Episode 16 — Dwarf Fortress

Tarn Adams joins me on the newest episode of KakeBytes to regale us with the tale of Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress and how it came to be.

Dwarf Fortress has been free to play and available to download since 2006, but Tarn and his brother Zach have been creating games for decades longer than we’ve been able to enjoy them.

During production for today’s episode we ran into some technical difficulties and because of this our first recording was mostly lost, but of the two and a half hours we chatted we were able to save the first thirty minutes. I’ll be releasing the audio available from the first recording where Tarn discusses some other aspects of his childhood programming with Zach on my Patreon by the end of the week.

As a game that forgoes traditional graphics for ASCII (but you can download mods if you aren’t ready to fully commit), Dwarf Fortress provides players a chance to fully immerse themselves in their colony and the plights that ail them along with the tools to help them thrive, building a documented history in each procedurally generated fantasy world.

Tarn has been featured in the New York Times as well as many gaming-centric publications, and has participated in documentaries and video spotlights that highlight the work that he does as a full-time game developer.

He also travels to conventions and expos, taking part in panels where he discusses his experiences in the industry as well as presenting development updates for Dwarf Fortress.

One of my favorite aspects of the DF community is the way that Tarn and Zach give back to those that support them: crayon drawings.

On my Twitter, fans of Dwarf Fortress are sharing their crayon drawings and if you want to be featured, feel free to reply with yours! You can also read stories written by Zach on the Dwarf Fortress wiki.

You can read more about Bay 12 Games at http://bay12games.com and follow them on social media at Twitter and Facebook.

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