Fledgling Fyora desertfox40 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Hi I am new to the Forums and this might be a silly question, but is Spiderweb planning to have Steam host Blades of Avernum or is it to old of a game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk nikki. Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I'm going to assume it's probably too old a game, but who knows whether JV thinks so? I think a bigger concern is interest - BoA didn't do astonishingly well when it was released (and actually almost ruined Spiderweb financially, if I'm remembering correctly), and it hasn't received nearly as much love as Blades of Exile has. I'd love to see the game reach a wider audience (and hopefully entice some new designers to join our ranks), but I'm not holding my breath. Of course, you could always send Spiderweb an email and see what they think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fledgling Fyora desertfox40 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Not having any gamer I talked to know what Blades of Avernum was a frustration of mine and I would have liked to see it have a wider audience. I think I will email Spiderweb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt Mosquito---Slayer Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Honestly It didn't do well then and now that the engine is really like ancient there is little chance that it will do well now even if steam hosts it, but still trying never killed anyone, and I just might be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Balladeer Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 With the game already made and sitting on a shelf I don't see what Jeff has to lose other than the time it takes to negotiate who gets how much with Steam. I hope he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Tyranicus Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 3rd-party scenarios could be integrated into the Steam Workshop too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan tridash Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Going by some of the other steam releases, it would be windows-only on steam. I'd rather see BoA go open source personally. nikki. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) I'd rather see BoA go open source personally. Personally, unless we get after Jeff about this sooner, I predict the earliest we will see an open-sourced BoA is after Exile Remake Remake III: Ruined World. I imagine then he'll look at his list of games and go "oh, hey, that" Edited October 31, 2012 by Sylae And then he'll get on Nethergate Resurrection Resurrection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan tridash Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I think Niemand had written up a possible email to send to Jeff, it might be in the 'blades chat' thread from about a year ago. I think the idea was to get the windows editor a bit further along before asking, but I guess it at least looks vaguely similar to the mac one (good enough perhaps?), and boa is only getting deader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Xaiya Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 It'd be nice if this reached a larger (and interested) audience, and I might even be interested in returning to BoA more than once or twice a year if it did, but it doesn't seem likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk The Loquacious Lord Grimm Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I haven't tinkered with the windows editor in a few months, but I've always felt that the reason why BoA slumped in comparison to BoE was the lack of user friendliness in terms of built-in design interface. BoE came with an all-in-one design tool that even I, as a completely inexperienced teenager, could understand. BoA, while exponentially more powerful, requires more work outside of the provided editor than it does in it, and while 3rd-party tools have been phenomenally useful in making scenario design more approachable, the fact stands that without that all-in-one tool, a fair amount of could-be designers are scared away. Doesn't matter that it's just different interfaces for creating the same scripts, as BoA's approach merely cuts the GUI middleman, people are more comfortable and more ambitious if they feel guided. I believe that the Steam Workshop is an excellent tool for expanding the Blades community and its influence, a centralized official hosting system that could coordinate not only scenarios, but scripts, graphics, and other presets as well, precluding the need for intimate knowledge of community and satellite resources before jumping in. Our third-party sites would still be excellent grounds for advanced users, without scaring off casual beginners. However, I fear, given the age of the program, the necessity to change file types between operating systems, and its graphical differences from Spiderweb's current Steam offerings, that it would not be well-accepted in its current condition, even if an all-in-one editor is ever developed. But the Workshop idea is strong. Perhaps it is more prudent to pester Jeff to start a long-term project of adapting the current engine towards the goal of Blades, with a beta open long enough to give the established community a chance to adapt and port our best works, thus giving the new installation a strong repertoire when it hits the market, instead of just A Perfect Forest and Roses of Reckoning. Just saying. This, of course, assumes that Jeff wasn't too burned by BoA to ever think of such a thing again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 This, of course, assumes that Jeff wasn't too burned by BoA to ever think of such a thing again. I think he said that he was. The project took far longer than expected but made very little money, if I remember correctly, and I'm pretty sure he said he was never doing anything like that again. He did say that he was never doing E4/A4, and then he did, but that was because he knew he would make tons of money doing it (and he did), whereas another Blades could very well lose him money again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Ishad Nha Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 BoE had an Integrated Development Environment feel, very reassuring. Official Spiderweb Editor was 2D, and this for a 3D game! Then you have to remember a whole of stuff about the calls, functions. You have to look up a call and check its parameters, unless you know it off by heart. Quite a few things that are straightforward in BoE are not so easy in BoA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan tridash Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 So do people think there's any point in asking Jeff about opening BoA now, or wait a bit more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I think at this point waiting more will gain nothing valuable, and only increase the risk of him losing the source or some such. Plus, if it gets opened and development enhances it notably, he could use Open BoA as a marketing hype for the Exile Remake Remake series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt BMA Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I vote for BoA going open, too. can't wait to see the source code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Ishad Nha Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 He could make it open source and ask for donations too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Dark Sniper Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Hmm... Guys I should think Spiderweb should release a nice revamp of BoA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Until Jeff decides to open source BoA like he did for BoExile, it's not going to happen. Too much code to fix and document when he can put the time to new games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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