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[Raptomex]

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.

Dwarf Fortress is free and you can download it from the Bay 12 Games: Dwarf Fortress page here.

Dwarf Fortress Starter Pack

This starter pack bundles Dwarf Fortress with the best community graphics packs, tools, and interface improvements already configured - so getting the best of everything only takes a single download and no fiddling, easy for anyone.

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.

There is no internal end point, single goal, final Easter egg or "You Win!" announcement in Dwarf Fortress. Therefore, eventually, almost every fortress will fall. The only ones that don't tend to be very conservative and very boring—and what fun is that? Therefore, DF = losing ∧ DF = fun ⇒ losing = fun, and that's okay! It's a game philosophy, so embrace it, own it, and have fun with it!

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.

Most people dismiss Dwarf Fortress after seeing it's ASCII visuals. Luckily, you don't have to play with ASCII characters if you don't want to. You can find and download tilesets here. Check out some screenshots below.

Obsidian Graphics Set

Ironhand Graphics Set

Phoebus' Graphic Set

Spacefox 16x16 Graphic and Tileset

Mods
Masterwork Dwarf Fortress

~25% higher FPS
ASCII, JollyBastion, Ironhand or Phoebus Tileset
A GUI to enable/disable 90% of the mod
35+ races
110+ new buildings
1100+ creatures
2000+ new reactions
1000+ plants and items
Temples, Guns, Mages and Slaves. Runes, Mithril, Automatons and Raptors
Countless new tactical possibilities

Genesis Mod

Genesis is a world of dark fantasy, within a constant state of battle between good, evil and those who cannot decide. The world is being consumed by the Void, another world released into the creation by an event called Worldbreak.

Better Dorfs & Saurians

Better Dorfs is a collection of Rubble addons for everything from a new civ to overhauls of vanilla industries.

Fortress Defense II - Rubble Port

This mod completes the revision of the original Fortress Defense Mod. It is designed for those who would like to have a chance of surviving the vast hordes of enemies who besiege you. Enemies often come in only one season, with a few exceptions, which decreases the chance of three simultaneous sieges, and only one late-game Fortress Defense civ will intercept the Dwarven caravan. However, this doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t prepare yourself for that eventuality…

Utilities
DFHack

DFHack is an attempt to unite the various ways hack tools access DF memory and allow for easier development of new tools (and of course, make the game more enjoyable for players). It comes with some useful tools that can fix your fort and make things easier to handle. DFHack integrates with Dwarf Fortress and extends it with plugins, a command console and a way to bind hotkeys to the commands.

Dwarf Fortress SoundSense

SoundSense is a sound-engine tool for Dwarf Fortress. It plays sounds based on what entries appear in the gamelog.txt.

Dwarf Therapist

Dwarf Therapist is an extension application for the fantastic game Dwarf Fortress. DF is a great game. And it's fun to manage dwarves with keyboard menus until about the 50th one shows up. If you're starting to get overwhelmed you need therapist in your life.

DF Story Maker

This is a basic little tool to help people put together stories of their fortresses.

It uses the gamelog.txt file, which stores every announcement ever made for any fortress you've played on that install of the game, and pulls out only the lines that interests you, saving them in another text file.

The game has accumulated much praise for its rich content and gameplay that is deep, and difficult to master. It has a small and devoted fanbase. As there is no way to expressly win the game, every fortress, no matter how successful, is bound to be destroyed somehow; this has prompted the trademark phrase of the community: "Losing is Fun."

Dwarf Fortress Wiki - the best place to learn everything you need to know about Dwarf Fortress.
-Quickstart Guide
-Dwarf Status Icons
-Map Legend
-Maximizing Framerate

Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress
By: Peter Tyson
Foreword By: Tarn Adams
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Released: May 2012
Print: $19.99
Ebook: $15.99
Print & Ebook: $21.99
Formats: Print, Ebook, Safari Books Online

Dwarf Fortress may be the most complex video game ever made, but all that detail makes for fascinating game play, as various elements collide in interesting and challenging ways. The trick is getting started. In this guide, Fortress geek Peter Tyson takes you through the basics of this menacing realm, and helps you overcome the formidable learning curve.

