Dwarf Fortress

Dwarf Fortress (previously titled Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress) is a construction and management simulation and roguelike indie video game created by Bay 12 Games. Available as freeware and in development since 2002, its first alpha version was released in 2006 and received attention for being a two-member project surviving solely on donations. Originally displayed using ASCII arts, the game is set in a detailed, procedurally generated fantasy world with randomized creatures, NPCs, and history. Players can control a colony of dwarves in a fortress or explore the world as a player character. Its mechanics have been lauded for their depth and complexity. Prior to Dwarf Fortress, Tarn Adams was working on a project called Slaves to Armok: God of Blood which was a role-playing game. By 2004, Adams decided to shift from the original Armok to Dwarf Fortress after the former became difficult to maintain. Adams calls it his life's work and said in 2011 that version 1.0 will not be ready for at least another 20 years, and even after that he would continue to work on it. A paid edition with graphical tiles and a new soundtrack was published by Kitfox Games and released to Steam and Itch.io in 2022. Critics praised its complex and emergent gameplay but had mixed reactions to its difficulty and learning curve. The game influenced Minecraft, RimWorld, and others, and was selected among other games to be featured in the Museum of Modern Art to show the history of video gaming in 2012. The game has a cult following and an active online community. As there are no win conditions, every fortress, no matter how successful, will eventually fall; this has prompted the community motto: "Losing is Fun!"