Adventure Mode Beta 25 Notes
-Fixed crash involving river audio polling
Hey Urists, Beta 24 is now live and includes the beginnings of a tutorial and audio on chargen and in the log screen. There's also a few crash fixes regarding creature variations and threading behaviour thanks to Putnam and some fixes to the audio. There's only a few little things left to clear up before Adventure Mode is ready, and one big thing (the tutorial), and then we'll be able to turn our attention back to the underlying simulation, which will generally improve both Fortress and Adventure modes.
Beta 24 Patch Notes
- Started adding tutorial (camera, movement, menu options, popups for many menus)
- Menu sounds during character creation and the adventure log
- Improved river and campfire audio loops
- Can click on portrait for status
- Hive no longer looks like clothing
- Made string display more compatible with fan translations
- Made threading more stable
- Fixed modding crash involving creature variations
Guidebook
Also, Fangamer put up their preorders for the Dwarf Fortress guidebook, a lovingly crafted codex of insight and tips. A perfect gift for yourself or other fans of fungal cuisine. You can also add an "Expedition Leader's Journal" for $5, which is a logbook specifically created for tracking the details of your different fortresses and worlds.
Back to the Grindstone
Tarn's been away for little events like moving countries and getting married! But now he's settled into his new life, and back to work on Adventure Mode. Look how happy he is! You all helped make this happen with your support for the game. Congratulations to Tarn and his love both.
Children!
Meanwhile, the artists have been busy, as usual. Carolyn has started designing the portraits for children, though It might be a bit before we see them in-game. Here you can see dwarf children on top versus the adults below. They'll need adjusted clothes since their bodies are a bit smaller, and we won't be showing in detail the injuries they can sustain, but a head-bandage should communicate quickly that they're not in good health.
Crashing?
We know some folks are still experiencing new crashes, even though updating C++ redistributables fixes it for most people. It's very mysterious to us but if you have any clues to share with us, please let us know, especially if the whole game exe just won't start, we'd love to know your OS details, driver setup, etc. That's all for today, but we'll see you at the next patch! Tanya, Alexandra, Kitfox and Bay 12
Hey Urists, Another patch this week before Tarn heads off for a very special, important life event! In this update you'll find graphics for tracking including animal prints and prints through various materials (like water). Barrel graphics have also been updates so you'll be able to see their contents at a glance. Also classic glyphs are now in! An update for those experiencing crashes: We are still working on a fix for this. We are currently in talks with someone from Steam to figure out if it's an issue on their end or ours. In the meantime, we have a thread on the Steam forums with a temporary fix that seems to be working for almost everyone. We are monitoring the thread and appreciate any reports, especially if you've tried repairing Steam C++ redistributable (x64 version) and are still experiencing crashes. Thanks for all your help!
Beta 23 Patch Notes
- Audio crash fixed - Update to bin/barrel container graphics so they show their contents in more detail - Added tracking symbols (shift + K for now) - Added classic glyphs (still need to work on screen layout) - Fixed Linux crash-on-exit - Better respected caste population ratios - Added more information to crash logs - Fixed command line world generation That's all for now! -Alexandra
Hey Urists, We have a Fortress Mode patch this week which adds in a bunch of graphics that we added to Adventure Mode beta as well as some bug fixes. We are still primarily working on getting the last few features for Adventure Mode finished so there won't be regular patches for Fortress Mode quite yet. But we wanted to do this as a little thank you to the Fortress players who have been extremely patient while we've been busy with Adventure Mode. We are getting close now!
A word of warning:
There is a risk of losing your saves with this update. There's been an issue related to the Steam C++ redistributable, which we think may be resolved. We recommend playing the new patch with a save file you don't mind potentially losing just in case there's any issues that come up in the next few days. We will update you when this risk no longer an issue.
Patch Notes 50.14
Major bug fixes
- Linux trainer crash fixed (again)
- Added crash guard for bad civilian alert
- Dwarves/humans/elves/goblins/kobolds have child and baby images, new equipment, and palette support
- Garden and crop plants have more images
- Mandible portrait fixed for experiments
- Good/bad thoughts about tombs work
- Poisonous forgotten beasts work more reliably
- Various minor tweaks to input/layout
- Fixed drinks being destroyed on unretire
- Fixed a few broken sorts
Hey Urists, We have another patch this week including a hotfix for the crashes that were happening with the beta 21 update. This issue was related to the audio engine crashing, thanks to everyone who reported the issue. Also in this update is the ability to assume different identities in Adventure Mode, palettized equipment for all the units who have dynamic portraits as well as baby sprites for humans, elves, goblins and kobolds. You should be seeing a lot of these new graphics over in Fortress Mode in a future patch very soon.
Patch Notes for Beta 22
- Fix for recent audio crash - Palettized wieldables and wearables for dwarves/humans/elves/goblins/kobolds - Graphical left/right hand distinction on wieldables - Child/baby images for humans/elves/goblins/kobolds - Visible soldiers/groups on world map in adventure mode - Adventure mode sound indicators in unseen areas - Ability to assume identity in adventure mode - Can view wounds in dwarf mode arena without diagnosis See you next patch! - Alexandra P.S. Today Kitfox announced we are publishing the hardcore noir space-sim Ostranauts. So if you like dying in space in weird and interesting ways, then I highly recommend checking it out. It's currently in Early Access and available now with a 20% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1022980/Ostranauts/
Hey Urists, Beta 21 of Adventure Mode is now live. You are now able to fully customise the personality of your adventurers in character creation. Travel in style (and destruction) with minecarts and all the features that come with riding a minecart. Well in towns are also usable now. You can raise and lower well buckets and fill your waterskin which is super helpful in human villages and towns since they always have wells, if they arent frozen.
Beta 21 Patch Notes
-Your adventurer can ride and push minecarts, use levers, bash down locked doors and hatches, topple statues. -You can now use wells in towns -Adventure music plays based on context. -Full personality customization available in adventure character creation. -A few Linux audio crashes fixed. See you next patch! -Alexandra
Hello Urists!
We are back with another patch for Adventure Mode! The most notable update this time is the quest log and information screen which will help with keeping track of all the events in-game. We also have tons of new sprites for flowers, fruits and leaves for the over 180 different plant and tree species. And finally, we have baby sprites for dwarves! No more confusion about whether red-clothed adult dwarves are actually children.
Tarn has been busy with an international move but things should be settling soon and the patches should appear more frequently. Thank you for your patience through these major life events on the dev team! Weve also created a new FAQ, specifically addressing the most common comments and questions weve been seeing on Steam. Weve done a few of these community FAQs in the past but this one will be focused on Adventure Mode development and how things work behind the scenes.
Babies in the trade depot!