The book’s focus is the game’s simulation mode, in which you’re tasked with building a dwarf city. Once you learn how to establish and maintain your very first fortress, you can consult the more advanced chapters on resource management and training a dwarf military. You’ll soon have stories to share from your interactions with the Dwarf Fortress universe.

51ppycup Let's Play Video Tutorials - some of the best videos you can watch to learn how to play Dwarf Fortress.

Das24680's Dwarf Fortress Tutorials for New Players - this guy knows what he's doing and is playing a more recent version of DF.

Bay 12 Games
Dwarf Fortress File Depot
Dwarf Fortress Stories

 

[Ouren]

This is my kind of OT.

One time I thought I hurt a giant spider, turns out their abdomen was overexerted from eating dwarves.

 

[Raptomex]

This game needs more recognition. One of the most in depth games I have ever played.

 

[yatesl]

Oh, so like Minecraft. Got it.

Spoiler

 

[Keasar]

Should also post the story that inspires most people to try Dwarf Fortress at least once after reading it.

The eternal classic Let's Play:

Boatmurdered

 

[Raptomex]

Should also post the story that inspires most people to try Dwarf Fortress at least once after reading it.

The eternal classic Let's Play:

Boatmurdered

I thought about adding a stories section. I know about Boatmurdered but are there any more really popular ones? I've read several on DFStories and other various sites.

 

[Jintor]

what arc is toady up to?

I promised myself I'd play again if he released the caravan arc but I kinda lost track

 

[Raptomex]

what arc is toady up to?

I promised myself I'd play again if he released the caravan arc but I kinda lost track

Caravan has been out for quite some time. Since v0.31. We're currently at v0.34.

 

[Saganator]

Oh god, I know this thread will eventually suck me back in for another binge. Only lasts for a few days, but its really crazy how this game just sucks me in for an entire day. DF is responsible for one of the few times I've called in sick to play a game.

Nice OT, a stories section would be sweet. I don't have any, but I know they're out there.

 

[Jintor]

what's the good word then? Last time I was still checking updates was when he was still futzing around more with adventure mode, something that holds no interest for me.

 

[Cerity]

I'm surprised this doesn't have an OT here yet.

 

[HappyBivouac]

Ugh what's with all these Minecraft clones? Can't people come up with their own ideas?

Spoiler

This game is so painful, but so fun. I need to get back into it.

 

[Raptomex]

Oh god, I know this thread will eventually suck me back in for another binge. Only lasts for a few days, but its really crazy how this game just sucks me in for an entire day. DF is responsible for one of the few times I've called in sick to play a game.

Nice OT, a stories section would be sweet. I don't have any, but I know they're out there.

Yeah, that's what I mean. So many stories. Every playthrough can be a story. I've actually only been at the game for a couple of months now. So there could be stories that should also be recognized I probably don't know about. Maybe tomorrow I'll add the section if we can get a few more popular ones listed.

what's the good word then? Last time I was still checking updates was when he was still futzing around more with adventure mode, something that holds no interest for me.

Lol I only discovered this game a few months ago. I just happened to read the Wiki to answer your question.

 

[MaschinenZimmer]

This game needs more recognition. One of the most in depth games I have ever played.

Try playing Aurora or Distant Worlds if you enjoy in-depth games.

DF is a great game but it never managed to catch my attention long enough, I always got bored at some point.

 

[HappyBivouac]

what's the good word then? Last time I was still checking updates was when he was still futzing around more with adventure mode, something that holds no interest for me.

Adventure Mode has the potential to become one of the greatest roguelikes ever made. That said, it has a long way to go before that potential is realized.

