Dwarf Fortress coming to Steam and itch.io, free version always updated and available

well, i wishlisted it, now it just needs to drop on steam ;) edit: also, do you think there is a possible future for (ridiculous) steam achievments? i am a total sucker for that stuff ;)

TargetDrone

I have also been playing Dwarf Fortress for a very long time. Sorry to hear about this. Hopefully the game will come to steam soon!

andrew

When game will come to steam? Already half-year ended from announcement. Хочу иметь эту игру у себя в библиотеке стим, раз нет никакого коллекционного издания)

Дмитрий Горелов

I've been playing Dwarf Fortress for over 10 years now. And while it was surprising to see this announcement, I wish nothing but the best for both of you. I'm hopeful for the future of the game and I can't wait to see what comes of this.

badgertide

Took me three days to learn how to really play this game. I just bought Borderlands 3 and I barely play it because DF is just so satisfying. Little things like what type of local stone spawns underground has such an impact on the culture and development of your fort. Keep up the great work guys!

Matthew Peterson

I appreciate that you let us know the circumstances around that decision. I'll buy the game and, as long as the free version exists, I'll keep supporting you.

christian wallon

It already is *the* best. DF can only improve. <3

Zael

I've not put a tonne of time into DF because it's just such a time investment but honestly with how much work you've put into this I'm gonna buy it day one anyway. I might get some more play time but even if I don't it will be well worth the money.

David Freitag

...Also Factorio is $30, as I was just reminded and imediately thought of this. And I'd hate to see a game that owes so much to Dwarf Fortress get special consideration (if it is still special consideration in this age of "Do whatever you want, we'll be over here adding skins to Dota and ignoring Epic") while DF itself does not.

A Fox

realy? im too))

Zak VR SUITE CREATOR

nice nice...

Zak VR SUITE CREATOR

0%)))

Zak VR SUITE CREATOR

Very good idea. You are a talent and you can not argue with that. I appreciate and respect your work. And your description is very clear. In my opinion, this game will be one of the best.

VitAnyaNaked

Nice

Zak VR SUITE CREATOR

Oh yeah, and Hack 'n' Slash is $13.37 - though I'm not surprised to see a major studio like Double Fine given an exception to a policy, so I doubt that's helpful (also... ugh). Essence is another $20 game, and Mysterious Space is $10, though. I hope those are more relevant. Cheers!

A Fox

I actually find it hard to believe that that is the reality of the situation, as I can't imagine Steam cares about pricing, especially given Steam Direct now. They barely care about hate speech. And there are exceptions (Amid Evil; Dusk), but I've no idea what the process is. Maybe that was only possible before Steam Direct and they've since changed their policy.

A Fox

Yep; Amid Evil and Dusk are both $20 USD. I know I've seen at least one more, but haven't any idea what the name was. Glad to hear you've at least considered it, and it is of course a minor thing. But hey, you'd get an extra penny from me for it, at least! :P

A Fox

Kitfox and I both asked about them some time ago, but as I recollect, it was a Steam policy. I could be mistaken, since I didn't speak to the rep directly. We have considered this, though. Are there games without a x.x9 price on Steam? I've never seen one, but maybe they are there.

Bay 12 Games

AFAIU most should work, mods affecting graphic will probably have issues.

Timur Kelman

Would old mods from Bay12 forums work?

Jerry O.

Or 19.99 instead of 20.00 and so on. It's a physcological trick as you mentioned. But not illegal.

TheMostUselessPatreonEver

The dev does not have full control over the pricing. If valve tells them to set it as 6,99 USD instead of 7,00 usd. Then Bay 12 has no way to tell them no. And that is the reality of the situation.

TheMostUselessPatreonEver

Hear, hear. I'd be thrilled to make Dwarf Fortress the only game I've ever preordered.

A Fox

You've got a definite sale here. You've been the most amazing devs for years, not asking money for one of the greatest games ever made. I'll be happy to buy it. I would say, something I love to see is games that forego the X.99 pricing scheme. It's a minor and accepted psychological manipulation, but a psychological manipulation it is. I'd give even further kudos to you for going a nice, even flat rate.

A Fox

ill buy it, should put pre orders up, big companies that dont deserve our trust do it, trustworthy devs should be allowd to.

Varisis

Abel, yes. $19.99 US

Evan Lemons

hey do we know how much its going to cost on steam?

