How Tarn Adams upgraded and optimized Dwarf Fortress for its official Steam release
Tarn Adams, co-creator and until recently sole programmer of Dwarf Fortress, might be the most interesting person in game development right now. Recently, citing a need to support themselves, he and his brother released a paid version of Dwarf Fortress on Steam (alongside the free version which is still available), but with graphics and an easier-to-use interface. In light of the release's massive success, we reached out to Adams, who took some moments from his work to answer our questions about Dwarf Fortress's past and present, discussing everything from optimization, the balance between designing for expert and novice players, and how to stay interested in a single project after so many years in development.
Dwarf Fortress is older than it feels. The game first went public on August 8, 2006, over 16 years ago. That it's still being worked on after all this time is an accomplishment in itself. Before the Steam release, while it wasn't as talked about as it was in the days of Something Awful's Let's Plays, it was still the subject of multiple YouTube channels. The hype of its Steam release plus the added accessibility of its graphics and interface are introducing a new generation to the joys of leading hapless dwarves through their horrifying world. How do you keep yourself interested in the project after all this time?
It's easy to stay interested since there's so much to work on, and that's only more true now that there are so many other people involved. There are more possibilities than ever.
As for the journey to this point, well, it's twenty years to try to wrap my head around, which is a tall order! It's been mostly unexpected, and we just try to take things in stride now as they continue to happen, and try to
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