Dark Diamond Interview: Tarn Adams [Technical Issues edition]
Wednesday 15 April 2009 @ 10:39 pm | By Raphael 'Dasuraga' Gaschignard 12 Comments
When you were a little kid, did you ever tell yourself “I’d love a fantasy game that simulates everything”? One where you could be your little group of warriors and build the best base ever, go trade, wage war, drink beer, and breed cats indefinitely? Well, Tarn Adams told himself the same thing, but instead of just idly wishing it, he started to make it. And thus was born Dwarf Fortress.
A simple enough idea for a game: Control some dwarves as they go mining. But then he started to add one little feature, then another, and another.He and his brother wrote down everything they’d want to be in the game, and at about 1500 items left on this list he’s far from done. But even at this point(only at v 0.28) we’re at a level of minutiae unlike any other sim out there, with what might seem like the most insignificant of things like rain shadows, rock formations and cat reproduction being reproduced to help build (pardon the bullet point) a living breathing world. Sure, the entire interface is text based, but those brave enough to dive in will never want to get out.
I’ve had the pleasure to do a 1-on-1 interview with Tarn Adams, and for someone who supposedly sits in front of his computer all day long, he is very well spoken and extremely interesting, if bizarre at times. We discuss the history of Dwarf Fortress, its pleasures, its pains and its future. There’s even a dietary discussion near the end. Unfortunately, do to some messy software, Tarn pops in and out from time to time, but otherwise it went swimmingly, and you too can listen to Tarn’s ramblings.
So, what do you think of this interview? Have you ever tried to play Dwarf Fortress? What was your experience like? Who else from the industry would you like to hear from? Just let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte
David 'KidKobun' Bruno
Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano
Random J
Sol
I’ve tried 3 times to get into Dwarf Fortress, I’m not man enough to do it. I’ll try it again sometime, I’m sure. Probably only to fail again.
However the game and its promise have always been fascinating to me, its mindblowing how much the game does! Great interview and my apologies to Tarn, I lack the fortitude to get into his game.
Well, I took me some time to get into Dwarf fortress, but I had a lot of help from CptnDuck’s tutorials (youtube). I would advise those to players trying to get into DF
Is it worth it? I need encouragement to try again
It is worth it, I am in the DSDC and I’ll help you with any advanced architecture and engineering.
I am currently building a heavy defensive siege line, and don’t even try stealthily sneaking, my dogs will rip your parts off, and get propelled into the lava pit by the Hammer Dwarves.
Well, well worth it. It’s the only game that’s held my attention for over 6 months. My fortress (about a month old) has a giant iron tower made out of the recycled armour of those who dared to trespass. Dwarf fortress is spectacular in that you can really follow your imagination, and build things how you like them.
This doesn’t count as a part of the podcast THEREFORE I DID NOT MISS OUT ON IT AND STILL HAVE A PERFECT ATTENDANCE RECORD :3
As far as the text interface goes, its kinda like the matrix. After a while you stop seeing the ascii, and you start seeing a miner, a craftsdwarf, a donkey, a stockpile etc. The learning curve is pretty difficult though. dwarffortresswiki.net has a ton of great info a tutorials to help you get started too.
Hell yeah. Dwarf Fortress is awesome.
Best game ever designed, finished or not.
DF’s learning curve is pretty much perpendicular to the ground, but once you get past that hurdle it can be a lot of fun.
I wish this game had existed when I was a bored teenager, rather than a very busy grown-up.
[...] d’un autre jeu qui n’aura rien à voir avec DF et n’est pas près de sortir. Tout celà est écoutable ici et est entièrement en anglais, bien [...]
[...] d’un autre jeu qui n’aura rien à voir avec DF et n’est pas près de sortir.Tout celà est écoutable ici et est entièrement en anglais, bien [...]