Patch Notes for Beta 20
- Quest log and information screen in adventure mode
- Child and baby pictures for dwarves
- Many new fruit, flower, leaf pictures
- Updated dwarf clothing images
- Made good/bad thoughts about tombs work
- Fixed error with experiment portrait mandibles
All of the legumes and their flowers It's quite possible you will run into problems with hair and clothing colors etc. so we still have some adjustments to make on that front. In case you missed it, we uploaded a new devlog by Tarn on Youtube where he highlights some of the biggest features that have made their way to Adventure mode and which ones are still left to do. [previewyoutube=pgywjcG0Y5k;full][/previewyoutube]
FAQ
How is Kitfox Games involved with Dwarf Fortress development? Kitfox gets the game on Steam, helps with promotion, and handles the money side of things. Technically the artists, audio folks, and programmer working on Dwarf Fortress are contracted through Kitfox, but are managed by Bay 12. Kitfox does not directly assist in the games development in any way, other than occasional playtesting or coordination. Tarn and Zach are the creators of Dwarf Fortress, and we want to preserve and protect their vision. Besides, even if we wanted to send our programmers to help with Dwarf Fortress, they wouldnt be able to help due to the nature of the games uniquely built codebase. Our job is to help Tarn and Zach grow Dwarf Fortress to fruition on their own terms. We take care of as many distractions and relieve as much stress as we can. It is not our role to tell Tarn how to work on his game. We do not force deadlines on him. We do not have shareholders to persuade. We believe this is the only way to sustain Dwarf Fortress development in a healthy way that will allow Tarn and Zach to work the way they want to on the game, ideally for the rest of all our lives. The game released in 2022 and is selling well. Why are updates so slow? We cant and wont hire a bunch of programmers to make updates go faster, even if it is a huge project. So far, weve added exactly 1 programmer to the team (Putnam), who was selected based on extensive pre-existing understanding of the codebase and a relationship with Tarn. Dwarf Fortress is the single most complex simulation ever created, mostly by one programmer, and it was started in 2006. Work on this labor of love is necessarily based in trust. We are optimizing to make the best game, according to Tarns vision, no matter how long it takes, rather than trying to optimize for speed. Modders have the freedom to move fast and break things, and well continue to support them. This is a lifetime project. This is not a game that will ever be finished, but our pace is focused in the long-term. Updates will come slowly but steadily forever. Selling the game on Steam does not change the way that Tarn and Zach will continue to develop. Dwarf Fortress is not like any other game on OR off Steam, and was far ahead of its time, partially because of its unique development approach. We know it can be frustrating to wait, but we will not interfere just because some fans are impatient. Why arent there any updates to Fortress Mode right now when its the main game mode? Many of the fixes going into Adventure Mode will improve Fortress Mode, but youre right that the time between improvements for Fortress Mode are longer right now. Adventure Mode has been important to Dwarf Fortress for a very long time, and has its own cult following of fans who prefer its playstyle, as well as the interplay between the two modes. Tarn has to focus on completing the beta before returning to regular development. Putnam is continuing to develop other features and fix bugs, but theres a lifetime of work to do. How are updates going to work when Adventure mode is complete? What are the next updates after Adventure Mode is complete? After Adventure Mode leaves beta, development of both modes can proceed in parallel. Fortress Mode and Adventure Mode rest on the same world simulation, so updates are often shared, but each mode has its quirks and special features and we'll be improving them both. You can expect Fortress Mode to be made more rich with each major update, which will be more regular than in years past, rather than waiting for literal years to get giant sweeping changes. We're looking forward to it! Why isnt (this known bug from 8 years ago) fixed by now? Sometimes its hard to fix, sometimes its just not impacting most players, and sometimes its related to a feature thats planned to have big changes or improvements soon anyway, so its more efficient to look at it then. Maybe check the bug database for more information, because the bug wranglers might have interesting discussions you can read about it, or contribute information of your own to help track it down. Why are you selling merch or posting community updates when there havent been any patches in a while? Currently our only merch is designed and sold by FanGamer, who takes care of everything for us. Tarn and Kitfox make final approval on designs before they are sold but otherwise have no involvement in that process. Community updates help us inform players of things outside of development but related to Dwarf Fortress. These updates are written by the community manager Alexandra and sometimes Tanya and do not take away from time spent working on development. We try not to do these too much and we can understand how its frustrating to receive these updates when you are hoping for patch notes or updates to the game. What about the Mac build? After investigating the programming requirements, we have decided its best to cancel the Mac build for the time being. Porting the game over to Mac would take significant time and resources away from improvements to Fortress and Adventure Mode that simply dont make sense for us to dedicate right now, given the low number of Mac-only users. There is a significant amount of work that would be required for maintaining a Mac build that would delay all patches in the future, and as we know, you all want patches faster. We arent saying it will -never- happen but do not count on it any time soon. We are very sorry to all the Mac users who have been waiting patiently for an update on this. Thank you to everyone who has joined us on this long development journey and have supported us thus far. Dwarf Fortress is truly a unique game that requires a unique but unconventional approach to development and we hope to continue being transparent about where that journey takes us. See you for the next patch! -Kitfox
Hey Urists!
Work on Adventure Mode continues on with two updates of note that we've just patched in: Composing and the wrestling button. Characters in Adventure Mode can already perform to increase their reputation with other characters and maybe even get a free drink at the tavern. But with composing, your character will be able to write their own music, poetry and dances! Wrestling is already in Adventure Mode, but now that the button works, you'll be able to open the wrestling menu directly instead of going through the attack menu.
The wrestling button looks like this ^
Patch Notes for Beta 19
Advancing the beta - Composing poems, music, dances, and writing things down is back in - Wrestle button now handles wrestling - Encumbrance is visible in inventory screen and there are a few alert levels for being over-encumbered - Speed is visible in the movement options - Indicators for ongoing movement, attacks, and dodges during player's turn in combat General bug fixing - Throwing/shooting crash fixed - Fixed input/display issues in kitchen menu - Handled several issues with gifting pets - Certain goblin torsos weren't being displayed We'd love to see what kind of music, poetry and dances your character creates. Share with us on the Kitfox Discord in the Adventure Mode channel! See you for the next patch! -Alexandra
Urists, get ready to eat meat. Butchering went live in the Adventure Mode beta today, so survival should be more feasible for more kinds of adventurers. There's a few small fixes in there too but the only other remarkable change to note is Crafting is also available -- but as in the days of yore, crafting is just about knapping stones, making wooden axes, and carving bone jewelry or figurines. If you want other crafting options, we welcome you to try mods! Within moments, I'm sure, Steam Workshop will have various new crafting ideas to explore. We'll be back with more fixes and features as soon as we can! Tanya on behalf of Bay 12 and Kitfox
Happy summer, Urists! It's been a few weeks since we've updated, so here we are with some progress. For context, Tarn is figuring out the details of a fairly major life change right now (moving to a new country), but the worst of the documentation is behind him, and Adventure Mode is humming along. Today we put up an Adventure Mode patch (on the beta branch, no password needed) with:
- Abilities menu! Raise the dead if you learn the secrets, pet animals, spit, breathe fire and use other special powers in mods or as an arena-controlled creature/undead
- Left click to move to distant tiles
- Interaction-given syndrome tracking/timing improved
- NPCs should run and sleep again
Also, we're collaborating with Ludeon Studios on a new Steam bundle deal. If you have any friends who play RimWorld but DON'T yet own Dwarf Fortress, now's a great time to get them to dip their toe in, since DF is 10% off PLUS they'll get an extra 10% off for owning RimWorld. Alternately, as a Dwarf Fortress owner, now is a great time to buy RimWorld! The bundle will only be up now and then (a week or so this time), so don't wait! Finally, if you're looking for new ideas for fun to have in Adventure Mode, this reddit thread is pure gold. Bards, beastmen, and cults oh my! We'll be back with more patches as soon as we can! Tanya on behalf of Kitfox & Bay 12 P.S. If you were curious what Tarn was consulting on, Kitfox announced Streets of Fortuna last weekend, and continues to answer questions about that. But that's the last we'll mention it until there's more concrete news. Thanks to those who watched the PC Gaming Showcase!
