, and you learn things like "vegetarians" will eat meat, because they're just assigned as "person" in the database?
DWARF FORTRESS DOES NOT HAVE THESE LIMITATIONS.
- If someone vomits because their stomach or pancreas was injured (yes you can target internal organs and tissue layers in combat), you can actually wield and throw that vomit back at them as a weapon.
- The idea is to dig your fortress into the side of a mountain, but you could also harvest all the trees in the world and use the lumber to build a 30-story high tower out of wood. Or clear glass. Or ice.
- To give you an idea of the level of fine-grain detail, something being added in the next release is more venoms/poisons/infections depth. Look at how much work has been done to this one sub-sub system:
# Inhaled poisons
# Contact poisons
# Injected poisons
# Update poison weapon framework
# Neurotoxins
# Necrosis
# Other poison effects as needed
# Delayed poison effects
# Resistance in terms of attributes and also developed against specific toxins through exposure
# More organ links to function
# Syndromes linked to failure of body systems (instead of materials)
# Digestive venoms and generalization of bruises/blisters/necrosis to other damage types
# Move many death effects over to brain death (maintaining original cause text)
# Wound infection and sepsis
- I once played a fortress where I failed to keep the refuse pile where dead animals and dwarves were dumped sealed tightly. As a result miasma (noxious gas) leaked out into my fortress. As my Dwarves ran away from it one had an accident and bled everywhere, and blood was tracked through my entire fortress. The gas and blood cause loops of negative feelings leading to dwarves killing themselves by throwing themselves off a river bridge.
STORIES AND INTERACTIONS LIKE THIS WILL HAPPEN EVERY TIME YOU PLAY. The game will NEVER stop surprising you, because it isn't "faking" it's depth. You really are playing a game with all attributes implemented realistically, in a realistically-simulated world.
LET'S DO THIS
You can download the game here (Mac/Win/Linux): http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
A lot of people are turned off of DF because they think it has to look like this:
But it doesn't. When I play, it looks like this:
Various graphics packs replace the game's default acii art with real art. The game, with the graphics above already included and installed, can be downloaded here: http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php
If you run a mac and want to play with the graphic packs, you'll need to download the mac-native game itself from the first link, the graphic pack from the second link, and then copy over some of the files and folders. It's what I had to do and I'll help you if you want.
FAQ
1) WTF the interface is TERRIBLE.
This is pretty much everyone's first reaction. If they're using graphics that is, and therefore aren't complaining about the ascii art. There's a three-part answer to this:
- Yes, it is very dense, and could really use an overhaul. Frankly, it's not good. But rather than overhaul something that will just need to be overhauled again, DF's team of 1 instead chooses to focus on adding more more more depth. UI will come when the "game" is finished.
- The game is deep, as I think I've established. thousands of creatures. 100+ dwarves. dozens of queued tasks. Huge, multi-level 3D fortresses. For how much is actually going on, the UI is surprisingly functional.
- You really do get used to it. REALLY. I promise. And it doesn't take as long as you might think. Two super-important keys to help you learn: "K" displays whatever object your cursor is currently resting on. Use it all the time. "V" does the same, but brings up the options for the nearest dwarf or living creature. Q is similar, but brings up options for workshops or rooms.
USE K, Q, AND V TO VIEW AND MANIPULATE YOUR SURROUNDINGS. You'll be on your way in no time.
2) So, what's the point? What should I be doing?
The greatest and most exciting thing about DF is that as deep as it is, the game is still in alpha. ALPHA. So there's no win state. The DF community has adopted the motto "Losing is fun!" and in this instance, it really, truly is. Your first fortress will be a disaster. You'll probably mine into an underground river and flood the whole thing, killing everyone. Your second time, you won't do that, but you'll fail to set up traps by your entrence and hostiles will kill everyone. Third time, you'll fail at setting up a valve/locke system properly that was intended to water your crops, and everyone will starve to death.
And so on and so on.
