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lukematt

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Curious Artila

Curious Artila (3/17)

  1. I've read through all of the replies to my original post suggesting that Jeff should shift his paradigm to 1) a browser-based RPG, preferably without client software and 2) a site where people could develop their own text-based, browser-based RPG games. I'll respond to a few of the broad themes in those replies. 1. To understand the concept of "a site where people could develop their own text-based, browser-based RPG games", you really need to take a look at games in the HoboWars franchise (HoboWars, HoboWars 2, Facebook HoboWars) and Skate Warfare. HoboWars and Skate Warfare are two completely separate games. They are *NOT* mods (or scenarios in BoE / BofA parlance). However, both games were clearly produced with the same engine. The "site where people could develop their own text-based, browser-based RPG games" would allow developers to access the same engine to produce another unique game. Note: HoboWars and Skate Warfare look and feel too similar. The site should allow developers more variety for the interface. 2. I thought IT people *liked* to learn new technologies. (However, I once interviewed a young lady for a programming position who actually said, "I don't want to learn anything new". Needless to say, she didn't get hired.) Yeah, I don't particularly like IT people either. Are you serious? If it's a choice between the grind of software development or letting others grind for you while you simply need to show a thumbs up or a thumbs down and take a percentage of the income from all of the thumbs up Jeff would actually prefer to grind?#@! 3. Spiderweb Software and HellBored Entertainment have *A LOT* in common. Specifically, although they had excellent games--the best in their class--they are both dying a slow death, and in the meantime, they are milking their veteran, devoted, loyal players for income. However, even these players see the handwriting on the wall...as the existence of this thread indicates. Very few new players. Spiderweb Software and HellBored Entertainment should talk to each other. Their resources and skills are very complementary.
  2. Although I love Spiderweb Software's games (Avernum / Avadon / Geneforge), thinking they have the best RPG gameplay of **ANY** RPG, I've long advocated that Jeff should seek a new direction rather than taking the time-and-cost efficient path (read: easy way out) of remakes. Here are my suggestions: 1. A browser-based RPG, preferably without client software. Why? Most people play Internet (i.e. MMO) games now, not standalone games; Jeff would have total control of the cashflow. I suspect Jeff currently loses huge amounts of money to cracks and keygens. 2. Provide a site where people could develop their own text-based, browser-based RPG games. In other words, Jeff works on the "engine" and provides the database system for player records. I have many more details in mind (contact me via private message); for now, here are a few: Anybody could develop a game for FREE; However, no game gets released on the site for "public consumption" until Jeff approves. The worst characteristic of "design your own" sites is the HUGE number of absolute rubbish games. What a pain to weed through them for actual good games. Jeff takes a percentage of income generated by publicly released game. (Thus, Jeff only approves developed games that he thinks have income potential.) All income goes through Jeff's site because the publicly released games are based there, so he is guaranteed to get his percentage. The best test-based, browser-based RPG games by far are the HoboWars franchise (HoboWars, HoboWars 2, Facebook HoboWars). The engine is available somewhere because it was used to produce Skate Warfare, which is not affiliated with the HoboWars franchise (i.e. it is not a HellBored Entertainment game).
  3. I'm guessing that each successive Avernum remake will be delayed longer and longer...if we ever see all of them.
  4. Lawcarver Ain in Rockridge Keep says, "There is a worn copy of the Stone Code in rebel lands to the south". Therefore, I wasted lots of time crawling around in the "Kva Riverlands" map, which is south of Rockridge Keep. In truth, though, the Stone Code is located in "The Trapped Lair" map; according to the world map, "The Trapped Lair" is clearly west of Rockridge Keep. Given Lawcarver Ain's pathetic geography skills, I'm assuming Lawcarver Ain is an American. Am I right?
  5. 1. When I google "spiderweb software", the first hit is Spiderweb Software , Inc. Home Page www.spidweb.com/‎ Spiderweb Software creates epic indie fantasy adventures for Windows, Macintosh, 2. I click on this hit, and I get taken to a site that looks exactly like Spiderweb Software, including the announcement What Are We Working On Now? Avadon 2: The Corruption will finally be released for Windows and Macintosh on October 30, 2013. The iPad version will be out in early 2014. 3. Like a fool, I keep returning to this site, waiting for the appearance of Avadon 2. Again and again and again. Until my younger son accidentally arrives at the correct site: http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/ 4. Would it really be asking too much to implement a simple redirect from www.spidweb.com to www.spiderwebsoftware.com?
  6. Avernum: Escape from the Pit is the most disappointing Spiderweb Software game to date. In fact, I truly believe that Avernum: Escape from the Pit marks the beginning of the end for Spiderweb Software. ====================== What Spiderweb Software should have done 1. Establish the best engine / libraries from Avernum 1-6, and "recompile" each game. 2. DO NOT rewrite Avernum 1-6. Especially DO NOT redo their graphics. I look at Avernum: Escape from the Pit and think, "I feel sorry for the graphics people--what a waste of time and effort". (I also condemn the graphics people. In many cases, the new graphics are worse than the original graphics. The new "World Map", for example, is horrendous.) 3. Port Avernum 1-6 to new platforms such as iPad. (Port, not rewrite) 4. Spiderweb Software desperately needs a new series. Avadon is NOT it. Avadon is too similar to the Avernum series. (Avadon should be a "one off" like Nethergate.) Spiderweb Software needs a new series that is as different from Geneforge and Avernum as Geneforge and Avernum are different from each other. ====================== How to save Spiderweb Software Possibility #1 Somebody needs to buy out Spiderweb Software and set it back on the straight and narrow. Jeff, do you really want to rewrite Avernum 2-6? REALLY? What a waste of time and effort. You are coding yourself into irrelevancy. Possibility #2 Get some fresh blood on the Spiderweb Software team. Somebody who has a new story to tell. Somebody who has a new gameplay in mind.