Hey Urists, Its Alexandra here with a small community update. Tarn is still in menu land working on the rest of the features for Adventure Mode. If youre curious about whats left to be done, we provided a list of improvements in this April update.
Steam Soundtrack Updated
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2232370/Dwarf_Fortress_Soundtrack_Fortress/ The Dwarf Fortress soundtrack (Fortress version) on Steam has been updated with .wav files. Thank you to everyone who requested the change.
New FanGamer Merch
FanGamer just released two new pieces of Dwarf Fortress equipment. The baseball shirt features very cool old school RPG inspired art by FanGamer artist Nina Matsumoto. Every order of the shirt also includes a holographic sticker of the art. We think it suits Dwarf Fortress perfectly! Available in the US and EU shops.
PC Gaming Show 2024
Keep your eyes out for Tarn and Zach who will be making a cameo appearance on Sundays PC Gaming Show. Kitfox Games and the Caves of Qud team both have big announcements to share that might be very interesting to Dwarf Fortress players. Kitfox Games is announcing a brand new game weve been secretly working on for the last two years that is very simulation heavy and Tarn himself is providing consultation on design and architecture. Plus, Caves of Qud has the Spring Molting update with a complete UI overhaul and a ton of other improvements! The PC Gaming Show starts on June 9th at 1pm PDT/ 4PM EDT/ 9pm BST/ 10 pm CEST on Youtube. That's all for now. We will have another Adventure Mode patch coming real soon so stay tuned! -Alexandra
Hey Urists!
We are back with another Adventure Mode beta patch with the biggest addition being the bartering menus (pictured below). Tarn has also gone in and cleaned up the towns so that stuff is properly displayed on tables instead of being all over the floor.
Patch Notes 51.01 beta14
-Added the trade/barter/demand conversation menu -Sites without tables in their stockpile get emergency tables for their shops for now -Printed tabletop items on tables, and stopped many other building items from printing on top of creatures -Sound off init option should work in adventure mode now -Adventurers are no longer unaware of their own name -Adventurers should no longer be sprinting/walking/etc forever when retired into a fort -Fixes that linux crash on the trainer menu again -Makes liquids/powders not spill out of containers on unretire -Alexandra + Bay12
Hey Urists! Dwarf Fortress is on sale on Steam at it's lowest price to date! Pick up Dwarf Fortress and the Fortress Mode Soundtrack for 20% off. We won't be discounting this low for a while so take advantage of this deal until May 13th. Buying Dwarf Fortress will also give you access to the public beta of Adventure Mode. We will also be patching Adventure Mode next week so stay tuned!
Apologies for two updates in two days but important things are afoot, and as I mentioned yesterday, Tarn is going to take a little rest for a week or two, so hopefully this will help make that wait more bearable. This is version 50.13 updating on the main/default branch, improving Fortress Mode! If you're not seeing it, try closing Steam and re-logging in.
New additions/changes
- Portraits! Whether they're dwarves, elves, humans, or animalpeople, they have portraits! Procedurally assembled, in many cases.
A few of my favorite animalpeople portraits
Major bug fixes
- Fixed statue-related crash
- Fixed syndrome-related crash
- Fixed temperature-related crash
- Fixed crash from empty kitchen menu
- Fixed multi-kill squad orders
- Fixed world gen crash from the appointing of chefs by demon rulers that had been influenced by outside reading materials on decorum and leisure time
Other bug fixes/tweaks
- Centered some creatures that were printing off-center
- Large gems and gem crafts should be produced properly by gem cutting jobs again
- Fixed cave adaptation
- Fixed problem with numbers in wild creature clusters
- SELECT_GROWTH and SELECT_MATERIAL available in plant modding
Hey Urists! Alexandra is off today so you have to make do with me, Tanya. But I'll be brief. As many of you probably already noticed, beta13 went live yesterday afternoon with these fixes:
New functionality
- right click menu has option to move more than one tile
- npc sheets no longer give away their names unless you know them
Major fixes
- cleaned up an intermittent crash from playing multiple adventure worlds
- fixed crash from some old adventurers
Minor fixes
- stopped lockpicking menu from popping up until that's ready
- fixed cave adaptation
- optimization for loading speed with regards to flow events
- restricted some actions like bookkeeping from happening outside fort mode
- centered display of some wide-bodied creatures (some bears, anaconda, python, some animal people
Hello Urists! Alexandra here with a post-Adventure Mode beta launch update. We hope youre enjoying all the mischief and mayhem that the beta has to offer. Some of the stories youve been sharing have been hilarious and thought-provoking to say the least. This story about stealing a shield gone wrong made me laugh a lot.
Todays Patch
A big thank you to everyone who has been submitting bug reports to the tracker. The team already patched early this morning with some fixes:
- Fixed region map scrolling crash
- Crash fix related to multithreading
Whats Next?
In the beta, as you may have noticed, you can create a party in character generation, visit your old forts, retire, unretire, get NPC companions, take quests, fight monsters with the various melee/wrestling/ranged options, set fires, tell stories, and travel the world. Portraits are available for dwarves, humans, elves, goblins, kobolds (minus some clothing variations), animal people (no items), and necromancer experiments (no items). These portraits are in both modes on the beta branch. These are the features and improvements we have planned for Adventure Mode, as listed by Tarn in his devlog yesterday. We plan on keeping the beta branch up till the full launch on the main branch so youll be able to continue to play as features get added. Even just the first few items on the (non-exhaustive) list below might take a few weeks so you can expect the beta to last quite a bit longer than that, which unfortunately means the launch wont be extremely soon, despite what we thought and said previously. We promise were looking at how to be as efficient as we can. We dont yet have a target date for the full adventure mode launch, but youll know as soon as we do, and keep updating regularly. Planned improvements, though not sure in what order they'll be attacked exactly yet:
- Quest log / information screen
- Butchering and crafting
- Ability use, from necromancy to pet animal to spit
- Composing
- Motion/attack indicators
- Building interactions (levers, doors, etc.)
- Wrestle button
- Stealth vision arcs
- Better UI for stuff like going through hatches over ramps
- Some other info like movement speed / encumbrance
- Tracking / odor / weather / light / time etc. information
- Some travel map stuff like visible armies and zooming and highlights
- Minimap / map memory
- Trading and bartering (and the town shops being generally a mess)
- Assuming false identities
- Full personality customization in chargen
- Graphics and audio that didn't make it in for the initial beta release
- Get Classic conversions for the new buttons etc.
- The new stuff: chosen mode with deities, town improvements, dungeon improvements, healing options, and so forth
The Adventure Mode Soundtrack is Available!
Also, after a bit of a hiccup on the backend, the Adventure Mode soundtrack is now available on Steam. You can even get a 10% discount on it and the other OST, if you already own the base game. Check it out! Thats all for now! We really appreciate all the support and kind words as we continue our own adventure (of development!) -Alexandra + Tanya + Bay12
Its time to venture outside your fortress!
The beta for Adventure Mode is now live on Steam. Create a character and freely roam the rich simulated world you have made a home in during your Fortress Mode save or start fresh in a newly generated world.
[previewyoutube=dX2gnya3eH4;full][/previewyoutube]
If you already own Dwarf Fortress on Steam, you will be able to play the beta. To access the beta, right click Dwarf Fortress in your Steam library -> Properties -> Betas -> dropdown list and select "beta - Public beta branch. No password needed. Steam should automatically begin downloading the beta!
