Everyone is starting to down tools ahead of the holidays, and the Dwarf Fortress devs at Bay 12 and Kitfox Games are no different. However, before they head off and do the things that people do at this time of year, they sent us one last update, this time about menus.
In a game as complicated and nuanced as Dwarf Fortress, the way that information is conveyed to the player is extremely important. I think that’s why I found this particular update so interesting and wanted to help share it around.
Anyway, I usually try to condense these things but there’s not a lot of fluff to cut away in this latest update. Here are the key points shared by the devs in their last message of the year, along with the menu screenshot referenced in the post:
So far, we’ve managed the environment/ground menu, the climb/hold menu, the jump action, conversation menu and the inventory menu, with combat actions and options up next. The Adventure menus can be fully operated with the mouse or keyboard, or whichever mix works for you, which is why you still see traditional roguelike letters next to each item.
You can also now click in the play area to open up a context menu for the tile, which gives all of the possible options, whether those are environmental options, movement options, conversation options, or the upcoming combat actions. As with Fortress mode, there are lots and lots of things you can do, so this should help you get a handle on the possibilities that you can also find down in the menus.
We’ve also reenabled the “Assume Control” option in the Arena for April. This lets you take control of a creature that you’ve placed in the arena so you can jump into the action yourself in Adventure Mode’s turn-based combat rather than running the fight in real-time Fortress mode style.
Adventure Mode is coming to the Steam version of Dwarf Fortress in April, the developer notes. They’ve got a timeline that is being followed, and the post linked above goes on to give a more granular update on what everyone is up with that goal in mind.
Finally, the post signs off with pictures of cute dogs, and I’m 100% here for that sort of end of year energy. In the same spirit, here’s a picture of Chewie wearing his favourite snood!
