ForeverChaos

Dwarf fortress is a game so massive and addictive, I cannot even begin to explain it. So, I’m going to let wikipedia do the talking.

Prior to play, a world must be generated or downloaded from the developer’s website. Each constructed world is unique; events that take place during play will affect subsequent games in the same world. World creation in Dwarf Fortress is elaborate: terrain is generated using fractals, erosion is simulated, then wildlife, towns, and other sites are placed.¹ A specific history is attached to each site; references to these events can be found during gameplay (in artwork and conversations with NPCs), and development’s current focus (as of April 2008) is to make world generation wars determine in-game territory distribution and NPC background stories. The entire process takes about 15 minutes, but is dependent on available computing resources. During recent development, Tarn Adams added an option for generating significantly smaller worlds(sized of 257×257(default), 129, 65, 33 or 17) for people who do not want to spend up to thirty minutes generating a full sized world.

The game offers two play modes: “Dwarf Fortress” mode, in which the player builds a dwarven settlement, and “Adventurer” mode, in which the player controls a single character in a generally roguelike manner. Only one mode can be actively played in a given game world, although adventurers can visit fortresses built in prior games.

The initial settlement party consists of seven dwarves. The player receives a number of points to spend on settler skills and resources (food, weapons, armor, equipment, and so on). Once these decisions have been made, the settlers arrive and begin to work.

A variety of tasks can be performed in the game. Some are basic, such as mining, wood-cutting, metalsmithing, masonry, farming, and cooking. Others are more esoteric, such as soapmaking, fish-cleaning, engraving, and gem cutting. A given dwarf’s “career” will generally centre on the skill practised most.

The player influences newly-arrived dwarves through the designation of work areas and subsequent job creation, but the player cannot directly control a dwarf. For example, marking an area for wood-cutting creates one “chop down tree” job for each tree encompassed, which a dwarf with the proper job activated will carry out. If a stockpile is created, a “haul lumber to stockpile” job forms whenever there is a spare log and available room in the stockpile. Any dwarf may be designated to perform a job. Higher skill in a given job may improve rate (such as with mining) or quality (in the case of crafting) of performance.

As they excavate their mountain, dwarves will have to fashion living space, produce food (typically involving farming and irrigation), obtain water and alcohol, and build workshops to generate valuable trade goods. They will also encounter hostile creatures against whom they must defend, which generally leads to military organization. As the fortress grows, more dwarves will arrive, providing additional labour and opportunities for job specialization.

As the game proceeds, players will encounter foreign traders, dwarven nobles who place demands on the populace, goblin sieges, maniacal dwarven artisans, and a variety of other special events.

The game models the dwarves and the world in extreme detail; for example, during combat, a dwarf can get different types of blood on every single finger of his hands. Item base material, quality of workmanship, dye and decoration are all registered and taken into account. According to their experiences (had a friend die - was served low quality food - was disturbed by noise while sleeping etc.) dwarves can get happy or sad, even angry and finally crazed; they build social relationships, marry a sufficiently “compatible” dwarf (and have children) or organize parties. Each dwarf also has its own unique personality, likes, and dislikes that will affect how the dwarf reacts to specific situations. An example of this is that a dwarf who likes the material gold will get a happy thought from seeing or owning a golden item or a dwarf who is quick to anger will be more likely to tantrum and get into fist fights. In addition, dwarves can obtain personality traits through experiences such as seeing a great deal of death, which will imbue the personality trait “Is no longer affected by death”. This personality trait will prevent the dwarf from gaining significantly unhappy thoughts from seeing death or having a friend die. Gravity is simulated; an elaborate fluid system is responsible for river and magma flows.

In “Adventurer mode”, the player controls an individual dwarf, human, or elf. There is no goal apart from survival. Players may either receive quests to kill monsters, which provide no specific reward, or wander freely and slaughter local fauna. Gameplay is fairly minimal; “Fortress mode” has received the bulk of the developer’s attention.

“Adventurer mode” also allows the player to explore parts and history of the current game world otherwise not accessible in “Dwarf Fortress mode”. For instance, in the latter dwarves can decorate walls and floors or artefacts with engravings, the contents of which show up only in very general terms in Fortress mode (e.g. a dwarf striking down a goblin), but very detailed in Adventurer mode (e.g. the names of both dwarf and goblin and when and where the killing happened).

Adventurers are assigned several combat-related skills: shield use, armor use, ambushing, wrestling, swimming, and any of several weapon skills. Initial skill selection wholly determines starting gear, but equipment is available for purchase from stores in human towns. The player can also assemble a party of adventurers by asking townsfolk to join the lead character.

You can download the current version at: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/df_27_176_38c.zip

And if the ASCII style graphics aren’t your forte, you can download a fan-made graphics package here: http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/~mayday/upload/DFG8.zip