Dwarf Fortress

[hyperme]

Dwarf Fortress is one of the most complex games ever made.  And it is awesome.  Control a fortress of alcoholic dwarfs, each with indvidual personalities and feelings in a large (as in, all the ones in real life) varity of biomes. Of course, that vastly over simplifies the game. Just play it! Linky:
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/index.html

Note:  Has ASCII graphics.  If you don't try the game because of this, you should be shot.
Note2: The DF wiki will help you not die. Look it up, after playing for your first time!

[marsgreekgod]

I tried to play and could figure out anything. no matter how many buttens I pressed, nothing happened, and the DF wiki said buttons would do things...

[gummybears123]

Same here

[grieck]

there are graphic tilesets, but mine won't work

[ipwnu1337]

Ahh, this game.

The learning curve is a negative slope.

Unless you have previous experience, you have no chance.

[gummybears123]

YOu know how to play?

[Dudemaster]

There is a version with tilesets called the Mike Mayday Graphics edition. Downside is, it requires a horizontal size of 1280px, which left me moving my window around sometimes as I have an XGA resolution.

Also, a new, massively changed version
is about to surface after 1.5 years of development! And it's going to take MM a while to create a new version of DFG... assuming he is still active. I am subscribed via Google Reader (RSS) to the dev blog, which is quite interesting and I think other people would find it an absolute joy to read, too. Look at the dev list to see what Tarn has left to do for the next version. Of course, there's going to be a load of bugs in the next release.  As usual. It's still in alpha you know.

Link to DFG:
http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php
Link to the DF Dev Log:
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_now.html

PS: 'Scamps' is his cat, in case you don't know.

[Arucard]

There are also Capt Ducks tutorials on Youtube, I watched through those before ever starting the game and had a decent idea on how to start. It's similar to any roguelike, you'll be hitting '?' a lot the first few times you play. But unlike any other roguelike, you also have a shortcut list on screen all the time.

Also it's important to note you don't control your dwarves directly, you give them orders then they do it (most of the time). This means they stop to eat when hungry, sleep when tired, get distracted, etc. Adventure mod is the true roguelike way of playing, but Dwarf mode is the real meat and potatoes. And it's awesome!

[Arucard]

Just wondering, you guys that actually play, can you share your fortress? Not the save, I mean shots of it. Preferrably in one of the 3D visualizers or Stone Sense. I don't have much to show yet, but some funny stuff happens every time. Like my stupid carpenter who's so anxious to get back to work he keeps leaving rotting food on the floor of his workshop, spreading miasma all over the shop areas.  Or the fact that half of the guys stand around idle while there's rocks to be hauled all over, then I keep getting the message that one of my cats has canceled storing an item in a stockpile because their too injured. 

I'll show some of my very new (little over one year) fort using Stonesense:
First is the bedrooms, with a large room which has smooth stone walls and floors (mostly). It's actually covered with rock in-game so it's hard to see what I missed.

Then is the workshops area, two carpentry, and masonry shops. Beyond that are the crafting workshops and gem cutting shops. Above are humugous stockpiles for furniture, finished goods, and gems (cut and uncut).

Edit: I didn't know the name would show up , the fort is called Darktwinkling of Anger (thought it was longer but that's all that shows), carved out by Dig and Dug (my two miners). Dig is the leader of the City of Confidence and we are the citizens of the Hoary Rim!

[marsgreekgod]

....

If I may ask Arucard, where did you find that?

[q0099]

Wow, I like this game. I found article on local draematica-clone.

The default mental state of a dwarf is madness. Sanity is a temporary condition — a PRIVILEGE you have to EARN!

[FIREIMMUNE] makes them think that magma is safe but doesn't actually make them fireproof. This can lead to some rather interesting results.

- [Generic what-to-do post]
- Pour magma on it!

- I think I made fish too hardcore

But, to tell serious, I amazed of its conception, complicity and attention to details.

Just look at fully random generated world

[Arucard]

....

If I may ask Arucard, where did you find that?

The 3D thing? It's called "Stonesense" and you can run it alongside of Dwarf Fortress. There is a download link on the Bay 12 games forums under DF modding. You can't really play the game like that, but if your computer can handle it, you can play in the normal screen and watch things unfold in Stonesense. It's pretty cool, but there's still some sprites missing.

@Q: This is true, I love this game for it's randomness, complexity, and general wonder. Each dwarf has their own ideals, likes/dislikes, friendships that they develop absolutely independent of any input from the player. It's more like a sim than anything, but much deeper than any sim could be. And one of the most amazing things to me is the way it develops a world and a two hundred year history before you ever even start playing.

I tried like four times to upload my world map, and it just won't work. So I'll put a screen shot of my desktop which uses it as a background now.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2742/4319974537_23e20a5bcc_o.png

[Dudemaster]

Anyway, 3d visualisation of DF has improved a lot in recent, umm, months. In my opinion, the best is by far (in my opinion, at least) Visual Fortress. We are also moving close to live 3d visualisation of the fortress. Even now, it can produce some bloody gorgeous looking images. Actually, I'll put a link below to the shots some person took, because they are so awesome to look at.

Link to Visual Fortress
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=39541.0
Amazing imagery generated by Visual Fortress(anchor link).
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=39541.msg1009458#msg1009458

[Arucard]

Seems I'll need to update my Visual Fortress, though I have no ore/glass towers or anything to boast with it. I still like the sprite drawn Stonesense though, it feels more game-like to me I guess. I've also gotten about six or seven different tilesets/graphic sets and finally downloaded the current beta. Zooming the area is very nice!