Dwarf Fortress

172 - Slaves to Armok: God of Blood - Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress

Year: alpha
Platform(s): PC
Designer(s): Tarn Adam and Zach Adams
Developer: Bay 12 Games
Publisher: Bay 12 Games

"Dwarf Fortress sits at the furthest tip of the development brought to the gaming mainstream by Bullfrog’s Populous. The indirect-control management/construction game, with an eye on physical simulation rules. Except Dwarf Fortress is that taken to simply ludicrous degrees. I’ve been known to compare Toady’s opus to Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, in terms of monomanical devotion to a singular vision informed pretty much entirely by your own interests. Dwarf Fortress is the designer as God, trying to create a machine which creates universes from a seed of a number at a button-press. Dwarf Fortress is important because it’s fucking insane. It’s important because it’s against every single rule the industry makes. It’s important because it shows that a designer/coder, if they choose to stay to their passions – even their most extreme passions – it’s just about possible you can find an audience. It proves that being sensible is a small master for small minds. I still have trouble believing that Dwarf Fortress even exists." - Kieron Gillen, Rock, Paper, Shotgun

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