Spidweb

Last week, after six months of hard work, we were finally able to announce Avadon: The Black Fortress to the world. Avadon is our next, all-new, Indie fantasy role-playing game. And, hopefully, trilogy. We're really excited about it. It's the first time in quite a while that we're doing something really new, and these monthly development diaries will say a bit about the new series and the ups and downs of making it.

So, for the first post, I wanted to write about where the idea came from. I am often asked where I get my ideas. So, if you ever wondered, here is one answer.

The First Idea

About three years ago, I saw that the Avernum and Geneforge series were drawing to a close, and I needed to come up with something new. This was, of course, both exciting and terrifying. Coming up with an idea that will determine the course of years of your life (and possibly put you out of business) is a stressful process.

About this time, my wife and I went to see a Hungarian one-act opera called Bluebeard's Castle. I am normally not a fan of opera. Exactly the opposite, in fact. But some friends had cheap tickets, and we had babysitting, so, you know, whatever.

And what was it like? Well, I will quote Wikipedia.

"The basic plot is loosely based on the folk tale of Bluebeard, but is given a heavily psychological reworking—some would say psychoanalytic or psychosexual"

So you know it was a totally fun time. As far as I'm concerned, an evening out is a failure if it doesn't involve the word "psychosexual."

Anyway. The opera is about Bluebeard, this incredibly scary guy who lives in this huge, dark castle. He brings home his new, young, pretty wife and is showing her around. His castle has seven doors, and he unlocks and opens them for her one after the other. Each door looks out onto some cool room or vista. Some open onto treasures. Others onto subterranean realms. Or far-away lands. (So this is already sounding like a Paper Mario game.) When each door is opened, they sing about it. At length.

So then they get to the last door. Bluebeard refuses to open it. His wife begs for him to. He refuses. This goes on for a while. Finally, Bluebeard gives in and opens the door. Bluebeard's other wives (!) walk out silently. They take his new wife and pull her through the door, which closes behind them. Bluebeard sings about how sad he is. Opera ends. Very psychosexual.

So I'm sitting there watching this, and what I'm thinking is this: Who is this Bluebeard guy? He's very powerful. Very rich. Has a castle full of magic doors. He mentions how he has great influence with the court. What's his deal? Where did all that wealth come from? What does he use those portals for? What is his day job?

And here was my idea. He's a warrior. Or an assassin. Or a spy. He can go wherever the king wants, and do whatever needs doing. Something needs to be found out? Some rebel needs to die? That's what Bluebeard does, and he is well paid for it.

Turning a Glimmer Into a Game

These ideas bounce around in my head for a few years, getting massaged into a more video-game-friendly form. And that brings us to Avadon.

In Avadon, the land of Lynauus is split in two. There is the Pact, an uneasy alliance of five nations, banded together for safety. On the other side is the Farlands, the enemies of the Pact, barbarians and monsters and old, crumbling Empires, kept weak and divided. But they long to get their revenge on the Pact. To put together armies and destroy these upstarts.

And the Pact is protected by Avadon. Avadon is a fortress in the wilds, a law unto itself, separate from the government. Its warriors are tasked to find problems when they are small and do whatever it takes to remove them. Avadon is ruled by Keeper Redbeard, the smiling, jolly, utterly ruthless master of the Black Fortress. He has been in charge for sixty years, though he doesn't appear to have aged a day.

As the game begins, you have just arrived at Avadon's gates. And you have found that, after decades of steely, unbroken control, things are going terribly wrong. Redbeard wants to see you. He needs a pair of fresh eyes, and it is a bad idea to disappoint him.

And that is where the new series came from. Over the next few months, I will say more about the world and the gameplay itself.

Dicuss.

Lynaeus - Linn-Hard A-Uss.

Lynaeus has long been the continent name in my D&D campaigns. I just like the way it looks.