Theres also the whole new original soundtrack out now, with an hour of music from good old Dabu and Simon Swerwer, together again. You can even get a 10% discount on it and the other OST, if you already own the base game. The soundtrack is also available on Bandcamp, Spotify, Youtube and Apple Music!
Note that although you will hear versions of these songs in the game, the dynamic music system Adventure Mode uses means that the OST is the only way to reliably hear these exact compositions, as baked by the composers.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2937200/Dwarf_Fortress_Soundtrack_2_Adventure
Keep in mind this is very much a beta and still in active development. There are features from Classic Adventure Mode and planned new features that have not made their way to the Steam version yet. We will be updating the beta frequently with hotfixes, new menus, audio and art as well as fixing the inevitable bugs. Please send in your reports.
Want to discuss the beta and all your Adventure Mode trials and tribulations? Join us on the df-adventure channel on the Kitfox Discord!
FAQ
- How do I report bugs? Please report bugs using the normal methods at https://dwarffortressbugtracker.com/
- Whats the difference between Easy mode and Demigod mode? Easy mode, which is available now in the beta gives you more skill points in character creation to make your party stronger. Demigod mode, which is still in progress and not in the beta right now will add tutorialization and worldbuilding.
- What about my save files? Old save files are compatible and you shouldn't lose anything.
- Will the new portraits be in Fortress Mode? They arent in right now, but they will be soon!
- Will the new music from the Adventure Mode soundtrack appear in Fortress Mode? What about ambience? New ambiance and music will not be in Fortress mode for now. Hopefully someday!
- Where can I get more info about what's in and what's missing from Classic Adventure Mode? Tarn and Zach are preparing a devlog for the Bay 12 blog, so keep an eye out over there if youre interested in diving into the rich underbelly of details. Edit: Devlog is now available
Hey Urists, Its Alexandra from Kitfox here with a community update as well as some more Adventure Mode footage. Only a few more weeks till the Adventure Mode beta launches on April 17th! We know it's been a long wait, but we can't wait for everyone to start testing it out for yourself. Tarn made a bonus video showing the conclusion to the fight that was in the previous update. If you missed it, you can watch Part 1 here In these videos you can see the combat and conversation systems in action. Will the goblins prevail? Where did the wombatman go? Watch to find out! [previewyoutube=w4FKSepDVLA;full][/previewyoutube]
Art Update
Artist Thea has been working on new art for the Adventure Mode beta screen! We dont want to reveal it quite yet, but can you guess whats depicted?
Carolyn has also been creating every kind of clothing ever for the procedural portraits. Here is another series of masks, veils and head coverings.
Adventure Mode Soundtrack Single
We are going to be releasing a single off the brand new Adventure Mode soundtrack by Simon & Dabu. The music is going to be a bit different from the Fortress Mode soundtrack because it will capture the feeling of whats it will be like to explore your vast, generated world. You can look forward to that in the next update.
EU Merch
Exciting news for European Urists! The folks at FanGamer EU have updated the store with apparel. It's always good to have extra shirts and coats for when yours decay.
We are going to be posting a few more updates before beta launch, so youll be hearing from us again soon! -Alexandra + Bay 12
Hi Urists, We are less than a month away from April, which means Adventure Mode launch is just around the corner. Time flies when youre developing FUN! We wanted to share our launch plans with you as they will be a little different from what we did with Fortress Mode. The beta for Adventure Mode will open on April 17th (Tarns birthday!). Anyone who owns Dwarf Fortress on Steam will be able to access the beta. Adventure Mode will fully launch a few weeks later on the main branch. We will be announcing the official release date as soon as we can. We hope that this will give the proper time to iron out major bugs, while giving you a chance to play right away.
Patch 50.12
After a few extra weeks of beta testing, patch 50.12 is finally live! Thank you to everyone who tested the update and sent in bug reports, it was very helpful. This patch brings many improvements to sorting and searching in the menus as well as a ton of bug fixes and additional keyboard support. Llamas have also (finally) achieved the status of pack animal. Here are the full patch notes: New stuff - Ability to sort the lists from the creature/task menus - Kitchen interface sorting and searching - Work detail sorting and searching - Can edit and restore default work details - Saves can be sorted by world and folder on the title screen - Keyboard support for many unit lists - Ability to designate burrows over multiple Z levels Major bug fixes - Additional statue graphics - Fixed some classic building interface lights Other bug fixes/tweaks - Squad assignment now lists already-assigned units last - Fixed error in calculation of bridge support - Fixed issue in how environment-appropriate work animals are selected for visiting fortress - Fixed missing autopause tooltip - Additional miscellanous optimizations - Fixed minor issue with forest variant display - Fixed clipping issue on unit sheets - Fixed minor issue with cage contents display - Fixed pet list display on unit sheet rarely skipping a pet - Llamas are pack animals now There will be lots more Adventure Mode news coming in the coming weeks, including a part 2 of the combat video from last time. -Alexandra + Bay 12
Hey Urists! It's Alexandra here from Kitfox with a long-awaited video update from Tarn! It's our first footage of Adventure Mode and you will see combat, the new dialogue system and a few menus in action. I don't want to give too much away so just watch for yourself: [previewyoutube=Tik2DmKCxbk;full][/previewyoutube] In the video you can hear some ambient sounds, but there are still many more sound effects we are adding to the game so it's very much a work in progress! We will have another update coming soon with patch 50.12 which is still in beta right now. We needed just a bit more time to squash all the bugs! Discuss the video with your fellow urists on the Kitfox Discord! - Alexandra
The Adventure Mode update is approaching, so let's talk about it, and the upcoming year more broadly.
What is Adventure Mode?
In the way the terms are usually used, Adventure Mode is something like a computer roleplaying game or a traditional roguelike, but it doesn't follow the expected contours. You control a character or party and set out into the generated world. The characters you've read about on Fortress Mode wall engravings are out there, as well as the cities and goblin towers. Making the entire world come alive has been a massive project to tackle alongside Fortress Mode over the decades, and to this point we've explored some avenues more than others. It's a wholly unique, rough experience that can be compelling as well as frustrating. Here is just a small sample of the art for the procedural portraits and clothing with different species done by Carolyn:
There's no storyline per se, but you can... Fight: If you've read some Fortress Mode combat logs, you know part of what to expect. Combat in Adventure Mode is turn-based, and you can aim at body parts and wrestle as you see in those logs, with even more detail. Ever tried to convert your entire Fortress population into necromancers or vampires? Nothing will stop you from seeking these things out as an adventurer (why not both?), and using your new powers as you see fit. Roleplay: Play as an animal person and ride around on a giant animal with a small animal on your shoulder and another animal running alongside. Dance in a meadhall or under the earth. There are even bandits and giant rats if you are feeling nostalgic. Or you can offend the gods and become a giant rat for a week, or offend a mummy and become cursed for the rest of your miserable short life. Explore: Visit your old fortresses, or retire in a town and recruit yourself later. See the world to its full extent, from the glaciers to the deserts and jungles, from the kobold caves and night troll dens to minotaur labyrinths. Face the demon emperor of the goblin civilization on their home turf and use ancient knowledge to bend them to your will. There are really quite a few things to do.
