Dwarf Fortress “Great and terrible” |About the most grandiose sin in history

13 years, it is a lot or a little? For some of us, this is a third or half of our lives, but for someone even more. And what is 13 years given, for the sake of one single thing, one goal. The case that has long attracted the attention of people and inspired them. A case that is largely contrary to modern trends, but thanks to this, it has become a great. Such is Dwarf Fortress and about it this video.

For those who prefer text content, a spoiler below with a text version.

In our age of gigantic ambitions and higher achievements, projects striving to embrace the immense, have ceased to be a rarity. The global network, distributing information with unrealistic speed and area of ​​defeat, opened the way to the adventurers, the main promise of which is: “To do everything at once”. How many such titans we saw, and how many of them were divided the fate of the legendary titanium. Someone collapsed under the weight of his own ambitions, and someone did not seek to embody these ambitions, playing on the feelings of innocent users.

And only a small part of them passed the entire production hell and was able to live up to all expectations or most of them.

If we talk about ambitions, then the poor fellow Eiden Pierce, whom Ubisoft was so pumped so much that he burst, like a soap bubble

But our story today will not be about these mastodonts of news headings. On the contrary, today we will look at the dungeons of the gaming industry, where for 13 years, perhaps the most worked out and merciless indie game in history has been tirelessly wrapped in 13 years.

The development of Dwarf Fortress started in 2002, the American programmer Tarne Adams and his older brother Zak Adams.

And in 2006, the alpha version of the game was posted on a network called Slaves of Armok II Dwarf Fortress. The deuce in the name is not just like that. In 2004, Adams developed an RPG with an identical name, on the basis of which the dwarf fortress was built.

Among ordinary players, Dwarf Fortress has the status of an unknown piece of the matrix impossible for perception. To some extent, they are right of this game really looks extremely specific and not attractive. But for its 13 years of development, the fortress of dwarves has already gathered a considerable number of fans around itself, awarded the place in the Museum of Modern Art and played a role in the development of the industry.

After all this, the question arises: “What is it? And how to play it?”

Unlocked classic

Fathers and grandfathers
To answer it, I will come a little from afar.

Back to the distant 1989, the unknown developer Peter Molinet creates the first virtual simulator of God, called Populous. The game differed from its contemporaries by the lack of direct control for wards. The main tool for divine intervention was the change in the landscape. Subsequently, Moligne released Dungeon Keeper, where the player is already acting as an underground villain. Control over the minions was carried out through orders and the system of incentives and punishments.Based on this concept, such cult games as Stronghold, Majesty, Black and White and Dwarf Fortress were also created.

All according to the canons of star wars, the father is a great villain.

Create a world around you!

The main difference between Dwarf Fortress and other representatives of the genre, in addition to the graphic component, is the scene. If in other simulators of God we received a specific area invented by the developers, then in the yardes everything is somewhat different.

First of all, the world of the game is procedurally generated by itself. At the same time, not only the card landscape itself is generated, but also its background. An ordinary stone with the inscription “LOL” may contain an excerpt of information about the empire that fallen several centuries ago.

Yes, I have not agreed precisely for centuries. The age and size of the world is regulated by the player, and from this the antiquity of any objects can vary from last Monday, to the last era.
As a result, to get acquainted with the generated world, a separate game mode was created called: “Legends”. In it, you can draw knowledge about historical events, civilizations inhabited this world, personalities of fate, religions, legendary places, and so on.

I wonder how many https://spinland.uk/ secrets in these kilotons of software code?

The main regime of the game is the strength of the fortress, where the player controls an expedition of seven brave courtes. Each of them has its own skills and cockroaches in the head. Landing into the world usually occurs with a small amount of resources. But no one prevents you from sending poor fellow at all without everything.Of course, for the extraction of stone, the tree needs appropriate tools, and no one canceled the desire to sleep, eat and have fun.

Further, the player with the help of orders creates a fortress in which the courtesy will survive, multiply and develop. A huge number of rooms and buildings performing different functions are provided, starting from the warehouse, ending with shops, arenas and lasarets.
Treatment, by the way, is not limited to first -aid kits. With a broken limb, it is necessary to put the tire on it, and with blood loss, bandage the wound.

With the development in the fortress, feudalism comes to replace the commune and the economy arises. And growing wealth attracts aggressively tuned enemies, whether it be a goblin or dragon. In addition, there are settlements of elves and people with whom you can both trade and fight.

In foreign policy, it is better not to contact these guys

What you choose? Burning or quartering?

If we talk about goals, then as such they are not provided for by the game. Therefore, the player must set himself tasks and entertain himself on his own. The only possible result of the passage of Dwarf Fortress is the death of the fortress.

