LINUXGAMES

The New York Times took an extensive look at Dwarf Fortress, the real-time dwarf colony simulation:

A normal person looks at ♠§dg and sees gibberish, but the Dwarf Fortress initiate sees a tense tableau: a dog leashed to a tree, about to be mauled by a goblin.

This bare-bones aesthetic allows Tarn to focus resources not on graphics but on mechanics, which he values much more. Many simulation games offer players a bag of building blocks, but few dangle a bag as deep, or blocks as small and intricately interlocking, as Dwarf Fortress. Beneath the game’s rudimentary facade is a dizzying array of moving parts, algorithms that model everything from dwarves’ personalities (some are depressive; many appreciate art) to the climate and economic patterns of the simulated world.

The article goes on to discuss the game’s origin and appeal; I’ve been meaning to give it a serious go for some time now, and this finally pushed me to do it. Let’s hope my dwarves don’t all starve in the first week!

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