8 ms·

Dwarf Fortress 0.40.01

278 points by Audiophilip 12y ago

BoppreH 12y ago
I always find amazing what one can accomplish when the scope is reduced enough. I don't think Dwarf Fortress would have a fraction of its features if it had sprites, non-tiled graphics, multiple visible layers, sound effects or a sane UI. By taking those sacrifices we now have a game to behold. I'm excited to try the new features.
- ANTSANTS 12y ago
  I don't think "limited scope" is a phrase that accurately describes Dwarf Fortress at all.
  - JimmyM 12y ago
    It has an extremely limited scope in particular carefully chosen ways, enabling an incredibly expansive scope in other much more important ways.
- Cthulhu_ 12y ago
  I really doubt the graphics would have much of an impact; after all (IIRC) they haven't really been updated in forever, meaning most of those 12 years were spent on the programming.
  - PeterisP 12y ago
    Graphics would have an impact on development - not having graphics makes it trivial to add large quantities new content, things, creatures, etc. Even simple sprite graphics would require to be created/modified/maintained at every modification, thus increasing the barrier/cost of such changes and causing less changes/experiments to be done. Currently, the author publishes the changes, and fan spritepack maintainers do all the work of maintaining those sprites and their relation to the raw datafiles - it's a lot of continuous work; if Toady would have to do all of it himself then it wouldn't scale.
NDizzle 12y ago
A friend of mine put it best - "The work of a lunatic, but possibly the best game of our generation."
- galfarragem 12y ago
  I completely agree, if I had to choose one computer game to survive some kind of natural disaster I would choose this one. Instead of "our generation", I would say "spectrum" generation (people born from early 70's to early 80's). I wish I had this work of art when I had the time to play computer games. As a metaphor I would compare this game to high-cuisine and a 3D intensive game to fast-food.
Natsu 12y ago
Little known fact: it's only due to DF that you can find the solid density for Saguaro wood online. It's ~430 kg/m^3 dry and this was determined empirically by players. EDIT: Fixed units.
- mkl 12y ago
  kg/m^3, actually. Even gold is only 19.3 g/cm^3 :-D
  - patmcguire 12y ago
    Ah, yeah. Saguaro wood probably floats, and the cutoff for that is below 1 g/cm
    - Natsu 12y ago
      There is at least one wood that does not float: ironwood. It's only thanks to DF that I know things like this.
      - jacobolus 12y ago
        “Ironwood” is a name used for a whole bunch of different unrelated tree species. I believe lignum vitae is just about the densest commercially available wood. Definitely sinks.
        Natsu 12y ago
        The nice thing about the DF raws is that they now list the actual species used as a basis. A lot of research went on some time ago to add correct, sourced information to the raws. There are probably still a few wonky things, as some of the properties in there make more sense for metals than things like wood, but the players care about even strange details like that.
  - Natsu 12y ago
    Oops, you're right. Most sources list g/cm^3, but you're correct that the raws use kg/m^3 (and 430 kg/m^3 is the proper figure).
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
KVFinn 12y ago
DF has a reputation for being impenetrable. Like it requires weeks or months of work or study to get anything out of it. Not true! You can start from scratch and have a crazy little adventure in minutes. Really. Dwarf Fortress: The Detailed Roguelike That’s Easy To Play http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/16/dwarf-fortress-the-detailed-roguelike-thats-easy-to-play/ http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/16/dwarf-fortress-th... >Dwarf Fortress is famous for producing anecdotes by the minute. The two-man, twelve-year, donation-funded indie project weaves together procedurally generated geography, civilizations and histories to create a rich fantasy world. It simulates its characters – standard fare like dwarves, elves, goblins, etc. – down to the most minute detail, and when all its systems combine, the results are often hilarious, occasionally tragic, and always surprising. >It’s also blissfully easy to play. The game is free to download and easy to install, the UI comes with a detailed and handy help system, and there’s a community wiki full of guides – not that you’ll need them. I started from scratch last night and was having fun immediately. >This whole experience has taken around twenty minutes, and while it’s a shame Akan Seasonveiled didn’t get to see more of her homeland, the experience encapsulated much of what I love about Dwarf Fortress. I discovered a town, talked to people and formed a posse. I went on a dynamically generated fantasy adventure and slayed a grim beast. I discovered a camp of travellers out in the wilds, had a tense and hard-fought combat encounter, and finally met my own grisly end. It was exciting! It was just a tiny taste of this world, but I’m itching to go explore more. I actually enjoy simply generating worlds and looking through the history afterwords... even easier.
- garretraziel 12y ago
  On the other hand, "rogue" part of dwarf fortress is much easier than "dwarf fortress" part.
  - imdsm 12y ago
    But the dwarf fortress part is amazing. My number 1 game.
  - astrobe_ 12y ago
    The fortress mode tutorial on the DF wiki allows you to build a self-sustaining fortress. The Lazy Noob Pack is also of great help. One will probably have to wait for it to be updated for the newer version of DF, but one can begin with the previous version of DF and update when it's available. http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide
GuiA 12y ago
For those who don't know what Dwarf Fortress is, and want to read about the marvelous story behind Dwarf Fortress and its creators: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of.. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of....
- ttflee 12y ago
  Sorry but I just hit a Page Not Found. Is there a typo in the hyperlink?
  - plorg 12y ago
    If a cursory googling is any indication, it's probably the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of...
    - hudibras 12y ago
      Some additional googling turned up this follow-on story about how the Times made the ascii art in the original article. http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/the-fine-art-of-dwarf-fortress/ http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/the-fine-art-of...
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- huskyr 12y ago
