CEO of Kitfox Games reckons hundreds of hours playing Civilization could be the secret to the Dwarf Fortress publisher's success: 'Maybe Kitfox wouldn't be as successful if I didn't know how to alternate between science trees and army defences'

CEO of Kitfox Games reckons hundreds of hours playing Civilization could be the secret to the Dwarf Fortress publisher’s success: ‘Maybe Kitfox wouldn’t be as successful if I didn’t know how to alternate between science trees and army defences’ | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Action After 6 hours, Crimson Desert is one of the most overwhelming, chaotic, madcap videogames I’ve ever played—and I’m hungry for more RPG Cara Ellison, senior narrative designer on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 before Paradox switched developers, discusses her love of Troika’s original RPG: ‘Everyone on the team helped really make that maximum goth’ Games The best PC games to play right now Gaming Industry Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says less is often more in game design: ‘As a very wise designer once said to me, a game that includes everything is about nothing’ Games The best sex games on PC that aren’t garbage Games The best free PC games Games The best indie games on PC Life Sim 10 years later, I still can’t believe Eric Barone thought Harvest Moon fans would hate Stardew Valley MMO Project: Gorgon has recaptured the old-school MMO magic I thought was dead and gone by letting me ask a pig about its mother so hard it dies RPG You can blame some of Deus Ex: Invisible War’s console limitations on the publisher’s ‘weird theories that FPS games don’t sell or RPGs don’t sell’ Games The 20 best cozy games on PC that aren’t farm sims Puzzle Devs behind GoldenEye, Perfect Dark and TimeSplitters are done with big shooters after getting burned by Embracer, so their next game is a Balatro-like twist on Scrabble—and you can try the demo now Games The best laptop games Life Sim Stardew Valley has basically become the Tolkien of cozy gaming Roguelike Two of Mewgenics’ most memorable areas were directly inspired by a brutal and brilliant tabletop RPG PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!MarathonArc RaidersBest PC gearQuizzes Gaming Industry CEO of Kitfox Games reckons hundreds of hours playing Civilization could be the secret to the Dwarf Fortress publisher’s success: ‘Maybe Kitfox wouldn’t be as successful if I didn’t know how to alternate between science trees and army defences’ Features By Rick Lane published 8 March 2026 Tanya X. Short, the designer of Boyfriend Dungeon and the upcoming Streets of Fortuna, talks TR-49 and surviving the pandemic with Tabletop Simulator. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Firaxis/Tanya X. Short) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? 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Short, CEO of Kitfox games, cannot recall the name of the first PC game she ever played. But she certainly remembers the experience of playing it. “It was a step crawler where I’d sit on my dad’s lap. I must have been five or six,” she says. “The thing I remember most is the sounds of the skeletons were so terrifying that I had to run and hide behind the couch.”Growing up playing games like Side Meier’s Civilization and The Seven Cities of Gold, eventually Short joined the games industry as a narrative designer at Funcom. In 2013 she cofounded Kitfox Games, developing games like Moon Hunters, Boyfriend Dungeon, and the upcoming open-city “megasim” Streets of Fortuna. “It’s one of those games you could spend your whole life building, and it’ll never be completely complete. It’s just an infinite box of fun to develop,” she says.Kitfox is also the publisher of Caves of Qud and Dwarf Fortress, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. “We’re gonna be celebrating,” Short says. “All year we’re gonna be reminding people that Dwarf Fortress has been playable for 20 years. Kind of blows my mind.” You may like Cara Ellison, senior narrative designer on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 before Paradox switched developers, discusses her love of Troika’s original RPG: ‘Everyone on the team helped really make that maximum goth’ 219 hours of XCOM 2 and 20 minutes of Fallout: Size Five Games’ director Dan Marshall takes us through the games on his PC Nightdive Studios’ Stephen Kick