Dwarf Fortress has recently been released on Steam, so it may be surprising to hear that Dwarf Fortress has been out for free since 2002 (dubbed ‘Dwarf Fortress Classic‘). Dwarf Fortress has a pretty incredible history and is a real relic of gaming culture, not that you’ve probably heard of it until its Steam release. But you may be familiar with some of Dwarf Fortress’s imitators, including Minecraft, RimWorld, or Prison Architect. Just how influential has the game been since its creation, and how does it continue to do so?
The history of Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress, like its generated worlds, has a very rich history. All of the game’s history regards the classic version, which looks a whole world different from how games look nowadays. Instead of clean graphics or pin-point pixels, the game uses an ASCII interface that makes the game look ancient. Almost reminiscent of text-scrollers or text adventure games, Dwarf Fortress Classic makes use of symbols, letters, numbers, and tiny basic imagery to create a very unique and rather confusing display.
Playing the classic version requires decoding simply from looking at the world map, let alone your confusing and messy fortress. This design quirk is what gives the game its charm.
Since its release in 2002, Dwarf Fortress Classic received on-and-off development until 2006, when the developer, Tarn Adams (with help from his brother Zack Adams), began working on the game full-time. Their vision was, and still is, “to create a fantasy world simulator in which it is possible to take part in a rich history, occupying a variety of roles through the course of several games”. And they have most definitely achieved that and will continue to achieve more and more.
Dwarf Fortress Classic being free meant that the developer relied on donations to keep going. For over 15 years, the game has been developed from strength to strength. And not only that, but it is an original concept. That’s right, Dwarf Fortress was an incredibly unique concept, but it has been diluted from all the imitators that have launched more successfully their Dwarf Fortress.
Minecraft, and other imitations
“Minecraft?” you may ask, “that looks nor plays nothing like Dwarf Fortress.” And it’s true, Minecraft, as it stands now, is a far cry from Dwarf Fortress. However, the very core of Minecraft, its very foundation, was put together thanks to Dwarf Fortress.
If there’s anything I have learned from my Media A Level, is that Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, the original developer of Minecraft, took direct and explicit inspiration from Dwarf Fortress. Not only was this stated, but it can be observed through the name of his game before he changed to Minecraft, ‘Cave Game’. Minecraft gets praised for its procedural generation and its sandbox nature, however, all of those ideas can be attributed to Dwarf Fortress which did it first.
To be fair to Notch, there was a difference with how procedural generation practically worked in-game, however. Procedural generation is the feature of generating believable worlds on the fly. Minecraft does this as you explore, but Dwarf Fortress constructs a whole continent and thousands of years of history at the beginning of the game. In Minecraft, you are the center of your own legend, whereas, in Dwarf Fortress, you’ll already be living amongst them as you create your own.
It is amazing, yet sad, that Dwarf Fortress inspired the top-selling game of all time, and yet it remained in obscurity for a long, long time. RimWorld can also be observed to have taken inspiration. In fact, RimWorld is the most similar to Dwarf Fortress. You can think of RimWorld as a future sci-fi iteration of the game. If you thoroughly enjoy RimWorld, then Dwarf Fortress will be right up your alley. Again, RimWorld gets incredibly credited with the features of storytelling and generating events that happen in-game, but the very essence of that idea can be traced back to Dwarf Fortress.
Being developed for free and by mostly one independent developer is inspiring enough. But what really would have given way to so many games was the buckets of originality being accessed for free during a time when independent developers received more attention from gamers. Sure, gaming was popular, but there was an element of restriction. Most games were made by smaller companies of independent producers, so the limelight on Dwarf Fortress would be much bigger then than it would be if it had been released for the first time today.
So, it’s no wonder that Dwarf Fortress inspired so many other games. It’s just a shame it didn’t kick off more as it faded into the background. However, with the premium version being released, things might change.
Dwarf Fortress’s comeback
Dwarf Fortress Premium, as it is known, costs money but comes with a graphical and audio overhaul. With sprites brimming with personality, and 15 incredible new tracks (composed by Dabu with substantial assistance from Simon Swerwer), the premium version makes Dwarf Fortress way more accessible.
The inaccessibility of the original game, despite it being free, would have been a barrier for most players, which would have been a large reason as to why Dwarf Fortress remained in the shadows whilst Minecraft rocketed to the top game of all time.
Related: How elevation works in Dwarf Fortress
Some retribution has been claimed, however, as the art style of the premium version is somewhat reminiscent of modern titles that it would have inspired all those years ago. With a more appealing and accessible graphical look, many more players will look in Dwarf Fortress’s direction again. After all of those years, Dwarf Fortress may finally receive the recognition it deserves.
And to top it all off, both versions of the game will still continue to be updated and improved upon dramatically. The goal really is to make as convincing a world as possible. You can keep up to date with this through updates that appear on Steam, or through the classic version’s development logue.
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