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[Loschmidt]

I’m writing a review of Dwarf Fortress for my soon to be existant blog. There are reviews of DF out there by people who’ve played a bit, and there are guides and things from people who’ve played a lot and there was that amazing NYT article that was more about Toady than the game. But I want to try for something else. We all know it takes years, multiple fortresses, hours on the wiki and a bit of forum lurking before you can finally start to wrap your head around the game.

Now that i’ve played and loved the game for years I want to write a review that helps describe to complete newbies that this is worth their time.

So anyway, I need the forum’s guidance. What are the things that best sum up the Dwarf Fortress experience?  We all know that it is hard to play DF to start with, so how do I describe to people that it is worth all that time and effort? What are the experiences that blow your mind?

Also, have you written reviews? Please link me to them

Cheers guys.

[Trickman]

I'd start by mentioning the fact that you get your own World, with its own history and geography, all for yourself.

Then, for fortress mode (which, I guess, will be your biggest concern here) I'd organize it in a way where you:

1. Describe what you want to do in a natural way.
2. Translate those orders into the game.

This should make your guide more easy-going, more atomized, and easier to look through. For instance:

1. I want to grow crops for food, as it is a reliable, inexpensive food source. The most basic food crop in DF (and arguably the base of dorf diet) is the plump helmet, which one can use to eat raw, cook, or even make alcohol. For this, I'll tell my farmer to prepare the soil and then tell him to plant plump helmets all around the year, which he will harvest when they grow big enough.
2. Farm plots have to be built like a regular building. I'll go to the build menu with b -> p to designate a farm plot. I resize it with the u/m-h/k keys and I place it underground, in an area with soil. A 3x3 farm should do for now. You can see the farmer building it shortly after. Then, I use the building selector with q and plant stuff on it. Scroll around each season with the appropiate key and select "plump helmets" for every one of them with the -/+ keys and the return key.

Please remind your readers that if their dwarves don't dehydrate and die in your first fortress and starve to death in your second, they're probably not playing the game properly

[Loschmidt]

I don't want to write a guide, there are plenty of good guides out there and the wiki is a very good resource for that.

What I want to write is a review as someone who understands the game. Most of the reviews I find are from people who've played it and thought it was awesome, but didn't necessarily stick with it for a very long time before writing their review.

So I can talk about world generation/etc and what you actually do, but I don't think that necessarily captures the brilliance. For me its the moments where you really feel a connection to the world you're peering into, and feel for the dwarves whose lives you oversee.

So i'll ask, what are the moments in dwarf fortress that have really made you sit back and go wow. Or things that you have to rush out and tell people about?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Check the Hall of Legends. No review of DF could be complete without mentioning at least three of Boatmurdered, Tholtig Cryptbrain, Cacame Apebalded, or one of Sphalerite's better projects.
Also mention the wide variety of megaprojects, and the breadth, depth, and diversity of the game, and how it's not even complete, and finish it off with a HFS-related statement, perhaps implying colonization thereof.