Jump to content

Update Exile series! (Poll)


chrlpolk

Updating the Exile Series  

26 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you pay for an update to the Exile series so it works on modern systems?

    • Yes, without hesitation! A must-have in my collection!
      9
    • Yes, if priced moderately, seeing as how it's an ancient game.
      4
    • No, but I would absolutely download and play it if it were free.
      6
    • No, let it disappear.
      8


Recommended Posts

I would legit pay for pulling a GOG on this series.  I'm not talking about a remake or even an Enhanced Edition, just take the game as-is and do whatever it takes to make it run on a modern system!

 

I have been struggling for a couple days now with VM's and can't seem to make the magic happen.  I've played the demo's for Avernum and Avadon series and I can see the appeal!  But, they just don't play like the Exile series, which at one point I had all registered.  They give me the same feeling as the Gold Box games, but with so much more in the way of customization options!

 

But alas, from my perspective of failed VM attempts, they seem to be gone forever.

 

What would it take to make this happen?  Kickstarter?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • chrlpolk changed the title to Update Exile series! (Poll)

Avernum just doesn't feel the same.  Too many alterations.  I know it has a lot of quality of life improvements, but it loses something, too.  The six-character party has more of that Gold Box feel that drew me to it to begin with, and the design is... better?  I know "better" isn't the right word, but I prefer it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CM and I have been discussing it for... years? I think. It's not a short-term goal but it's a goal. Like other OBoE goals, we're stalled for lack of help and lack of interest. But yes, we want to do it.

 

Also, I know some wealthy geeks who want to make me happy because they love me, and they are willing to fund OBoE development, so hopefully that'll pan out. Money motivates people to work. Names and details withheld for now.

 

EDIT: To clarify, CM and I think it would be better to get the thing running properly on all supported OSes before we worry about adding a bunch of extra features. So that's what I mean by "not a short-term goal". Also I am only an assistant. It's just CM doing the programming alone, still. Thus long development time.

Edited by The Almighty Doer of Stuff
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, chrlpolk said:

Avernum just doesn't feel the same.  Too many alterations.  I know it has a lot of quality of life improvements, but it loses something, too.  The six-character party has more of that Gold Box feel that drew me to it to begin with, and the design is... better?  I know "better" isn't the right word, but I prefer it.

 

Yeah, second that.  Could never really get into any Spiderweb games after BoE, though I've got a few of the first Avernums and Nethergate and played some Geneforge demos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
16 minutes ago, jeb356 said:

Is there going to be any kind of patch so that the older games will run with OS X Catalina?

Jeff will probably never do it himself, however it is possible someday before the Earth ends that someone else will make an update version that will work on current computers. Your best bet in the meantime is to use an emulator program or run a Windows version in a partition.

 

Welcome to Spiderweb Software. Please leave your sanity at the door. It helps to understand what's happening with the games. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Randomizer said:

Jeff will probably never do it himself, however it is possible someday before the Earth ends that someone else will make an update version that will work on current computers. Your best bet in the meantime is to use an emulator program or run a Windows version in a partition.

:(

 

That's too bad.  From what I understand, the (only? main?) problem is that 10.15 refuses to run 32-bit programs.  As long as the game engines are written in portable C or some other high-level language, simply recompiling in 64-bit mode would allow them to keep running.  I understand why this would be way, *way* down Jeff's todo list, but it's still a shame.

 

I can stick with 10.14 for awhile to satisfy my occasional urge to fire up Geneforge or A3, but eventually I'll get a new machine or something, and be forced to switch to 10.15.  I guess at that point I'll see how much effort is required to use an emulator...

Edited by othersean
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still want to do some work on OBoE, but I'm still living in the same sorry state of poor health. And when I recover, I have other priorities such as completing my education, getting a proper job, and working on my potentially lucrative projects.

Edited by GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Earth said:

if is really in need to play exiles and/or avernum 1-3 if those don't work in modern OSes then solution is virtualization and installing any OS (if has valid licence) capable to run those games to virtual machine and when has need to play old game just start vm and game and play.

 

That's what I ended up doing.  I'm running Windows 3.1 (runs entirely on DOS) inside DOSBox.  Even though it's not that big a hassle to run it this way, I'd still pay for it to be updated to run natively on modern machines.  I wonder if there's a way to pseudo-do it like GOG does?  GOG's X-Com and Gold Box games came with their own DOSBox pre-setup so that it practically runs natively, as in, you click on the .exe and the game starts right up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 10 months later...
  • 2 years later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...