Dwarf Fortress has now finally arrived on Steam, with all the shiny new bits including the new graphical tiles and audio included in Early Access. The good news is that even though it doesn't have Native Linux support yet, it does work on Linux desktop and Steam Deck with Proton.
It doesn't have controller support though, so on Steam Deck you'll need to mess about with Steam Input for a while to set it up how you want. I have no doubt it won't be long before someone makes a good one. To be honest with you, like a lot of people I was never able to get into it originally, it was a bit too retro for my tastes but this new more modern version definitely seems like something I can get into. The short guided tutorial is certainly a nice touch.
Steam Deck screenshots:
Seems like you might get pretty good battery life out of it on Steam Deck too.
There's no Cloud Save support yet though, which for a game as big as this feels like a huge oversight. Even if you only play on one device, it's always good to have that backup there.
Both Steam Deck and Desktop Linux were tested with Proton 7.0-4.
Launch Trailer:
Direct Link
Game Features:
- Not just generated geometry -- a whole simulated world. Generated rise and fall of civilizations, personalities, creatures, cultures, etc. Infinite hours of gameplay.
- Now with beautiful pixel graphics!
- Learn the basics with in-game tutorials.
- A lifetime “living” project - created/updated since 2003, with no end in sight.
- Generate your unique world and manage a bustling colony of dwarves, even as they probably mine towards their eventual demise.
- A new endless hobby, just for you!
You can buy it on Steam.
Quoting: WorMzyI got gifted a copy by an ex-coworker who knows how much I love Dwarf Fortress. I'm playing the tutorial for shits and giggles and while I know it's really dumbed down for newbies, it seems a little too dumbed down. Maybe the help guides fill in the gaps, but there's no explanation of how to "prepare carefully", how to manage dwarf labours, how to check your stockpiles, how the health/military systems work, how to raise, butcher and process animals and use their by-products, how and why to avoid carp*, how to create and manage burrows, the importance of booze, etc.Yeah, finished the tutorial, and was like, "Now what?"
Looks like I have some reading to.
Quoting: redneckdrowAlso, I'm concerned that the CPU overhead in WINE/Proton would lead to early FPS death (single-digit framerates, for the uninitiated). 'Course, you usually have to play without FUN for quite a while to hit that point, so I might try Proton.I wouldn't worry too much. Since WINE is not an emulator, but rather an open-source reimplementation of the Win32 API (and some other Windows APIs like DirectX), all CPU overhead it has compared to Windows' own implementation of those APIs happens when programs call functions of those APIs. The CPU-heavy parts of Dwarf Fortress are in its own game code, not talking to the OS, so they should not be affected by WINE. Graphics, Sound and Input will still use a different amount of CPU time compared to Windows, but for Dwarf Fortress those only make up a tiny part of the game's computations.
However, I will wait for the native version before buying it.
Another funny and awesome thing is that, the game works like a charm on pure wine-staging without any tricks (I've got the game from itch.io, where you get DRM free, portable version of DF).
Just double click Dwarf Fortress.exe and play. Simple as that :D
And damn... this game is just too good. You really should give a link to itch.io in the article too, I think ;)
Last edited by Avikarr on 7 December 2022 at 4:40 pm UTC
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