[fener]

It's a really fun little game - mind, the graphics are ASCII based, which would be familiar to players of roguelike games.

Basically you can play 2 modes (so far) - one which is the most developed one where you are supposed to maintain and expand a dwarf settlement and do what dwarves usually do, namely dig in a big mountain, gather minerals and metals and craft items and generally accumulate riches and so on...and of course defend against foes one way or another...

Second part is an adventure mode which isn't that shaped out yet but still relatively fun.

Despite the game download being extremely small, it will still take anywhere between 5-30 minutes to create a world  - depending on how good your computer is...and yeah, it's that complex.


If anyone's interested, here's the site:

http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves



And here's the Wiki for the game which contains all the need-to-know info:

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

Something else to pique your interest:
(Note:this is based on an old version of Dwarf Fortress and as such doesn't show the features from the new versions)

Over at forums.somethingawful.com, several devoted DF players had a succession game in which the save file was passed from player to player each year. Thus, a fort would be a composite of many play styles, each ruler (or god emperor, or time traveler, or prison warden) would have 1 year to leave their mark on history and be remembered, for good or for bad.

This is the story of one such chimera, "Boatmurdered"
http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/

More links:
GeekNights Podcast: Tarn Adams Interview
Games for Windows Magazine: Dwarf Fortress

[Mongoose]

I have to say, I don't know anything at all about this game, but the Let's Play logs are among the funniest things I've ever read.

[redsniper]

Holy crap, my roommate's played this a lot and I've played it a little bit myself. It is DEEP. This game can keep track of mental states and emotions, you can grab a goblin by its left 3rd toe with your right hand, throw him to the ground and strangle him, then cut off his arm and beat more goblins with it, you can throw a flea at a jaguar and bruise its liver.

Brace yourselves HLP, you have no idea what he's brought upon you.

[Col. Fishguts]

I have to say, I don't know anything at all about this game, but the Let's Play logs are among the funniest things I've ever read.

QFT. The tale of Boatmurdered's elephant wars are truly ...epic.

[Dark RevenantX]

The final fate of that fortress was very fitting.  Flaming apocalypse FTW!

[Flipside]

Damn you! This game is swallowing my soul!

[fener]

Damn you! This game is swallowing my soul!

1 down, 5,360 more HLP members to go 

[Flipside]

Still playing it almost obsessively....

Seriously people, if you're into city builders, and I've made no secret of my fondness for those sort of games, then play this, it's utterly mind blowing. You can basically create a fortress in a manner similar to Dungeon Keeper, only with much more detail with regards to management, and then enter the 'Adventure' mode and start wandering around what you created (assuming you can find it) learning about its history.

Really great game, just goes to prove my point that you don't need uber-shiny graphics if the gameplay is good and original enough.

[fener]

New version is out! see: Dwarf Fortress 0.27.173.38a Released

For the regularly updated log of changes: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_now.html

[Admiral_Stones]

There's no mac version, therefore it sucks.

No offence

[Flipside]

He's still working on it, but it is coming, and believe me, if you like this sort of game, it will be worth the wait

[Shade]

Damn it. Like I didn't have enough things vying for my time already

[colecampbell666]

It takes over 20 minutes to load a text based world? Damn big game.

[Flipside]

Not quite text-based, Ascii graphics, oddly enough going through the OpenGL engine. Takes a while to get used to it, but you soon get the knack of it

And yes, damn big game

[NGTM-1R]

Despite my best efforts, and the guidance of their wiki, it really doesn't seem worth it. Either it's very buggy, or I'm being lied to, because things don't do what they're supposed to do. The degree of micromanagement required wouldn't necessarily kill it, nor would the learning curve, except for the fact that things don't seem to actually work even when I am given and follow instructions. Even BattleCruiser managed to do what it was supposed to when you followed instructions.

[Flipside]

For the main part, I found micro-management at the early stages of the fort totally unneccesary, the biggest problems are that some dwarfs seem to prefer one job to another, so you might have a Miner/Mason who simply refuses to do Masonary work until every last bit of mining available has been done. What is it that isn't performing as it should?

Oh, and the second thing is finding stuff to do with all the damn stone

[fener]

It takes over 20 minutes to load a text based world? Damn big game.

Only the world generation part will take that long and needs to be done only once. Once that's done the world is saved to your harddisk and you can start a Dwarf Fortress mode game or Adventurer mode game in that world.

For the main part, I found micro-management at the early stages of the fort totally unneccesary, the biggest problems are that some dwarfs seem to prefer one job to another, so you might have a Miner/Mason who simply refuses to do Masonary work until every last bit of mining available has been done. What is it that isn't performing as it should?

You can set your dwarfs to perform only the jobs you want, Use the 'v' button, select the dwarf you want and change the labor settings under preferences.

[Shade]

Still playing, and I just want to ask: Why did you have to do this to me!? It was bad enough the first couple of days I was playing it, but now, now I can't stop. I got 3 hours of sleep this night because I *just* needed to finish off some fortifications before tuning in. Which, because the perfectionist in me decided to rear it's ugly head just then, turned out to take a while. Damn it

[Flipside]

The worst part is when a vital dwarf gets possessed, needs something like leather, and you have no Hunters, Trappers or Tanners to speak of, and the next trade caravan isn't due for 2 seasons

[Shade]

Thankfully, my latest one to get weird ideas is a useless nobody. Which is good, because he wants cloth, and I kinda neglected to sow any pig tails last year... I mean, since when do dwarves care about cloth? He must think he's an elf or something - I should channel some water into his workshop and teach him to act properly dwarflike