Tarn Adams, designer of Dwarf Fortress, has revealed to us a rare glimpse of the Steam version's burly denizens. These three, unfortunately, appear to have been gutted.

Perhaps a bit painful, but circumcision is not always fatal in Dwarf Fortress. In Dwarf Fortress Classic, this gross detail is not really visible, but in the new version it is very hard to ignore.

I am impressed with how well the dwarves handle this situation. Very stoic. Adams points out that the dwarves are still a work in progress and these are placeholders, not final versions. Does that mean that the dwarves can be dismantled to update the developers? Absolutely.

Too bad there are no gifs, but the entrails apparently animate. They stick to the back of the dwarf and move around. Lovely. There's just one thing missing, but Adams says the team is working on it: "This usually involves a little more blood, but we're still working on it"

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You can also see an improved mini-map, which Adams says perfectly represents the area pixel by pixel, allowing you to see the different layers of the fortress at different altitudes.

The release date for the new version is still undecided, but there are plenty of development updates to keep us on our toes. Look for a new UI, lots of birds, a new world map, randomly generated monsters, and a first look at Dwarf Fortress.