  Another enjoyable read by the folks at Ars Technica:Ten hours with the most inscrutable video game of all time http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/02/dwarf-fortress-ten-hours-with-the-most-inscrutable-video-game-of-all-time/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/02/dwarf-fortress-ten-hou...
- tfinch 12y ago
  And if you want an idea of the type of 'generated stories' it can tell, you might be interested in http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/ http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/ - a "Let's Play" told by successive rulers of a fortress. (The story proper begins in Update 2 of Thread 1) Warning, you may spend the rest of the day reading it...
patmcguire 12y ago
Urist McProgrammer has created Dwarf Fortress 0.40, a luminous C++ program.
- logfromblammo 12y ago
  All the code is of the highest quality. It is studded with ASCII character cabochons and menaces with spikes of attention to detail. It is engraved with an image of Toadyone surrounded by dwarves. The dwarves are battling an invasion of new bugs.
amfeng 12y ago
My favorite explanation of DF: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/images/4/40/FunComic.png http://dwarffortresswiki.org/images/4/40/FunComic.png
nn3 12y ago
"They cannot yet realize their dreams of taking over the world." Sums it up I think.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Grue3 12y ago
Wow, I totally didn't expect to see this headline. This version has been in the works for years and the updates have been infrequent as of late. I remember waiting for the very first version of Dwarf Fortress. I think it wasn't even known as Dwarf Fortress back then, just "the dwarf game". Bay 12 Games was virtually unknown, with several quirky games to its name, and a dozen or so fans on the forum. There was a thread where screenshots and videos of the upcoming game were posted. The full scope of the game wasn't revealed back then: the fact that adventure mode even existed was a total surprise, and so was the fact that it's a sequel to Slaves to Armok. The first announcement was posted on Usenet. Good times.
- ryanklee 12y ago
  >the updates have been infrequent as of late. If you're referring to updates on the state of development, this is resoundingly untrue. Toady makes multiple entries every week, commenting on things happening, bugs found, and havoc discovered. He's done this consistently since I started following DF, around 6 years ago. http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/ http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/ Edit: I should also point out that the brothers are also active on the bay12 forums, conducting monthly Q&A sessions about DF's future, as well as posting monthly donation numbers. There is a DF podcast on which they appear frequently to boot. I mention all of this only to stress that despite DF's odd, irregular development cycle, the Adams brothers are among the most communicative and forthright of dev teams out there. Edit edit: The above takes into consideration that the devs' communications, updates, changelogs, etc., are just as unorthodox, non-standard and charming as DF itself, and often make for as much entertainment.
jplur 12y ago
If you don't see yourself playing this game, consider following the dev blog. It's rare for someone to devote themselves to a lifelong project, and Tarn has been going strong for a decade now. The updates are fun, especially his narrative descriptions of glitches in the world.
andretti1977 12y ago
It remembers me of the beautiful ADOM (ancient domain of mistery)...i think they got a lot of inspiration from it
- FreezerburnV 12y ago
  If you like ADOM, you should note that it got crowdfunded a while back to create a sequel. I believe they even released some public "betas" recently. (figured I'd mention it in case you hadn't heard :)
cryoshon 12y ago
Absolutely can't wait to go home and try out the latest version of DF, which has been two years in the making if I'm correct. Apparently the entire dwarf motivation system has been redone, so almost every aspect of the game will be changed. I am looking forward to all of the bugs, especially the ones relating to trying to wash difficult to reach areas with globs of sentient-fat soap. I highly encourage anyone who likes extreme detail and gaming to check out DF. DF is probably one of the most creative and most fantastic games ever made, and certainly one of my top five games of all time. The learning curve is easy enough to climb if you watch a series of youtube tutorials and have a mentor to ask questions to. Once you've got the basics down and can build a fort without flooding it or having a tantrum spiral due to not enough rum, then the Fun really begins. The minute to minute can also be very entertaining. I laughed really hard when one of my elite militia captains went into a martial trance while fighting off an invasion of goblins and promptly gave birth to a boy while still swinging her axe.
logfromblammo 12y ago
This game is like what the Sims should have been all along. If you think building a dream home, getting slapped by a neighbor for an ill-timed kiss, and drowning your characters in their own swimming pool were interesting, imagine how you would feel if you could make your house a 100-story skyscraper built from obsidian and glass, with subbasements that pierce three separate underworlds before breaching Hell, witness a tantrum that ends in broken bones, severed limbs, and execution by hammering, and kill your characters by sending them on a rollercoaster ride that ends with their minecart smashing into a mountainside and falling into a volcano. All of EA can produce a game where the tiny people pee their pants instead of using their own toilet. Two guys at Bay12 can produce a game where tiny people can have both arms snipped off by a monster with crab claws and still kill it by choking it out with their legs and then biting its head off. The Sims let you train your stats with mirrors and home gyms and bookshelves. DF lets you train stats by stabbing people with lever-operated spear traps, dropping live puppies onto their heads, forcing them to drown for short intervals, and making them wrestle with naked goblins. And all it costs is a voluntary donation to support a grand total of two people.
Lockyy 12y ago
Guess it's time to update talesfromthefortress.com to include the new version number.
owyn 12y ago
Dwarf fortress is one of many games that I enjoy following but can't really play... I just like that OTHER people play it. I've grown up on games just like any other form of entertainment (movies, tv etc) and it's great that I can still get some feeling of keeping up on things by watching 5 minute videos or reading summaries of some other much better player's creative output instead of having to invest 50 hours that I don't have...