Sandbox Problems
These possibilities lead to difficulties which aren't atypical in games these days. Sandbox games are undirected, and the sandbox can have cracks. Adventure Mode is no exception. It's a large sandbox with large cracks. Some problems we've noticed from previous Adventure Mode iterations: - You won't always get the reactivity you expect to your accomplishments and from your actions. - Characters can have a cookie-cutter feeling to them. - It can be hard to find the information you need to pursue a goal you've chosen. - Battle is merciless and it isn't simple to heal. - Some aspects of towns are thrown together and shops aren't satisfying. These problems are well-known; most are the starting point for games that operate in this mode. Some are easier to tackle than others.
What's left to do?
As with our earlier work on Fortress Mode, the goal is to update the existing visuals and interface and also make the game more approachable for new players. A lot of the graphics carry over from Fortress Mode, and the menus are generally less complicated, which is good. On the flip side, tackling the new player experience is somehow even harder this time around. There are all kinds of ways to handle it, and we've chosen a way forward that's consonant with our overall goals for Dwarf Fortress. There are several menus left to tackle. The information screens and character generation are the main remaining bits. Carolyn is drawing a ton of combat icons that came up for wrestling and striking (so you can target toes with your crab pincers), so we don't have combat menu footage yet. We're also adding combat animations!
Before any Adventure Mode update, we need to:
- do some basic cleanup in the human towns, with how shops and other buildings handle items and furniture
- clean up how property is recognized
- generally tighten up the city side of the experience to give the new player some grounding
- old adventure menus must also be fully converted for mouse + keyboard
- the graphics and audio must be complete
Demigods and Tutorials
Adventure Mode suffers from the sandbox frustration of feeling lost and aimless. Adventure Mode has had three difficulty levels up to this point: Peasant, Hero, and Demigod. These affected your starting statistic point pools in character generation - the more elite-sounding levels are easier, not harder, reflecting the power of the character. We're turning Demigod difficulty into both a tutorial mode and an avenue for us to improve magical aspects of the fantasy setting generally. Peasant will remain the pure sandbox old players are used to. Hero balances these approaches, easing some of the difficulty of finding companions and quests. Demigod characters will receive instruction and ongoing help from their patron/parent. All difficulty levels will benefit from changes to deities, but sandbox characters will have to find their own ways to interact with them, at their own risk. We'll also: - tweak the Hero level encounters with gods to something that strikes a balance again, leaning toward a more epic feeling - expand dungeons and temple relic hunting to facilitate more direction for Demigod characters - provide more healing options Again, other difficulty levels will be able to interact with these pieces of the world as well, on different terms.
Myths and Magic
People that have been following Dwarf Fortress development these many years will recall both the current cosmology of the game in these changes, and perhaps wonder about the aspirations we have toward proceduralizing the entire setup (including the existence of gods and how and whether magic works). We're going to use this opportunity to set the stage for the new framework, to be expanded upon in the future. Siege improvements (he he he), investigations of villains, the ability to lead criminal networks, and other features that were in the air before we made the transition to the Premium version are not forgotten either, and we'll be seeing about working on these after the initial Adventure Mode update.
What about my fortress?
Where does Fortress Mode fit in? First, we have an update with bugfixes coming in the next week or two (thanks Putnam!). But on top of the ability to explore and visit your old fortresses, Fortress Mode at the very minimum will see these benefits with the initial Adventure Mode update: - the addition of portraits - that whole new soundtrack I mentioned earlier - site map visuals on embark Forts will also eventually have access to the new healing methods, and the new deity improvements through temples, but implementing those connections might occur in a subsequent update, since the hospital in particular is complicated to change. It's exciting because magical healing methods will be fully procedural, and connecting that sort of system to Fortress Mode has been a long-standing dream of ours. Finishing Adventure Mode will also allow us to get back into regular Dwarf Fortress development, where most subsequent feature updates will either center on or impact Fortress Mode, while Adventure Mode and Legends Mode continue to evolve in parallel. - Tarn and Zach
Hello and Happy Holidays!
Now that we have our April release month, we'll follow the roadmap to get there. If you missed the Adventure Mode roadmap, you can read it here. Part of this involves menus!
So far, we've managed the environment/ground menu, the climb/hold menu, the jump action, conversation menu and the inventory menu, with combat actions and options up next. The Adventure menus can be fully operated with the mouse or keyboard, or whichever mix works for you, which is why you still see traditional roguelike letters next to each item.
You can also now click in the play area to open up a context menu for the tile, which gives all of the possible options, whether those are environmental options, movement options, conversation options, or the upcoming combat actions. As with Fortress mode, there are lots and lots of things you can do, so this should help you get a handle on the possibilities that you can also find down in the menus.
We've also reenabled the "Assume Control" option in the Arena for April. This lets you take control of a creature that you've placed in the arena so you can jump into the action yourself in Adventure Mode's turn-based combat rather than running the fight in real-time Fortress mode style.
Jacob has been working on statues most recently, Carolyn has been adding more features to portraits (like clothing quality and variations), and Neoriceisgood has been making more animal person portraits for all of the animal person portrait fans out there! Here are the varations for the breastplates as well as the Walrusman portrait:
See you all again in January with more updates as the work continues.
-Tarn + Kitfox Games
P.S. Special happy holidays from the Bay 12 dogs: Jojo, Una, Sun Bun and Sam!
Urists Rejoice! As you may have seen on the PC Gaming Show today, we're announcing that we have a release month for Adventure Mode which will be coming April 2024! Watch the brand new trailer with the first ever footage of Adventure Mode in action: [previewyoutube=fz1e5y4Ipzc;full][/previewyoutube] For those who dont know, Adventure Mode is the RPG mode of Dwarf Fortress, where you can create a character and freely roam the rich simulated world you have made a home in during your Fortress Mode save or start fresh in a newly generated world.
- Characters in the world will now have a face. A dwarfs appearance will reflect their description, from wounds to clothing to hairstyle. This is possible thanks to the games procedural portrait system based on the beautiful pixel art from Carolyn Jong weve been showing off in the art updates. This feature will also be coming to Fortress Mode.
We've already shown off the dwarves and the elves but here is a look at goblins and kobolds:
- Thanks to a new interface, Adventure Mode brings rich conversations with characters! This will help you bond with your unique party of adventurers and add weight to the stories they create in your world.
- Combat in the game will also see a visual and mechanical revamp with updated wrestling mechanics. This will encourage those who may have in the past avoided grappling, to maybe look forward to a tussle. It will also spice up your adventures out in the wild and another exciting layer of engagement with their world. Fight as an individual or control your whole party in tactical mode.
- The world map while in Adventure Mode will also see a change, with important landmarks such as roads, towns, and homes being much more easily visible.
Adventure Mode holds limitless possibilities for player stories: Write a poem and recite it in front of unsuspecting tavern-goers, join the group of hearth warriors of a local village to solve local problems, rob a tomb and become cursed by a mummy. This and so much more! We also remain busy working on Fortress Mode in parallel to development on Adventure Mode and look forward to sharing an exact date for Adventure Mode when ready. In the meantime we will continue to update you on our progress. As we get closer to launch we will be releasing tutorials and other videos for more gameplay action! As usual you can discuss the update and follow the news in the Kitfox Discord. We have an Adventure Mode channel, in-depth bug discussions, and it's the fastest way to find out about our Dwarf Fortress livestreams! -Kitfox + Bay 12 Games
Attention Urists!
