Dwarf Fortress-Style Changelogs

Why narrative documentation is more fun and more useful.

The Standard Changelog

## v1.2.0

### Added
- Firebase Crashlytics integration
- Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish translations

### Fixed
- Theme color reference error

Functional. Boring. Nobody reads it.

The Dwarf Fortress Way

## v0.6.0 - "The Watchtower Speaks Many Tongues"

### The Watchtower
- **Eyes on the Walls** (Crashlytics) — The fortress now reports when walls crumble

### The Translator's Guild
- **The Nordic Expansion** — The northern realms join the quest
  - Danish (da) — For the Danes who march through wind and rain
  - Finnish (fi) — For the sauna warriors

### Menaces Vanquished
- **The Sacred Colors Corrected** — The `xpGold` color did not exist in the theme scrolls

Same information. Actually more memorable.

Why It Works

1. Section headers tell stories

Boring	Narrative
Added	New Chambers
Fixed	Menaces Vanquished
Changed	The Great Upheaval
Docs	The Scribes’ Archives

2. Bugs become quests

Instead of:

Fixed: null pointer in step counter

Write:

The step counter no longer loses count when confronted with the void

3. Version names add memory hooks

“The Watchtower Update” sticks better than “v0.6.0”

The Format

- **Thematic Name** (Technical Term) — Poetic description

• Thematic Name — leads with flavor
• (Technical Term) — searchable for greps and searches
• Description — what actually happened

Is This Serious?

Yes. The Dwarf Fortress changelog has documented decades of development. Players read it for entertainment. Developers use it for reference. It works.

Your changelog can be:

• Accurate AND entertaining
• Searchable AND readable
• Documentation AND culture

Getting Started

Pick one section header to rename:

• ### Fixed → ### Menaces Vanquished

See if it sparks joy. Expand from there.

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“Losing is fun!” — Dwarf Fortress