The point is that each new fortress you make you learn from your previous, grisly deaths. Eventually it's not enough to just have a peaceful, "normal" fortress. You have to lose in new and innovative ways. Can you survive in a completely frozen environment, making an ice fortress? Can dig under a lake in winter and create a glass ceiling prior to the spring thaw, so that the ceiling of your dwarf dining hall now looks up into fish swimming above? Can you survive in a zombie biome by sealing the doors and never letter a dwarf outside for any reason, ever?
3) Gotcha. But literally, how do I start?
The DF Wiki is incredibly thorough, and for your first several fortresses, you will want to have it open next to the game itself. Here is a guide for your first fortress: http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Your_first_fortress
REFER TO IT CONSTANTLY. Until you have something down. Look up how to dig up/down stairways. Look up how mechanics work. Look up what soapmaking is for. Look up everything.
As that guide (eventually) gets to, the "d" button is for designations, and is how you assign your dwarves to do things. The first thing I do is designate a dig site, and have my dwarves dig the entrance into the mountain. Savor the small victories! Your dwarves are actually doing something!
Next, I press "q" by my wagon to select it, and "x" for deconstruct. The carpenter will get to work.
Then, I define stockpiles for food, wood, stone, goods, and everything else, by the entrance to my fortress.
By this time all my dwarves should be hauling, digging, keeping busy
Once this is done, have your miners dig down some levels, or dig out some space. You'll need to make workshops for furniture, make bedrooms, and much more
DF is really about making your own fun. There's no benefit to making your bedrooms follow a fractal design, besides that A) it looks super cool and B) it seems a dwarvy thing to do:
Digging out all these bedrooms, hauling away the loose stone, fitting the rooms with doors and getting wood beds, cabinets, and storage chests inside is a monumental undertaking. But there's so much freedom and it's so satisfying to accomplish. Eventually massive, multifaceted construction projects like this will be second nature.
~~~
...That's about it. If you're going to give the game a shot (and PLEASE do. It's very very playable with the graphics packs), take lots of pictures, post your stories, let us know how you lost. If you couldn't figure out how to dig and your dwarves were harried and killed by macaw monkeys minutes after starting, document it! You'll do better next time, and it's part of the fun.
If you're a DF veteran, consider undertaking a mega-construction or an extreme challenge, to test yourself. Take pics and let us know how it goes:
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Mega_Constructions
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Challenges
To everyone: Give the game a REAL shot. I had to try three times to get into it. I heard all the amazing, hilarious stories and wanted to try the game, but found it too dense. The third time I referenced the wiki constantly and used graphics, and the game finally "clicked." So glad it did.
Have fun everyone! Look forward to your stories.
See also:
Illustrated tutorial: http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Indecisive's_illustrated_fortress_mode_tutorial
Video tutorials:
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Video_tutorials
EDIT: April 1st 2010: OOOH FUUUUUUCK THE NEW DWARF FORTRESS IS HERE:
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/index.html
Released April 1st, in true Dwarf Fortress fashion. No mac or linux version yet, but they are imminent.
Want to know how huge DF is? This release has been in the works for well over a year (closer to 18 months), and took the version number from 0.28 to 0.31 :lol
NOTE: This new release means that all the info in the OP below is now outdated.
News:
Sept 30: NeoGAF succession fortress Fightanus announced: [link]
Helpful links for first-timers:
Download the game (without graphics): Link
Download the game with graphics (Win): Link
Download the game with graphics (Mac/Linux): Link
Probably the best step-by-step tutorial. Follow this, and you'll know how to play: Link
Video Tutorials: Link
Dwarf Fortress Wiki (ie your best friend): Link
~~~~~~
Various times I've seen Dwarf Fortress come up at GAF or elsewhere, I've heard people mention they wish they could get into it, but it seems too dense or the learning curve is too steep. This makes me sad. Other times I've heard people count the game's depth as an actual fault against it. This makes me even sadder. So in this topic, we're ALL going to play Dwarf Fortress. All of us. Yes, even you. I'm going to help you.
Because Dwarf Fortress is the most amazing game I have ever played. EVER. It's not the "best" (yet), but it IS the most astonishing.
First, a preamble:
What is Dwarf Fortress?