Do you think Dwarf Fortress is one of the stand out games this year? Annoyed at how mainstream awards shows look over cool, indie games? Well, now is your chance to make your voice heard because you will be able to nominate Dwarf Fortress for the 2023 Steam Awards!
Nominations are open and we want to amass a large squad of Urists to be ready for when it does. We think Dwarf Fortress would be a great candidate for both Hardest Game Youve Played and Labour of Love. We support you in whatever category you think fits best (Game of the Year?!?!) but we think these are the ones we have the best chances with!
We we will update again if we pass the nomination stage.
Good luck and happy voting
-Alexandra
Hey Urists,
Its been a little over a month since our big Adventure Mode Roadmap. If you havent had a chance to read it yet, go ahead and do that here. Since then, weve been working on a ton of new procedural portraits for goblins, kobolds and animal people which will be added to both Adventure Mode and Fortress mode. Soon you will be able to stare into the face of every single being you encounter in your fort or, bring them along with you in Adventure Mode. Watching humanoids slowly go insane from sobriety or die of dehydration was never so personal.
Here is one of the first screenshots from the new Adventure Mode, featuring an ambitious hippoman at a tavern. Maybe you can convince him to join you on your party? We also see the Adventure Mode UI coming along with your characters portrait in the bottom left as well as all the new buttons for the various actions you can do.
Below, we also have a first look at the Adventure Mode world map. As you can see, towns are represented in much more detail including roads, farm plots and homes. The little shield acts as the marker for your party as you move through the map to reach new points of interest.
We will have more to show with Adventure Mode as well as a more accurate release timeframe in a couple of weeks. If you're curious to pore over the little pixel icons and implications, Blind did a little livestream grilling Tarn and Zach over the Adventure Mode details, so check that video out here.
New Bugtracker
We are happy to announce that we have a new bugtracker ready to go! The bug tracker has now migrated to a new domain with the old account system for reporting and commenting. The previous address and email reporting will no longer be used, so please update your bookmarks and follow the new instructions here: https://bit.ly/3R2d9t5 Thank you to everyone for your patience and willingness to help to squash all those pesky bugs!
New FanGamer Merch + European Store
New Dwarf Fortress merch has arrived to FanGamer as well as select items on the FanGamer Europe store. We have the vinyl soundtrack, a journal designed to document your favourite forts, a giant desk mat and a hood with customizable menacing spikes! And European Urists can finally rejoice because you can now pick up the vinyl, journal, desk mat and pin on the European storefront, at least until they sell out: Wave 2: https://fanga.me/r/dwarf-fortress-wave-2 FanGamer Europe: https://www.fangamer.eu/collections/dwarf-fortress ---------------------- Thats everything we have for this update. Thanks for reading! In a couple weeks will have some very exciting Adventure Mode stuff to show off and a more accurate timeframe for the release! -Alexandra P.S. Our friends at Freeehold Games just released one of the biggest Caves of Qud patches ever yesterday! Its been a year in the making and features a ton of new content including new boss fights and factions as well as the next leg of the main quest and HUNDREDS of new visual and audio effects, plus improved Steam Deck controls. Now is the best time to pick up Caves of Qud or return to it. You can buy Caves of Qud in Early Access and read more about the update on Steam or watch the trailer.
Hello! We are here with a brand-new development roadmap outlining our plans for Adventure Mode and updates to Fortress Mode. Please keep in mind these are estimates. We do have a date in mind but were not quite confident enough to announce it yet. All we can say right now is not this year, but hopefully well have more specifics soon. We know youve been waiting patiently, and we are working hard. We will be building on the Adventure Mode framework that already exists. This is exciting because everything is working as intended and we just need to add the interface and graphics, which will take us some months. Heres the plan for how we get to Adventure Mode release, hopefully not-too-late next year:
To Start
First, the basics, which will let us actually see whats going on at all in the new art style.
- Travel map - we have the world map, but sites need hundreds of sprites to match up with the ASCII that shows individual streets etc. Well be iterating on this until launch.
- Main interface layout - similar to Fortress Mode, there are tile-based actions, information menus, and other actions like travel. Theres also a day-night cycle and well have a minimap this time around.
- Procedural portraits - we need to implement Carolyns great portraits for the humans/elves/dwarves/goblins/kobolds, and also get animal people displayed. Every animal person!
Once we have this framework, well just start doing the actions and menus one at a time. Full keyboard and full mouse support for all play styles. Actions are challenging because they can be initiated by clicking the play area, through buttons and hot keys, or by accessing a full list. There must be several ways to perform the same action based on context, play style, and input method. Can you guess what the buttons below do?
Major Features
These are the biggest-risk items, each of which hopefully isnt more than a few weeks, but its hard to say since they each have multiple sub-systems and open design questions to be solved between code and art.
- Inventory - equipping items and containers are the trickiest parts here. You can wear multiple shirts and nest containers as deep as you like, and the new interface will have to handle this with both keyboard and mouse support.
- Combat (striking and wrestling) - wrestling will be a bit of a doozy, as theres a lot of physical/anatomical complexity that were not sure how best to communicate
- Conversations - this includes supporting the current Adventure Mode system of interleaving speech and actions, and having three or more participants in conversations
- Character generator - you can make a whole party in Adventure Mode and the character creation options are complex. We have to update this system.
More!
These are individually much less complicated and risky than the above, but still have lots of little fiddly bits to keep us busy.
- Status screens - wounds, skills, needs etc. There is a lot of information about every character, similar to the dwarf sheets in Fortress Mode.
- Journal screen (quests and knowledge) - we may integrate this with Legends Mode because they are very similar.
- Crafting and other powers - Adventure Mode is highly moddable and we need to support vast menus of magical powers and other abilities. Pet any animal!
- Various small menus/actions (widgets) - stealth, movement, tracking, odors, party controls, combat options, etc.
- Audio integration - the audio designers are working in parallel with us and well be adding a whole new soundscape for Adventure Mode
Ongoing Fortress Work
Work on Fortress Mode will continue in parallel with Adventure Mode. Were reading the bug tracker and also have some content ideas which will complement Adventure Mode well. More on this later!
FAQ
Q: Will the game be localized/translated to my language? It is difficult due to the procedural sentence constructions used throughout the game. Our best suggestion at this time is to use auto-translation tools for text on screen, which has been helping some users. We are investigating translation options behind the scenes but its very early stages. Q: How can I report a bug? You can track and report bugs on our MantisHub: https://kitfoxgames.notion.site/How-to-Report-Bugs-in-Dwarf-Fortress-b5e2ca19dabe408897d1c2669599b7a2 We know that this system isnt working very well for our helpful bug wranglers though, so were looking into rolling back into the old system soon, in the hopes that we can rejuvenate the bug-hunting community like days of yore. We have double the code resources that we used to, but also ten times the bug reporters, so were still finding our feet to figure out how best to maximize this power. Please be patient. Q: What about the Mac version? Because of all the work that needs to be done for Adventure Mode, we wont be able to start development on the Mac version until after its release, at the earliest. Q: When are Steam Achievements coming? We will consider implementing this after Adventure Mode. Several of the achievements will likely link the two modes together so its best to have these systems in place. The main problem with Achievements is that they also need to be a new living system alongside all of the other features, and were not sure its a good idea for people to feel they have 100%ed the game based on whats essentially an arbitrary list of tasks. Were considering it, but havent decided yet, and will come back to the topic after Adventure Mode. -Kitfox Games + Bay 12 Games
Hey Urists, We have a quick patch update today with fixes for Linux Mode, the tutorial and more. We will be posting a big update this week with a new roadmap for Adventure Mode and updated FAQ so stay tuned for that! Release notes for 50.11 (October 3, 2023): Major bug fixes
- Fixed crash on linux related to game log threading
- Fixed broken tutorial on click workshop step
- Stopped tutorial prompt in tiny worlds where tutorial is invalid
- Cleaned up a source of squad schedule corruption
- Made classic graphics setting work properly on restart (hopefully for real this time!)
