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[guessingo]

aside from being able to go RPG and go to your own fortress, essentially what is the difference. I think the main difference is the level of detail.

[Veylon]

Yes, it would be the detail. The sheer anal retentiveness of a game that keeps track of each individual strand of thread and pile of vomit is mind-boggling.

[Pinstar]

A focus on game mechanics not seen anywhere else, period. This is 2013, and yet here is a game that is using 'graphics' from more than a decade ago.
And the game is complex enough that this isn't done for stylistic reasons, but rather pragmatic ones.

The fact that this game is complex enough to, at later stages, put a SERIOUS strain on modern processors, is telling for the level of detail.

Lastly and most importantly, this game is not developed by a "Team" of developers (in the traditional sense) it is done by 1-2 guys (primarily 1) who have 100% complete freedom to take the game where they want to. They don't have a publisher, they don't have a deadline (besides self-imposed ones) they don't have shareholders or focus groups to cater to. And they make the game extremely open to modding.

In short, this is a game developed without competing interests trying to steer the development. Toady makes the game how he wants to make it, period.

[Gentlefish]

And Toady sure as hell makes a good game.

Liberal Crime Squad, for example. Another great game that you an't compare any other game to AFAIK, aside from Genre.

[PetWolverine]

I agree that it's about the level of detail. Not just keeping track of every strand of thread, but also the different types of everything. In contrast to Minecraft (which I also love), where there's "Stone" and "Iron ore", we have way too many stone types to keep track of, and three types of iron ore, which appear in differently shaped veins/clusters and are more likely in certain types of rock layers.

In one of my early forts, I found hematite, and guessed from the name that it was iron ore. In a later fort I found limonite and cursed my luck at not having any iron. Once I found magnetite and realized there was more than one type of iron ore, I started looking at the wiki and kicked myself for wasting the limonite fort.

And then the combat system. No hit points - just body parts. Brilliant, gruesome, hilarious, and fairly effective.

[SixOfSpades]

Not that I disagree with the views above, but one of the ironic glories of the game is just how insane everything is. Woodcutter, take this piece of cactus and chop down a forest with it. Cook, here is a bag of tiny little seeds--mince them. Gemcutter, I want you to facet these precious stones--in your pitch-dark workshop, 40 feet underground with absolutely zero sources of illumination. And Mook, this is just a little note to inform you that you are on fire.

Seriously, if the dwarves were sane, they wouldn't be anywhere near as funny.

[Mohreb el Yasim]

i always considered coding as a form of art, in this point of view Dwarf Fortress is the rokoko of coding.

[GenJeFT]

i always considered coding as a form of art, in this point of view Dwarf Fortress is the rokoko of coding.

The fact the player base is intelligent enough to know the word Rokoko. Most player bases have yet to elevate above basic yo mama jokes and slang. Not to mention the *science* that uses actual scientific method.

[DS]

i always considered coding as a form of art, in this point of view Dwarf Fortress is the rokoko of coding.

As a classical pianist, I have to point out that it's "rococo," but I still laughed uncontrollably.

[itg]

As someone who knows a ton of random facts, I have to point out that "Rokoko" is the preferred spelling in German, Swedish, and no doubt a number of other languages. I laughed, too, by the way.

[DS]

As someone who knows a ton of random facts, I have to point out that "Rokoko" is the preferred spelling in German, Swedish, and no doubt a number of other languages. I laughed, too, by the way.

Confirmed. I'd never encountered anything besides the original French, but that's good to know.

[Putnam]

A focus on game mechanics not seen anywhere else, period. This is 2013, and yet here is a game that is using 'graphics' from more than a decade ago.
And the game is complex enough that this isn't done for stylistic reasons, but rather pragmatic ones.

3 decades ago, thank you very much.