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Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains its Complexity & Origins | Noclip Interview

/noclip · 2M views · 2020-06-09 · 23:20

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Overview

A /noclip interview with Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games about Dwarf Fortress: where the ASCII simulation came from, how it works, and the plans for its Steam release. It includes his telling of the famous bug in which cats were poisoned by alcohol.

On Hacker News

HN points to it whenever Dwarf Fortress comes up, mainly for the alcohol-poisoned cats bug story and a developer's view of the game's depth.

Recommended by 6 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2020–2022

Topics

Game designIndie game developmentTech pioneers & interviews
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dwarf fortresstarn adamssimulationbug stories

What people said

zer01 · 2022-11 · Strong recommendation

This interview with Tarn Adams (one of the creators of dwarf fortress) is amazing and gives a good idea of the depth and pace of development. It’s pretty bonkers TBH, I’d love to understand the abstractions and data models involved with software engineering this ambitious. [VIDEO]

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overcast · 2021-09 · Strong recommendation

The obligatory greatest bug report ever. Dwarf Fortress developer gets in depth about it. So great. The complexity of this game is mind boggling. [VIDEO]

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ingenieros · 2022-11 · Recommendation

I'd also recommend watching this interview NOCLIP recently did with Tarn where he talks specifically about the Steam release... [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by /noclip, played through YouTube.

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