General News - Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam

PC Gamer reports that the roguelike building sim Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam:

Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics and mod support

The classic version will still be free and updated, same as always.

I'm telling you, with a straight face, that this is the biggest PC gaming news of 2019: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam, with graphics and Workshop mod support. Dwarf Fortress is as famous for its ASCII graphics as it is for its unparalleled depth as a procedurally generated simulation of existence. And while it's always been moddable, the new Steam (and Itch.io) release, coming this year, will make an infamously complex game just a little bit easier to get into.

Kitfox Games, makers of Moon Hunters and the upcoming Boyfriend Dungeon, are handling publishing and working with artists and a composer for the new release. The new 32x32 pixel graphics tileset is being created as a collaboration between two long-time Dwarf Fortress modders. Under the surface, Dwarf Fortress will otherwise be the same game. The free version will remain available and be updated same as the version available on Steam, which will cost $20.
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thanks henriquejr!

More information.

I think I'll give this game another try then. I bounced off it the first time.

Just read this on Twitter. The reason they decided to do it is to get money because healthcare in the US sucks. So sad.

https://twitter.com/bratterz/status/1105864960649908225

I'll make sure to buy it at full price then.

Yeah, I'll pick this up too and get a cool tileset for it (some of them look really good.) I've been wanting to get into this but the learning curve has always been huge. Once I delve in I'm sure I'll like it a lot - it's a deep game.

Capt. Huggy Face said:

I think I'll give this game another try then. I bounced off it the first time.

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Yeah, I gave it a try not long ago and it definitely wasn't for me. This Steam release is said to include "enhanced graphics and audio" though, so I'll give it a look at least.

(Rubbing eyes) Had a Nethack flashback for a second there...

Yeah, I've look at it before but felt daunted by the "graphics" (or rather, lack thereof). I'll probably pick this up on Steam if it is more accessible.

I haven't tried this one myself, so I'll be seeing what others think about it after this launch on steam happens.

This still exists ?

I played this years ago and it was fun but extremely clunky. And really frustrating to always lose...

If I had more time, I'd probably try it again, but I don't have a lot of time.

GabrielMP_19 said:

Just read this on Twitter. The reason they decided to do it is to get money because healthcare in the US sucks. So sad.

https://twitter.com/bratterz/status/1105864960649908225

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Having been born into civilization, I too find it hard to believe that every employment decision you make has to center around access to a reasonable level of healthcare. For those outside the US, what I mean is your employer can provide many different levels of healthcare, some of which for example might charge a $2000 copay to set a broken arm. That's for a person who actually has health insurance.

And then if you happen to be out of a job, have a little money saved up, and feel like taking 3 or 6 or 12 months off work to just enjoy yourself, forget it. Then you'd be paying out of pocket for the insurance.

Having been playing and supported DF since 2011 now.

The truth is actually since years very few people if any do really play DF naked. Most people use packages which are updated with new version of DF, utilities, tools, tilesets (many exists, some gorgeous). Those utilities and tools let you use DF as the game engine to simulate hundreds of dwarfs over years and years and the whole world around while giving you some tools to help you process the information generated by those immature drunkards. Some of those utilities even introduce the possibility to use the mouse a bit.

Those packages have a setup which will install DF, the tileset you choose, the options you prefer (population limit, climate accuracy, invasions, etc..) and you are ready to go.

I imagine than this Steam launch will be a step further of what exists today and most of the DF players do. I have read the Steam announcement and some names mentioned in there are actually creating those packages I am talking about.

If you are curious to have a go, here is the package I use for example:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=161047.0

It has the most complete tileset to this day, the last version of DF, is very flexible in terms of options and provide all the utilities you need to play DF.

I've always loved the idea of this, kind of a dream game really. The "graphics" and interface has turned me off though. Since Rimworld (one of my favorite games) is inspired by this i must give the Steam version a try once released.

Yeah, the graphics have always been a huge turn down for many people. Which is sad because tilesets have been available for years and have provided a similar graphical experience than Rimworld.
Interface is something else really, it is actually quite easy to master but yes I understand your point.. I am afraid than Steam version will not provide a better interface than what you can have now in the packages: Keyboard a lot, mouse a little.

