Dwarf Fortress

A while back I started giving the game Dwarf Fortress (DF) a try. Not because I think it could be fun, but more for the romanticism behind the crafting of the game.

The fact that I don't need a graphic card to run the game also means it doesn't need total commitment from me.

I play the game in text-mode from the terminal over SSH. The machine running it has 4GB memory. It's running at home, but I could play it from outside if I want to.

If I hadn't been a coder accustomed to a terminal-oriented lifestyle, I wouldn't even consider going near it. But the game mechanism is surprisingly playable when it's coupled with an instructional guide opened in a web browser.

There are two major way to play DF: as a god-game or an adventure game.

God-game involves building fortresses. I've seen enough walkthroughs about it that I don't intend to play this mode. Building things is what I do all day, I don't need more of it.

Adventure mode though works like an RPG, roaming the world doing whatever. This is the mode I'm into, even if it's not what it's originally designed for.

Even among adventure games I doubt DF is among the best. But I'm somewhat sure DF has the vastest world across time and space.

You see, when the game starts the first thing it does is to generate a world that is entirely unique to you, complete with geography, characters and history. Mine is a middle sized one and that process took more than an hour (not that I mind). The game data generated approached 100mb, no graphical assets involved.

The game in adventure mode would have me travel through the world socializing, battling and trading and whatever else. It's the world that I'm impressed with. A rich and deep world that is unique only to me feels appealing in concept. Even if the visual representation comes in textual tiles only, I'm comfortable enough with abstractions to be able sense the vastness.

The play in the world is to add on the the history. In this sense the game world is like a digital bonzai to me. It didn't take long before I value the game world enough for me to have a file backup strategy for it.

A game like this can only exist the way it is produced, by two people over decades.

The art of travelling

I've never truly practiced travelling. Like most people I've mostly only been a tourist. Therefore art of travelling is something I have yet to pick up.

I think adventure games, when played right, is one mechanism to practice how to travel.

Unless the game designers go out of their way to set you missions, adventure games are not played for victory. Ideally they are about generating surprises, not about upping your skills.

Playing DF as a clunky adventure game is like that. Many characters have died under my hands, I didn't mind dying except having to generate new characters.

The game doesn't tell you what to go after, just like in real life (after mid life). What it does provide is a world that is so large that there will always be something that surprises.