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[NW_Kohaku]

Modding.

I would never play Elder Scrolls without the ability to make my own wizard towers and stuff them with random junk, and pimp out my sorceress with magic glasses and glowing blue armor and a chained up eldritch tome for a shield.

First thing I did when I got Dwarf Fortress was crack open the raws, and look for what I could fiddle with.

Customizability is my catnip, and the more I get, the more I will stick around a game.

[gamegreen33]

dwarf fortress the only game where a dwarf burns to death while drowning

Actually, Far Cry 2 was pretty bad about this.

[LegoLord]

God noticed the game, said "that's awesome," and so it was. 

Well, no, not really.  I don't think any one thing can be pinned down.  It's not just individual aspects of the game, it's how they all come together.

[Kidiri]

Because you can annihilate 100 lives in three seconds in a horrible, unspeakable manner...and even if you lose because of it, you can always start over again from scratch and think of something even worse.


Basically: infinite cruelty creativity.

Crueltivity?

[darkrider2]

Because you can annihilate 100 lives in three seconds in a horrible, unspeakable manner...and even if you lose because of it, you can always start over again from scratch and think of something even worse.


Basically: infinite cruelty creativity.

Crueltivity?

Sometimes known as but not to be confused with dwarven science.

[Ketsa]

Certainly not the user interface.
I will be very happy the day something is done regarding that interface.

I usually start a fort, make some progress and when i reach a certain point ...  I am no longer able to endure that interface. and i stop.
40dXX is already a tiny bit better with the zoom feature, even if  a bit slow when zoomed out.

I donated twice, next payment will be after the UI improvements.

[Cuchulain]

I think this question could get quite deep, really. So let's have a try:

DF is a work of art. Toady has given a very distinct feel to the game, given it very distinctive themes and motifs which are interesting and compelling.

DF is a work of no small intelligence. This not only applies to the programming, but to the thought processes underlying various design decisions. Consider the realism in the geology - if I'm looking for various types of ores, I'll need to look in the appropriate rock layers. Thought is given as to how various in-game events would affect mood and how different personalities might respond to a given event. Wounds are treated realistically, not abstracted to a great extent. All these details create an unparalleled suspension of disbelief, thus making the experience one of the most immersive in the gaming world to date.

Considering the level of detail, it is surprising how much flexibility and freedom the gamer is allowed. This not only applies to the design and construction of your fortress, but is expressed even in the choice of ASCII as the default graphics option. Providing few graphical details means the gamer is forced to mentally enter the creative process, imagining the details themselves. Consider the different era Fisher Price figurines: the old version, which I grew up with, had very few details. A ball on a cylinder represented body shape, a simple dot each for eyes and nose, a thin line for a mouth. The modern version is kitted out with detailed hair, clothes, accessories. Obviously a ploy to sell more toys, but in actual fact it has been shown that children prefer the older version - it allows them greater freedom to imprint their imagination on the toy, more control over the imagined personality and personhood of the toy in question, thus more control of the game. Same thing with Dwarf Fortress, I think. Hinting at details rather than expressing them creates a more immersive experience.

I could say more, but I'll spare you. (/lecture)

[Hyndis]

Yup, I too prefer the older toys. When I was a kid, my toys were not fancy. They were not battery powered with noise and flashing lights.

Those are all scripted toys, and they're obnoxious in addition to basically requiring the child to play with the toy in only one way.


With a generic, low detail toy there is a helluva lot more room for imagination, and imagination sure beats the hell out of even the biggest art budget. Its not scripted, its completely open ended. The toys are what I want them to be at the moment, and just by imaging something else I could then do something completely different with them, rather than rely on those scripted battery powered lights and sounds.


And DF is like Legos, on mega steroids. You can do whatever the hell you want with them. The only limit is your imagination. 

[LegoLord]

And DF is like Legos, on mega steroids. You can do whatever the hell you want with them. The only limit is your imagination. 

More like LEGOs on the computer done right.  LDD is neat, but isn't interactive enough and whatnot.

[Alkyon]

And DF is like Legos, on mega steroids. You can do whatever the hell you want with them. The only limit is your imagination. 

More like LEGOs on the computer done right.  LDD is neat, but isn't interactive enough and whatnot.

Indeed, it's like legos, only when you run out of a certain piece, you can have your miners run off and search for more while you work on something else.  Oh, and you never step on that small, but ultra sharp, brand new piece that you lost when stumbling to the bathroom at night.

Personally, I like it because after climbing the damned learning cliff, I'm too elitist to consider not liking it.

[NW_Kohaku]

Personally, I like it because after climbing the damned learning cliff, I'm too elitist to consider not liking it.

Heh... I just might have to quote that.  I think some of the people claiming they love it for the ASCII have a little of that going on in their reasoning, as well - ASCII is ugly and not terribly intuitive, but it has a charm to those that grow used to it, just because they have grown used to it.

I think that the community actually has quite a bit to do with DF's success (is "success" the right word?), honestly.  I know that reading up on Boatmurdered is what finally pushed me to look into this game, and it was reading the little bullets of examples on TV Tropes that even made me aware of it in the first place.  I likewise tend to spend more time in these forums than I do actually playing the game itself...

[Alkyon]

Oh, yes, the epic tales this game creates, such as Boatmurdered, are a big attraction to me.  Though, I'll admit I haven't been able to get into any other fortress's story as much as I did the original BM.

Also, the number of random things that you can do with this game.  I'm currently trying to finish off my latest fortress, "Fencedmortals", a hanging bridge fort over an insanely massive river canyon with sheer walls.  This game will always find ways to surprise you: after loosing about 20 dwarves from falling off (had a hole in the wall of my baracks for the longest time, causing one soldier to semi-regularly toss another over the edge, into 10+ z levels of air), goblin ambushes, sub-par living quarters (I can't smooth/engrave constructed rooms), and regular forgetfulness induced food/drink shortages, I've only gotten one tantrum, and no spiraling.

A second surprise:  I'm constantly catapulting rocks at the trade depot out of frustration, and no one is dying.  Not my dwarves, not the pack mules, and not the caravan guards.

[NW_Kohaku]

A second surprise:  I'm constantly catapulting rocks at the trade depot out of frustration, and no one is dying.  Not my dwarves, not the pack mules, and not the caravan guards.

I think that, unlike with ballistas, catapults are completely friendly-safe.

[XSI]

A second surprise:  I'm constantly catapulting rocks at the trade depot out of frustration, and no one is dying.  Not my dwarves, not the pack mules, and not the caravan guards.

I think that, unlike with ballistas, catapults are completely friendly-safe.

catapult rocks only do damage where they stop moving, so if they fly past the depot then they actually fly over it, so they cant hurt anything. I think they aren't as much friendly-fire safe as just unreliable in hitting friendly targets.

[Kon]

What makes Dwarf Fortress so awesome?

When it gets to easy, I can mod it to make it harder. Tried Dig Deeper for a while, then Civilization Forge Unleashed, than added Dig Deeper orcs to Civ Unleashed. When that got too easy, I made the orcs faster and bigger.