Abel Lyons

How playable could that even be?

Michael Scoville

Any chance to port to Nintendo Switch? Or I'm asking too much?

Rafael Costa Martinazzi

+1 GOG Version!!! you deserve to be there, the new version and the ASCII

Rafael Costa Martinazzi

Cool 😀😄

BLACK ZERO

Will there be a GOG version available as well? I’d love to have it on GOG.

Lars-Christian Selland

I hope we get to hear a sample of the new music and audio soon ill be seeking this out daily xD I hope Zach gets all the help he needs from all of us Dwarfs support ^.^

michael T beene

Just know that everyone I know on Steam that plays games similar to what I do, is absolutely thrilled at what you're doing. You have brought a smile to many folk's faces, and if you ever lose motivation for a moment, you need only look to the smashing success of other games in the genre such as Rimworld, Prison Architect or Factorio to name a few for motivation. That's aside of the health issues. I have a ton of my own also, so I 100% understand. I will surely throw in for the Patreon here starting next month - you've earned it.

Bob Blunderton

Cool, the existing Patreon rewards mean nothing to me but this should be useful.

Alex Rahr

Big fan, hope things pick up and can't wait to clock in more hours than any other steam game. Thanks for working on one of my favourate games, appreciate you!

Quote

Ah, "Steam Workshop integration". /r/modpiracy then?

Amuziĝi

I've been enjoying DF for years thanks to a friend teaching me how to play a long time ago, and just... never got around to tossing some money your way as thanks. Oops. I'll still send something your way, and I'll be sure to pick up the steam release since I enjoy tinkering with graphics too much. Thank you for many years of entertainment, and I wish you the best of luck moving forward!

TinyPixowl

You have inspired so many re-imaginings and imitations with your wonderful game. It's about time that I support a game I love so much. You can be sure I'll also be buying the Steam release. Best wishes!

Renegade Space Monkey

Been a fan of Dwarf Fortress for a long time, I'm only just now being made aware that a Patreon was available to donate too, I'll be sure to buy it when it comes out on steam too! maybe even buy a few copies as gifts for people on my friends list. I know a lot of people don't put much credit into the concept, but I'll keep Zach in my prayers, if that's okay with you. <3

Nash

Here's a couple of bucks per month if it helps development. Definitely will buy this game as soon as it will be released on steam.

Nemersis

Wow, great Idea but though - I hope it WILL be possible to hear the classic music while playing the Steam version... because it's the best guitar theme ever composed ;-)

Aethelstan

I really understand your situation ( I'm a brain cancer patient myself, but survived so far 2 operations and probably also my 4th chemio once my White's are up again to normal values ) and I believe that you do the right thing. Since you are going to release the game now (well this year I guess) I'd advise to also improve performance as much as you can, I know it is probably hard to implement proper multi-core use and other ways, but id say it will be very important for everyone once you launch it that the "normal" game settings are playable for the average user. Oh, and I will of course buy the game as well and tell friends about it!

Rune Kjølaas

Ha, that's awesome! I secretly root for the beasties too XD

Kruggsmash

Interesting, thank you for the follow-up!

Luzahn

No need to apologize; I understand how things can get rough when health issues are in the way. Stay strong and give that the priority. Take care!

Megawacky Max

Thank you for the reply! If you do want a hand at testing a Linux version, contact us any time: contact@gamingonlinux.com :) All the best!

GamingOnLinux

Its really not hard to enjoy one of the best pieces of gaming entertainment ever created :) Thank you so much!

erni

Sweet! Yeah, I'm just thinking like an option in the main menu to choose which you want before actually loading a world, nothing too fancy. Even just a command line flag to run at start-up or a file to manually modify (I'm certainly used to that!) would be fine. :)

Daniel Berke

It's all thanks to ya'll that said fun is possible, as Kruggsmash would say; shine on you glorious bearded bastards :)

JWT

Thanks! Right back at all of you.

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, an ASCII version is going to be available there if you have DF in your library. There are potentially issues with on-the-fly swapping between graphics and ASCII while you are playing, so I haven't promised that, but I think it would be fun if it's not too hard to implement.