Dwarf Fortress is, and this is an extreme simplification, a simulation game. You control an expedition of seven dwarves, and begin the game with just the contents of your wagon. You must build a fortress to survive. Assign dwarves tasks like cook, miner, woodworker, doctor, build barracks, workshops, traps to catch invaders. Get a food supply going. Begin trading goods with your neighbors.
...but what makes it so amazing?
It's simple: Dwarf Fortress is most likely the most complex and deep game ever created. EVER. There's so much going on, I'm not even sure where to start.
I guess I'll start at the beginning (world generation). Before playing, you must generate a random game world. But this isn't like other world generation tools. DF's world generation fully simulates 1000 years of world history before you even play. The outcomes of wars, the effect rivers will have on the landscape... it is all simulated. The result determines what religion the various races practice, the names of cities are determined by the dead historical figures, and more.
This level of extreme, extreme detail carries over into the game itself. There are over 75 jobs you can assign to your dwarves. Miner, Glassworker, soapmaker, fishing, brewing, weaver, milker...
This depth manifests itself in strange and surprising ways every single time you play. One job you can assign your dwarves is to engrave the walls and floors of your fortress. Their engravings will actually correspond with things that happened previously (rampaging elephants killing half your dwarves, a goblin attack).
OK, I get it. It's deep. But what does this actually mean? For me, the player?
You know how open-ended games like Scribblenauts claim to have "endless possibilities?" And for a while, it seems true. The game is great. But then you eventually come up against the limits of the system, and you learn things like "vegetarians" will eat meat, because they're just assigned as "person" in the database?
DWARF FORTRESS DOES NOT HAVE THESE LIMITATIONS.
- If someone vomits because their stomach or pancreas was injured (yes you can target internal organs and tissue layers in combat), you can actually wield and throw that vomit back at them as a weapon.
- The idea is to dig your fortress into the side of a mountain, but you could also harvest all the trees in the world and use the lumber to build a 30-story high tower out of wood. Or clear glass. Or ice.
- To give you an idea of the level of fine-grain detail, something being added in the next release is more venoms/poisons/infections depth. Look at how much work has been done to this one sub-sub system:
# Inhaled poisons
# Contact poisons
# Injected poisons
# Update poison weapon framework
# Neurotoxins
# Necrosis
# Other poison effects as needed
# Delayed poison effects
# Resistance in terms of attributes and also developed against specific toxins through exposure
# More organ links to function
# Syndromes linked to failure of body systems (instead of materials)
# Digestive venoms and generalization of bruises/blisters/necrosis to other damage types
# Move many death effects over to brain death (maintaining original cause text)
# Wound infection and sepsis
- I once played a fortress where I failed to keep the refuse pile where dead animals and dwarves were dumped sealed tightly. As a result miasma (noxious gas) leaked out into my fortress. As my Dwarves ran away from it one had an accident and bled everywhere, and blood was tracked through my entire fortress. The gas and blood cause loops of negative feelings leading to dwarves killing themselves by throwing themselves off a river bridge.
STORIES AND INTERACTIONS LIKE THIS WILL HAPPEN EVERY TIME YOU PLAY. The game will NEVER stop surprising you, because it isn't "faking" it's depth. You really are playing a game with all attributes implemented realistically, in a realistically-simulated world.
LET'S DO THIS
You can download the game here (Mac/Win/Linux): http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
A lot of people are turned off of DF because they think it has to look like this:
But it doesn't. When I play, it looks like this:
Various graphics packs replace the game's default acii art with real art. The game, with the graphics above already included and installed, can be downloaded here: http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php
If you run a mac and want to play with the graphic packs, you'll need to download the mac-native game itself from the first link, the graphic pack from the second link, and then copy over some of the files and folders. It's what I had to do and I'll help you if you want.
FAQ
1) WTF the interface is TERRIBLE.
This is pretty much everyone's first reaction. If they're using graphics that is, and therefore aren't complaining about the ascii art. There's a three-part answer to this:
- Yes, it is very dense, and could really use an overhaul. Frankly, it's not good. But rather than overhaul something that will just need to be overhauled again, DF's team of 1 instead chooses to focus on adding more more more depth. UI will come when the "game" is finished.
