Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates • Hacker News Board

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#71

Post by numeri » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

flurb wrote: post #38

I'm still pissed about the fact that they essentially gave the finger to everyone who has been long-term supporters - when they added the G to their UI, they essentially scrapped the old. In favor of a mouse-driven design, they dropped the old, keyboard-driven UI. Long-term supporters, in this case, means people paying, and not insubstantial amounts either - before they partnered with Kitfox, they used to publish how…

It makes me sad to think about. I would love to get into the new UI, but the immersion just won't come back. My muscle memory, hands firmly on the keyboard, is too persistent, and playing with the new UI feels like stumbling around and misclicking.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#72

Post by solenoid0937 » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:21 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #29

Our_Benefactors wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlike dwarf fortress, minecraft is fun and engaging from minute zero, and exposes its systems to you naturally over time. Terrible comparison.

Minecraft's early game is relatively boring. Empty busywork like punching trees, village raids and strip mining are vestigial gameplay loops that neither Mojang nor Microsoft had the confidence to fix. I'd agree that they're a bad comparison though. Despite Notch's inspiration from DF, Minecraft has worse bosses, biomes, trading, mining, diplomacy, cooking, innkeeping and NPCs.

It depends what you mean by "early game." The first night cycle happens within minutes of starting and it's very interesting.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#73

Post by OkayPhysicist » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:22 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #39

Our_Benefactors wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Friendlier” and still one of the worst UIs available. It’s nearly impenetrable and the game has no tutorial to speak of, no on-ramps for new players, and is probably the most overrated game I’ve ever had the displeasure of playing. I’m convinced from articles about dwarf fortress that it’s a game that few actually play and enjoy, but like talking about as if it’s fun. The promise of dwarf fortress is far more intere…

You're not wrong! I used to play it, and for me, I think it scratched the same creative itch that Minecraft does in other folks. Building grand designs, etc. But in Minecraft, I'd have to place it block by block, and the physics... well, they're just absent. DF is like Minecraft, but with Lemmings, and a full physics system. I still remember some of those designs, and I can see them clearly in my mind - not as the ga…

FYI, the newer versions with their mouse-driven interface solve a lot of those issues. Dwarf Therapist (the RAM reading tool you were thinking of) isn't needed any more, because there are much better in-game tools for managing what kinds of work certain dwarves do. The new menu layouts are a lot more discoverable, allowing you to find most things with just a little bit of clicking around (and the descriptions of stuff are a lot better now, so no more googling "what the heck is a quern?"). I miss the old keyboard controls sometimes, but they're gradually adding them back in the form of shortcuts. DFHack is still around, and basically necessary for automating some of the more fiddly resource chains (stuff like, "request 50 trees get cut down out of this patch of forest if our number of logs gets below 200").

I hadn't played in like 10 years when I picked up the Steam release, and I found it pretty easy to get back into.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#74

Post by S-E-P » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:23 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #58

hamdingers wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's missing the point. There were official native MacOS builds and now there aren't. Can't be too mad about it though, it was free back then too.

macOS has changed a lot more than Windows or Linux did in the last decade. It's hardly Tarn's fault, here.

macOS is also just a proper PITA through and through. I'm annoyed that I can't play it on my m4 but I also understand that supporting macOS has always been a nuisance.

If I were making games I wouldn't support it either. Apple does just about everything to not support backwards compat.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#75

Post by DarmokTanagra » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:25 PM UTC

philipov wrote: post #67

DarmokTanagra wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, there are several games exploring this idea on steam.

Could you name a few of the best ones?

Noita is the first that comes to mind.

Some others that I have in my library are magicraft, fictorum, and spell chain.

I'm messing around with these ideas myself, reminds me of the old days of crafting broken spells in morrowind.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#76

Post by S-E-P » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:26 PM UTC

7bit wrote: post #59

joemi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minecraft was very fun and was selling like hotcakes when it had "no tutorial to speak of, no on-ramps for new players". Even nowadays there's no tutorial as far as I know and much of how to play is left to discovery. The achievements tree is a bit of a guide, just by telling you some of the things that are possible, but it sure doesn't tell you how to do anything. I think having an official tutorial or an on-ramp fo…

You cannot be serious! That comparison is a joke. There's worlds between the complexity of Minecraft and DF.

How would you suggest someone make a good tutorial for DF that doesn't leave the player exhausted by the time they start a new game?

That's my core complaint w/ strategy games. By the time I'm done with the tutorial i have to do other things only to forget everything I learned the next time I get to sit down with it.

At best "hints" or a glossary/help menu is the best way imo.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#77

Post by DarmokTanagra » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:27 PM UTC

yuchi wrote: post #9

I’ve been tinkering with a game engine where magic is made of first principles for a very long time. Cannot wait to see the gameplay and mechanics here!

i've been doing something similar and decided to stick with godot.

have you found yourself constrained with engine boilerplate or do you feel like you are making good progress on the magic system?

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#78

Post by DarmokTanagra » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:28 PM UTC

duttish wrote: post #43

8note wrote: post #17

What ive generally heard is that this is more of a refactor and base functionality improvement, rather than building out all the actual magic systems to start with. 2-10 updates in the future will have much more fleshed out magic

OPs post made me curious about jumping in, how often do they release updates? If I'm going to wait for this and the next one.

this game will be updated until the creators die, its a passion project and is a genre defining masterpiece if you are into procedurally generated narrative driven world sims.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#79

Post by colechristensen » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:28 PM UTC

fc417fc802 wrote: post #66

Agentlien wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me some time to remap the muscle memory but it felt so worth it. The Steam version is not just a new AI, it introduced a lot of gameplay changes which really improved the underlying systems a lot.

Does the non-steam version not receive the same gameplay updates? I had been under the impression that the only difference was the UI.

The non-steam version also had its controls significantly changed

Re: Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates

#80

Post by OkayPhysicist » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:29 PM UTC

duttish wrote: post #43

8note wrote: post #17

What ive generally heard is that this is more of a refactor and base functionality improvement, rather than building out all the actual magic systems to start with. 2-10 updates in the future will have much more fleshed out magic

OPs post made me curious about jumping in, how often do they release updates? If I'm going to wait for this and the next one.

Historically, they did a big update every year or two. Since the Steam release, they've sped up significantly, with medium sized updates every 2-3 months.