Bay 12 Games

Indeed, the community has shown up! It has been a fantastic response. I have to do my part now and grind away at it with artists for a good long while, but that's doable. I'm confident things will go well. And yeah, the health situation here is kind of ridiculous, and on the flip side certainly I wish for people living anywhere in any country to have those advantages I have enjoyed. Lots to do! I feel quite over-absorbed with my dwarves at times, but I'm ultimately a bit selfish about that.

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, though we held off for a long time, we think it's a good decision now and we're determined to make it a worthy version. I hope you enjoy it!

Bay 12 Games

Ha ha, you don't have to be good to have fun. I'm always in awe of what the players are able to accomplish.

Bay 12 Games

He he, I can shut up! Um... I guess I screwed that up.

Bay 12 Games

I'm glad you've been enjoying the game for so long. May the blessings encompass you as well!

Bay 12 Games

Thank you! All the best to you too!

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, Kitfox is awesome. I'm very happy with how the partnership is working out, and the art is shaping up really well. Thanks for your support!

Bay 12 Games

Thanks for helping out! Yeah, now that we've jumped into it, we're intent on making something awesome. I'm hopeful now; so many people are enthusiastic about it.

Bay 12 Games

Thanks! I think things will turn out okay, though, yeah, a lot of people are suffering due to our screwed up healthcare system. Everybody has been really supportive though, so we're confident DF can continue into the future.

Bay 12 Games

Ha ha, yeah, it's often a very short ride on the adventure train. I'm glad you're enjoying the game!

Bay 12 Games

It's very early yet, but we've discussed a few things. We'll announce anything when plans solidify - the villain release needs to be handled and stabilized first at the very least, then the graphics work can begin.

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, we've been putting it off for years, assuming the risk as different stuff came up, and now as I've hit 40 and Zach has been enjoying his 40s for a few years, it just became too much to bear. Thanks for your support! We're going to be able to make this work!

Bay 12 Games

I think it'll definitely help a lot of people that have bounced off the ASCII get into the game. General accessibility work should also help. The new debate is whether the graphics or other UI changes are more important, but hopefully we'll have enough of both to reach a lot of new people. The trailer is in-engine, already programmed, but the still images are concepts. However, I've worked with blended transparency in-engine (see the feet shadows in trailer), and so I'm sure we can get those menus or ones like them working. The interface font/graphics separation is also something we're going to do - they won't need to be the same resolution, and you won't need to play with the curses stuff to do e.g. furniture pictures.

Bay 12 Games

He he he. It should be pretty cool!

Bay 12 Games

Thanks! If you decide to try it out, I hope you like it! But yeah, even the people that just follow the stories and development are part of the community and we're glad to have you.

Bay 12 Games

Thank you for supporting us!

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, it's a bit early, but accessibility general is going to be addressed. A full overhaul might be out of scope (there are a lot of really gnarly menus deep down), but the top level fort mode stuff and common behaviors, and horrible embark screen, etc etc etc are all under up for a look. Your particular example of the labor selection has some attached issues, as the entire labor system was waiting for a workshop/zone/stockpile rewrite which was going to perhaps eliminate that system entirely in favor of more autonomy, and e.g. guilds. This thinking of course has led to inertia in fixing the more immediate problem. We're going to ponder a solution that works in the nearer term, but we're also not a big fan of the spreadsheet approach, especially when the pop gets high.

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, definitely not exclusive! Committed to a free version, and love to support itch. Casual players welcome! I mean, they'll fall to ruin and drown and stuff, but everybody does that.

Bay 12 Games

Ha, sorry for that! The Steam version will be a bit more accessible, but certainly no game is for everybody. That said, we've always considered the people that read the stories and check out the art players are making to be part of the community and there will certainly be more antics for everybody, players and otherwise, to enjoy.

Bay 12 Games

Awesome, thanks so much! I'm sorry things have been bumpy.

Bay 12 Games

Just spoke with somebody over on the utilities forum and the prognosis for DFHack seems good, which has a really strong downstream effect for everything else. I'm not 100% sure how Steam plays with the utilities, but since it's sitting there in the same sort of folder, we are all hopeful right now, and we'll be supporting utility makers as we have in the past with helpful tweaks when we can (exposing mem addresses, etc.)

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, it's unfortunate the way things are right now, and we've been hanging on and sustaining the risk as long as we could, but, well, you just keep getting older! Thanks for supporting the game!

