Icshi

Oh goodie! I love it when things hit the fan! (Story-wise, anyway.) I really do hope Jeff makes at least a dozen more Geneforge games. I love the blend between SF and fantasy, and as a history student have always been fascinated by how power corrupts.

There are times in the day when I feel like I'm undergoing Geneforge 3 withdrawl... before the game is even out! How pathetic is that?!

There are times in the day when I feel like I'm undergoing Geneforge 3 withdrawl... before the game is even out! How pathetic is that?!

Quote: Originally written by Bireme sailor's concubine: Yeah, I think flying won't happen. Incidentally, this putative flying blimp monster reminds me of a Philip Jose Farmer novel I once read: *The Winds Whales of Ishmael*. This was supposedly an SF sequel to *Moby Dick* if you can believe it. I know that makes it sound like instant rubbish, but Farmer carried it off quite skillfully. By page 20 I had already stopped thinking of this Ishmael in terms of Melville's. And the central idea was rather interesting: hundreds of thousands of years in the future, all the seas have dried up, so the creatures of the deep have taken to the skies. Most of the book is routine adventure, but the setting was done with such imagination and flair that it's well worth reading. Besides, it's only 128 pages long — and Farmer apparently wrote it in one week — so it's not as if you'd be sacrificing a significant portion of your life by reading it. It doesn't even have chapter divisions! Quote: his three most classic short stories My personal favorite is "The World Between" — using ecology and terraforming as a weapon. Unique and brilliant concept, with a superb ending. Quote: Vance Integral Edition. I've heard of it. It's been on my millionaire's shopping list for quite some time. It's good that so many publishers are doing this sort of thing: Robert E. Howard is another, with Wandering Star and Del Rey reprinting his work as he originally wrote it. I've heard that even Lovecraft is being given this treatment, after the horrid things that the well-meaning August Derleth did. Quote: those old time SF writers who were so magnificent (the occassional mediocre piece consciously and politely ignored). Oh yes. Van Vogt wrote some real stinkers all right. They all have. It's unavoidable when you're writing for a living. Quote: SF just isn't what it used to be. By and large. Too true. The only authors who have written SF in recent years that I enjoy are Iain M. Banks, Jack L. Chalker (who died just last week ), and... Someone else I can't think of at the moment. I also enjoy those *Doctor Who* novels put out by Virgin in the early and mid '90s, and then by BBC Books after that. I know, hardly the most literarily respected form of fiction, but I've found the stories enjoyable and many of the premises surprisingly original. Lawrence Miles in particular is a star author in this area: he recently created a spin-off series called *Faction Paradox*, with new novels published once or twice a year. But what they lack in quanity they make up for in quality.

Quote: Originally written by Bireme sailor's concubine: Yeah, I think flying won't happen. Incidentally, this putative flying blimp monster reminds me of a Philip Jose Farmer novel I once read: *The Winds Whales of Ishmael*. This was supposedly an SF sequel to *Moby Dick* if you can believe it. I know that makes it sound like instant rubbish, but Farmer carried it off quite skillfully. By page 20 I had already stopped thinking of this Ishmael in terms of Melville's. And the central idea was rather interesting: hundreds of thousands of years in the future, all the seas have dried up, so the creatures of the deep have taken to the skies. Most of the book is routine adventure, but the setting was done with such imagination and flair that it's well worth reading. Besides, it's only 128 pages long — and Farmer apparently wrote it in one week — so it's not as if you'd be sacrificing a significant portion of your life by reading it. It doesn't even have chapter divisions! Quote: his three most classic short stories My personal favorite is "The World Between" — using ecology and terraforming as a weapon. Unique and brilliant concept, with a superb ending. Quote: Vance Integral Edition. I've heard of it. It's been on my millionaire's shopping list for quite some time. It's good that so many publishers are doing this sort of thing: Robert E. Howard is another, with Wandering Star and Del Rey reprinting his work as he originally wrote it. I've heard that even Lovecraft is being given this treatment, after the horrid things that the well-meaning August Derleth did. Quote: those old time SF writers who were so magnificent (the occassional mediocre piece consciously and politely ignored). Oh yes. Van Vogt wrote some real stinkers all right. They all have. It's unavoidable when you're writing for a living. Quote: SF just isn't what it used to be. By and large. Too true. The only authors who have written SF in recent years that I enjoy are Iain M. Banks, Jack L. Chalker (who died just last week ), and... Someone else I can't think of at the moment. I also enjoy those *Doctor Who* novels put out by Virgin in the early and mid '90s, and then by BBC Books after that. I know, hardly the most literarily respected form of fiction, but I've found the stories enjoyable and many of the premises surprisingly original. Lawrence Miles in particular is a star author in this area: he recently created a spin-off series called *Faction Paradox*, with new novels published once or twice a year. But what they lack in quanity they make up for in quality.

