The Making Of Dwarf Fortress (2008)

[spacemanaki]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3549/interview_the_making_of_dwarf_.php?print=1

[robtoo]

Tarn supports himself primarily with donations from Dwarf Fortress enthusiasts.

He's been doing the donation model for years, and it looks like he receives about $3000/month: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=87996.0

[kqr2]

There was a recent discussion on the New York Times article: The Brilliance of Dwarf Fortress

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2793615

[DanielRibeiro]

I really liked the part about water physics simulation.

[5hoom → DanielRibeiro]

Agreed.

It's an awesome bit of hackery getting that & all the other systems running in realtime.

Respect, Dwarf Fortress, respect. :)

[tectonic]

Are there any other games, text-based MUDs, for example, that approach the level of complexity of DF?

[5hoom → tectonic]

Not really the same, but Angband is quite well regarded (seeing as how Nethack has already been mentioned).

[rcxdude → tectonic]

one which springs to mind is nethack, but the game has quite a different nature (much less open-ended).