Spiderweb Software Blog Update and AMA
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With the recent release of Avadon 3: The Warborn, Spiderweb Software's Jeff Vogel has taken it upon himself to pen a few words about the release and host an AMA on Reddit that featured the veteran designer answering a considerable variety of questions about the company, their CRPGs, his design philsophy, and their future plans for an all-new series as well as additional remasters. Here are a few choice quotes from the latter:
I still play the Exile series. Exile 3 is one of my favorite titles from when I was a wee boy.
However, I had issues with Avernum and its isometric viewpoint. Out of curiosity, who made the decision for the change from the "topdown" view?
It was me, because I like it better. And now I'm tired of it. Our next all-new series will have a much more dead-on, Exile type perspective.
I change everything all the time. It's how I keep this fresh for me. Every change makes someone happy and someone sad. It's unfortunate, but it's an integral part of the thing.
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I want to thank you for bringing all your games to Mac, that's actually how I started playing your games. What drove you to simultaneously release on Windows and Mac?
Also, I've noticed the first Avadon was released for Linux on steam, but nowhere else. I was wondering what your motivation was for having a Linux release of that game, if it was worth the investment, and if we can expect any more Linux releases in the future.
Big fan by the way. Beat Geneforge 5 and Avernum 5 and 6. Put quite a few hours into some of the others. Keep up the good work!
The Mac/Win simultaneous thing was just the way the market moved. It is REALLY hard to do PR for a game that comes out for Mac first. Also, if you do Mac first, Steam is not going to be super-interested in you.
Plus, simultaneous releases are just better, honestly. Easier to do. Better for fans.
The linux port was to get Avadon in Humble Bundle. That port wasn't done by me, but by an incredibly talented freelancer (whose name I am blanking on, alas). Linux doesn't sell well enough for a tiny company like me to wrestle with it.
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Huge fan of your games, especially the Geneforge series as I grew up playing it. My questions is slightly greedy: Are there any plans to remaster some of your earlier games? Especially for example the first 3 Geneforge games that don't have HD resolution options. I know it's a big ask for an indie company and that it doesn't really make business sense, but I'm interested nonetheless.
I am a big, BIG fan of remasters, for many reasons. They end up better games. They let me modernize the engine, making new things possible (like iPad ports). Also, the old games stop working on modern systems.
Yes, I will remaster Geneforge. All of them, absolutely. However, it has to get in line. I'll probably start the Geneforge remasters in 3 years. Avernum 3 is far more due.