I was just trying to convey how goofy the server must be to do such a thing. And actually, I've just run across the same problem on another website entirely. So it must be a broswer bug. The saga of the Incredible Never-Ending Download continues...

Hmmm... I'm no technical expert, but it sounds like Spiderweb recently switched to using one of those new IBM Banana-Boomerang Yo-Yo Servers.

I'm using Safari to download the latest versions of the games that run natively in OS X (as per Drakefyre's suggestion in another topic ), but have twice now encountered a weird download bug. For some reason, my broswer just keeps on downloading data after it should be finished. In other words, once it's finished all 14 MB of the BoA .bin installer, the progress bar freezes and the count keeps going up, saying things like "15.4 MB of 14 MB". I figure this has to be a bug in Safari, because this same thing has happened with two different downloads. Anybody have any ideas on what the heck is going on here? This has got to be the freakiest thing I've ever seen an otherwise sensible browser do.

Quote: Originally written by Bireme sailor's concubine: P.S: Icshi, I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time, but I haven't posted in ages: Thank you for putting van Vogt in your signature. Thank you very much. (ever read Jack Vance?) Nice to know there are other people on these boards who know who van Vogt is! I've that had signature for a while but you're the first person to make mention of it. I don't think there are as many SF readers here than I first assumed. Jack Vance is another one of my favorites. I particularly like the Dying Earth saga, the Demon Princes novels (especially the second and fourth), *Space Opera*, *The Languages of Pao*, and *Nopalgarth* (aka *The Brains of Earth*). But to get back on topic: I don't expect anything really fancy to get from one island to another. The usual methods of bridge, boat, and underground cavern are the most likely to appear. However, I would be greatly delighted to see something new and unexpected (such as the afore-mentioned putative Shaper-created being that inflates like a balloon and you can hang onto its tail and go soaring up and over things — that would be niftiness supreme).

Quote: Originally written by Bireme sailor's concubine: P.S: Icshi, I've been meaning to tell you this for a long time, but I haven't posted in ages: Thank you for putting van Vogt in your signature. Thank you very much. (ever read Jack Vance?) Nice to know there are other people on these boards who know who van Vogt is! I've that had signature for a while but you're the first person to make mention of it. I don't think there are as many SF readers here than I first assumed. Jack Vance is another one of my favorites. I particularly like the Dying Earth saga, the Demon Princes novels (especially the second and fourth), *Space Opera*, *The Languages of Pao*, and *Nopalgarth* (aka *The Brains of Earth*). But to get back on topic: I don't expect anything really fancy to get from one island to another. The usual methods of bridge, boat, and underground cavern are the most likely to appear. However, I would be greatly delighted to see something new and unexpected (such as the afore-mentioned putative Shaper-created being that inflates like a balloon and you can hang onto its tail and go soaring up and over things — that would be niftiness supreme).

