At GDC 2025, I spoke with Tarn Adams, co-creator and lead programmer of Dwarf Fortress, about the past, present, and future of his 23-year procgen masterwork. We talked about how the looming threat of aquifer flooding encapsulates his approach to Dwarf Fortress difficulty and how he's generally bummed about AI. Towards the end of our interview, our conversation turned to dwarves themselves—and to what the stout, stubborn folk add to Dwarf Fortress's emergent storytelling that other creatures can't.
