The Evolution of Dwarf Fortress [2006 - 2021] 

Thanks for the support everyone. My intention for the channel is primarily researching and covering a variety of topics that I find interesting. Some of them gaming related, others maybe less so. If that sounds like something that interests you, then I hope you'll stick around. Otherwise, thanks for watching. Also if I find any small corrections, I'll add them to the description.

25:18 "She was horrified after seeing Urdim Brassmirror die. She was horrified after seeing a thread zombie die. She was horrifiedafter seeing a troll die... She didn't feel anything after seeing a elf die" Truly she is a worthy sucsessor of a dwarven lineage. Ansestors may be proud!

Doesn't matter how many times I hear that story, introducing eyelids leading to cats dying of alcohol poisoning always gets me. It's the most "Dwarf Fortress" thing out there. Right up there with making carp unstoppable killing machines due to swimming improving every physical attribute without end.

I remember being a teenager and finally really feeling like I understood DF way back - then they released the update with z-levels. Changed my life.

I seriously support the community funding research into uploading conciousness into a computer so finally Tarn Adams can have his mind uploaded to a supercomputer so he could finally finish the game.

Fun fact: Dwarf Fortress' bugs were so influential that Bethesda Softworks decided to start purposely filling their games with them.

”Bones” was not a game, but the name of a feature in some classic roguelikes. I think it was the bones files in Hack specifically that inspired the Adams Brothers, but I’m not 100% on that.

the adamantine end-message is honestly fantastic. You unearth a metal that's not meant to be unearthed, and eventually, inescapably, everyone in the fortress mysteriously vanishes. Absolutely metal.

after years playing and reading about this game, i still dont know even the 1% of the things that happens and can be done in this game

What I'd like to see added is really starting as a dwarf caravan in, in some town where you choose your dwarves, buy stuff and then go adventure out in the world until you find a suitable spot to start your fortress.

Ding! Ding! Steam version is here All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality

My best occurrence with this game happened to become my best fortress also. When the fort was big and wealthy enough a queen from the mountain homes took residence within, becoming the capital of the kingdom. It was around the time vampires were implemented, and I already had to deal with some during my migration waves., Thankfully, the update was new and not patched at all, so the vampires, when accused of murdering someone, just pointed their fingers to the nearest pet animal, accusing it to be the vampire :'D. My surprise came when some bodies started to show up, and after 3 or 4 attacks I had witnesses that pointed to the queen. I looked at her description (which includes the relationships with groups, guilds, civilizations, etc.) and it was VERY long, long enough to not be possible in 5 McUrist lives. So there I stood, with a murderous queen thirsty for blood like a vampire countess wondering what should I do with her. Start a rebellion indirectly anti-monarchic? Throw her in a jail, chained to a post? Execute her sentence and let my hammerer have the time of his live?... In the end, she was Asmodal, my immortal queen, so I ended up barricading her in her own throne room (which included adjacent Bedroom/study and dining room), alone forever, passing the days without food or drink, no social interactions. It was the best I could do for her without also risking the fort to spiral down to FUN. If a proper invasion that menaced to destroy my fort happened, I would just let her free to wreak some havoc with her supernatural powers. In one occasion I had a vampire sentenced for murdering some dwarves, the sentence was like 40 hammer hits from the hammerer or so, but he survived because of his vampiric resilience. Then I put him on a chain on a prison cell and left him to rot. A major invasion of goblins attacked my fort, with beastmaster included bringing lots of giant alligators, that some goblins even mounted, some trolls, and a lot of skilled fighters. Everything was destroyed, everyone killed, and the last one standing was the vampire who I liberated to help defend the fort. He confronted a giant alligator mounted goblin and put a hell of a fight. WIth his bare hands he destroyed to mouth of the alligator, sending all of its' teeth flying through the room, and then tearing up its' head with every punch (which we should assume to be a vampire sharp claws) He ended up killing the giant alligator, but by then other ones had poured to the room and ended up mauling him to death... It was an impressive note on the forts' ending. I'm very happy for the steam realease and the way is looking so far. I'm so eager to play this new version, plus all the stunning visuals and new music! Also, in-game there'll be an option to change between classic and premium mode (ASCII tyles and graphic tyles) just on the go, so it will be fantastic for everyone, newcomers and old players. By the way, have you seen the new graphics for animal people? They look superve! I will have taverns, libraries, and a quick dig to the caves to have a lot of animal people visitors and delight myself with the art! I'd love to have giraffe and insect people around, crab and octopus look amazing too!

