Now that the quantum uncertainty field surrounding the Dwarf Fortress Steam release date has collapsed a bit, we know that we’re actually getting closer to having our hands on the new graphics-enhanced version of the cult hit management game. When Dwarf Fortress does arrive on Steam, you’ll be able to pick colours for the furniture your dwarfs create, allowing you to coordinate your banquet halls and bedrooms.
Creator Tarn Adams says several Dwarf Fortress community members had worked on different colours for wood about five years ago, and that now that the game won’t be displayed entirely in ASCII text anymore, we’ll be able to see all those different materials and colours represented visually.
As you can see in the image above, stone and wooden doorways and hatches, as well as beds and coffins, can all be coloured in various hues, which depend on the material used to make them. Adams says you’ll be able to specify the material you want when you’re building or placing furniture in order to colour-coordinate the space you’re decorating. Lovely!
Adams off-handedly (and rather hilariously) mentions what he’s been working on at the end of the post, and it’s a perfect illustration of the juxtaposition of breezy aesthetic concerns about placing furniture and decorations and the obsessively detailed complexity running under the hood in Dwarf Fortress.
He says he’s been updating some of the game’s menu systems, including the menus for diplomacy, petitions, and justice. There’s a fully functional legal system at work in Dwarf Fortress, and dwarfs convicted of crimes face highly specific punishments. Citizens can be arrested for anything from bar-room brawls to vampiric blood sucking, and sentences can range from a few days in jail to being ‘reforged’ by the local hammerer.
Dwarf Fortress could hit Steam later this year, depending on the feedback the developers receive from the community about how complete they want the game when it initially launches.