I first heard about Dwarf Fortress a few months back.  It sounded terrific – an open world where you construct a Dwarven fortress and grow into a mighty community.

Unfortunately, the game is about as dense and impenetrable as a year-old fruitcake.

The UI is entirely text-based.  Letters, numbers, and obscure ASCII characters are all you see.  The input commands are equally obscure and obtuse.  There’s no documentation or tutorial.  It is, in short, not inviting.

I downloaded it, fired it up, was confronted with a wall of text, and gave up shorty after.  There simply wasn’t enough to keep me interested long enough to learn how to play.

Recently I stumbled across a terrifically illustrated battle report that somebody created based on a game of Dwarf Fortress.

I was intrigued.  I was tempted.  I had to try Dwarf Fortress again.

I didn’t remember the website though, so I had to Google it…  And I came up with DFG – an unofficial, semi-graphical version of Dwarf Fortress.

It isn’t Dragon Age, but it’s certainly prettier than the default graphics.  And certainly more approachable for a novice like myself.

I also found a great tutorial for new players.  It covers absolutely everything in very simple and clear detail.  Tells you which keys to hit, where things are located, and how stuff works.

I was, in no time at all, completely hooked.

It snowed pretty much all day yesterday, and a good chunk of the night as well.  Woke up this morning to find my yard covered and I had to clear off my car before I could leave for work.  The drive down to work was fun…  I ran into some even nastier stuff about half-way there.  The plows were out and the road was covered with some thick, wet, heavy crap that made driving entirely too interesting.  Had to slow down to 50 mph or so.  On the highway.

I wouldn’t really care if this was January…  I expect this kind of crap in the winter.  But it’s late April – very nearly May…  We should be done with this crap.  It should be getting warmer out, not snowing like this.

Last weekend I was outside enjoying the warmth…  There are buds and leaves and green shoots everywhere…  I dragged the grill out and we had a BBQ on Saturday…  And now this.

They’re predicting nice weather for this weekend again, but that doesn’t really seem possible right now.

So, I haven’t been posting a whole lot on here.

I’ve been too busy.

I’m up early in the morning…  And then actually doing work almost non-stop until I get home…  And then I’m tired in the evening and don’t do much before crashing for the night…

Things are finally settling down a bit though, I’m getting into a routine at the new job, and I think I’ll have more time for blogging again.

Hopefully.

What the hell is it doing snowing at this time of year??

Unbound | Version 1.3 Available Now!

Included in NOOK Version 1.3 software (available now) is the breakthrough Read In Store (Beta) experience where you can browse complete eBooks (and soon periodicals) in your local Barnes & Noble store at no cost! NOOK automatically connects to the fast and free Wi-Fi® and you’re free to read any parts of any available eBook for up to an hour per day! You’ll find lots of great titles, from the current bestsellers to classics, as we have more content available from more than 200 publishers including all the major publishing houses.

We’ve also enhanced Wi-Fi® connectivity so you connect to even more hotspots and rolled out a basic Web browser (Beta).

Plus, we’ve added some fun and challenging games — our first android apps. Sudoku anyone? Or, how about chess — pit your knight, queen, or rook against NOOK!

We’ve also made additional reading and device performance enhancements including improved page turn speed, faster access to previously opened eBooks, enhanced color touch screen navigation and more.

Some nice changes, but I still want to see some way to better organize my books.  Some tags, or folders, or shelves, or something.

I can’t say I care too much about the games…  But enhanced WiFi connectivity will be nice, as will the web browser.

Can’t wait to load it up and see how it all works.