Great summary. Among my all time favorites. Ten years ago I was playing on my laptop at barbering school after the recession hit, not too long after the .34 release. Got myself a rig mid-lockdown, built and lost a few forts and got hooked on Kruggsmash playthroughs to pass the time. Thank you to the Adams creating a bastion during the last decade’s weird times.

I wonder if DF will ever take the record of "longest supported game" from Unreal World, another awesome game

I started playing in 2012 at v0.34. It's been a joy to follow the progress. When locations became a thing; temples, libraries, and taverns, it really felt like the world was alive

3:00 -- "Bones" isn't a roguelike game. It was a feature of the genre among many roguelike games to generate a "bones file" or "bones level" when you die. Then future runs might encounter your bone pile and even the jerk who killed you.

Whilst I rarely play, I do enjoy reading DF content.. One of my favorite of Tarns posts goes way back when he introduced a testing room for new weapons and combat behavior.. The new crossbows where too complicated for dwarves to understand, so they just took the bolts and ran up to the targets and stab them.. Ingenious

This video is the first time I hear about the game and I really like it (didn't play yet but i like the theme and so on)

first upload is incredibly promising. can't wait to see you grow my friend

Dwarf Fortress is the godfather of spreadsheet simulator strategy games.

Please do CDDA (Catacylsm: dark days ahead)! i absolutely love this video! As someome who is amazed and in love with what DF is doing and has, admittingly, only dabbled in the game myself. But. Then i found CDDA which is perhaps equally impressive in its sheer attention to detail and constantly in development. It is a different kind of game. But just as rewarding an experience. Anyway, i loved seeing the timeline of development on dwarf fortress and think that a similar video would be amazing for Cataclym (if you havent played recently, check it out!) Thank you :)

Your video is superb quality!!!! It's like you already have a million subs, but you only have 4!!! Go further on!!!

Wow such a high quality well researched video from such a small channel, I'll definitely stick around. Would love to see a video about the evolution of roguelikes as a genre, all the way since rogue to the binding of isaac. You might have a niche interesting idea to focus on, basically the history of of game genres and their evolution. Grats on the video mate!

Dwarf fortress is the first game I've ever played that has separate keybinds for lowercase and capital letters. I had to open Google 12 times in half an hour just to walk around town and stab the closest child. The child won. It was a vampire. Best game I've ever played.

Thanks to the steam release, I'm addicted to this game again.

I'm so happy they added sprites and rehauled the graphics. I could not play it in its old format and it always made me sad. And now I get to play it!

It’s truly amazing just how much crazy stuff is in this game. I’m definitely excited for the Steam release. Luckily they still plan to add in new stuff as the years go on. Excellent video. I really liked learning about how the game developed. I’m excited to see how the game evolves overtime.

Given that BoatMurdered is from when the game was 2D and seemed t be part of a substantial community I kind of assumed that the game was that way for much longer, cool to know.

Awesome video! Just in time before the steam release to refresh my memory on the games history. I personally started playing around .34 I think. I may have played slightly earlier but I do recall .34 being when i first really got into the game and played forts with 75+ dwarfs. I remember death spirals being the biggest killer of my forts, usually one dwarf getting angry about something resulting in fighting and killing someone who's friends would also get angry and start killing and so on until my entire fort collapses. One of my biggest fortresses died out almost completely because a dragon attacked my fort and started a fire, the dragon itself was actually dispatched pretty easily by my military but the fire caused all kinds of havoc, if i recall it killed or messed up one dwarf which then caused tantrums which spread further and further until i had only a handful of dwarfs left and I called that the end of my fort. This game has given me some of the most unique and random stories of any game I've played, it's so fascinating and I cannot wait to see how the steam release goes. Steam version seems to have all the depth of classic but replacing the insanely obtuse and difficult to use controls and UI with a modern UI as well as premium graphic update, I can't wait!

