Graphical StyleĮverything in Dwarf Fortress is represented by a variation of ASCII characters, called 'code page 437', and this fact has contributed heavily to the game's steep learning curve. Adventure Mode plays like a very open-world Roguelike game, where the player is given control of a single character and can travel through the world, completing quests and exploring places such as fortresses they've previously built during past games in that same world. Characteristics of Dwarven life include ubiquitous alcohol dependency, and a high predisposition towards manic depression. The game progresses in real-time, with the ability to pause in order to make commands. In Fortress Mode, the player takes command of a group of Dwarves as they attempt to survive countless dangers in order to mine out the wealth of their chosen point of embark. For sentient creatures such as Dwarves, their appearance, thoughts, and preferences are all calculated.ĭwarf Fortress has two main game types: Fortress Mode and Adventure Mode.

Afterwards, every individual living creature is remembered and followed through its entire life (though with varying levels of detail based upon historic importance), tracking regional movement, injuries, reproduction and death. The only time anything is specifically spawned by the game is during world generation at year zero. The default world specifications will generate a few civilizations for each major race (Dwarves, Humans, Elves, and Goblins), as well as 250 years of history, in a world large enough to house several thousand average-sized player fortresses without overlap.Įvery bit of data in Dwarf Fortress is tracked, down to a nearly microscopic level. Each world has a set of civilizations, each with their own population, and the world generates years worth of historic background preceding the 'present' time that the user will play their session in.

A game of Dwarf Fortress starts with the creation of a world, which is procedurally generated based upon certain general specifications the player chooses, such as world size, mineral occurrence, and length of pre-generated history.

Dwarf fortress advanced world gen