# Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress is an indie sandbox game by Bay12 Games where players manage a colony of dwarves in a procedurally generated fantasy world. First released in 2006, it became famous for its punishing complexity, emergent stories, and the community motto 'Losing is Fun'.
## Overview
Dwarf Fortress is a free indie sandbox game built by brothers Tarn 'ToadyOne' and Zach 'ThreeToe' Adams under the label Bay12 Games[1]. The player takes charge of a group of dwarves and tries to carve out a wealthy mountainhome inside a procedurally generated high-fantasy world drawing from Tolkien and older mythology[2].
The game has two main modes. In Fortress Mode, dwarves mine, farm, brew, socialize, and slowly go insane while the player designs their home; in Adventure Mode, the player controls a single roguelike character wandering the same generated world[3]. Its reputation rests on absurd depth, an ASCII art style, and the community motto 'Losing is Fun', which reflects the fact that every fortress is expected to end in catastrophe[4].
## How It Spread
The community coalesced on the Bay12 forums, founded in 2008, which grew to around 50,000 members by 2013[5]. Dwarf Fortress broke out beyond its own boards in late 2006 when a group of Something Awful users started Boatmurdered, a 'Succession' game in which players took turns running the same doomed fortress and wrote in-character updates about elephants, magma, and mass insanity; the LP was later archived on the Let's Play Archive and became the entry point that pulled many new players in[6].
On July 7, 2014, Tarn shipped update 0.40.01, adding roving invasions, computer-run rival sites, updated dwarven psychology, and the option to peacefully retire a fortress[5]. Redditor JackBread posted the update to r/Games the following day, where it climbed past 1,500 points and 320 comments within 48 hours[7].
On March 13, 2019, publisher Kitfox Games released a trailer announcing a paid Steam version with new tileset graphics and Steam Workshop mod support[8]. A post on the Dwarf Fortress Patreon that same day explained that the Steam release was partly meant to help cover Zach Adams' unexpected healthcare costs, and the news reached the front pages of r/Games and r/dwarffortress[9].
## How to Use
The Dwarf Fortress fandom typically expresses itself through storytelling rather than image macros. Common conventions include writing narrative 'Losing is Fun' post-mortems when a fort collapses, running Succession or Bloodline games where each player controls the same save for one in-game year and then hands it off, and building intentionally ridiculous megaprojects like giant statues, dwarven computers, or elaborate cat-management systems that get shared on the Bay12 forums and r/dwarffortress[6].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Dwarf Fortress?
It is a free indie sandbox game by Bay12 Games in which the player manages a colony of dwarves in a procedurally generated fantasy world, first released in 2006[1].
### Where did Dwarf Fortress come from?
Brothers Tarn and Zach Adams started it in 2002 as a spinoff of their earlier project Slaves to Armok, and put out the first public build in August 2006[2].
### What does Dwarf Fortress mean?
In fan usage it refers both to the Bay12 game and to its subculture of catastrophic Succession games like Boatmurdered and the 'Losing is Fun' motto attached to inevitable fortress collapse[4].
### How do you use Dwarf Fortress?
Players usually pick Fortress Mode to build and defend a dwarven settlement, or Adventure Mode to roam the same generated world as a single roguelike character[3].
### Is Dwarf Fortress still popular?
Yes, a premium Steam version with updated graphics and mod support was announced by Kitfox Games in March 2019 and drew heavy front-page discussion on r/Games and r/dwarffortress[8].
## References
1. [http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/]()
2. [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html]()
3. [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:World_generation]()
4. [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Losing]()
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/dwarf-fortress]()
6. [https://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/]()
7. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2a3rz2/dwarf_fortress_04001_released/]()
8. [https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/]()
9. [https://www.patreon.com/bay12games]()
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