True, this death can be diverse, for the motto of the game “Losing is fun!”.
Hunger, cold, depression, alcohol, thoughtful foreign policy, excessive wealth, fools, roads, corruption, monsters, cataclysms, siege: anything can lead to defeat.

Even cats.
Especially cats.

The so -called catostrophe or which is one of the classic scenarios of the fall of the fortress.

As soon as at least 2 fluffy individuals turn in the fortresses, the process of uncontrolled propagation begins. In addition, the cat itself finds the owner, and as soon as this happens, attempts to eliminate fluffs cause rabies from this very owner.

Further, two options for the development of events are possible:

First: the population of cats grows to such a scale that literally crushes all settlers

Second: for one reason or another, one of the cats is killed by a yard, which provokes a flash of anger from the owner. He fuss in the face of either another cat or another yard. Thus, the settlement flows into mass hysteria. Here, events can unfold in different ways, but they all lead to the extermination of the population of the fortress.

At the moment, catostrophe is not as dangerous as in early versions. Kotov can be castrated, and the yardes stopped turning into a berserkers on an industrial scale.

All according to the canons of “dog island”

But this fauna did not become less dangerous. Dragons, colosses, hydra, and Batmen. And I would like to say that I was joking, but the game really has a hybrid of a person and a bat, hating clowns and hiding his personality.

In addition, his parents died in the mine.

The crazy hybrids do not end there. So -called forgotten creatures, these are creatures fused from different limbs.

With the help of dwarf fortress, you can even create a calculator or a turing machine

And now imagine everything that I have listed only a small part. The game has a simple physics, an ecosystem, a huge number of breeds and minerals, works of art created by yardes, reflecting the events that took place at that time in the world.
As a result, a huge number of opportunities creates an abyss for stories of varying degrees of absurdity.

Our recursion is everything

By the way, the game also has an adventure mode where the player controls the 1st character. The game turns RPG.

But there is one but. And this “but” you see on the screen. Possessing such a set of Dwarf Fortress functions, it is technically not capable of having a clear graphic engine. Even using ASCII pseudographics, the game has suggestive requirements for RAM and processor.

As with table role -playing games about Dwarf Fortress, it’s easier to listen to what to play in it. But like DND, Dwarf Fortress had a tremendous impact on the game industry. If the dungeons and dragons have become the basis of the CRPG genre, then the Dwarks Fortress is one of the pillars of a separate industry. In fact, this is the first indie project, such a scale. Without superpopularity, he has his community and develops safely, thanks to donations.

At the same time, Dwarf Fortress has become an inspirer for many other games. The great and terrible minecraft is almost the heir to Dwarf Fortress, although he has another genre.

Today, with all the monumentality, Dwarf Fortress has modern alternatives. Not so deep, but much more attractive.

The most obvious and pleasant option is Rimworld. The game is also in early access and is gradually developing. Medieval Swalf Setting was replaced by science fiction, but the gameplay remains similar. Without such a depth of study, Rimworld is still an excellent generator of non -standard situations and stories.

For example, once my settler somewhere picked up gastric worms that prevent the normal meal. And as soon as it became clear that the situation is serious, and the poor fellow could die from hunger, it was decided: to carry out the operation to remove the stomach. And oddly enough it worked.

Social humor and on other planets you will get you

And I wanted to finish a small portion of lyrics.

It so happened that a person becomes the main symbol of any historical achievement. And now, with words, the game industry or icon of the gaming industry is immediately recalled by Gabe Newel, Peter Moligne, John Karmak, Hideo Kojima in the end. Each of them is certainly an icon, there is no doubt about it. Each of them took an outstanding step in the industry, created a cult game or a series of games.

And I think that Tarn Adams deserves to be on this list. Yes, he is not the creator of the superpopular brand, he is not a mastodont of the gaming industry, in his wallet not billions of dollars, although he has stable material support for fans. This is an ordinary indie developer, who for 13 years creates a game of his dreams, realizing that it will most likely never come out of a deep alpha. And all this does a couple with his brother. At the same time, his game hooked and inspired a lot of people.

Such fidelity to your idea, is very rare now. Look at Steam and see how many projects entered early access, and how many came out of it. How many projects were abandoned, after 1 year of development or 2-3. How many projects were not completed and put up in the release.

Yes stamp, but the stamp is appropriate

And unlike these masses, Dwarf Fortress is free.

Tarn Adams is not the greatest game designer in history, not a brilliant entrepreneur. But this is a real hero and creator of the gaming industry. And Dwarf Fortress is his great creation.