JUNK RUNTAH

We have just released our newest game. Its Avernum 2: Crystal Souls. It is a huge indie RPG for Windows and Mac (iPad coming soon), on Steam, GoG.com, Humble Store, and our own website. You know. All the places the cool kids hang out. 

It came out yesterday and early sales are very strong. Thank you, kind customers!

Avernum 2: Crystal Souls is, like half of what we do, a rewrite. This particular story is arguably the one loved most by our fans. (Avernum 3 is the other contender) The previous incarnation, Avernum 2, came out way, WAY back in 2000, so I am utterly unapologetic about releasing a rewrite.

My main goals when doing these rewrites is to respect and maintain what made people love them in the first place. This is made so much more important by the fact that I cant write new games like this anymore.

The first two Avernum games have a story structure that is still unique in RPGs. There isnt one storyline. Theres three, each of which has its own goal, missions, final boss, etc. You can play one of them and have a satisfying game experience, or you can be hardcore and do more.

Its a huge game, and I wanted people to be able to play a smaller chunk of it and still feel that they got somewhere. I think theres a good idea in there, and other developers should steal it.

Also, the game takes place in Avernum, a subterranean nation full of exiles, petty criminals, and weird, alien races. Its like Australia, but with even more monsters. Or like the proverbial parents basement, but a country. Its a really cool setting, one that has resonated with players for over twenty years. I still love it.

If you go see the Rolling Stones in concert, you dont want to hear their new stuff. Yuck. Boring! You want to hear the old hits, written when they were young and energetic and crazy and fresh.

My old games are kind of the same. As I rework them, I cant get over how weird and quirky and energetic and chaotic the stuff I did when I was young was. My games were full of rough edges, joyfully overpowered spells, and the sort of concentrated oddness I have a harder time generating as I get old and boring.

Rewriting them, Ive tried to make it a bit more user-friendly with modern tweaks like quest lists and tooltips. Yet, I mostly spend my time being jealous of how silly and loose I could be when I was young. 

When I wrote the Avernum trilogy for the first time (when they were called Exile), I just threw everything in there I could think of, and, thanks to a weird alchemy of skill and dumb luck, it worked. People loved the games, and I got a career out of it.

Dont get me wrong. I am proud of my newer games. They dont sell as well, but they do have a following. I dont hallucinate the fan mail.

I still need to keep doing the rewrites. They make good money. People like them. The old games dont run well (or at all) anymore. I get tablet versions out of the deal. So Im going to keep doing it. When people complain about rewrites, it just means theyve failed to fully acknowledge how awesome I am.

And I still need to write new games, with new systems and interfaces and stories, or I will simply go insane. If you like my old stuff better, I wont take offense. Different people like different things.

Its a really big game. The story and setting are cool. Its retro and oldschool, but with a modern interface to keep it fun. Theres a big demo on our website, if you arent sure. Take a look!