Bay 12 Games

Thanks! They've been doing an awesome job. It's been really fun working with them, and Mayday and Meph deserve all the credit here.

Bay 12 Games

I'm glad you've been enjoying the game! Yeah, DF play often seems to go in cycles, and we've always tried to be waiting for people returning to the game with some new stuff for them to play with. Once the Steam release goes up, I imagine a player that has been away for a while will be quite surprised, ha ha ha.

Bay 12 Games

Ah, yes, I believe the artists caught wind of this and are addressing it, though I've been so frazzled the last few days I'm not 100% sure, ha ha ha. Thanks for helping out!

Bay 12 Games

So I could modify the steam version if I wanted? How will automatic update work, though? It'd be prone to undoing any sort of changes I've done.

se05239

It should be more like the SDL, at least as far as I understand the Steam pipeline, which I've been able to play around with a bit. The hope is that everything will update at the same time. There is a possibility that the main Steam version will be more like a stable branch, with some of the initial hiccups being handled on Classic first, since the DF bugs can be pretty tricky, but that remains to be Steam. We can always keep an experimental graphical branch up to date on Steam as well. I think games like Factorio do this, anyway.

Bay 12 Games

Thanks! Yeah, hopefully you'll be able to get into the new one a little more easily!

Bay 12 Games

Everybody has been awesome! The fans have pulled through before, over all the years we've been working, so we were hopeful this announcement wouldn't be a catastrophe, but like you say, sometimes people can get really upset, so there were nerves and sleepless nights for sure. I would say I'll sleep well, but I'm going down to SF in two days so... sleep on the 25th I guess, ha ha. I'm gonna be so wiped out, but I'm also really happy right now, so it has been an interesting trip!

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, we hope so too! It can be so nervewracking, and everybody has to deal with it to some degree as time passes.

Bay 12 Games

Thanks Untrustedlife! See you on the forums!

Bay 12 Games

Ha ha, I wouldn't go so far as to say we've done a better job recently! But the Steam version (as well as the free version) will have improvements there.

Bay 12 Games

Thanks for your support! Yeah, work with the UI and accessibility generally is on the table and we'll definitely get to some useful stuff there. A full overhaul of the deepest menus might be difficult for the initial release, but we're going to spend some time on it.

Bay 12 Games

Ha, yeah, I hope so too! On all those scores. Thanks for helping out!

Bay 12 Games

If you've seen the legacy/SDL stuff from the free version, this is pretty much the same. I work from the legacy code base, and the changes flow out from there. The Steam rendering code sits on top of the same mechanical engine/model. So we're aiming for absolutely no mechanical divergence, and that's really the easier way to do it. Naturally, stuff can come up, but this is the goal, and it seems possible from here. I hope the Steam release helps your wife as well! I've been remiss with the ASCII version so far, accessibility-wise, and if you have specific suggestions, popping over on the suggestions forum might help me, if something can be done.

Bay 12 Games

We still have to work through the Workshop integration, but at the core, all of the creatures will still be txt files, and the folder is still sitting there in exactly the same way. It seems like we'll be in pretty good shape, and getting mods to work is one of our priorities. In addition to an artist, Meph is also going to be working on Workshop stuff. Over on the free side, mods will be the same as ever, with more graphics capabilities.

Bay 12 Games

Hey Christian! Hope things are going well. We're feeling so much better now. Though I need to sleep! (and GDC is in two days, and sleep is not normally easy to come by...)

Bay 12 Games

Awesome, thanks for helping out!

Bay 12 Games

Wouldn't mind! Not a policy expert, but everybody encounters these problems in their lives and the current system is... yeah.

Bay 12 Games

Ha ha ha, I shall send a little extra luck your way. Thanks for helping out!

Bay 12 Games

The free version has a Linux release, and the Steam version is planned to use very similar code, so this is on the table -- my current issue is that I'm using a virtual machine that is a bit slapdash and I need to invest in a better option in order to be able to test/work with the graphics properly. This is the only reason we haven't promised a Day One Linux version (OSX for similar reasons.) I'm confident we can figure something out, even if it takes a bit of extra time. Whether or not it works with all Linux flavors etc. has also been an ongoing issue, naturally, but at least what we've got now in the free one should be portable.

Bay 12 Games

He he he...

