Dwarf Fortress News

Hello Urists!

It's Alexandra from Kitfox Games with a community update. In case you were hiding in a fort, last week we announced the release date for the Steam version of Dwarf Fortress!

📢 Watch the release date trailer on Youtube

We are just under a month away from launch, can you believe it? If you're reading the news and thinking, "This is great but I still have no idea how to play Dwarf Fortress" then you're in luck! I will be hosting beginner friendly streams of Dwarf Fortress Steam edition every Thursday for the month of November at 2pm ET starting tomorrow November 10th!



Join me on the Kitfox Twitch channel as I learn Dwarf Fortress and show you exactly what the new player experience looks like for the Steam version. Am I an expert? Absolutely not! I have intentionally avoided learning Classic in hopes to show you all exactly what it will be like to start from scratch! I don't know exactly what will happen, but traditional Dwarf Fortress chaos will ensue. Maybe some special guests will join me on stream too...

I'm looking forward to seeing you in chat!

-Alexandra

After years of hard work, we are thrilled to announce that the highly anticipated, and newly inviting Steam and Itch.io PC release of the fabled Dwarf Fortress will release on December 6 2022 for $29.99 USD! Watch the release date trailer on Youtube:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We are so excited to share the news, we know it was not easy waiting. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding!   

We will still want be as transparent as possible about the game's development and wanted to provide an updated roadmap. 

As we suspected back in February, we won't be able to squeeze in everything we'd have liked without the potential of a major delay. So here's a bit more information about where we are and where we're going:

[h2]CURRENTLY[/h2]

We're implementing a few last creature and building graphics and fixing more bugs. We already know for sure that launch will include Legends mode.

We're not totally sure whether we'll have Arena mode or Steam Workshop integration or Classic mode at launch, but we do know all are very very close and already partially working. So those three things might end up in the launch or they might end up being patched in in the weeks after.

[h2]SOONISH[/h2]

For the months following launch, we have more graphics we want to add. We'd like specific graphics for more plants (evergreens, real world plants, etc), for example, and we'd also love to put in images for baby animals instead of just scaling down the adult versions. Kittens and red panda cubs and giant eaglets!

We're also not able to approach Mac and Linux by ourselves, since we've never notarized a Mac build or managed Linux libraries, and will need to get help with that to do it properly. But obviously we'd love to get that whole pipeline working so people can play on non-Windows computers.

And of course we'll do whatever necessary work there is to stabilize the release post-launch.

[h2]EVENTUALLY[/h2]

It will take a lot of effort and tons of special menus and interface, but Adventure mode is the biggest thing on the horizon that's missing from launch.

Around the same time as Adventure mode, maybe a bit before or after, we'll probably also put in Steam Achievements. We'll complete the work on villain systems and armies and sieges we were pondering before premium DF work began.

After that, we'll probably enter a lengthier development cycle, designing and coordinating work around the next big improvements to the map system, preparing the game for the addition of procedurally generated myths and magic systems. Some of these additions will take months by themselves, or longer, but we'll see how all that is shaping up when we get there.

Thanks for your enduring patience! We're hoping for a smooth and cheerful launch, thanks to the help of everybody keeping things running: the mods, volunteers, Kitfox, Valve, and our players and supporters. Not too much longer before you too can Strike the Earth!

-Tarn & Zach + Kitfox

The reworked version of fantasy world sim Dwarf Fortress finally arrives on Steam on December 6th, devs Bay 12 and publisher Kitfox Games have announced. The game’s also coming to Itch.io too. It will introduce pixel art graphics, tutorials, and new music and sound effects into the previously ASCII-only world of dwarven delving. You can watch the release date trailer below to see just how different this version actually is.

Read more

Fantasy construction sim Dwarf Fortress is, by the admission of its designers, difficult to learn and even harder to master. That’s why the game’s Steam version will have its own tutorial. Co-creator Zach Adams has roped in a novice playtester to try the tutorial out, in the form of his wife Annie. Annie bounced off the original, not-so-visually-appealing version of Dwarf Fortress. Yet, says Adams, the tutorial seems to be working to help Annie ease into the game at last.

Read more