After the success of the Steam release, Tarn Adams is looking to splurge on just the right instrument.
When I last talked to Tarn and Zach Adams, the brothers and co-creators of Dwarf Fortress were just wrapping their heads around a new reality: becoming millionaires. It’s only been three months since then, but when I sat down with the brothers this week at the 2023 Game Developers Conference, I had to know: Were they treating themselves to a little well-earned luxury yet?
« I was gonna buy a guitar, » said Tarn. « We went to a Guitar Center, and they had one that I tried, but it didn’t speak to me. Alas. »
That guitar trip was a rare moment of downtime for the Adams’ in the last few months. Their 2023 has been a whirlwind: Along with publisher Kitfox, they’ve hired a programmer from the modding community to work on the game full-time, giving someone else access to the source code in Dwarf Fortress’s two decade history. They’ve released a flurry of patches to fix little issues with the Steam release and added arena mode.
