Geneforge remakes.

[Vinlie]

When will the fabled remakes come out for Geneforge? and will it be a remake on just G1 or all the Geneforges? Will all the Geneforge games be mashed into one giant game where choices will be carried over from each game? That would be super cool imo.

[googoogjoob]

The remakes are confirmed to be the next thing Spiderweb will release after the current project, Queen's Wish. It'll probably follow the pattern the Avernum remakes did: one remake will come out a time, alternated in release with other games. I don't think it's ever been stated anywhere whether the remakes will cover the entire Geneforge series, or just Geneforge 1-3 (which use a much creakier and more dated engine), but I guess that by the time the remakes potentially come out, Geneforges 4 and 5 could be as dated as 1-3 are now.

 

The chances of the games being merged into one are basically zero, mainly because Spiderweb's business model has been to put out one game ever year-to-year-and-a-half, with no span of two years ever having passed since 1995 without at least one Spiderweb release, and each game funded at least partially out of the proceeds of the prior game. Making a remake of all five games at once would take at least three years, and probably more, going by the rate the (new) Avernum remakes were made, and would require a much larger initial outlay of cash, which would disrupt the cycle.

 

Carrying over choices between games, via imported saves or whatever, is also probably impossible, because that'd require every Geneforge after 1 to be rewritten on a scale much larger than the scale of the rewrites of Exile -> Avernum or Avernum -> Avernum remakes.

[Vinlie]

That's disappointing lol. Spiderweb software should hire some more employees, or just get some volunteer help from the outside to help em out. Doesn't Spiderweb Software have like 3 employees or something

[alhoon]

I really don't think Spider Games make enough money to expand and hire extra help just for the remake of games. The price you see should take into account that steam takes a bite, taxes take a bite etc.

If Spiderweb games makes 2$ per game I will be surprised.

A part timer for software assistance would get probably ~10-15$ per hour or 10K$-15K$ per year. The resale of the games should give the developer some money and cover those fees.

 

I.e. if they hire a part-timer, I believe they would need to sell 5000-10000 more copies at full price to cover his or her salary.

[googoogjoob]

I'm sure Spiderweb could hire another employee to work on a remake or whatever. The problem is that said employee would only be able to work on that one game, because all the profit from the game that'd go to paying for their salary would normally be ploughed back into the budget for the next game.

[Slawbug]

Part-timer or not, anyone who is actually doing the coding is going to make a lot more than $10-15 an hour.  And when I say "a lot," I really mean a lot.

[Vinlie]

Volunteer help from the community could be an option. Just throwing out ideas.

[Slawbug]

Yeah... you run into the same problem though.  Anyone who's going to be meaningfully helpful could just make their own game.  That way they get to make their dream a reality, and they get to make money off of it.  And that's one of the main reasons indie game makers are overwhelmingly one-programmer outfits.

 

Anyway, Jeff has written about this in the past.  Probably in his blog somewhere; he's definitely also discussed it in AMAs and the like.  The bottom line is it's just not how he wants to do things.

[googoogjoob]

10 hours ago, And my heart too. said:

Part-timer or not, anyone who is actually doing the coding is going to make a lot more than $10-15 an hour.  And when I say "a lot," I really mean a lot.

In commercial video game development, the rule of thumb is the budget increases by $100,000 per additional employee per year (covering not just their salary but also equipment, training, etc).

[alhoon]

I really doubt they can afford 100K$.

16 hours ago, And my heart too. said:

Part-timer or not, anyone who is actually doing the coding is going to make a lot more than $10-15 an hour.  And when I say "a lot," I really mean a lot.

Ehh... perhaps a good programmer from a less expensive country? I think that some software developers are finding talent in Asia to do that stuff. I once saw an ad from an indie game company asking people to do a bit of freelancing for them for 300$ per month or something, for ~50-100 hours per month. I think they got a lot of people to show interest. I don't know if those applying actually had the qualifications but the company later said they were very pleased by the interest shown.

[Lilith]

Yeah, to expand on what Slarty said, Jeff has talked in the past about how even if money weren't an issue, working with other people doesn't suit his personality, and if it did, he'd be working for Electronic Arts or something instead of running an indie studio.

 

4 hours ago, alhoon said:

I really doubt they can afford 100K$.

Ehh... perhaps a good programmer from a less expensive country? I think that some software developers are finding talent in Asia to do that stuff. I once saw an ad from an indie game company asking people to do a bit of freelancing for them for 300$ per month or something, for ~50-100 hours per month. I think they got a lot of people to show interest. I don't know if those applying actually had the qualifications but the company later said they were very pleased by the interest shown.

 

As countless failed small-time devs have learned, sending out an open call like this has a very good chance of getting you someone who will do a month or two of work and then disappear. There's a reason why "our programmer flaked out on us" is one of the top causes of failure for indie video game kickstarters. It's viable for small pieces of work but a big risk if you need someone to work consistently over the course of an entire dev cycle.

[Slawbug]

And frequently the flaking is caused by their realizing there are more lucrative opportunities for them!  Especially if they are being paid that little.  50-100 hours a month for $300 will never attract even remotely good talent.  It's not that $300 isn't a lot for some people, it's that there are much better opportunities even remotely over the internet.  Feel free to link to that example and prove me wrong...

[alhoon]

7 hours ago, And my heart too. said:

And frequently the flaking is caused by their realizing there are more lucrative opportunities for them!  Especially if they are being paid that little.  50-100 hours a month for $300 will never attract even remotely good talent.  It's not that $300 isn't a lot for some people, it's that there are much better opportunities even remotely over the internet.  Feel free to link to that example and prove me wrong...

I don't remember the game and while I have the email buried somewhere, I would trust you and Lilith on that. What you say makes sense.
A student of mine, a talented Indian, was very interested at first for such an opportunity. It was he that told me that 300$ in India is a lot and he would love that opportunity to add it to his CV etc.
However he decided to stay in Europe for another year and 300$ for 50-100 hours of work per month is not enough. As you just mentioned he found other jobs that were paying better.

 

So... based on what you two said, I doubt that worked for this company, in the long term at least.

[TheKian]

Going slightly more back on topic, as Randomizer said,

 

On 3/15/2018 at 12:38 AM, Randomizer said:

From Jeff back in February:

 

"We will remaster the Geneforge games, starting in 18 months or so. The story and gameplay will be mostly the same, but I have a lot of cool ideas for the creation system.

 

I will be giving the Geneforge engine a lot of tweaks to make gameplay more varied and interesting. I was never happy with how leveling up and training creations worked. I want players to feel free to change their creations around to match given situations and not be stuck with a few fixed creations the whole game.

 

I want you to be able to customize your creations in more satisfying and significant ways.

 

The base storyline and the main elements of the game that people loves will stay the same."

 

So you can expect the (first of the) Geneforge remakes to (release? begin creation?) around Summer/Autumn 2019.

[Vinlie]

3 hours ago, TheKian said:

So you can expect the (first of the) Geneforge remakes to (release? begin creation?) around Summer/Autumn 2019.

Wow I'll be out of high school by then.

[googoogjoob]

11 hours ago, TheKian said:

So you can expect the (first of the) Geneforge remakes to (release? begin creation?) around Summer/Autumn 2019.

 

Almost certainly begin development, given that Queen's Wish is currently in dev.