Of all the changes Dwarf Fortress has undergone, this is likely the most surprising. So when developers Tarn and Zach Adams announced on their Patreon account that they were planning on ditching the ASCII for actual sprites in a paid premium version of the game to be made available on Steam and indie marketplace itch.io. But you get a feel for it after a few years. You know in The Matrix where they show how the world is made up of a bunch of essentially text characters? It’s basically that, except way more confusing. In the decade and a half this game has been in active, continuous development, perhaps the only thing that hasn’t changed about the game is that it is a maze for the eyes, a mess of alphanumerics and ASCII-based art approximating barrels, dwarves, goblins, and dozens of kinds of stone. It may be hard for anyone who isn’t already familiar with the game and community to understand how momentous this is. But the developers, in a huge shift to the status quo, have announced that the game will not only soon have a paid version on Steam - it’ll have… graphics.
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The unbelievably rich and complex and legendarily user-unfriendly title has been a free staple of awe and frustration for years. And of course ex-Eurogamer video person Chris Bratt did an episode of Here's A Thing about Dwarf Fortress and cats, which is well worth a watch.Among the growing field of indie games, one truly stands alone: Dwarf Fortress. If you're unfamiliar with Dwarf Fortress, be sure to read Dan Pearson's wonderful feature, Learning to love Dwarf Fortress, gaming's deepest simulation. "Kitfox has no access to the source code, and will have no influence on the design, programming, or updates to Dwarf Fortress." "Tarn and Zach wanted more people to know about Dwarf Fortress, and also want to spend their precious time focusing on developing the game," reads the FAQ. Kitfox will get a 20 per cent cut of revenue from the Steam version after Valve takes its standard 30 per cent cut. The Steam version is published by Kitfox, but Dwarf Fortress is still owned by Bay 12 Games.
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After the villains update is out and stable, Tarn and Patrick Martin "Meph" Schroeder will work on the Steam Workshop pipeline to make sure anyone who wants to can easily bring over their mods, if they want to. Tarn and Zach will continue working first on the major villains update for Dwarf Fortress Classic. And, of course, Steam Workshop integration.ĭwarf Fortress Classic won't change, the developers reassured, and it'll be updated alongside the new premium versions, just without the new art, music, and Steam features. The Steam version has a custom premium tileset with graphics enabled by default, new music and auto-updates. "Due to these rising healthcare costs, as well as the uncertain structure of Patreon, they decided it was time for them to have additional means of support." "As it's a sensitive and difficult matter, please respect Tarn and Zach's privacy about this, but keep some well wishes in your hearts for them. Why Steam now? "Dwarf Fortress is going premium because we want more people to encounter the game, grow the community, and some of the creator's close family members have developed serious health issues within the past six months, and money to support them is tight," reads an FAQ. The infamously complex but brilliant "infinite possibilities" simulation game, which has been worked on for over 16 years, finally launches on Valve's platform as a lifetime "living" project by brothers Tarn and Zach Adams.