For me Dwarf Fortress is the best simulator of absurd stories, just like it's successor "RimWorld". Like, in what else game your castle can fall to ruins and expose horrible underground abominations just because your soap maker tried to make ash for his soap and accidentally burnt down the whole city? In what else game you can rid of your enemies just by barricading your base entryway and leaving the raiders to the wild beasts and elementals that inhabit the surroundings?

I swear if I spent half the time playing the game as I did watching videos on this. I think I might be able to play it. Steam version can’t come fast enough.

Great work! I'm so glad to see a comprehensive dev history of the game! This game is so huge!

Im pretty sure the fact that cats would groom themselves and lick their paws would count as them drinking an ENTIRE MUG of whatever alcohol they previously stepped in. Funniest bug ever.

Nice video, makes it clear what mechanics are present in the game, thanks

I'm really excited for the steam release. I've been aware of Dwarf Fortress for a long time and even tried to play it a few times, but the graphics and especially the UI, made it too hard for me to commit to learning how to play. Knowing an improved user interface is coming with the steam release has me really excited (and the improved graphics will make it easier to identify what is what) Up till now, Rimworld has been scratching that Dwarf Fortress itch for me. It has way less depth, but is way easier to get started with.

Just discovered that the premium version drops in 5 days. Perfect timing for youtube to recommend this video. I have not played the game in about 10 years :)

I feel that I could play only Dwarf Fortress for decades and still like playing the game. Truly amazing!

I'm surprised you didnt bring up the tried and failed Dwarven Economy update.

This video is of a very high quality, especially considering this is your first video.

I really want to check out the O’Reilly book on how to play Dwarf Fortress (yes the O’Reilly that publishes all the programming and math books) just to see how outdated it is now

I first started playing Dwarf Fortress with the 2D version. In some ways it was a better game than the 3D version, because the design was more game-focused than simulation focused. Mostly this meant there was a definite progression of metals from copper to steel, with iron being buried fairly deep. The 3d version puts iron deposits right on the surface because that's more realistic, even if it hurts game progression. "Digging too deep" was a more significant concept in the 2D version, since doing something like digging into a magma river was inevitable and harder to protect against. EDIT: It appears that I stopped playing shortly before 0.42. I recognize everything up to that point.

Nice video. I like the cut to black ending, no nonsense :p

Awesome video man, really interesting overview of the game's history.

Awesome video.

Great video! I've always been fascinated with DF on so many levels. Wish I had more time to play.

This was a super informative video. I sort of fell off the DF bandwagon after 2014, so this was hugely helpful in catching up.

Really fun video. Btw, I'm all for a video on old DF bugs. That sound amazing.

This was a good overview of DF's history. Good work!

One day, the foundation of DF will give rise to the most detailed 3D game ever made ^^

Been playing since Spring of 2007. that was the time of myth for me.

bones files are from nethack et al. You would find your previous character as an enemy or find its equipment

I played Dwarf Fortress the most during the 0.34 and DF2014 days. Such an incredible game, I'm really looking forward to starting a new playthrough when the Steam version comes out.

i genuinely thought this was a large channel, this is so well done! i loved it!

This is a great first video. It's informative and engaging. Subscribed in the hopes of more to come!

Amazing your channel is this small, you really put some effort into researching and editing this. Wish I had the talent to write a love letter to this game that was as good as yours

I hear that Autumn of this year is when the premium version is finally coming out!

When I started playing was probably around 2010 I think? Carps were deadly.

Cannot wait for the steam port, i tried to get into the game a few years back, but dude i was born in the 00's i dont have the attention span for that!

