我们在策划游戏时会编一个小故事,就是一些标准的奇幻故事,然后去解构它同时去思考:‘故事有趣与否是由什么决定的?真正让故事能变得活灵活现的转折点在哪?’,我们希望大家在玩游戏时也能这样去做。希望他们能有所收获并去和他们的朋友分享……
We have story analysis stuff we do to plan the game where we write a short story, just some typical fantasy story, and be like, ‘What makes this story interesting? Where are the inflection points that really turn it into a narrative that pops out of it?' We want that to happen when people are playing the game. We want them to have something they can hold onto and then tell their friends [...]
Tarn “Toady” Adams
《矮人要塞》作者Tarn “Toady” Adams,
Dwarf Fortress’ creator
并不是说这款游戏有着文笔上乘的故事,或者实实在在体现在书面上的叙事。确切地讲每个玩《矮人要塞》的人都会有属于自己的故事。你可能会因为挖得太深而发现一只远古野兽,要么杀死它要么就得眼睁睁看着你的要塞染上通过兽血传播的疾病。亦或者扮演一个胆大且高傲的精灵英雄,在战斗中失去一条腿却仍然一手挥剑一手拄杖地在地表游荡。
这款游戏也因其画面和操作方法而臭名昭著,这是许多新玩家所难以理解的。默认情况下,游戏使用的是 ASCII 码作为贴图,以 unicode 字符来表示游戏中的每个生物和对象,不过使用贴图包来对游戏进行修改还是很容易的。
一开始尤其是在“要塞模式”中,游戏地操作方式可能并不直观,那是因为这款游戏主要用的是快捷键进行操作,而以往策略游戏里的快捷键通常是为高阶玩家准备的。
This isn't to say that the game has a well-written narrative, or really much of a written narrative at all. Rather, every person who plays Dwarf Fortress comes out of the experience with their own unique story. You may dig too deep, find an ancient beast, kill it, or see your fortress infected by a disease spread by the beast's blood. Or perhaps play as a bold, brash Elven hero that loses a leg in battle but still roams the land, wielding a sword in one hand, a crutch in the other.
The game is also notorious for its graphics and control scheme, which many new players find all but impenetrable. By default, the game uses an ASCII tileset, representing every creature and object in the game as a unicode character, but the game is easily moddable to use graphical tilesets.
The controls, particularly in Fortress Mode, seem unintuitive at first, but this is due to the game relying largely on hotkeys which are normally reserved for more advanced players in a typical strategy game.
《矮人要塞》那惊人的深度则来自作者十多年来的不懈开发。游戏的首个版本甚至不允许设置多个纵向场景,整个游戏都限制在一个二维平面中。
Tarn Adams 在 2011 年表示这游戏哪怕继续开发二十年也无法达到 1.0 版本。即便如此,他可能仍会通过不断地更新以模拟出他理想中的“有趣内容”。
他从粉丝那收到的捐助[4] 足以让他过上舒适的生活,同时他曾表示自己仍会不忘初心,不与任何发行商或开发商签约,只通过捐赠来资助游戏开发。
尽管《矮人要塞》可能永远不会迎来彻底完成的那一天,但它的名望是毋庸置疑的。它是唯一款罕见地在随机要素和玩家投入重心间实现了完美平衡的游戏。
Dwarf Fortress' astonishing depth comes from over a decade of tireless development. The first release didn't even allow for multiple Z-levels; the whole game was limited to a two-dimensional plane.
In 2011, Tarn Adams stated that the game could very well be in development for another 20 years and still not reach version 1.0. And even then, he would probably keep updating it, in his pursuit of simulating the “narratively interesting parts of existence”.
He receives enough money in fan donations that he is able to live comfortably, and he has stated that he intends to always keep those humble roots, never signing with any publisher or development company, funding the game solely through donations.
Although it may never be entirely finished, the importance of Dwarf Fortress is undeniable. It stands as a one-of-a-kind game that achieved a rare, perfect balance between procedurally generated elements and the importance of player input.
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4 译者注:尽管每个月都有几百到几千美元的捐助从世界各地打来,但对于罹患肿瘤需要服用大量昂贵药物的 Zach 是完全不够的,因此年过四十并且也为了应对不时之需的兄弟俩人决定在 Steam 上推出《矮人要塞》的付费重制版(发售时间待定),当然了,免费版也会同步更新。