Bay 12 Games

Ha, yes. if I can't find another solution, at least I will try to provide advance warning... hopefully it won't be too rocky a road!

Bay 12 Games

Thanks! The new one might even be slightly less confusing!

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, now that we're doing this, I'm committed to do better with the challenges new places can bump into. Hopefully it'll all work out!

Bay 12 Games

Yes, we're embarking on a new path now! I'll try to keep it as non-stressful as possible.

Bay 12 Games

Thank you for helping out for so long! I hope the not fun was also enjoyable. The dwarves deserve a break every once in a while.

Bay 12 Games

Ha ha, thanks for your help!

Bay 12 Games

Thanks! (not sure what or if there'll be a specific early access phase; it's such a strange and long dev process so far that I feel like we'd be in early access for twenty years if we went that way)

Bay 12 Games

Yeah, the ASCII is charming and what I grew up on. The symbol overload (like the campfire-turtle-gem-etc. star) might eventually lead to some small addition even in the free version, but over there, I'm planning to keep the default mode as text-based as possible. Thanks for helping out!

Bay 12 Games

He he he, once is plenty too! Or zero if need be. I'm glad you're enjoying the game.

Bay 12 Games

Thanks! I'm at the Age of Pain right now (I root for the titans and FBs, sorry)

Bay 12 Games

Unexpected for us as well! And yeah, it'll be cool to see what happens. Working with the artists has been really fun so far.

Bay 12 Games

I'm glad you're looking forward to it. It will be great if some additional stability allows us to continue updating the game into the far future.

Bay 12 Games

I hope so, he he he!

Bay 12 Games

You guys are my heroes

Douglas Tschopp

Props on coming to Steam! I'm looking forward to automatic updates and Steam Workshop integration. And this'll probably sound like a weird request, but would be it be possible to use ASCII instead somehow? (Like as an option.) I know I'm unusual, but I've just never found a graphical tileset I've been able to play the game with…

Daniel Berke

It is a shame that in the richest nation on this planet, one needs to plan for financial hardship due to health concerns. I have no doubt the community will rally around you and this change may also bring many more fans to this outstanding project. Wishing you the best!

Igor

in my opinion you do great job that it is coming to Steam!

Władysław

Just became an official patreon today and I just wanted to say thanks for the months of on and off enjoyment from dwarf fortress. While I'm complete garbage at it (haha) it's some of the most fun I've ever had playing. Ya'll rock.

JWT

I hope it's at the hands of a robot being developed at MIT

Daichi Lu Azure

Just shut up and take my money! Losing is fun in both GUI and/or ASCII!

Daichi Lu Azure

I have loved DF for years and I'm so happy you guys are doing this. I will happily buy a Steam version and help support your family. Many blessings!

Jacob Aldridge

All the best Toady ... bumped up the donation a bit and definitely plan to buy the steam version

FloundericiousWA

I believe you're experiencing the "Mountain Or Valley?" Illusion! Minute Physics have a great short video on this: <a href="https://youtu.be/V7C318DGB38" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/V7C318DGB38</a> Basically we as humans on earth are used to things being lit up from above, and light and shadows have a weird symmetry about them, so things lit from "below" look inversed, concave vs. convex. So yes, you're right, it would look better the other way around!

yrkill

Hard agree

Paulie Hunfriding Mac Carthaigh

Sorry to hear about the medical concerns that led to the decision, but at the same time I'm incredibly hopeful for a graphical tileset and DF's future with the wonderful crew at Kitfox on board.

Ariamaki

I'm sorry it's driven by bad circumstances, but I'm really excited about this commercial release! Definitely a day 1 purchase, hopefully it'll help you guys continue to work on DF for years to come.

Thomas

Just stopping by to say that I'm really sorry to hear about your health troubles and the evil bastards ripping you off to profit off them. I'm sure this will go well and I hope it helps a lot, or better yet somehow sets in motion a chain of events that directly leads to the deaths of most of your politicians and every other medicine profiteer.

Sin Vega

I'm loving this news. I never much got into fortress mode but the in depth adventure mode has had me hooked for years. The combat engine in it has had so many surprising twists and turns where I have survived on little more than a mad lib style moment.

Mark Stevenson

OMG, so excited for this. Any Early Access for backers?!

