Indie projects have always been small in terms of what their teams can put together and how much office space they need to work. In the 80s and 90s, during a boom period for bedroom development on the Apple II (among other platforms), studios didn’t always grow beyond a lone creator such as is the case with Dwarf Fortress. Unfortunately, some releases never found much of an audience beyond the local scene.
Dwarven Emotions
For instance, one of the big successes from the Apple II, the legendary action-adventure Prince of Persia (1989), was created by just one person – Jordan Mechner – who filmed his brother running and jumping to create the prince’s own moveset. Mechner and the Prince would eventually find fame via publishing house Broderbund and, later, Ubisoft, which revived the Prince in 2003 for The Sands of Time.
Of course, today, with software like Unity3D and Blender available for free, there’s been a return to solo development. Stardew Valley, Fez, and Axiom Verge are all products of one intrepid creator, as is the now-multibillion-dollar franchise Minecraft. The sometimes forgotten project Dwarf Fortress also falls into this bracket, as news emerges that creator Bay 12 Studios has added only its third team member, named Putnam.
On paper, that doesn’t sound too unusual. However, Dwarf Fortress has managed to get through the past twenty years in the hands of just two people, brothers Tarn and Zach Adams. Making things even more remarkable is the extreme complexity of this Rimworld-like colony game, which simulates everything from geology and farming to clothing and dwarven emotions.
Decades of Obscurity
Despite the simplicity of its graphics, which are still in ASCII format in the free version of Dwarf Fortress, it’s no surprise that the Adams brothers’ project has lasted so long. After all, dwarves are a recurring aspect of high fantasy, appearing in Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and even Marvel Comics, where they sometimes star alongside Nordic champion Thor.
In gaming, dwarves appear as playable characters in Dragon Age and God of War in the guise of Sindri and Brok. There’s also a growing appreciation for the bearded characters in casino gaming. Among the Megaways slots at Megarush Casino, the Dwarven Gems game from Iron Dog combines dwarves’ natural affinity for gemstones with the simple mechanics of the online slot machine.
All of these appearances combined mean that the long-lived Dwarf Fortress is part of a love affair that goes back decades. The addition of a third developer won’t actually change much in the short term, though, with Bay 12 focused on fulfilling its obligations to the Steam community, which it joined in 2019. This includes digital trading cards. These were added just before Christmas 2022.
Dwarf Fortress is also hoping to gain traction on the Twitch streaming platform now that Bay 12 has partnered with presenter SalfordSal. There’s a feeling that the venerable sim is trying to shake off two decades of obscurity with a new era of outreach and accessibility. What form this will take going forward remains to be seen, although Bay 12 continues to work on gameplay and other updates to Dwarf Fortress.