As for what you can do or build or experience in DF, Rimworld is really a subset of DF in a SF setting. I do not say that negatively, I really like Rimworld but you feel constrained when you go from DF to RW..

Excellent commercial decision!

Not my type of game tho.

ChatMiauleur said:

If you are curious to have a go, here is the package I use for example:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=161047.0

It has the most complete tileset to this day, the last version of DF, is very flexible in terms of options and provide all the utilities you need to play DF.

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Thanks for the info but I tried it and it was completely obtuse still. The tileset didn't seem to be working correctly, still some keyboard characters, looked generally terrible, and when you start the game it simulates years passing then slows to a crawl, I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

mbuddha said:

Thanks for the info but I tried it and it was completely obtuse still. The tileset didn't seem to be working correctly, still some keyboard characters, looked generally terrible, and when you start the game it simulates years passing then slows to a crawl, I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

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When you launch the game it starts the generation of the world. It simulates every passing year until the date chosen to stop that generation (by default 1050): Town/cities being founded or destroyed for every Human/Elf/Goblin/Dwarf/Gnome Kingdom, every war being fought, Gods being born, Titans in a rampage and the tales of their destructions, birth and death of people, but also the poems or the music being composed, the artifacts being crafted and so on..

All that will be the history of your world. Your dwarfs will adore one of those Gods, be opponents of the kingdoms who fought wars against theirs, they will know or not some kind of music, and will craft statues depicting scenes of that History. They will be the son of that guy who killed a dragon or that one who was eaten by a wererat 3 generations ago or the stepdaughter of the one who ran away.

When the World/History generation is done you choose the Dwarf Civilzation you are from and the place where you want to build your Fortress in the world.

And there you embark on that location and you build your colony. This part is the game people knows. The Tileset is used at this level.

It will be part of the history of that world which will continue to be generated in parallel of what happens in your colony. If one of your squad kills a Roc or an Ettin someone somewhere may write a book about it or a song and a traveler could bring it to your while visiting one of your tavern or one of your temple, or not. Your colony can die or you can abandon it and you can try to found another one in the same world.
You can also try to recover an ancient fortress which was destroyed by a Titan 600 years ago if that exists in your world..

It is not an easy game to apprehend at first, but it is rewarding as no one.

It's supposed to generate 1500 years? I'm on year 250, it's gonna take an hour.. (edit no, it stopped at 250 actually).

The current tile set is rather ugly, i think the game probably looks better without it since its a mix of very mediocre looking tiles and text like "n" and "," which makes the game look totally inconsistent.

edit: no, i can't take it lol, its just too much like going back to a game on the C64 made in Basic (which wasn't something i fancied even 30 years ago).

Rimworld might not be the best looking game out there but it looks 100 times better than this (with the latest tile set). Rimworld even have animations. this is just blinking icons and gahh, it looks like absolute garbage. I'll wait another 5-10 years when it's more close to something like Rimworld, hopefully

I think Rimworld is probably where i draw the line graphically. it's simple but its simple for a reason, you're supposed to quickly being able to ID what is going on in the world, it can't have tons of "fluff" which is only graphics. The interface is just a total mess here too, it's a tremendous turn-off if you've played something like Rimworld.

vurt said:

It's supposed to generate 1500 years? I'm on year 250, it's gonna take an hour.. (edit no, it stopped at 250 actually).

The current tile set is rather ugly, i think the game probably looks better without it since its a mix of very mediocre looking tiles and text like "n" and "," which makes the game look totally inconsistent.

edit: no, i can't take it lol, its just too much like going back to a game on the C64 made in Basic (which wasn't something i fancied even 30 years ago).

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You are looking at the World generation, not the game itself..

For example, here is the Temple district my dwarves are building: All statues are still not in place, and other stuff are still missing too. There is nothing ASCII in there.
https://imgur.com/4tBNNYr

For the world generation you tell it how many years you want to generate.
With a default seed for your world more years you let it run and less "Mythical creatures" you will get and more powerful the "normal" kingdoms will be: Most Dragons, Giants, Roc, Ettin and other big stuff will have been killed.
In the example above, I have chosen to start at 200 (My fortress is 30 years old) so I have a lot of attacks by big big stuff.