You don't have to worry that Tarn Adams will soon become an entrepreneur because of his millionaire status. This year GDCThe Dwarf Fortress maker hit out at the brutal climate of layoffs, cancellations and general downsizing across the games industry, saying the executives responsible can “eat all the shit.” Just in case you need a reason to like Dwarf Fortress even more.
“In three to four years, what are those? [Dwarf Fortress] “What about sales?” Adams reflected in a conversation with PCG: “What decisions do we have to make? [with] Considering the possibility of one day making these difficult decisions, Tarn wondered if the experience would give him “more compassion for the people who fire people.”
“No, I don’t fucking think so,” he concluded. “They can all eat shit, I think they’re terrible, and I think they’re bad people.”
That's a pretty clear statement in itself, but Adams continued: “These decisions don't sound practical. They sound like they’re driven by greedy, greedy people trying to get some sort of venture capital thing going.”
“There's this stench of rot at the top of things, where the reasons for firing people are financing structures, bad incentives and stupidity,” Adams said, condemning executives for firing people “they shouldn't be firing because you Company would do it.” fall apart, but I guess maybe this will help someone make a profit or put the right air in the right golden parachute.
So I think we can certainly find Adams and Dwarf Fortress in the For Developers/Against Layoffs column of our shared spreadsheet, but should we be worried that Adams feels he'll have to make some tough decisions in the coming years? Well, maybe, although I have to admit it's hard for me to think of a headline like “Microsoft is cutting 1,900 jobs at Activision and Xbox” about the brothers behind Dwarf Fortress.
But for now, Tarn and Zach Adams say that development on DF and the upcoming Adventure Mode update, due out in April of this year, are moving full steam ahead. “[We’re] We're still fundamentally excited about what's possible and don't feel burdened by any of it. We will continue to shed light on the future and hopefully continue to inspire people.”
