Dwarf Fortress - Community

Community

Dwarf Fortress has attracted a significant cult following. The game's steep learning curve, two-dimensional graphics, numerous developmental bugs, and great depth of field have lent it a reputation as brutal to learn and impossible to master, a conclusion acknowledged by Adams on multiple occasions. A better in-game help system and better graphics are both long-term goals, but are nowhere near the current development schedule; as such, the game in its current state is enjoyed mostly by hardened DIY-type gamers who are able to overcome the game's challenges. Its members have compiled a dedicated wiki for the game, the most comprehensive reference the game has and a tome that Adams admits to referencing himself on occasion. An illustrated guide to the game, called Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress, has also been released by O'Reilly Media.

Prior to releasing the game in 2006, Tarn Adams expected he would have to get a job in order to support himself; his primary source of funding, besides his saving, was a PayPal donation link on his website, which brought in only enough to cover the site's $20 hosting cost. However, the release of the game brought forth an enormous increase in donation volume, and the Adams brothers were able to support development, albeit only just barely at first. Donations generally hover at a few thousand every month, and the highest numbers coincide with new major version releases; for instance, a major release in February 2012 saw $12,586.51 donated by the end of the month. Supporters receive either a short story written by Zack, or a crayon drawing signed by both brothers. This gives Dwarf Fortress the distinction of being one of the few games supported solely by voluntary donation.

Tarn Adams has admitted that the intrepidness and occasional masochism of the community surprised even him. In an interview with HASTAC Adams stated that the most impressive thing he had even seen done with the game was when a player managed to create an entire Turing-complete calculator powered by dwarves. Because of this, the game is a staple of Let's Play type walkthroughs, the most famous of which is "Boatmurdered" ("Koganusân" in the game's dwarfish language).

The game's code base is proprietary, and Adams has stated firmly that he has no plans to release it into the open source domain, citing his particular vision for the game and stating that it will remain a closed operation so long as Bay 12 Games remains financially healthy. Nonetheless, he acknowledges the role of the community in making the game more understandable and supporting its development. A number of external utilities exist that add graphical tilesets, three-dimensional visualizers, graphical user interfaces, and management tools to the game, all community-developed.