 

[Huw_Dawson]

DF, the game that will never reach beta.

 

[Gaz_RB]

DF destroyed my social life for a week and then I was burned out on it and never played it again.

Truly a unique game that I'm glad I was able to experience.

 

[Raptomex]

Try playing Aurora or Distant Worlds if you enjoy in-depth games.

DF is a great game but it never managed to catch my attention long enough, I always got bored at some point.

I've never really played any 4X games. I've always sucked at strategy games. I noticed Distant Worlds is single player so I've gained interest.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

I'm surprised this doesn't already have an OP. The game is really great and I highly recommend it if you have the time. It takes a bit of time to get used to if you play with just ASCII, but strangely you start to see everything fairly clearly eventually. However, if that's too daunting then using the 2D mods do help.

The best part of Dwarf Fortress is reading other peoples stories. They're great!

For those who have played DF and Gnomoria, what do you think of Gnomoria? I assume that it has nowhere near the amount of features as DF, but I haven't played it in a long while.

 

[Sir Blaming]

DF is something that i cannot truly like,just like Banished and others

 

[MaschinenZimmer]

I've never really played any 4X games. I've always sucked at strategy games. I noticed Distant Worlds is single player so I've gained interest.

DW is crack, dude.

Check out my comment on the game here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=97353305&postcount=5

Oh, and btw., thank you for making those PC centric OTs. You are doing a good job here.

 

[toddhunter]

Nice OT.

Might I suggest a small section on related/inspired games such as Gnomoria, Towns (as a warning...), dwarfcorp, rimworld etc.

 

[Gazoinks]

Very cool game, although I haven't played it for a while. Should get back to it at some point. I actually think the difficulty of learning it is a little overrated. It's insanely complex and the UI is weird yes, but you don't really need to know how a lot of stuff works to start playing. I had no issues getting going pretty smoothly with the guide on the DF wiki.

Bronzemurder is my personal favorite story.

 

[HappyBivouac]

Honestly my greatest wish is that some studio with a ton of know-how and resources would pick up this game and work with its creators, giving it more accessible graphics and interface without sacrificing any of the mechanics, complexity, and depth.

I don't think the creators want that, though, and I'm guessing there would be a lot of backlash from fans as well. Shame.

 

[Raptomex]

DW is crack, dude.

Check out my comment on the game here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=97353305&postcount=5

Oh, and btw., thank you for making those PC centric OTs. You are doing a good job here.

Thanks.

I only want to make OTs for games that keep me coming back and if they're not here already (obviously).

That game does look pretty cool. I was thinking of starting with GalCiv 2 but not anymore I guess.

Honestly my greatest wish is that some studio with a ton of know-how and resources would pick up this game and work with its creators, giving it more accessible graphics and interface without sacrificing any of the mechanics, complexity, and depth.

I don't think the creators want that, though, and I'm guessing there would be a lot of backlash from fans as well. Shame.

Tarn was offered millions. He won't give it up. It's his life's work.

Nice OT.

Might I suggest a small section on related/inspired games such as Gnomoria, Towns (as a warning...), dwarfcorp, rimworld etc.

Towns still has so much potential. Shame. I think Gnomoria already has an OT. DwarfCorp looks promising.

 

[Delstius]

Honestly my greatest wish is that some studio with a ton of know-how and resources would pick up this game and work with its creators, giving it more accessible graphics and interface without sacrificing any of the mechanics, complexity, and depth.

I don't think the creators want that, though, and I'm guessing there would be a lot of backlash from fans as well. Shame.

That would be awesome.

The game is very good, and while I don't really mind the graphics and not using the mouse, having to cope with that ugly mess of incoherence that serve as the user interface is murdering any fun you could have.

 

[Raptomex]

That would be awesome.

The game is very good, and while I don't really mind the graphics and not using the mouse, having to cope with that ugly mess of incoherence that serve as the user interface is murdering any fun you could have.

