Showing posts with label avernum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label avernum. Show all posts
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Avernum Out For Windows For What Its Worth
Avernum Out For Windows For What Its Worth
A few weeks ago, Spiderweb Software finally released our newest role-playing game, Avernum: Escape From the Pit, for Windows. Its also out on Steam.
Its OK if you didnt notice, as a far higher profile indie RPG, Legend of Grimrock, came out the same day. Its a lot of fun and Im almost done with it. Ill blog about it soon.
Ive taken this long to blog about it (or anything) because work stress, increasing age, and family health issues have given me a persistent case of burnout. Burnout is an interesting issue. Ill blog about it soon.
Avernum: Escape From the Pit is doing well. It is old material. Its a rewrite of Avernum, which is itself a rewrite of Exile: Escape From the Pit. And yet, thanks to iTunes and Steam, it has already, in only a few months, earned as much as either of those titles earned in years and years. The revolutionary effect of Steam and iTunes on people trying to have my career simply cannot be understated. Ill blog about it soon.
Since its a rewrite, it hasnt gotten as many reviews, which is fair. GameBanshee wrote a tough, fair, generally positive review which makes me want to write some interesting things about video games and art. No, Im kidding. Writing about video games and art is never interesting. Still. Ill blog about it soon.
Ive also been playing Mass Effect 3, when I can work up the energy. Im not feeling it the way I felt Mass Effect 1 and 2, but Im sure I can come up with some interesting things to say about it. I wont bother to write an actual review, as youve already finished it and made a YouTube video about how angry the ending made you. Ill blog about it soon.
Finally, Community has been having an amazing season. I wont blog about it, as Community fans are almost as tiresomely aggressive in their evangelism as The Wire fans and bronies. Still. If you watch it on Hulu before it gets cancelled (which should happen ... ... NOW), you can be ahead of the nerd-culture curve.
Available link for download
Monday, March 27, 2017
Avernum 2 Crystal Souls Is Out Some Cranky Thoughts
Avernum 2 Crystal Souls Is Out Some Cranky Thoughts
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| The II in this logo is hard to see, and it drives me nuts every time I look at it. |
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.
Cool Things About Avernum 2
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.
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Nobody Wants an Aging Rock Star To Play the New Stuff
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.
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| Avernum 2 was a rewrite of Exile 2: Crystal Souls, which came out in 1996 and looks like this. Some people seriously tell me that my games havent changed at all since I started. Oh, you silly internet! |
You Still Have To Make New Stuff, Or You Go Insane
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.
But More About Avernum 2: Crystal Souls
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!
Available link for download
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Avernum Escape From the Pit Is Out
Avernum Escape From the Pit Is Out
We have released our newest game, Avernum: Escape From the Pit, for the Macintosh. As I have written before, it is a ground-up rewrite of one of our earlier games that desperately needed it. Weve tried to put a lot of cool new graphics, design, and polish into it. A big demo is available, and the Windows and iPad versions should be out in April.
This is a rewrite of the first game I ever wrote for money, Exile: Escape From the Pit, which first came out in January of 1995. It has been fascinating to go back to my first full-length design. Id forgotten how weird and silly my work could get.
A few examples:
Huge, Sprawling World.
Skyrim has provided a fresh reminder of how much people love a huge, sprawling world full of details, cul-de-sacs, and side quests to get lost in. When I started out, I made games like that. Avernum is really, really big. Its possible to wander out into the wilds, get lost, and be eternally distracted by all the stuff you can do and dungeons you can explore. I was heavily inspired by the early Might and Magic games, some of the first games that really tried to overwhelm you with a huge world.
I love games like this. However, writing them is difficult for the obvious reason: A huge world takes a lot of work and a lot of energy. Im old now, and I dont have the limitless drive I used to. I tend now to write smaller, more focused games. Less terrain to explore, but with a more intricate story.
Three Game-Winning Quests.
I am constantly accused of never innovating, and this vexes me. I have worked hard to try new things in my RPGs and stretch the genre, and Ive been doing this from day one.
Example: Avernum doesnt have one storyline. It has three. The game has three long, arcing, game-winning quests, each of them almost entirely separate from each other. It is possible to achieve one of them, say escaping the underworld, be told you have won, pat yourself on the back, and never realize that the game still has two epic storylines remaining.
They arent three different endings. They are three different games.
I did two games this way, and Ive never seen another RPG that does the same thing. I eventually let it go to focus on more detailed single stories, but I still think it was a really cool idea.
Odd Humor.
In my spare time, I have had some success as a writer of humor. My games have always had funny elements, some more than others. Avernum contains some bits that are so weird and off the wall that I could never see myself doing now. I dont want to give precise examples, but if you play the game for more than a little youll start to see what I mean.
Years Pass. Nothing You Can Do About it.
Since 1995, my work has gotten a lot tighter, more controlled, and generally less eccentric. This has been both good and bad. Its also unavoidable. Im older and more experienced now, and that sort of fresh, unfocused enthusiasm is just not available to me anymore. I still write good games (or, at least, games that sell), but my changing tastes and increasing age have made me unable to do some things and more able to do certain new things.
For example, if you tried Avadon: The Black Fortress and didnt like it, Im sorry. That is the sort of game I write now. This will change. Five years from now, Ill do something entirely different. (I really, really want to return to open-ended non-linear games at least once before I retire.) But for now, thats it. If you hate my new games, then there is nothing I can do about that.
But, if you dont like the new stuff, I suggest trying Avernum. Its old-school, and its really neat. I hope you like it.
(And Ill post a link to this article in April when the versions for the other platforms come out.)
Available link for download
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