Spidweb

"I would describe it as confusing. Is that a good thing?" All changes, every single one, confuse some people when first encountered. This is neither avoidable nor a reason to avoid changing the system. I strongly suspect most people new to my games will not be confused by it and people who are familiar with past titles will get used to the new system very quickly. For what its worth, the zone system in Avadon is very, very close to that of Dragon Age. That was a hugely popular game, and I know of no epidemics of perplexity when people traveled from area to area. - Jeff Vogel

The old engine Avadon uses can't handle case-sensitive file systems. However, I've made a beta version of the game with a new engine that might work better. The link is here ... http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=223880#Post223880 If you try it, could you please let me know if it works? - Jeff Vogel

"who isn't quite sure why the only place to retrain isn't early in the game. It's early that you'll find yourself making build mistakes." Because you make the mistakes early, but you don't realize you made them until the game starts to get tricky, which is, coincidentally, at about exactly the point where you meet the respec person. - Jeff Vogel

Olle, thanks. I fixed this. - Jeff Vogel

"Like I said before, why does Jeff give us the option of exiting zones from all four sides when most of them go nowhere? Wouldn't it be better to just block those exits with trees, etc?" They don't go "nowhere". They go out of the zone. I provide multiple exits to minimize the amount you have to travel when you are done in an area and want to go elsewhere. This is a good thing. - Jeff Vogel

This is, indeed, my mistake. I will put this workaround in the support area tomorrow ... Miranda Disappears At Beginning Of the Game If you go upstairs and speak with Redbeard before you get the order from Heart Miranda, it is possible for her to disappear forever. This will be fixed in v1.0.1. If you have this problem, ascend to Redbeard's Chambers. Press shift-D. Enter the exact line below ... sdf 100 0 5 and press Return. Then go downstairs. Miranda should be there.

Don't get me wrong. It is programmable. It's just trickier and weirder. For example, suppose you approach a door in Avernum. The way its grid works, you can only approach a door head on so it's easier for the game to figure out when you're about to bonk into a door. But in Avadon you can approach a door so that you're half touching it and half not, which is a trickier thing to program. It's a bigger time investment, and, for the vast majority of movement, the mouse is better (anything not really close). And, remember, one of the platforms I'm porting the game to doesn't have a keyboard at all. So I made the call and spent my development time on other things. - Jeff Vogel

There is indeed a bug here. Thanks for calling it to my attention. This is what I am going to put on the support page tomorrow: Jhereth Deeps Corridor Stays Blocked With Water There is a corridor in the Jhereth Deeps blocked with water. You can turn a wheel to unblock it. However, if you leave the region and return, the passage will be blocked again. This problem will be fixed in v1.0.1. In the meantime, there is a workaround. Download this file: ftp://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/mac/z7jhareth.txt.zip Uncompress it and copy it into Avadon Files/Scripts in the Avadon folder. Then leave the Jhereth Deeps and return. The passage should be unblocked. - Jeff Vogel

June, is there any chance you could send me a saved game? You can also send a saved game to support@spiderwebsoftware.com and I can take a look. Save the game to the upper left slot, go to the saved game folder (in Documents/Spiderweb Software), compress the folder Save0, and send that to us. - Jeff Vogel

I looked at your saved game. You killed all the wretches, but you need to report back to Watcher Harissa. She's standing next to Ilhan. - Jeff Vogel

OK, I looked at the code, and it seems to be correct. When you try to turn that wheel, tell me exactly what happens or what message the game gives you. You can also send a saved game where you are standing at the blockage to support@spiderwebsoftware.com and I can take a look. Save the game to the upper left slot, go to the saved game folder (in Documents/Spiderweb Software), compress the folder Save0, and send that to us. - Jeff Vogel PS One final thing to check. Maybe a script is broken. Press 't' to bring up the text console. Leave the area, return, and walk to the water. Watch the text area for anything that looks like an error message, and, if one appears, tell me exactly what it is.