- Fixed potential problem with doctors vs. multiple hospitals
- Ballista arrows etc. that chop down trees now count for treecap diplomacy
- Image sets with non-uniform types now properly display as having a variety of types
- Generic improvements now properly display "made a masterful improvement" in histories
- Allowed single pair dances to generate properly
- Fixed potential minor oddity involving animal placement
Here's the long-awaited 50.10! The game is now available for Linux, and this patch has some needed updates, like the ability to look at old alerts, ammo that works when uniforms are changed, and soldiers that don't hoard rotten food in their rooms.
We're going to continue now on parallel tracks. The main work will be on adventure mode. There should be more to show there soon as we get the site travel images in place and get the character running around the world again. Putnam has been working on some interface changes that should allow us to more support the keyboard/mouse interface options as we go, which I know is concerning for some people. It has taken longer than we expected to get the ball rolling generally on adventure mode, but the time ahead is clear now and we're optimistic it'll go smoothly.
We've also got more work to do back in fort mode. Some form of the full ammunition control system needs to come back for instance - we'll continue with patches like this one as we go.
As some of you might have seen on beta, here are the full patch notes:
New stuff
- Can view all alerts, including old ones that have been dismissed
- Can view combat reports from creature sheets
- Can pause combat reports whenever new events are added
- Added crash logging
- Can now play the game on Linux
- Fixed crash from removing zone with assigned unit
- Fixed multithreading crash related to announcements
- Fixed a potential crash issue with monarch arrival and made them provide more wagons properly
- Fixed potential crash related to certain traveling creatures
- Ammo assignments are updated properly when changing uniforms
- Removed ownership of food items whenever they are dropped (stops rotten food hoarding in rooms)
- New stone ramp graphics
- Made creatures more able to get out of trees
- Sped up mid-level map retrieval (helps slowdowns on large world embarks)
- Optimized relationship lookup for socializing dwarves
- Fixed out of bounds issue with wheelbarrows
- Stopped music mods from throwing error when making a new world
- Fixed crash when there's an invalid language (mods)
- Made broker leave depot when last wagon leaves instead of first
Hi Urists, We have an update to the beta branch with some of your most requested fixes including the ability to view all alerts and a fix for archer ammo. You can look at your old alerts now, and you can also view combat history from a creature's sheet and advance through it one step at a time if a combat is active. Ammo should work if you've made custom uniforms for archers now. Soldiers shouldn't hoard rotten food in their rooms. Lots of crash fixes and some more optimization. There's also a potential fix for dwarves being stuck in trees but it needs more testing to see how effective it is. All of the following updates are going on beta first so we can figure out what kind of problems will arise before we move over to the main branch. Thank you to everyone for being so patient with us as we get back to full strength! New stuff
-
* Can view all alerts, including old ones that have been dismissed
* Can view combat reports from creature sheets
* Can pause combat reports whenever new events are added
* Added crash logging
-
* Fixed crash from removing zone with assigned unit
* Fixed multithreading crash related to announcements
* Fixed a potential crash issue with monarch arrival and made them provide more wagons properly
* Fixed potential crash related to certain traveling creatures
* Ammo assignments are updated properly when changing uniforms
* Removed ownership of food items whenever they are dropped (stops rotten food hoarding in rooms)
-
* New stone ramp graphics
-
* Made creatures more able to get out of trees
* Sped up mid-level map retrieval (helps slowdowns on large world embarks)
* Optimized relationship lookup for socializing dwarves
* Fixed out of bounds issue with wheelbarrows
* Stopped music mods from throwing error when making a new world
* Fixed crash when there's an invalid language (mods)
* Made broker leave depot when last wagon leaves instead of first
Hey folks! Tarn is back from Germany and covid positive! Even a week later! Ouch! Thanks to all of you who visited Tarn at Gamescom. Despite the illness, it was rejuvenating to meet a continent of fans and watch people build succession forts at the booth. Putnam continues tinkering and improving, but in terrible luck, Tarn & Zach are also dealing with a family emergency that unfortunately continues to worsen. But the good news is that a patch is incoming, as promised, just a bit behind schedule. Tarn is back at work, mostly recovered, fixing bugs and implementing some new graphics you should be able to see by early next week at the latest. Stay safe and vaccinated! Kitfox & Bay 12
Hey Urists,
A short update this week as we prepare to head to Germany for Gamescom. While art and audio and other developments for Adventure Mode continues, we also have two much-anticipated updates coming soon(ish) for Fortress Mode.
The Linux version is almost ready, and in about two weeks we will be looking for beta testers, after Tarn gets back from Germany... in fact, it's already on the Public Beta Branch!
A patch in the works will also soon give you the ability to view all reports, pausing when a new announcement is added, and viewing a particular creatures reports.
I also heard rumors of giant animals, but those must be further off on the horizon. I guess I can already see them coming because theyre so big.
Kitfox will be at Gamescom this year with Dwarf Fortress, Caves of Qud and the soon-to-be-released Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out. Tarn Adams will be at the Kitfox booth from 2-4pm every day of the show to meet you! You can find us at booth 91 in the Indie Arena Booth. We cant wait to meet you in person!
We are also hosting an after-party on Thursday August 24th from 6-10pm. Join us for an evening on the Rhine with food, drink and tavern tales among Urists. Meet Tarn and pixel artist Carolyn (ask her about procedural faces!). Get tickets on Eventbrite
So thats all for now, but you should be seeing another update real soon!
-Alexandra
Hey Urists,
It's Alexandra here from Kitfox with a seasonal video update from Tarn. We have updates on the art and programming side of development as Adventure Mode work continues. Watch the full video on Youtube:
[previewyoutube=6s5uijK6_6A;full][/previewyoutube]
One of the most exciting new updates is that we have started creating procedural dwarf faces. This means that a dwarf's appearance will reflect the personality from their description. Here are some of the prototypes that our artist Carolyn has been making:
Watch the full video to hear about updates to Adventure Mode, the Linux version and to see a Giant Capybara!
We are also working on a new beginner-friendly tutorial series with Dwarf Fortress content creator BlindiRL. We have a complete starter guide and a tutorial on making wells with more to come. It's never been easier to learn how to play Dwarf Fortress!
[previewyoutube=a_oKQDSWw-s;full][/previewyoutube]
To discuss all the latest with your fellow urists, please join our Discord.
