Dwarves will be able to go watch the autumn leaves fall when Dwarf Fortress finally arrives on Steam. In some new art shared by creator Tarn Adams, Dwarf Fortress’ trees are lovely looking: they’ll bear a wide variety of fruits, and leaves change from green in the spring and summer to orange and red in the fall – a completely new feature over the original ASCII version of the colony management game. The burst of colour almost makes it look like Stardew Valley.
Like everything else in Dwarf Fortress, trees are procedurally generated, and Adams says the team is still working out some kinks with the way branches are placed. It’s an important detail, because trees serve a function beyond being sources of food and timber – they’re also useful for when a dwarf has to flee from an angry animal. They can only climb on stouter branches though, so it’s key that they’re all pointing in the right direction.
As veterans of the highly detailed game will no doubt expect, there’s a wide variety of tree types in Dwarf Fortress, with a correspondingly wide range of fruits to harvest from them. In one screenshot shared on Steam, Adams notes the presence of round limes, guava, coffee beans, carambolas, kapok fruit, avocados, bitter oranges, cashew apples, papaya, citrons, lychees, and more.
Each fruit tree will bud, flower, and eventually bear fruit – after which the leaves will turn orange or red and flutter to the ground. Adams says the team is still working on the animation effects for this (and for the time being, they’ve been using “a very crappy placeholder drawn by me”).
The Dwarf Fortress Steam release date is still unknown, but it could be headed for an early access launch sometime this year.