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- 16 Dec 2009
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Since we had a Minecraft thread, it's now time for a Dwarf Fortress thread.
For those not familiar with the game, it's what originally inspired Notch to write Minecraft. A single-player fantasy game featuring a simulation mode where you get to build a dwarven fortress (like Moria, including hilarious mishaps and sometimes the eventual death by demons from below) as well as a sort-of rpg. The former one is more popular, though. All this takes place in randomly generated worlds, which are persistent (your fortress falls to the goblins and you can come back as an adventurer to grab that artifact suit of armor your dwarves created). It's entirely in CP437 (extended ASCII), but tilesets are available.
The developer, Tarn Adams aka Toady One has a PhD in Mathematics from Stanford and is putting his arcane knowledge to good use. For the record, if I say simulator I mean it. The stone layer composition is geologically accurate, the game models temperature, weather, flight paths of thrown or launched objects, bodily injuries down to single motoric nerves being severed and arteries being ruptured, based upon the physical properties of the object responsible for damage and its kinetic energy, health care based on this very accurate damage model, mostly accurate fluid physics, a history that can span hundreds of centuries, etc.
It's known for having the highest known difficulty curve, or to quote Hydrall, A MASSIVE, SHEER EXPANSE OF STONE RISING UP INTO THE HEAVENS, COVERED IN !!*Adamantine Barbed Wire*!! AND LAVA DROPS, ALL WHILE ARMOK STANDS ATOP AND LAUGHS AT YOUR PITIFUL ATTEMPT TO SURVIIIIIIIVE. Though this has been mitigated by the existence of the magmawiki. It isn't nearly as hard as it used to be when I started playing.
It's also still in alpha, so there are always a few bugs (usually you don't even notice them).
I must post a few pics of my current fortress tomorrow. Any other players out there?
EDIT: Oh yes, and it's free.
For those not familiar with the game, it's what originally inspired Notch to write Minecraft. A single-player fantasy game featuring a simulation mode where you get to build a dwarven fortress (like Moria, including hilarious mishaps and sometimes the eventual death by demons from below) as well as a sort-of rpg. The former one is more popular, though. All this takes place in randomly generated worlds, which are persistent (your fortress falls to the goblins and you can come back as an adventurer to grab that artifact suit of armor your dwarves created). It's entirely in CP437 (extended ASCII), but tilesets are available.
The developer, Tarn Adams aka Toady One has a PhD in Mathematics from Stanford and is putting his arcane knowledge to good use. For the record, if I say simulator I mean it. The stone layer composition is geologically accurate, the game models temperature, weather, flight paths of thrown or launched objects, bodily injuries down to single motoric nerves being severed and arteries being ruptured, based upon the physical properties of the object responsible for damage and its kinetic energy, health care based on this very accurate damage model, mostly accurate fluid physics, a history that can span hundreds of centuries, etc.
It's known for having the highest known difficulty curve, or to quote Hydrall, A MASSIVE, SHEER EXPANSE OF STONE RISING UP INTO THE HEAVENS, COVERED IN !!*Adamantine Barbed Wire*!! AND LAVA DROPS, ALL WHILE ARMOK STANDS ATOP AND LAUGHS AT YOUR PITIFUL ATTEMPT TO SURVIIIIIIIVE. Though this has been mitigated by the existence of the magmawiki. It isn't nearly as hard as it used to be when I started playing.
It's also still in alpha, so there are always a few bugs (usually you don't even notice them).
I must post a few pics of my current fortress tomorrow. Any other players out there?
EDIT: Oh yes, and it's free.