This update comes from one of the two guys responsible for the original game - Tarn Adams - during the recent Guerrilla Collective virtual games festival. In this video, he walks us through where things are at in the overhaul project. They’re still at a relatively early stage in the process, but things are already looking great.
The original Dwarf Fortress, which came out in 2006, built up quite the reputation as being a particularly (actually quite mind-blowingly) impressive piece of gaming, primarily due to its sheer, granular detail. Seeing as the game is purely text-based, the descriptions provided of the world and its inhabitants were jacked up to a ridiculous level. Since then, its super unique-looking UI has become instantly recognizable to most seasoned gamers.
The game is a part-roguelike settlement management game, taking placing in a procedurally-generated world. You start with a wagon, some dwarves, and - you guessed it, - a fortress, plus some other basic useful tools and resources to help you develop your settlement. Sounds simple enough, but it’s deceptively so. The game can get so outrageously complex that a full-length guide may be your only way through.
Recognizing that the intimidating look of the game alone is probably preventing many people from giving Dwarf Fortress a go themselves, the devs are hoping that by streamlining its visuals and overall usability, more people will be convinced to do so.
Included in this new graphics overhaul is some three-dimensionality, as you’ll see in the video. So far all the dwarves are represented by one placeholder dwarf, but this is just temporary; soon enough there’ll be a whole bunch of little uniquely-designed dwarves to play around with (in the original version, each dwarf was simply described via blocks of text).
While you bide your time waiting for the Steam version’s release, and if you’re feeling adventurous, you could always download the original game (for free!) and join the cult following yourself.
Source: YouTube