I don't know about "murdering". I don't care much for the UI either but I've played to the point where I'm just use to it now.

 

[TekGryphon]

Another studio isn't needed. Toady is just living in his own world.

He's had countless offers from professionals in his modding community offer to help him make improvements that:

1. Would make the game far more easy to interface with.
2. Would make the game far more accessible without reducing complexity.
3. Wouldn't break every damn mod each time there's a new patch.

Problem is that Toady, for all his brilliance, seems like he suffers from some serious anti-social characteristics. For whatever reason he's scared shitless to work with anyone, no matter how many years of work they've spent improving his product in the mod scene.

 

[TekGryphon]

To anyone who enjoys Dwarf Fortress or who has been tempted to get into it, I highly recommend Gnomoria. The developer is an awesome guy who works hard. Last year we had new content patches every week, and while he's now moved to a bi-weekly schedule, the amount of content has increased as well.

The game is in a very fun and challenging state right now, and I'm excited to see what becomes of it in the months to come.

 

[Servizio]

So long as we're posting 'Dwarf Fortress Inspired Alternatives', can I interest you folks in some Clockwork Empires?

Teaser trailer

Nifty and amusing dev blog

I've been signed up for their newsletter/blog update thing for awhile and it's been pretty great to follow the development of the game. They talk about how great economic and logistics chains are. Same folks who made Dungeon of Dredmore.

 

[Cosmozone]

Totally hoped that the thread was created because of new release.

 

[Mekere]

DF <3, I remember playing it when it was still a one level game, I died so many times just to survive the first winter as there were no tutorial at that time. My dwarves starved, threw tantrum, killed each other because of the lack of alcohol. It was.. messy.

Then I learned and spring arrived upon healthy dwarves. That marked my first steps with fields and irrigation. I learned that dwarves don't float well.

I learned more and my fortress grew, my miners were good enough to get rid of the pest until that fated day where a "Vile force of darkness arrived" my very first siege took me by surprise, and thus we fell. I had to suffer so many sieges while being unprepared, the most heart breaking one was when all my dwarves were wiped out, all but one. He was lying in his bedroom during the attack, he had a broken leg I think. How awful it must have been for him, hearing the screams, the fights and then the silence. He couldn't move to feed himself but I was hoping he would survive long enough for the next migration to arrive.

They never came in time...

So many stories, it's really a great great game.

 

[Kouriozan]

I started playing 4 years ago.
I spend more time learning how to play than actually playing, and I like that.

 

[robin2]

I haven't been following this since a long time.

I see that current version is still 0.34.11 (june 2012), but looking at the news on the website, it seems they're still working on it: are they making an overhaul perhaps?

 

[FlyingSaucer]

Waiting for the next big release to jump back in DF. Fantastic job on the OP, thanks you !

DF, the game that will never reach beta.

Isn't beta the point when DF should reach self-awareness and rule all of humanity ?

 

[Jintor]

Dwarf Fortress actually did have a megathread a while back, I think. It might predate official threads though.

 

[Raptomex]

I haven't been following this since a long time.

I see that current version is still 0.34.11 (june 2012), but looking at the news on the website, it seems they're still working on it: are they making an overhaul perhaps?

Tarn is constantly working on it. It's his life's work. He predicts the completed version won't be released for another 20 years.

 

[Incandenza]

I loved the time I spent with Dwarf Fortress last year when I sat down and went through the quickstart guide and got a solid fort going. It'd pretty much be a perfect game if the interface were a little better and there wasn't so much weird buggy stuff.

Very time consuming though. You'll end up setting aside entire nights before you know it.

 

[Raptomex]

I loved the time I spent with Dwarf Fortress last year when I sat down and went through the quickstart guide and got a solid fort going. It'd pretty much be a perfect game if the interface were a little better and there wasn't so much weird buggy stuff.

Very time consuming though. You'll end up setting aside entire nights before you know it.

