Spidweb

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

I wanted to respond to the complaints about limits for what character classes can be made male or female. (Since some are unhappy about playing certain classes as males and some are unhappy about playing some classes as females.)

Since I started writing these games in 1994, I have taken great pains to make sure that each of my games, as much as possible, allow for a variety of genders and races in the characters you play. That hasn't changed.

However, our situation with Avadon is much the same as with all other game developers: We need to release the game before money runs out. All creature graphics are being done fresh for Avadon, a hugely tricky, time-consuming, and expensive job. And PC graphics are the most difficult and expensive of all. Each PC requires a multitude of icons.

We simply didn't have time to do more PC graphics. We will still be working very hard just to get everything else done in time. So we decided to split the PCs up the way we did.

Letting the player choose any PC graphic for any class won't work because the weapons for each icons are dependent on the class. Allowing this choice would result in a ton of confusion and bug reports ("Why does my sword look like a wand?"). We will consider alternate ways to allow this, like graphic-altering cheat codes. That might be doable.

On the bright side, if Avadon does well enough to justify Avadon 2, we should have the time and resources to spend a few months making the next set of 4 PC icons. I really hope this can happen.

Thank you for your understanding. We've never made it a secret that we are a small company with limited resources, doing the best we can to make a sort of game the game industry doesn't provide.

- Jeff Vogel

We have put up Avadon Developer Diary #3. It has lots of nice, solid information about the game system.

http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2010/09/avadon-developer-diary-3-character.html

Development continues apace, and we still hope to release the game in early 2011.

- Jeff Vogel

I have finally put the second part of the Avadon Developer Diary up on my blog here. It talks about process of setting the theme and mood of the game, which is something I need to do before anything can actually be written. Hope it has something of interest ...

- Jeff Vogel

Contact us directly at support@spiderwebsoftware.com, and we can help you to get a fully registered copy.

- Jeff Vogel

This deserves its own post and it'll get more attention, but this is something I should make clear early on about the new versions of Avernum 1-3. They will have exactly the same world structure as the old games. In other words, there will be an outdoors distinct from the towns. And it'll look a lot nicer.

- Jeff Vogel

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=205

Much of it will be familiar, but there's a bit more new information.

- Jeff Vogel

It will basically use the Geneforge system, but we'll make it so it's really easy to jump from zone to zone.

- Jeff Vogel

The newest version of Geneforge 5 definitely fixes the problem with OS 10.6. (If it didn't, we certainly would have heard about it and fixed it some time in the last 9 months.) I suggest trashing your old Geneforge 5 folder to make absolutely sure you aren't accidentally running an older version and then download a fresh copy from us.

- Jeff Vogel

All of our games, as far as I know, work on Wine. The number of Linux users who refuse to use Wine and who don't have another machine for gaming is a pretty thin slice of pastry.

We are building up the energy to port our games to a new platform, but I'm afraid it won't be Linux. Sorry about that.

- Jeff Vogel

Because of the way the genre works, unless you stick the main character with a wholly prefab personally Final Fantasy style (and I don't do that), there are only a very limited number of ways these game can begin. Unknown from the sticks, or badass with a lost memory. That's kind of it. You can live with that convention, or you can't. I'm certainly not losing a ton of sleep over it.

What MATTERS is where the story goes from there. That's where all the variety, the innovation, and the fun is. And I'm willing to bet a year of my professional life that the world and story of Avadon are pretty darn cool.

- Jeff Vogel