  7. Kinsume and Kreador, thanks for your replies. Originally Posted By: Kinsume Um... remember? You're only ever tossing a few points per person in there anyways....This game is pretty cut and dry when it comes to stats, if you're using a melee weapon for combat you focus on STR and some END, if you're using a bow - DEX and some END, and if you're a caster INT and some END. In other words...blindly work around the game's deficiencies. Sorry--don't like that approach. The unfortunate fact: It's NOT possible to look at a character's stats when the character needs to level up. In previous Avernum games, we could always see a character's current stats. A real step backwards in Avernum: Escape from the Pit....
  8. I must be doing something wrong because nobody else has complained about the same situation.... I want to look at "Tool Use" for each of my characters. In previous Avernum games, it was easy to do. In Avernum: Escape from the Pit, the "Combat" and "Magic/Misc" tabs do not appear until after I have trained a character by spending outstanding "Attribute" points. ["Tool Use" can be found on the "Magic/Misc" tab.] How can I easily look at "Tool Use" for each character WITHOUT training the character?
  9. I'm even more disappointed than you, Confidence, because I've played all previous Avernum games where we could close doors from the inside. A real step backwards in Avernum: Escape from the Pit....
  10. The switches seem larger in this game compared to other Avernum games. However, the size of everything else--particularly items on the ground--seems to have shrunk.
  11. THANKS to A Creature I Don't Know, Blades of Von Neumann, Enraged Slith, meAzuma, Galanos, Othar Trygvassen: Gentleman, and Lilith (hope I didn't miss anyone) for the games that you recommended. I will take a look. IMAGINATION AT WORK (that's what's needed, folks) Originally Posted By: Blades of Von Neumann could make a great James Bond-inspired spy RPG Originally Posted By: Othar Trygvassen: Gentleman could make combat very stylized, featuring heroic 'battles' against tests, papers, athletic competitions FURTHER COMMENTS or "heroic battles" against whichever type of person associated with universities is bothersome: jocks, little rich girls, geeks, overly ambitious Asian parents, fraternity / sorority members, condescending professors, students from Long Island, party animals, overzealous members of religious organizations, etc. etc. etc. Originally Posted By: Blades of Von Neumann real-world RPGs have several problems that keep them uncommon, though. One, you have to match the real world in your game, which takes effort. Two, real-world combat isn't fun, as RPGs go. People tend to die quickly and relatively randomly. Three, everyday life is too boring to run a plot on. As you wrote yourself, "These aren't insurmountable". One and Three can be eliminated by NOT matching the real world exactly. For example, a locker room in a sports science building need NOT look exactly like a real-life locker room. It could map more like a dungeon crawl. Two--I didn't really understand "die quickly and relatively randomly", but I think that real-world combat could be fun when some designer hits upon the right formula.... Originally Posted By: Othar Trygvassen: Gentleman Would you, as an ordinary college student, be constantly plunged into combat a la a more traditional RPG hero? Not constantly constantly. In a Spiderweb game, for example, we are not fighting nonstop. We also explore the map and visit towns. FINAL COMMENT The most valid complaint seems to be..."Real life is boring". My response--Not real life exactly. More like a caricature of real life.
  12. Thanks for your response, BMA. Originally Posted By: BMA when someone says RPGs you imagine a magical world with spells and swords, surrounded with fantastic creatures or a future-based sci-fi theme I don't agree. A game's genre depends upon its "mechanics" (for lack of a better term), not its setting. If a game has quests, if the hero (or band of heroes) has an inventory, if the hero constantly battles "enemies", if the hero gains experience points and levels up, if a hero has health and mana bars...it's an RPG. A contemporary setting can have these same mechanics. Originally Posted By: BMA try The Sims 2 University We have Sims 2 at home. How do we spell boring--S.I.M.S. The "mechanics" of Sims games are not RPG mechanics.
  13. Originally Posted By: Nightwatcher Wait, ever heard a game called Bully? Now, we're in the ballpark. I'll take a look at it, but I'm guessing it's more like Grand Theft Auto than a true RPG. Thanks for the reference.
  14. Originally Posted By: Actaeon Why would you want a computer game that mimicked real life? Personally, I find real life more fun... in real life. RPGs offer the opportunity to immerse yourself in something otherwise inaccessible. Good question. On the one hand, I never tire of playing good RPGs like Spiderweb Software games, even if they always have a fantasy setting. On the other hand, I often wonder why RPGs must always have a fantasy setting. You asked, "Why real life?" I don't know. The idea that keeps popping into my head is an RPG set on a university campus. The story would be easy to write. A huge variety of quests would be easy to devise. If the game is good, every university kid /graduate with a computer would want to play.
  15. Originally Posted By: Randomizer Do you mean like TAG: The Assassination Game and Gotcha! ? Thanks for the references, Randomizer. I looked at both of them, hoping they were RPGs with a contemporary setting. "Assassin" is a real-life game (played on college campuses). "Gotcha!" [i think my boys have this software] is a shooter. I want a true RPG--inventory, quests, etc.--with a contemporary setting. I suggest a university campus. The "hero" could be a normal student, a nerd, a professor, etc.
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