- Jeff Vogel

I think, after all these years, I have earned a little bit of faith in coming up with a cool storyline. Believe me, as I release info about the setting in the world, you'll see that it will stand out and have a lot of character.

However, there is only so much information that can go in a press release, and I don't want to overload it with stuff, about the Pact, and the Farlands, and Redbeard and his "wives", and the philosophy of Avadon, and, well, there is a TON of background info on the land and history of Lynaeus.

This is just the first bit of info. Lots to come. Be cool.

- Jeff Vogel

The way I pronounce it: Ave-Uh-Dawn. The first syllable rhymes with "have". Accent on first syllable, I think.

But everyone will pronounce it differently. I'm still surprised that many people say Jen-Uh-Forge.

- Jeff Vogel

For Immediate Release

Spiderweb Software Announces Avadon: The Black Fortress, An Upcoming Fantasy Role-Playing Game for Windows and Macintosh

May 27, 2010 - Spiderweb Software, Inc. announced today the upcoming release of Avadon: The Black Fortress, an all-new, Indie fantasy role-playing game. Avadon is in epic adventure in a strange and dangerous world. You are a spy and warrior who must fight the enemies of your homeland. As a servant of the Black Fortress, your word is law. Gain power and influence, experience an exciting adventure, and battle a conspiracy to destroy your people.

You are an agent of Avadon. The Black Fortress. Outside your lands, there are limitless threats. Barbarians. Fading, jealous empires. Titans and unspeakable horrors. The warriors and spies of Avadon are charged to keep them at bay, weak and divided. Your resources are unlimited, and all must obey you.

But a dark time is coming. Assassins are killing Avadon's warriors, and hidden enemies plot to unite all of your homeland's foes. If you cannot discover and destroy this conspiracy, and soon, your people face total destruction. But beware. The assassins will soon come for you …

Screenshots and more information are available here.

Avadon: The Black Fortress is an epic fantasy role-playing adventure in an enormous and unique world. You can choose from four different character classes, each with dozens of unique spells and abilities. Explore cunning dungeons, hunt for hundreds of magical artifacts, and travel through an enormous world, full of secrets. Avadon features many different endings. Your choices will change the world, and there is plenty of replay value. Avadon: The Black Fortress will be released for Windows and Macintosh in early 2011.

Spiderweb Software, Inc., an independent game-design company based in Seattle, WA, is fanatically dedicated to creating fun, exciting fantasy role-playing games for Windows and Macintosh. Past titles include the award-winning Geneforge and Avernum series. More information on the company is available at http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/.

Contact: Jeff Vogel, Spiderweb Software, Inc., PO Box 85659, Seattle, WA 98145

E-mail: spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Phone: (206) 789-4438

URL: http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com

The upload fo the demo was corrupted, which was causing the problem. We have replaced the Avernum 6 upload and the new copy seems to be fine. So just uninstall and redownload v1.0.3.

- Jeff Vogel

These boards are getting their own URL. (spiderwebforums.com) We hope by having the board have its own dedicated web hosting account the performance will improve. We will be starting the switch on 4/1/10. (Yes, I know this is April Fool's day, but it is in fact not a joke, just an amusing happenstance.) The switch over should take a few days. Our parent site, http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/ will have the full and correct url when it is all done. It should be http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php when all is said and done. An alternative, temporary address to use during the switch is http://216.104.46.70/forum/ubbthreads.php and we hope to keep our IP address for the forum the same, so this link should continue to work.

This will cause headaches and we are sorry for that, but it is long overdue. All the topics will be preserved, but important links will need correcting. Keep using the boards as usual until then. And thanks for you patience with us as we make the switch.

Mariann Krizsan

Some users have reported problems with getting Avernum 6 for Windows to pick a screen resolution that doesn't have an eye-hurting screen refresh rate. I'm working on v1.0.1 now, which has a few fixes (like for Magical Efficiency) and I want to see how the new screen resolution changing code works.