- The game is deep, as I think I've established. thousands of creatures. 100+ dwarves. dozens of queued tasks. Huge, multi-level 3D fortresses. For how much is actually going on, the UI is surprisingly functional.
- You really do get used to it. REALLY. I promise. And it doesn't take as long as you might think. Two super-important keys to help you learn: "K" displays whatever object your cursor is currently resting on. Use it all the time. "V" does the same, but brings up the options for the nearest dwarf or living creature. Q is similar, but brings up options for workshops or rooms.
USE K, Q, AND V TO VIEW AND MANIPULATE YOUR SURROUNDINGS. You'll be on your way in no time.
2) So, what's the point? What should I be doing?
The greatest and most exciting thing about DF is that as deep as it is, the game is still in alpha. ALPHA. So there's no win state. The DF community has adopted the motto "Losing is fun!" and in this instance, it really, truly is. Your first fortress will be a disaster. You'll probably mine into an underground river and flood the whole thing, killing everyone. Your second time, you won't do that, but you'll fail to set up traps by your entrence and hostiles will kill everyone. Third time, you'll fail at setting up a valve/locke system properly that was intended to water your crops, and everyone will starve to death.
And so on and so on.
The point is that each new fortress you make you learn from your previous, grisly deaths. Eventually it's not enough to just have a peaceful, "normal" fortress. You have to lose in new and innovative ways. Can you survive in a completely frozen environment, making an ice fortress? Can dig under a lake in winter and create a glass ceiling prior to the spring thaw, so that the ceiling of your dwarf dining hall now looks up into fish swimming above? Can you survive in a zombie biome by sealing the doors and never letter a dwarf outside for any reason, ever?
3) Gotcha. But literally, how do I start?
The DF Wiki is incredibly thorough, and for your first several fortresses, you will want to have it open next to the game itself. Here is a guide for your first fortress: http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Your_first_fortress
REFER TO IT CONSTANTLY. Until you have something down. Look up how to dig up/down stairways. Look up how mechanics work. Look up what soapmaking is for. Look up everything.
As that guide (eventually) gets to, the "d" button is for designations, and is how you assign your dwarves to do things. The first thing I do is designate a dig site, and have my dwarves dig the entrance into the mountain. Savor the small victories! Your dwarves are actually doing something!
Next, I press "q" by my wagon to select it, and "x" for deconstruct. The carpenter will get to work.
Then, I define stockpiles for food, wood, stone, goods, and everything else, by the entrance to my fortress.
By this time all my dwarves should be hauling, digging, keeping busy
Once this is done, have your miners dig down some levels, or dig out some space. You'll need to make workshops for furniture, make bedrooms, and much more
DF is really about making your own fun. There's no benefit to making your bedrooms follow a fractal design, besides that A) it looks super cool and B) it seems a dwarvy thing to do:
Digging out all these bedrooms, hauling away the loose stone, fitting the rooms with doors and getting wood beds, cabinets, and storage chests inside is a monumental undertaking. But there's so much freedom and it's so satisfying to accomplish. Eventually massive, multifaceted construction projects like this will be second nature.
~~~
...That's about it. If you're going to give the game a shot (and PLEASE do. It's very very playable with the graphics packs), take lots of pictures, post your stories, let us know how you lost. If you couldn't figure out how to dig and your dwarves were harried and killed by macaw monkeys minutes after starting, document it!
You'll do better next time, and it's part of the fun.If you're a DF veteran, consider undertaking a mega-construction or an extreme challenge, to test yourself. Take pics and let us know how it goes:
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Mega_Constructions
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Challenges
To everyone: Give the game a REAL shot. I had to try three times to get into it. I heard all the amazing, hilarious stories and wanted to try the game, but found it too dense. The third time I referenced the wiki constantly and used graphics, and the game finally "clicked." So glad it did.
Have fun everyone! Look forward to your stories.
See also:
Illustrated tutorial: http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Indecisive's_illustrated_fortress_mode_tutorial
Video tutorials:
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Video_tutorials