278 points by Audiophilip 12y ago

I always find amazing what one can accomplish when the scope is reduced enough. I don't think Dwarf Fortress would have a fraction of its features if it had sprites, non-tiled graphics, multiple visible layers, sound effects or a sane UI. By taking those sacrifices we now have a game to behold. I'm excited to try the new features.

ANTSANTS 12y ago
I don't think "limited scope" is a phrase that accurately describes Dwarf Fortress at all.
- JimmyM 12y ago
  It has an extremely limited scope in particular carefully chosen ways, enabling an incredibly expansive scope in other much more important ways.
Cthulhu_ 12y ago
I really doubt the graphics would have much of an impact; after all (IIRC) they haven't really been updated in forever, meaning most of those 12 years were spent on the programming.
- PeterisP 12y ago
  Graphics would have an impact on development - not having graphics makes it trivial to add large quantities new content, things, creatures, etc. Even simple sprite graphics would require to be created/modified/maintained at every modification, thus increasing the barrier/cost of such changes and causing less changes/experiments to be done. Currently, the author publishes the changes, and fan spritepack maintainers do all the work of maintaining those sprites and their relation to the raw datafiles - it's a lot of continuous work; if Toady would have to do all of it himself then it wouldn't scale.

NDizzle 12y ago

A friend of mine put it best - "The work of a lunatic, but possibly the best game of our generation."

galfarragem 12y ago
I completely agree, if I had to choose one computer game to survive some kind of natural disaster I would choose this one. Instead of "our generation", I would say "spectrum" generation (people born from early 70's to early 80's). I wish I had this work of art when I had the time to play computer games. As a metaphor I would compare this game to high-cuisine and a 3D intensive game to fast-food.