If you've had this problem, I have released a v1.0.1 test version that should do better at picking a native screen refresh rate your monitor likes. Please try it out and let me know if it helps in this thread or at spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com.

Download the .exe at

ftp://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/temp/Avernum6v101test.zip

Copy it into the Avernum 6 folder (in Program files) and run it by double clicking on it directly and see if it helps.

- Jeff Vogel

I have released a v1.0.1 test version that should do better at picking a native screen refresh rate your monitor likes. Please try it out and let me know if it helps in this thread or at spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com.

Download the .exe at

ftp://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/temp/Avernum6v101test.zip

Copy it into the Avernum 6 folder (in Program files) and run it by double clicking on it directly and see if it helps.

- Jeff Vogel

Bug reports are best e-mailed to me. I almost didn't notice this.

This will be fixed in the next updates.

- Jeff Vogel

Uninstall the game completely before redownloading and reinstalling. This is almost undoubtedly a file corruption.

- Jeff Vogel

Go to the support page

http://www.avernum.com/avernum6/support.html

and read the "running slowly" section.

Be sure to update your display drivers and, if that doesn't help, try the DirectX version.

- Jeff Vogel

The version of our game on Gamersgate is fully up to date. Our web site doesn't have a newer version.

Registering through the Gamersgate system doesn't register through our system. The software is entirely different. We don't have any access to their system, so we are powerless to register copies registered over there.

Contact me via e-mail and I'll see what I can do for you.

- Jeff Vogel

I find this whole idea just ... odd. The whole idea of a demo is that it's your sales pitch. You're putting your best foot forward. If an idea is awesome enough to be in the demo, DON'T TAKE IT OUT!

- Jeff Vogel

The cheat code window is Shift-D.

- Jeff Vogel

It's an old boilerplate EULA that I've been using forever because it gets the job done. To answer the original question, the termination is only for unregistered copies.

- Jeff Vogel

It's in the Spiderweb Software folder in My Documents.

- Jeff Vogel

Without saying more about your machine, there isn't much I can say, except that we have a lot of advice about game speed on the support page:

http://www.avernum.com/avernum6/support.html

If your machine is a netbook or doesn't have a dedicated graphics card, you may have some speed problems, but the game includes settings to help speed things up.

- Jeff Vogel

Have you redownloaded and reinstalled? Just because they're up to date doesn't mean you don't have a corrupted file or setting in there somewhere.

Win 7 64 bit still has a lot of graphics bugs to be worked out. I'm sort of at the mercy of the process here. :-(

- Jeff Vogel

Phil Foglio didn't do that art. Andrew Hunter did.

I wanted to get all of those portraits redone for Avernum 6, but I ran into artist trouble. Not everything that happens is because of my choice.

That said, I am interested in getting them redone, and I have money. Drop me a note at spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com.

- Jeff Vogel

Avernum 6 won't support a monitor of less than 768 pixels high. We're working on supporting 600 pixel high monitors in the new game engine we're developing.

- Jeff Vogel

Problems With Graphics or Crashes in 64-bit WIndows 7.

If you are using 64-bit Windows 7, it is very important to make sure that you have the latest graphics drivers for your video card. Many video cards are having problems with the new operating system. If the game is crashing or the graphics occasionally look wrong, go and get and install the newest graphics drivers for your card. If this doesn't help, watch for new drivers to be released for your card.

- Jeff Vogel

Control-click it. I'll change it so in the next update right-clicking works to reset it. Bah ... Thought I'd done this.

- Jeff Vogel

"The problem, unlike games like Final Fantasy, is you define your characters completely. They really don't have personalities per se other than how you envision them. So you're going to inherently meet someone who is not *your* heroes, but a version of them Jeff concocted. Inevitably, some people are going to be disappointed."

This.

Heck, I can't even place a proper (if vague) memorial since it's unclear whether you won the previous games with a one or four player party.

Avernum 5 and 6 have multiple references to past problems being solved by enterprising adventurers, though.

- Jeff Vogel