Work on the hotly-anticipated enhanced version of Dwarf Fortress continues. Now we have our first look at its updated map.
Here's the classic map, displayed using ASCII symbols.
"This particular world is a medium sized 129x129 one (currently you can make a large world at 257x257, down to a pocket world at 17x17)," developer Tarn Adams said in a post on Dwarf Fortress' Steam page.
As part of its eventual launch on Steam, daunting simulation Dwarf Fortress has been planning a big visual overhaul. “Now with graphics!” Bay 12 proclaim on the store page. In a new little update, they’re giving us a look at what the generated world maps will look like with these non-ASCII pixels—though, yes, you’ll still be able to use the symbols if you prefer. The work-in-progress map is still pretty cluttered as Dwarf Fortress maps tend to be, but dang is it easier to look at.
We’ve no idea when the paid version of giant world sim Dwarf Fortress will finally be available, but in the meantime Bay 12 are showing off what the officially overhauled textures will look like. I imagine you’ve seen its original ASCII maps before. They’re black screens with bright green, yellow, and cyan all over that hurt to look at. The new textures are much easier on the eyes, though I’m sure purists will staunchly stick to the original view.
Unless you’re in one of those international versions of Big Brother that are still going on, you’ve probably noticed that we’re in the midst of a pandemic of something called the Covid-19 virus. I can tell it’s serious because my dad’s American girlfriend isn’t allowed to visit him, which means he’s bored and phoning me in the middle of the day. Haha, I joke. But he is 70, and has a weak heart, plus he’s immunocompromised on account of catching Lyme disease from a tick once (which is exactly the sort of ridiculous thing that only happens to country dads).
If you’re anything like us, you’re now at home, staring at the walls of your living room because of this social distancing thing. But it’s not just you. In fact, all of RPS is now working from home for the foreseeable future, too. So in the spirit of camaraderie, I’ve pooled some suggestions for video games to play while we’re self-quarantining. We’ve got some multiplayer ones, some board-gamey ones, and, of course, a healthy dollop of free ones.