THE RELEASE OF DWARF FORTRESS ON STEAM HAS BEEN PRETTY SUCCESSFUL SO FAR. DO YOU NOW WISH YOU’D DONE IT SOONER? TA: I’m not sure it would have been as possible if we had tried it earlier. The support we’ve built over the years allowed us to take what was in some ways a 2.5 year break from our typical development pattern to do this. I think this turned out to be the ideal time. We have a lot of depth from our original work, but also a lot of time left to turn around the success and make the project into something it couldn’t have otherwise been, for instance by bringing on a second programmer, which we’ve now done.
ARE YOU PLEASED WITH THE RESPONSE? CJ: As a long-time Dwarf Fortress player it’s been great to see so many new people trying the game for the first time. The support from existing fans has also been really heartwarming.
GIVEN THAT DWARF FORTRESS IS A LIFELONG PROJECT, HOW MUCH EXTRA WORK HAVE YOU NOW GIVEN YOURSELVES AS YOUR FRAIL DOTAGE EDGES THE FAR HORIZON? TA: Ha ha, it’s a mix of extra work and extra people working causing there to be more work completed overall …and also less of certain kinds of work I used to do… I think it’s good. I think things will be fine.
“Developing a visual language for such a complex game has been a challenge, and there’s definitely still room for improvement, but I’m happy
with how it turned out overall” Carolyn Jong, artist on Dwarf Fortress
February 2023 MCV/DEVELOP | 51
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