I'm expecting each island to have a small metal dome that is constantly rotating, and you need to make note of which eye symbol each has written on the outside in order to get the associated color from Gehn's survey room, then solve the marlbe riddle to get the power machine working, so each dome will uncover a magic linking book that will take you to a separate world where you can access individual books to link to the different islands... Or perhaps rusty tramcars that zoom around over the sea... Or maybe not.

I'm expecting each island to have a small metal dome that is constantly rotating, and you need to make note of which eye symbol each has written on the outside in order to get the associated color from Gehn's survey room, then solve the marlbe riddle to get the power machine working, so each dome will uncover a magic linking book that will take you to a separate world where you can access individual books to link to the different islands... Or perhaps rusty tramcars that zoom around over the sea... Or maybe not.

I'm constantly surprised (pleasantly, mind you) how many Windows users are enthusiastic supporters of Jeff's humble but highly respectable shareware firm.

I'm constantly surprised (pleasantly, mind you) how many Windows users are enthusiastic supporters of Jeff's humble but highly respectable shareware firm.

At the end of the interview that can be read here , some time in March is the estimated release date. Despite my usually patient nature, I find myself getting up every morning thinking to myself like Bob Wylie would: "Baby steps to Geneforge 3! Baby steps to March! Baby steps to Geneforge 3"

At the end of the interview that can be read here , some time in March is the estimated release date. Despite my usually patient nature, I find myself getting up every morning thinking to myself like Bob Wylie would: "Baby steps to Geneforge 3! Baby steps to March! Baby steps to Geneforge 3"

I for one hope that Jeff makes as many Geneforge games as possible before creating Blades of Geneforge. I'd be more than happy if it's even 7 years before it comes about. We'll be fully occupied with BoA for quite some time, and Jeff really doesn't need to bang his brains out creating another scenario editor so soon!

I've had that problem a few times with the Rakshasa graphic being displayed in combat mode. I always use all the correct settings when playing BoA, and almost never switch applications while it's running. I guess it's just one of those bizarre glitches.

Quote: Originally written by Spidweb: I'm about to leave on a vacation. (Don't ask how long it's been since the last one.) Hope you have a nice vacation! Do lots and lots of absolutely nothing! I can't even imagine how exahausted you must be after creating and endlessly tinkering with BoA. Quote: I need to keep working with my editor on the book I have coming out this spring. That sounds interesting — could we be given any more details? Is it fiction, or maybe a programming manual?

Quote: Originally written by Imban: Water depletion was first done in Spidweb games with Destiny of the Spheres for BoE, anyway. Ah, well, that makes me feel better. <sighs contentedly> I never played BoE, but since so few people seem to be porting/adapting scenarios over to BoA, I may yet break down and get it.

Dang blast it! I was going to use this idea of water depletion in the desert in my scenario! And I'd started planning this over a year ago!

Regarding the crones, if I remember correctly, the stone guards appear and block your re-entry after you escape, not just after you kill the one crone next to the Spire of Ages. I don't think there's any difference between the Caverns' set-up before and after the one crone gets killed. Jeff expected us to keep going on towards the Spire, rather than turn around and check for continuity glitches.

Quote: Originally written by Pandolfo the Pugilist of Ooze: Romans in Mars would be great. I think if it were written in the old style pulp it would be terrific. There's a series by Turtledove called The Lost Legion about a Roman Legion that is transported to his world of Videssos. Neat stuff. Or maybe something along the lines of the upcoming Faction Paradox novel: http://www.madnorwegian.com/fp/product.php?item=Bfp03warlords "Faction Paradox: Warlords of Utopia is a generational story in which every parallel reality where Rome conquered the world finds itself warring against every parallel reality where Nazi Germany dominated the globe." Do you think Jeff could buy the rights to adapt this book as Nethergate 2?

EDIT: See above.

EDIT: Whoa! Accidental TRIPLE post! I got some message about "flood protection" being enabled on the board, and all sorts of craziness ensued...