Brandon Barnes

Toady, I know you value deeply your independence, and as such I know this wasn't an easy decision. However, I'm really happy that you will be profiting from all the years of hard work and creativity you've put in this game. You've give un a game we could play for hundreds or thousands of hours, and I'll happily buy your game from steam the day it is released. Big hugs and I wish the best to you and Zach Health-wise and economically <3

Rodrigo

Hurray, a consistent standard tileset! Anyone who can see beyond their own opinion of "best tileset or just plain ascii" should know this has pretty big implications. for growing the community. The tileset alone is going to make Dwarf Fortress vastly more accessible to people. I remember back in the day learning to play for the first time, of course I wanted a tileset. I couldn't stomach trying to play in ASCII, and that is true for *MOST* people. I followed the guide which included a save with the tileset already set up. I ended up playing an ancient version of the game for a long time, because it had the tileset I was familiar with. The DF Starter Pack / Lazy Newb Pack were great for solving that problem, but still meant different tutorials looked completely different. Not quite like trying to read another language, but pretty close. I get people are nostalgic for ASCII, but I never lived in the days of real roguelikes / nethack / etc. Having an "official" tileset is going to be huge. And yes of course you can still use your own. The great thing is if I google for tutorials, there is a pretty good chance THIS will be the tileset that is used. And that's great. Trying to follow a tutorial with screenshots from ASCII is brutal. I wonder how many features from DFHack are included, like the ability to use different sprites for the same ascii characters. They appear to have something like TWBT included. And the floating sidebar is transparent? I wonder if that's real, or a photoshop concept.

Radley Sustaire

holy father of Urist, this is awesome!

Timur Kelman

I've never been huge into dwarf fortress but I've followed it for years and completely understand something like this. I wish you luck on steam, I'll probably buy it!

Guno

Hearing this I just signed up for patreon to support you guys. I understand completely why you are doing this and have nothing but complete and utter respect for what you 2 have been doing. Dwarf fortress is truly unique and I have complete faith in you all, and the people you are bringing in to help you with this. And I'll also certainly buy DF once it hits steam!

Ernst van den Bosch

As an example (and in my opinion), Therapist-like behavior really needs to become baseline. For the current game, it's alright that we puzzle out first how to find job settings in the default UI, then (possibly) figure out how to get Therapist running. We (the current community) accept these quirks from a free-to-play/pay-what-you-want game -- I don't think that'll fly with a wider (pay-to-play) audience.

Chris Hellwig

Am really liking the tileset so far, but I surmise that a proper UI overhaul will be needed for a more broad audience to latch on -- and let's be honest, that increase in user-base is what's being targeted by such a release.

Chris Hellwig

Thanks Armok it's not Steam exclusive. Looking forward to obtain one at itch.io , to support both your LEGENDARY effort and their SPECTACULAR project which will help with introducing more... casual players! (for all my friends, ASCII graphics was the main obstacle)

Eustace C. S.

I don't play your game. Not because I don't like it, but because I'm just really bad at it, it's overwhelming for me. I try sometimes, but kinda fail and leave it behind. I love the idea of it and I absolutely admire and respect your work. Despite not being good at it, and even if I probably won't play it, I will still buy a copy at some point.

wombat

Anyway, I just want you two to be happy and healthy, so I fully support the move even if large-pop forts end up only being playable in classic.

Button

Phone won't let me do paragraphs. I'm particularly concerned about Therapist, as I consider even medium-sized forts essentially unplayable without it. Are you going to keep compatibility with the community utility, or are you introducing a new dwarf management interface in the Steam version?

Button

Dwarf Fortress has been for a long time one of my Top 5 games of all time, and I've been gladly supporting you for a little over a year with PayPal donations (before the Patreon era) until the tight reality of my own budget forced me to compromise. But you can bet I will support this, Day One. I wish you all the luck in the world, and may this move bring you a much-needed financial relief. STRIKE THE EARTH, GUYS!!

Megawacky Max

What's the cross-compatibility going to be like for mods and utilities?

Button

It's really a shame *why* you're doing it, but I'm really excited for you guys. I'll be picking it up day one!

Lord Licorice

Love the graphic style.

Andy

I'll be buying it! I've loved DF for years and every so often get the itch to play again, so have to download the new version, tileset, etc. A single download ready to go graphical version is perfect and I look forward to the new music and sfx! And maybe introducing more friends to the strange wonder that is Dwarf Fortress.