Natsu 12y ago

Little known fact: it's only due to DF that you can find the solid density for Saguaro wood online. It's ~430 kg/m^3 dry and this was determined empirically by players. EDIT: Fixed units.

mkl 12y ago
kg/m^3, actually. Even gold is only 19.3 g/cm^3 :-D
- patmcguire 12y ago
  Ah, yeah. Saguaro wood probably floats, and the cutoff for that is below 1 g/cm
  - Natsu 12y ago
    There is at least one wood that does not float: ironwood. It's only thanks to DF that I know things like this.
    - jacobolus 12y ago
      “Ironwood” is a name used for a whole bunch of different unrelated tree species. I believe lignum vitae is just about the densest commercially available wood. Definitely sinks.
      - Natsu 12y ago
        The nice thing about the DF raws is that they now list the actual species used as a basis. A lot of research went on some time ago to add correct, sourced information to the raws. There are probably still a few wonky things, as some of the properties in there make more sense for metals than things like wood, but the players care about even strange details like that.
- Natsu 12y ago
  Oops, you're right. Most sources list g/cm^3, but you're correct that the raws use kg/m^3 (and 430 kg/m^3 is the proper figure).

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

KVFinn 12y ago

DF has a reputation for being impenetrable. Like it requires weeks or months of work or study to get anything out of it. Not true! You can start from scratch and have a crazy little adventure in minutes. Really. Dwarf Fortress: The Detailed Roguelike That’s Easy To Play http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/16/dwarf-fortress-the-detailed-roguelike-thats-easy-to-play/ http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/16/dwarf-fortress-th... >Dwarf Fortress is famous for producing anecdotes by the minute. The two-man, twelve-year, donation-funded indie project weaves together procedurally generated geography, civilizations and histories to create a rich fantasy world. It simulates its characters – standard fare like dwarves, elves, goblins, etc. – down to the most minute detail, and when all its systems combine, the results are often hilarious, occasionally tragic, and always surprising. >It’s also blissfully easy to play. The game is free to download and easy to install, the UI comes with a detailed and handy help system, and there’s a community wiki full of guides – not that you’ll need them. I started from scratch last night and was having fun immediately. >This whole experience has taken around twenty minutes, and while it’s a shame Akan Seasonveiled didn’t get to see more of her homeland, the experience encapsulated much of what I love about Dwarf Fortress. I discovered a town, talked to people and formed a posse. I went on a dynamically generated fantasy adventure and slayed a grim beast. I discovered a camp of travellers out in the wilds, had a tense and hard-fought combat encounter, and finally met my own grisly end. It was exciting! It was just a tiny taste of this world, but I’m itching to go explore more. I actually enjoy simply generating worlds and looking through the history afterwords... even easier.

garretraziel 12y ago
On the other hand, "rogue" part of dwarf fortress is much easier than "dwarf fortress" part.
- imdsm 12y ago
  But the dwarf fortress part is amazing. My number 1 game.
- astrobe_ 12y ago
  The fortress mode tutorial on the DF wiki allows you to build a self-sustaining fortress. The Lazy Noob Pack is also of great help. One will probably have to wait for it to be updated for the newer version of DF, but one can begin with the previous version of DF and update when it's available. http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide

GuiA 12y ago

For those who don't know what Dwarf Fortress is, and want to read about the marvelous story behind Dwarf Fortress and its creators: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of.. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of....

ttflee 12y ago
Sorry but I just hit a Page Not Found. Is there a typo in the hyperlink?
- plorg 12y ago
  If a cursory googling is any indication, it's probably the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of...
  - hudibras 12y ago
    Some additional googling turned up this follow-on story about how the Times made the ascii art in the original article. http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/the-fine-art-of-dwarf-fortress/ http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/the-fine-art-of...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
huskyr 12y ago
Another enjoyable read by the folks at Ars Technica:Ten hours with the most inscrutable video game of all time http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/02/dwarf-fortress-ten-hours-with-the-most-inscrutable-video-game-of-all-time/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/02/dwarf-fortress-ten-hou...
tfinch 12y ago
And if you want an idea of the type of 'generated stories' it can tell, you might be interested in http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/ http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/ - a "Let's Play" told by successive rulers of a fortress. (The story proper begins in Update 2 of Thread 1) Warning, you may spend the rest of the day reading it...

patmcguire 12y ago

Urist McProgrammer has created Dwarf Fortress 0.40, a luminous C++ program.

logfromblammo 12y ago
All the code is of the highest quality. It is studded with ASCII character cabochons and menaces with spikes of attention to detail. It is engraved with an image of Toadyone surrounded by dwarves. The dwarves are battling an invasion of new bugs.

amfeng 12y ago

My favorite explanation of DF: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/images/4/40/FunComic.png http://dwarffortresswiki.org/images/4/40/FunComic.png

nn3 12y ago

"They cannot yet realize their dreams of taking over the world." Sums it up I think.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Grue3 12y ago