I'll look into this now to make sure something isn't glitched. - Jeff Vogel

You can also send a saved game to support@spiderwebsoftware.com and I can take a look. Save the game to the upper left slot, go to the saved game folder (in Documents/Spiderweb Software), compress the folder Save0, and send that to us. - Jeff Vogel

Are you sure you're looking in the right place? From the stairway to Redbeard's floor, go south (lower left) and then turn west. So far, a lot of people have played the demo but nobody has had this problem, so if something weird is happening, it's a rare issue (or maybe a corrupted game file). You can also send a saved game to support@spiderwebsoftware.com and I can take a look. Save the game to the upper left slot, go to the saved game folder, compress the folder Save0, and send that to us. - Jeff Vogel

@Benihana - That sort of problem is almost always the result of a malfunctioning video card. As for the heat issue, Avadon uses far less of the CPU (it doesn't hog it in the way that our older games did), so it should not be the cause of this problem. Macbooks are infamous for having heat issues. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to help you with these issues on that machine. - Jeff Vogel

athom, I think I can help. 1. Tell me the exact name of the ability you can't use. 2. Open your training window and tell me how much you have currently trained the skill attached to that ability. You could also send screenshots to support@spiderwebsoftware.com. Take a shot of both the training screen and the use ability screen. But remember. Each skill has TWO abilities attached to it. You get the first at level 1 and the second at level 6. - Jeff Vogel

I'll tell you what I do internally. Avernums: A, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, BoA Geneforge: G, G2, etc. Avadon: Av, Av2, etc. - Jeff Vogel

We're already working on fixing the minor glitches and issues with Avadon as they pop up. We currently are working on a version of Avadon for the Mac App Store, that uses a newer engine and the newer Mac code base (Cocoa, for those interested). If you are having odd issues, this new version might help to address them. You can download the newest Avadon app here ... http://www.mediafire.com/?vj9cbe1kr7c6su7 It's just one self-contained app. No folder or extra files. If you try it out and it works or doesn't work, please let us know. If you have been wanting to be a Spiderweb tester, this is a great way to get our attention. :-) - Jeff Vogel

I always liked achievements in games, and, if I want to get on Steam, (not to mention the Mac Game Center), they are expected. So that's why there's that. - Jeff Vogel

There really is no reason for the dialogue and special encounter text to be as small as it is. I will look very hard at making this larger in future games. Sadly, it is too late to make this change for Mac Avadon v1.0, as it would require retesting all of the text in the game. However, I might make this switch for Windows Avadon v1.0 and if it works, put it in the Mac version in a later update. I will very strongly consider making dialogue and special encounter text bigger in all future games. As for the rest of the text in the game, I'll have to evaluate this case by case, but I should be able to pretty easily fix the worst offender (dialogue text). As for color-blindedness, I am pretty sure at this point that all of our newer games don't require color recognition, or, when they do, also give text prompts that enable the color-blind to know what's going on. I think we're safe here. - Jeff Vogel

I just put up the final developer diary for Avadon: The Black Fortress. Still on track for a Mac release late next month. - Jeff Vogel

"I like the bone he threw us to make us all not feel like asshats." Meant every word of it. It's hard to explain how you might respect and value something even while feeling the need to keep a respectful distance. I hope I managed to thread that needle. Also, forum posts DO have value. When someone reports a bug or major issue on the forums, it almost always then finds its way to me. The mods are kind enough to draw my attention when it is needed, and I hope they continue to do so. Back to Avadon. The world is almost done. - Jeff Vogel

Dealing with the ability to teleport over special encounters was, indeed, Headache #1 for coding Shadowwalkers. - Jeff Vogel

The next developer diary for Avadon: The Black Fortress is up. http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2010/11/avadon-developer-diary-4-character.html It goes into the four character classes in some detail, explaining where they came from and their role in the game. - Jeff Vogel

The four joinable character in Avadon are like Greta and Alwan, but much more so. They have lots of dialogue, banter, issues, etc. I'm enjoying writing them. - Jeff Vogel