-Dwarf Fortress Discussions Thread- (king of indie games)

This is the game with one of the steepest learning curve of ALL games, with so many simple and complex systems it's hard to learn them all, with no ending other than the eventual destruction of your fortress by one cause or another, and which has inspired many newer (albeit much simpler) games to spawn like Minecraft and a slew of other titles. It's a game with which if you are imprisoned in a dark room with nothing but a computer for 10 years, you won't get bored with.

I've been meaning to try this game for quite a few years now, but never found the courage or the spare time to just sit down and learn it (especially since its ASCII visual theme is very discouraging to someone used to fancy graphics like myself), but after discovering this DF copy with modified tileset (now actual images for tiles) and starting my summer break with nothing but a casual research job, I embarked.

Now, a week later, I find this to be one of my favorite if not my favorite game.



Has anyone else played / is playing this game? For anyone who craves a complex game where you build your own civilization, manage hundreds of unique individuals, mine to the depths of the earth, defend against horrific and brutal sieges, and !fun! (a word used by those who have played DF, meaning "losing is fun"), this is it, and nothing will come close.

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Official site (with download):
Bay 12 Games: Dwarf Fortress
Newest game version with modified graphical tileset implemented (anyone wanting to try the game might wanna try this if they are afraid the ASCII of the vanilla version will turn them off):
May Green
Quick-start wiki guide (a good 2 hour read):
DF2010:Quickstart guide - Dwarf Fortress Wiki
Gameplay questions forum:
DF Gameplay Questions

 

It seems nbr is only into mainstream games :/

 

Sorry, the graphics look like World of Warcraft. I would've played it in the 90s.

 

edit: my eagerness in discussing this game might have been a bit too rash. 'scuse me.

 

Wow, quick to take offense to a joke in reply to a bit of an insulting remark about NBR being mainstream only.

 

Its not that we only care about mainstream games, but that game does not interest me at all.

 

I'm sorry, it's just hard to distinguish if something said on the internet is a joke, or a troll, or a serious statement.

I guess I'm just so surprisingly in love with this game that I was overly eager to discuss it here and found it agitating finding no one else who has heard of or played it. key001's jokeish statement didn't help with that either.

Nevertheless, I shall monitor this thread and see if perhaps someone will drop by in the near future.

Yeah "roguelike" is a bit of a niche genre in gaming. This is my first roguelike game too, and it did feel strange at first but after a few hours the appeal really hit me like a truck.

 

Ooh I did hear about this game being the inspiration for Minecraft. Should I try it? xD I don't feel like learning.

 

It's a bit hard to start playing DF without some reading I'm afraid. The game has a million different things you can do, and unfortunately you won't be able to do most of those unless you're a little informed.

I mean, you could read a little (10 minutes) into the wikia quickguide I linked in the first post, see if how the game plays interests you.

 

OMG
Murder in Cogbal. WHY?!
The first post in this made me want to play this game xD I like games where the NPCs are alive Or did i misunderstand the post?

 

Better, these aren't NPCs, they are dwarfs under your indirect control but also live their own lives. You are the overmind in this game giving general commands (e.g. chop these trees, mine out this area, make 20 rock doors, army assemble at that point, pull that lever), and your dozens or even hundreds (later on, when more dwarf migrants immigrate into your fortress) of AI dwarfs comply, or not, depending on many conditions.

Meanwhile to that all the dwarfs who are not affected by any command you did will just behave the way they naturally do in their lives - eat, drink, sleep, date, make babies (I'm serious), fight, be sad, suicide, leave, go berserk, etc etc.

There are dozens of skills that dwarfs can specialize in, things like mining, crafting stoneware, crafting boneware, making crossbows, armorsmithing, wrestling, using flails, farming plots, the list goes on and on. You control what skills they will use (often new dwarf migrants coming in will already have a few specialties, and you can just have them go with those). The end result is Legendary level skills - e.g. Legendary Carpenters, and these dwarfs are invaluable to you because depending on the skill, they are extremely strong / make very expensive items you can sell / etc.

 

You might have better luck discussing Dwarf Fortress at a place like /v/.

 

I'm aware, I'm aware. Doesn't hurt to try to start a discussion with a less meme-sprouting demographic though.

 

True.



(stupid 10char limit).