-Alexandra + Bay12
In this release, we're updating the engine from SDL to SDL2, and there are many optimizations to go along with it. Aside from the optimizations, SDL2 is also the stepping stone to ports. We have Linux compiling and playable; it just needs some testing. Moreover, there is now a(n experimental) multithreading option in the game settings that makes the game even faster! We also have some new individual tree graphics, and an update to grass ramps as well. This has been mostly the hard work of Putnam! Meanwhile I've started up on adventure mode - the long work of updating menus and adding audio has begun! Hopefully we'll have some progress to show their soon, as we continue updating fortress mode as well. - Tarn, the Toady One
This month we have several goals. We're going to start by getting the experimental branch moved over to the main line. The update of the engine from SDL to SDL2 is stable, and there will also be a multithreading option. It's off by default until we get some more testing done on the experimental branch, but the speed gains are significant, so it will be available in the settings as well. The update to SDL2 was the most important change for ports, so Linux and Mac versions are much closer now.
Adventure Mode Update
Adventure mode work is underway! I have an adventurer running around in the graphical play area. As with fortress mode, the game already exists, but now we need to work through the interface for every possible action and event, as well as creating the sound landscape with our new audio engineers. This will be a long process, but it'll be fun to watch it come together, and we'll be able to update regularly on our progress there now that adventure work has finally begun.
Fortress Mode Update
Over in fortress mode, Putnam's almost ready with a menu to review old reports and announcements and is working on making filterable-sortable lists more consistent. Between the adventure work I should have a chance to look at ammunition issues this month as well. And we've got additional tree and plant graphics coming down the line, as well as graphical improvements to engravings, bookshelves, and more. -Tarn
Hey Urists, Alexandra here with a big community update but first, a dev update from Tarn: (Last) week has been going well! The experimental SDL2 branch is stabilizing after a few patches, and this should pave the way for some speed increases as well as the Linux and Mac versions. Putnam got me through setting up the Windows Subsystem for Linux and it's mostly playing nice with everything, so there's some hope that I'll just be able to compile from within MSVC itself to make the Linux builds. We're having our first meeting for the adventure mode sound effects tomorrow, and I'll need to get an adventurer running around soon for that and for upcoming artwork, so that's a simultaneous thing going on. And 50.09 is also in progress - the return of the game log and we're working toward report/announcement persistence and some archery fixes/changes as well.
Dwarf Gear
We are so excited to share that the Dwarf Fortress FanGamer collection is now live! There is a very metal shirt, a pint glass with a fort design and a high-quality pin to represent your love of all things dorf. This is the first wave of the collection so expect to hear more merch news in the future!
Tarn and Zach say, If you think losing is fun, buy this shirt. Youll look like a total loser and win! Store link: https://www.fangamer.com/collections/dwarf-fortress
Tarn and Zach on Stream
For those who missed our 10th anniversary stream, we have uploaded the VOD to Youtube. Watch Tarn and Zach review a community -made fort live and hear them answer some of chats questions along the way.
Dwarf Fortress at Gamescom 2023
Attention European Urists! We are coming to Cologne, Germany for Gamescom from August 23-27th and are looking for volunteers with convention experience who want to help out at our booth. If this is something youd be interested in please email me at alexandra@kitfoxgames.com (Bonus points if you speak German)
Sheet Music and Tabs
The composer of the Dwarf Fortress soundtrack, Dabu is working on some exciting but secret new things for Adventure Mode and more. In the meantime, we wanted to share the tabs and sheet music for Strike the Earth! Looking forward to hearing your covers! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1o9FVaX97mVxPNNOK4IMC-c6EcgUG-9uW?usp=share_link -Alexandra
Hey Urists, Today's patch features the much-anticipated baby update including sprites for children and babies for many of the creatures and outdoor plants. This also includes dragon hatchings! How cute! Other important fixes for buckets and refuse stockpiles. New stuff
- XML export is back in legends mode.
- Cleaned out lingering data from autosaves and manual saves that could cause corruption if multiple worlds were active.
- Added graphics for many child/baby creatures.
- Added hatchling state for dragons.
- Added crop/sprout pictures for outdoor plants.
- Added outdoor sapling graphics.
- Added palettized boulders.
- Ice wall graphics updated.
- Smooth ice wall graphics added.
- Added more fortification images to indicate direction and material.
- Stopped dwarves without working grasps from trying to get goblets to drink, failing, and dying of thirst.
- Allowed most water-based jobs that use buckets to use partially-filled water buckets in addition to empty buckets.
- Made stocks screen open faster.
- Made all stockpiles not include the refuse option.
- Stopped refuse piles that also have armor/finished good settings from degrading contents.
Dwarf Fortress
Bay 12 Games
Kitfox Games
2022-12-06
Action Indie Strategy Casual RPG Adventure Simulation F2P Sports MMO Racing Singleplayer Multiplayer Coop EA
Game News Posts 36
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🕹️ Partial Controller Support
🎮 Full Controller Support
Overwhelmingly Positive
(24864 reviews)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370
- Not just generated geometry -- a whole simulated world. Generated rise and fall of civilizations, personalities, creatures, cultures, etc. Infinite hours of gameplay.
- Now with beautiful pixel graphics!
- Learn the basics with in-game tutorials
- A lifetime “living” project - created/updated since 2003, with no end in sight
- Generate your unique world and manage a bustling colony of dwarves, even as they probably mine towards their eventual demise.
- A new endless hobby, just for you!
The legendary Dwarf Fortress is now on Steam! Build a fortress and try to help your dwarves survive, despite threats of starvation, dragons, and madness.
In this complex construction/management/roguelike simulation, every generated world brings a unique challenge, whether it’s dwarves with their own simulated personalities or aquifers. Observe what makes your civilization fall into eventual decline, and learn for next time… until something else inevitably goes wrong.
The combat model includes skills, body parts, material properties, aimed attacks, wrestling, pain, nausea, various poison effects, and much more.
It’s difficult to convey the depth of the generation. Hundreds of animals and monsters, many of which are randomly created for each world, as well as generated poetry, musical forms, instruments, and dances for your dwarves to practice and perform. A dynamic weather model tracks wind, humidity, and air masses to create fronts, clouds, storms, and blizzards. Over two hundred rock and mineral types can appear, in their proper geological environments.
Remember: Losing is fun!
Nothing substantial is new or changed, under the hood. It’s still good old Dwarf Fortress, but with graphics support and music by default. A few bells and whistles won’t change that.
You may already be familiar with the tile set mod packs from Michał “Mayday” Madej and Jacob "Ironhand" Bowman. Together, their efforts are creating an all-new tileset featuring brand new pixel art by artists Carolyn Jong and Neoriceisgood. Dwarf Fortress Steam edition will have a 15 track soundtrack by Dabu, Simon Swerwer and Águeda Macias including tracks in the Dwarvish language!
It's never been easier to start playing! We've improved the new player experience with the addition of tutorials to guide you through building your first fort and keeping your dwarves happy.
Command your dwarves as they search for wealth in their generated mountain. Your dwarves will need a steady supply of food and beer, but they’ll also need your guidance in surviving attacks from hostile civilizations, the wilderness, or even the dead.
- Craft treasures and furnitures from various materials
- Establish a barony and support the increasingly demanding nobility
- Read your dwarves’ thoughts to keep them happy
- Build floodgates to divert water for farming, and/or prevent magma mishaps
- Build structures and watch your dwarves discover and build their culture, like taverns, libraries, temples, honey, wax, pottery, animal training, bookbinding, and more.
- The original inspiration for RimWorld, Prison Architect, Minecraft and more.
- One of the first video games acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York
- Updated for over 16 years by two brothers, Tarn “Toady One” and Zach “Threetoe” Adams
With the goal of simulating all of existence, Bay 12 estimates they’re only about 44% done.
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