That's what happened to me. I staryed learning how to play it and each night I got more and more invested in it.

 

[blahness]

Great OT, but we do have a larger thread which is severely under used. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=375179 :\ but I vote this one be used going further!


The last thing I semi accomplished in DF was to create an execution tower many Z levels high in which my trapped goblins, etc would be de-robed, placed on a trap door, and then sent falling to their death far below resulting in a shallow pit of blood, body parts, and an occasional survivor who tried to crawl away. Fun times.

 

[krpiper]

So this replaces the Lazy Newb Pack PeridexisErrant's Dwarf Fortress Starter Pack r48

I have tried to play before off and on, but is this is a decent place to start?

Also how is the Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress book? Is it horribly outdated?

 

[Raptomex]

So this replaces the Lazy Newb Pack PeridexisErrant's Dwarf Fortress Starter Pack r48

I have tried to play before off and on, but is this is a decent place to start?

Also how is the Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress book? Is it horribly outdated?

The starter pack is great. It uses lazy newb pack. I have the book as well and it's great. Well detailed and clear. Also, I believe it was released after the latest version of the game. Peter Tyson plans to update the book for each version. If you get the ebook, you're promised free updates for life.

 

[Aureon]

I feel like 3D tools could use a shout out here. (StoneSense, mainly)!

 

[Raptomex]

I feel like 3D tools could use a shout out here. (StoneSense, mainly)!

I was going to add it but I think it's no longer a separate utility. I think it's just a plugin for DFHack or something.

 

[Raxious]

I've tried this once years ago, never succeeded at it. ( had no idea what I was doing xD ). Might install this on my tablet and give it another go.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Dwarf Fortress is an amazing accomplishment. I hope Tarn & Zach can continue developing it for as long as they want. I've only ever dabbled in adventure mode, but the game's scope and style are both awesome and inspiring. One day I'll be ready to build a Dwarf fortress (and then watch it wither and die in a thousand unique ways...)

Dwarf Fortress adventure mode is the goriest game I've ever played. I don't know that any other game will ever come close to the macabre scenes that are my battles. That said, I haven't played any DF in quite some time - I should try it out again and see how much it's changed over the years.

Is there an ASCII command to make the Dwarf character, or is that some custom font thing?

 

[Raptomex]

Dwarf Fortress is an amazing accomplishment. I hope Tarn & Zach can continue developing it for as long as they want. I've only ever dabbled in adventure mode, but the game's scope and style are both awesome and inspiring. One day I'll be ready to build a Dwarf fortress (and then watch it wither and die in a thousand unique ways...)

Dwarf Fortress adventure mode is the goriest game I've ever played. I don't know that any other game will ever come close to the macabre scenes that are my battles. That said, I haven't played any DF in quite some time - I should try it out again and see how much it's changed over the years.

Is there an ASCII command to make the Dwarf character, or is that some custom font thing?

What do you mean "make the Dwarf Character"? If you mean adventure mode, you start by choosing a character and traits. Doesn't have to be a dwarf. As for Fortress mode, you get seven to start with and before you embark you can prepare and choose what jobs they will have or just quick start and they are auto assigned. You eventually get migrants that come to your fortress throughout the seasons.

 

[LurkerPrime]

What do you mean "make the Dwarf Character"? [...]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant the ASCII character representing Dwarves.

I don't have any images of them on hand, so I'll use the OP banner as an example - they are the ice cream cone/potato/bearded old man's face on the right:

 

[eot]

It's been a while since I played this, years probably. Should give it another go with a proper tileset.
Does it still have that guitar track looping over and over?

 

[Raptomex]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant the ASCII character representing Dwarves.

I don't have any images of them on hand, so I'll use the OP banner as an example - they are the ice cream cone/potato/bearded old man's face on the right:

Oh. You mean like to mod it? If so, I know nothing about modding the game. But I'm willing to learn.