For about 16 years, the duo of Tarn and Zach Adams have beenupdatingDwarf Fortress, a freeware procedurally generated simulation roguelike game. Thanks to Kitfox Games, a premium, paid version ofDwarf Fortresswill soon be available to consumers through Steam and itch.io—and it promises to look and sound better than ever before.
As the name implies, this game has players building a fortress to either protect numerous dwarves, with a massive generated world to explore as well. What will now be known asDwarf Fortress Classicwill remain free and will still receive updates (asit did intermittently), but this paid version will have, well, actualgraphicsinstead of text (though an optional ASCII mode will still be available).
Mike “Mayday” Madej and Patrick Martin “Meph” Schroeder, known for their tileset mod packs, will be working on a brand-new graphical tileset just for the paid version of the game. Meanwhile, musician and sound designer Dabu will provide new musical tracks to match the different seasons within the game. Additionally, this version will also have Steam Workshop integration for easier mod support.
In 2012, the Museum of Modern Artinducted several video games to its gallery, includingDwarf Fortress. With this project essentially being a lifetime “living” project, expect no real end to it. While Kitfox is helping to bring the project to marketplaces,Dwarf Fortresswill remain an independent project—the collaboration between Kitfox and Tarn Adams comes from mutual friends and previous collaborations, including a book on procedural generation co-written by Adams and Tanya X. Short, whomentioned the book in our interview with herabout Kitfox’s upcomingBoyfriend Dungeon.
No release date is known forDwarf Fortresson Steam, but Tarn Adams will be engaging with community members onKitfox’s Discord server. Meanwhile, check out a quick trailer and some screenshots below.
