It is unattainable to not be swept up in Tarn Adams’ enthusiasm. To talk to him is to really feel such as you’re speaking to the happiest man in gaming. Alongside together with his brother Zach, he is been engaged on the splendidly chaotic procedurally generated world of Dwarf Fortress since 2002, and he’s removed from bored with it. If something, he is extra enthusiastic than ever.
“There’s simply so many cool issues to work on if you’re writing a kind of expansive, scope-bloated simulation recreation,” he tells GamesIndustry.biz. We will really feel the waves of pleasure coming off him as he tells us in regards to the newest addition to Dwarf Fortress: procedurally generated magic methods.
It is one thing he has wished to do for some time – a “large net of information that pertains to generated cosmological info and a few kind of mythological historical past”, as he describes it. His eyes mild up as he talks in regards to the mind-bendingly complicated and chaotic interactions which can be doable with the brand new Fantasy and Magic replace. It is clear he has a deep, deep love for all this, undimmed by the years.
“That is how artwork needs to be, proper?” he says. “I imply, I may very well be morose and stuff. I typically am, perhaps after we’re speaking about AI.”
That is the one factor that takes the sunshine out of his eyes. He displays on the anxiousness felt throughout the business of being laid off, employees anxious that they are going to get replaced with “some form of robotic that may’t even do your job at this level, as a result of persons are simply leaping on the bandwagon very early.”
He notes that this is not distinctive to video games. “I’ve pals working in medical UI stuff, it is also simply sweeping via there. They’re like, ‘Are you utilizing AI sufficient in your job? Can we fireplace these two individuals now and substitute them with a robotic?’ And it is like, no, however then they do it anyway.”
Along with his deep data of procedural technology, Adams has been working with conventional AI for many years, however now generative AI has tarnished its identify. “You possibly can’t even use the letters anymore. I simply discuss dwarf behaviour or one thing like that, I am unable to name it dwarf AI.”
“You possibly can inform if you seize a vibe-coded recreation and your fan begins spinning”
He has by no means been tempted to dabble with generative AI in Dwarf Fortress “for 1,000,000 causes,” he says. “I do not suppose it will actually increase my productiveness at this level.”
He talks of the “bloated” nature of AI-written code. “You possibly can inform if you seize a vibe-coded recreation and your [computer] fan begins spinning. It is not adequate. However even when it had been, I would nonetheless have causes to not do it.
“I feel the one factor that may push me forcibly, towards my will in that path is one thing about platforms. If I might not launch the sport on Home windows as a result of Microsoft did some Copilot-ass factor that pressured you to do some kind of gen crap to get your recreation recognised there, then I would have to significantly give it some thought, as a result of all my gamers are there. They usually can strongarm you, they’ve executed it in the previous with different stuff.”
Limitless prospects
As soon as we go away AI behind and return to Adams’ favorite topic – Dwarf Fortress – his attribute enthusiasm returns. His mind is brimming over with concepts for the place Dwarf Fortress might go. “There’s all the time stuff to work on.”
He’d like so as to add a posh financial simulation, in addition to boats. The two are tied collectively, he explains, since water transport permits cheaper switch of products. As soon as these options are in, even additional avenues are opened up. “It would not shut issues off, it simply provides extra. I am enthusiastic about an ideal many issues, the world’s an incredible place.”
Graphics are a reasonably new addition to Dwarf Fortress – initially the world was represented by letters, numbers, and symbols earlier than the sport acquired a brand new graphical tileset in 2022, when it was printed on Steam by Kitfox Video games. “Earlier than we even went on Steam, graphics was the highest requested characteristic,” says Adams. “Simply any graphics.”
That Steam launch was an infinite success, with the sport promoting practically 500,000 copies in its first month. By April 2025, that determine had climbed previous 1 million. Over time the sport has constructed up a devoted neighborhood, who’ve executed extraordinary issues with mods and utilities.
“This stuff all spring up with none enter or encouragement from me”
“Folks put computer systems in the video games,” says Adams. “That they had a working model of Area Invaders.” They’ve even provide you with a pc that is powered by vampires, he says, which reside ceaselessly contained in the machine, however “simply get progressively angrier about not having drank something.” Gamers have industrialized the manufacturing of vampires by placing vampire blood in nicely water after which sealing up that part of a fortress whereas hapless people take a drink. “And then you definitely’ve acquired your vampire working system or army,” he says. “This stuff all spring up with none enter or encouragement from me, I simply watch it occur.”
He notes that the brand new procedural tree for the magic replace is out there for modders to tinker round with as they please. “The complete generator for the tree is written in Lua, and that may all be modified. So you are able to do small modifications to the tree or write your personal tree… Folks which can be comfy with Lua can do superb bizarre stuff.”
Not that flush
A number of indie builders which have seen outsize success have later moved into publishing. As Thatgamecompany head Jenova Chen informed GamesIndustry.biz not too long ago, investing in different indies is the pure selection for indie studios which have a sudden “overflow of money”.
Adams says that though Dwarf Fortress has made loads of cash, it is “not sufficient to really feel that flush. It was sufficient to make us not fear about well being care now, and it is sufficient to proceed paying artists and audio individuals, however no more.”
Adams says there’s sufficient in the financial institution to maintain Bay 12 Video games going for years, and that the sport is “nonetheless paying for itself.” These days, it is a a lot greater operation, with round 15 individuals engaged on Dwarf Fortress. “We have now a core group of 5 further individuals other than me and my brother, however then there’s all of Kitfox that does all of the advertising and marketing and publishing stuff,” says Adams. “After which outdoors of that, you’ve got acquired individuals making trailers or one thing like that. So the cash goes fairly shortly.”
The recreation’s enterprise mannequin additionally would not monetise present gamers. Updates to Dwarf Fortress are free, there is no paid DLC, and all the things is included in a one-off buy. “We’re priced at US$30 and which means much less and fewer now,” says Adams. “That is like three, 4 cups of espresso, and it was so much. And yeah, when you’ve a recreation that lasts as lengthy, I imply, in some unspecified time in the future you often do worth will increase somewhat than decreases, proper? I assume that is theoretically what a DLC form of is. It is one thing we’re simply going to should navigate now to maintain the ship afloat. We’ll determine how that is going to work.”
All of this requires a special mindset from the Patreon mannequin that Bay 12 Video games labored underneath for years earlier than launching on Steam. “You continue to help previous gamers, however you want new gamers now, as a result of that is how the artists are getting paid, that is how the programmer’s getting paid, is simply recent gamers,” says Adams. “So long as free updates like this deliver individuals into the sport, then we’re good.”
“Should you’re on sale for per week, that is two and a half months of enterprise”
After all, truly attracting new gamers and standing out among the many hundreds of different video games on Steam is not that simple. “That is the place you are simply preventing in your pop-up,” says Adams, referring to Steam’s highlighting and discounting of particular video games. “We’re good on the threshold the place we often get a bit of pop-up. And it makes a distinction, as a result of when we’ve a sale, we promote ten instances as many copies as the traditional background. So even when you’re on sale for per week, that is two and a half months of enterprise.”
All of that is new for Adams and his brother, who spent years as a two-person group surviving solely on donations. Now, Dwarf Fortress has extra mouths to feed. “It is like being on a pirate ship or one thing,” he laughs. “Folks get their shares, and you retain the crew collectively.”