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[Muz]

B12 knows what the game is going to look like when it's finished. I don't just mean Toady; Tarn is as big an influence to its success as him.

Most games build a prototype then figure out what the context of the game will be like. B12 does the opposite. They aim for the big picture and build towards that. No features are a coincidence, the whole thing is carefully planned.

[Tuonelan renki]

Personally I think the main appeal of Dwarf Fortress is the sheer complexity combined to ubiquitous randomness, and that the player has to use a lot of her/his imagination when playing (well, at least I do). When playing, I'm quite often lost in imagining that Urist the Hammerlord, dressed in ridiculously adorned artifact breastplate, nose cut off during a goblin raid few summers ago and with a penchant for devouring prepared giant hamster brain.

[davesoft]

But I'm curious if there's ever been any detailed discussion as to what makes DF succeeds. I don't mean from the perspective of playing the game -- I mean that's obviously been discussed a lot and anyone who plays the game could talk about why it works for them...

...I'm asking more from the perspective of a designer or a coder or even a play tester. Or maybe I'm asking "How did they pull off creating a simulator with such deepness?"

Did they just get incredibly lucky?

Or did they have a unique approach to the design/implementation that helped create the depth?

Depth, chaos and very consistent mechanics.

The game is massive, barely explained and often missing the kinds of player-experience most gamers expect while playing. Contrast this game with.. perhaps... Stanley Parable.

Most games have a vague idea what the player is meant to do.. and anyone who's played more than 1 game also has this counter-instinct of 'what am I supposed to do?' or 'what does it want me to do?'

The Stanley Parable is almost a parody of that instinct, what you're meant to do takes about 10mins and is kinda pleasant but not worth the price of a full game. Without the urge to defy the game's rules and try crazy things, it's a dull non-game that should have stayed a free mod.

Dwarf Fortress, to me, never claimed to have a 'point' or any 'intended route', simply a collection of mechanics to play with an enjoy.


People like to think their learning. This game has a lot to learn and has no mercy, which makes people reset quite often till they get used to it.
By the time the player knows how to survive, their already in the minecraft state of "Whooo! Now I'm not a dying noob, Im gonna make a...."

And the rest, is just a skinner box


tldr; df has complexity like geology, psychology, biocontamination, but also:

"dwaves can adopt animals they like as pets, like dogs, sheep, ducks, etc"
"what about cats?"
"kinda, cats choose their owners, rather than get chosen as a pet"
"heh, just like real life!"
"....sure"