Something looks off about those incline graphics, like the perspective is backwards. Well! Hope things get better for you guys.

Baccar Wozat

So, how do you anticipate releases working with this? Will classic still be the “main” version, with the graphical version playing catch-up?

Luzahn

When this releases I will entirely be buying this no questions asked via Steam - the bitmap graphics and eventually better interface were the only two stumbling blocks to an ever-expanding vast amazing game world.

Bob Blunderton

Also I wanna mention I'm pleasantly surprised by everyone else posting here, usually when a game announces they're releasing a paid version there's a lot of "BLARGH OVER MY DEAD BODY" weird entitlement that happens, but I'm seeing nothing but positivity from everyone here. Clearly DF has one of the best fanbases out there :)

Shame Boy

I think y'all are handling this kind of transition in the best possible way, and will definitely pick it up the moment it's available. Also good to hear the health situation is at least *stable*, I hope stuff gets better soon and y'all can focus on doing what you love instead of handling health problems and insurance BS

Shame Boy

I totally understand why you have to do this and will continue supporting you on patreon :)

Untrustedlife

Awesome news. I take it the game has become more accessible recently. I remember my first ascii game of DF and while it was magical and mysterious figuring out what everything was -- it was super hard! :)

cj

Consider it bought. I have also become a patron. DF has brought me more hours of enjoyment than I can calculate, even though I haven't been back to it in a couple of years. I think this will be a great move for the game. It has needed a push for a while now to become a little more visually attractive, and user-experience friendly, and I hope this will help with that. May I suggest some UI work as well?

Nick Youngblood

I love the idea guys. Hope this can get some money in your pocket and some peace of mind. But more than that, i hope nothing else goes wrong for you folks! Will definitely be picking it up on steam along with staying on the patreon

Turntsnaco

Is the steam version going to be updated at the same time as classic? Are there any other plans to mechanically diverge the two versions like with Minecraft Java/Bedrock/etc? Or are the two going to remain as similar as possible? I do have to say this is fantastic, my wife and I love the game but her visual disability has kept her time with it short... and even with graphics and mods it's been hard to play for her. Here's to hoping these changes make the game more accessible, and hoping for a successful launch!

- -

Gonna buy it for the sake of it on Steam but I am a bit worried about the Steam release nonetheless. How will all my custom races and changes and such behave?

se05239

Day-one purchase obviously. Stay strong!

Christian Bazant-Hegemark

I would be so happy for a stable up to date linux version! I am picking it up no matter what of course. I understand the reasons, and if you guys say this is the best course of action for you to stay safe and stable , then it is. I am actually excited

Galacsinhajto

I'll be happy to support ya'lls work through that platform as well.

Michael Flanagan

This is why we need Universal Healthcare.

Pedro Rodriguez

Well this is a no-brainer, day-one purchase. And if I win Powerball tonight maybe it'll be a day-one-through-ten-thousand purchase.

Cvnk

Linux version too?

GamingOnLinux

Oh, all the FUN we'll have ;)

peter bock

Now I am just waiting for the outrage of comfy steam folks when their saves will become unloadable after a major update :D

Ebergar

Haven't played the game in years, but I'll definitely buy it and wish you guys the best of luck. The short end terribly confusing time I did play DF has shown me how great gaming can be, and I hope with Steam this will do the same to a wider audience

Please enter your name

Excellent plan! I like it! The more people who get to play the better!

Koen Bollen

Looks great! Anxious to see it released!

Enay

My best wishes. I have been supporting you for years. Actually since I discovered your game which gave me hundreds of hours of fun and not fun. I have no plan to stop this support and I just hope it will bring you the financial stability you and your brother deserve.

Aerth Lyomi

More possibility to throw money your way. Good. Good.

Alexander 'Kav' Kashev

I would get the early access right now. Twice.

Aleksander Honc

I really prefer the ASCII version of the game, but I am going to pick this up for sure, just to support, if for no other reason.

Michael Scoville

Ill be with you anyway, and now i can be twice, or even thrice^^ ;)

erni

Such a good idea! Behind you fellas 100%!

Kruggsmash

well, this is an unexpected development, looking forward to how this will turn out

Doomchild

This is a great development and I hope it becomes a success you can build further on.

M

This is a good idea.

Gareth Martin