Dwarf Fortress
About Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress is a free simulation game that is part construction management and part roguelike. The game is instantly reconglizable by it’s text based ASCII and tile graphics. The game world of Dwarf Fortress has a procedurally-generated fantasy world. In it players control a group of dwarves as they build an underground fortress. Players select a suitable site to build their fotress, growing the colony and fighting back against goblin invasions and other threats. While open ended in nature, Dwarf Fortress has no real victory condition. Everyone’s fortress will eventually fall to ruin. The game’s development started back in 2002 and it has developed a cult following having influenced games such as Minecraft and other procedurally-generated construction games.
The Game World of Dwarf Fortress
At the start of each new game of Dwarf Fortress, players must create a new game world. Players will decide on various settings about the make up of the world such as size, resources, history and more. When these settings are complete, the fantasy world starts building. As the world builds, the map will change. Old towns disappear while new ones appear, terrain changes and the years of history count off until the “years” parameter is reached. In a matter of a few minutes a fully detailed history is created. THis includes a history of civilizations, races, religions and conflict between civilizations. At this point the game world becomes persistent and is available for any number of future games. This gives the players the opportunity to make their own history in the world going forward.
Dwarf Fortress Game Modes
In addition to the basic Fortress game mode, the game includes an Adventure and Legends game mode. In Adventure mode, players control a dwarf adventurer in a RPG style game. Character creation is similar to other role playing games with player selecting skills and attributes to make their character unique. The game world in adventure mode is the same as the one created at the start of Fortress mode. Characters will start in a radom town and pick up quests as they hear rumors from NPCs. Legends mode is the third game model and it makes use of the history of your generated world. Players can browse the game world learning about historical figures, regions, conflicts and more.
Where to Download Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress is freeware which makes it completely free to downlaod and play. The game’s development has been funded by donations through PayPal or Patreon, so it is something you like then you should condisder donating. The download is available from the offician Dwarf Fortress website.