Wow, I totally didn't expect to see this headline. This version has been in the works for years and the updates have been infrequent as of late. I remember waiting for the very first version of Dwarf Fortress. I think it wasn't even known as Dwarf Fortress back then, just "the dwarf game". Bay 12 Games was virtually unknown, with several quirky games to its name, and a dozen or so fans on the forum. There was a thread where screenshots and videos of the upcoming game were posted. The full scope of the game wasn't revealed back then: the fact that adventure mode even existed was a total surprise, and so was the fact that it's a sequel to Slaves to Armok. The first announcement was posted on Usenet. Good times.

ryanklee 12y ago
>the updates have been infrequent as of late. If you're referring to updates on the state of development, this is resoundingly untrue. Toady makes multiple entries every week, commenting on things happening, bugs found, and havoc discovered. He's done this consistently since I started following DF, around 6 years ago. http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/ http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/ Edit: I should also point out that the brothers are also active on the bay12 forums, conducting monthly Q&A sessions about DF's future, as well as posting monthly donation numbers. There is a DF podcast on which they appear frequently to boot. I mention all of this only to stress that despite DF's odd, irregular development cycle, the Adams brothers are among the most communicative and forthright of dev teams out there. Edit edit: The above takes into consideration that the devs' communications, updates, changelogs, etc., are just as unorthodox, non-standard and charming as DF itself, and often make for as much entertainment.

jplur 12y ago

If you don't see yourself playing this game, consider following the dev blog. It's rare for someone to devote themselves to a lifelong project, and Tarn has been going strong for a decade now. The updates are fun, especially his narrative descriptions of glitches in the world.

andretti1977 12y ago

It remembers me of the beautiful ADOM (ancient domain of mistery)...i think they got a lot of inspiration from it

FreezerburnV 12y ago
If you like ADOM, you should note that it got crowdfunded a while back to create a sequel. I believe they even released some public "betas" recently. (figured I'd mention it in case you hadn't heard :)

cryoshon 12y ago

Absolutely can't wait to go home and try out the latest version of DF, which has been two years in the making if I'm correct. Apparently the entire dwarf motivation system has been redone, so almost every aspect of the game will be changed. I am looking forward to all of the bugs, especially the ones relating to trying to wash difficult to reach areas with globs of sentient-fat soap. I highly encourage anyone who likes extreme detail and gaming to check out DF. DF is probably one of the most creative and most fantastic games ever made, and certainly one of my top five games of all time. The learning curve is easy enough to climb if you watch a series of youtube tutorials and have a mentor to ask questions to. Once you've got the basics down and can build a fort without flooding it or having a tantrum spiral due to not enough rum, then the Fun really begins. The minute to minute can also be very entertaining. I laughed really hard when one of my elite militia captains went into a martial trance while fighting off an invasion of goblins and promptly gave birth to a boy while still swinging her axe.

logfromblammo 12y ago

This game is like what the Sims should have been all along. If you think building a dream home, getting slapped by a neighbor for an ill-timed kiss, and drowning your characters in their own swimming pool were interesting, imagine how you would feel if you could make your house a 100-story skyscraper built from obsidian and glass, with subbasements that pierce three separate underworlds before breaching Hell, witness a tantrum that ends in broken bones, severed limbs, and execution by hammering, and kill your characters by sending them on a rollercoaster ride that ends with their minecart smashing into a mountainside and falling into a volcano. All of EA can produce a game where the tiny people pee their pants instead of using their own toilet. Two guys at Bay12 can produce a game where tiny people can have both arms snipped off by a monster with crab claws and still kill it by choking it out with their legs and then biting its head off. The Sims let you train your stats with mirrors and home gyms and bookshelves. DF lets you train stats by stabbing people with lever-operated spear traps, dropping live puppies onto their heads, forcing them to drown for short intervals, and making them wrestle with naked goblins. And all it costs is a voluntary donation to support a grand total of two people.

Lockyy 12y ago

Guess it's time to update talesfromthefortress.com to include the new version number.

owyn 12y ago

Dwarf fortress is one of many games that I enjoy following but can't really play... I just like that OTHER people play it. I've grown up on games just like any other form of entertainment (movies, tv etc) and it's great that I can still get some feeling of keeping up on things by watching 5 minute videos or reading summaries of some other much better player's creative output instead of having to invest 50 hours that I don't have...