The fucking drunkard cats using Alcohol as eyedrops will never get over me.

A lot of the bugs are still in game btw. Atom smasher is a great way to dispose or trash and enemies.

Haven't had vampire migrants in the last 2 fortresses weird, i actually even forgot about them untill you mentioned them.

I have been playing this for couple of years now and still havent grasped some of the mechanics. I love every single second of it.

Now its on steam... looks really good:) hope they will fix pesky bugs

This would have gotten a million views of it was on Minecraft. Too underrated!

Masterwork video i fully watched it 2 times

How does this not have more views? You should have 10s of thousands of subscribers

Really nice video!

One of the best game if you take some time to understand and learn it one example : one of my world gen for my fortress gave me immortal necromancer dwarf from migration wave who learn all of that in a tower hold by some human who stole a slab created by a deity

What a great trip through memory lane for me with this awesome retropective/update history (and even being the first vid uploaded) DF is a game ive been playing from around late '07 lots have changed in game and in life, but i revisit it ever once in a while. you got a Sub from me,

Great video!

4:31 "ms. keisha, ms. keisha!! omfg she fuckin dead"

What a !!FUN!! video. It was inevitable.

Whenever I’m generating a world and it has to scrap it and start over with a new landscape, I always assume it’s because demons randomly took over the whole world in 1 year of history. I seriously have to play this more now that I actually know how to stop the game and look around.

Dooming a fortress to destruction by demons for the sake of slaking one's thirst is about the most dwarven thing one can do.

Steam version coming up 6th December!)))

I love the idea, as a programmer with the dream to make a game... Well, i always want to make something that simulate blood vessels flow and all sort of realistic troubles in real life, make it in 2D is insane! I mean, you still has all stats, but without any visualization of those stuff... Complex societies and so on was another stuff i always want to do... My game in development now is more simple, a rogue-like based on maps, but i already are though about making a survivor mode that player enter in a much bigger world with need to chop down trees mine stone and soo on to make stuff... i love this dwarf fortress idea, amazing!

STEAM RELEASE LET'S GO

Cant wait for a premium version which will be published today in 6 hrs

ahead of its time

Man I miss One F Jef

The carp stands up.

You should also check out "The long night" mod for dwarf fortress.

My brain fills in the missing gachimuchi that’s missing in the intro scene

Don't confuse bugs and features (lol)! Nice to see some DF content -thanks!

So Eyelids weren't why cats were dying to the alcohol...it was them getting self grooming and math being a bit off, they just happened to put eyelids and cats grooming in the same update xD Eyelids caused its own problems. I always love finding vids like this about Dwarf Fortress it's just a shame more don't exist, reminiscing is just too much fun, especially when we had no Z axis. xD

The year is 2007 It is August 28th and it is the summer between 7th and 8th grade All day I have been playing Dwarf Fortress and this is before they had even added z-levels I play all day and stay up until 2 in the morning to watch the total lunar eclipse As I look at the darkening reddening moon what I see is a big smiling dwarf sprite with flickering tiles of life and industry around it Now I am 28 years old and I would like for them to fix FPS death

Well, a release date has been stated and it's soon, this will be interesting.

Well made video thanks!

That thumbnail is excellent

DF in 2d was great, then it got 3d and was better! I have had the steam update on my wishlist since the first week!

The graphics wasnt ever the issue for me, but the UI... sheesh

Wow! Why I did not know about this? What the heck I've been doing?

This is one of those games that I come back to, but the UI is kinda hard to learn.

Awesome video :)

I triead getting into dwarf fortress but the UI really put me of and another problem is that I don't know what to do after I did everything whaterver guide I'm using said I should do. I'll probably try again whenever the steam version releases

thanks, last time I played it was 0.34 maybe I should go back to it, but I needed such tl;dr not to be too confused

Yes this is a game I understand completely

would you at some point do a similar video for Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead?

What a great video.

Heck, take a dive into UnReal World if DW tickles your fancy. 30 years and still kicking!