Geneforge: The Saga

[adc.]

Has anyone else ever thought of this idea?

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*****(|POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!|)*****

 

What if the Geneforge itself, was connected, forged anew.

 

Geneforge is connected. But I mean, like, it depends on your actions.

 

For example: (My dad haven't bought Geneforge 1 and 2, so I have limited knowledge about them, I only know much about 3,4 and 5) You joined the Rebels in Geneforge 4, you were loyal to them blah blah blah, but at the end,

you use the control panel box to destroy the unbound, cancelling the existence of any unbound in Geneforge 5.

 

 

Or

 

 

At some point in Geneforge 4, at Alwan's place, the river keep thing (can't remember the name, but it is at north of a city. GAHHH! I even forgot that city's name!). When you read a certain tome, near Alwan's quarters, it has his journey with a Shaper (name scratched out). Name scratched out. It could be Shaper Andras, Shaper Cthulhu or Shaper Dikiyoba. Depends on the name you used in Geneforge 3. Or Alwan wouldn't have existed at Geneforge 4 if you hadn't fetched him from the school.

 

 

It has many limitless possibilities. Unfortunately, I don't think Jeff would look back at Geneforge (but I do hope he does, it's a masterpiece!). Even if Geneforge is his top priority, it would take about 500,000 years with experience and a truckload of Praxis Points and augs.

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Any other possibilities that can be made? It would be fun to know.

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-Nightwatcher

[griffin]

Major problem I see is that the series would end early through some of that stuff, or need a complete plot rework. For example, if you destroy the unbound at the end of gf4, the rebellion is fairly done for, at least by the ending there. Would be great though if it could be done well (perhaps in moderation, so not with the major endings, but some more minor stuff like you suggested about the gf3 shaper's name).

 

I'd rather see more Geneforge games in general than that though Avernum has the second trilogy, how about the second Geneforge trilogy or quintology? Playing through them again recently I remember reading that Terrestia is only the second shaper continent. And never mind the Sholai lands.

[Halt]

An idea of a 'Blades of Geneforge' has been mentioned by some people.

[Lilith]

An idea of a 'Blades of Geneforge' has been mentioned by some people.

 

It's very unlikely at this stage. Blades of Avernum nearly sent Spiderweb out of business. A Blades game takes about twice as long to make as a regular SW game, so there'd need to be very strong evidence that it'll sell well, and right now there isn't.

[Randomizer]

A Blades game is harder to make because Jeff would have to fix even more bugs that don't show up in games he creates using the game engine. It's not enough to have it work for what occurs most times, but also for extreme situations.

[adc.]

An idea of a 'Blades of Geneforge' has been mentioned by some people.

(Oh come on Lilith!)

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A Blades game is harder to make because Jeff would have to fix even more bugs that don't show up in games he creates using the game engine. It's not enough to have it work for what occurs most times, but also for extreme situations.

(Not again!) To elaborate furthermore, some scenario designers have different ideas, and they're no mediocre, they add a few, special codes which weren't taught in the docs. Like Kelandon's Bahssikava or TM's Canopy: Manufactured Womb. Jeff would explore little by little the endless possibilities that might happen, while debugging them if needed.

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Major problem I see is that the series would end early through some of that stuff, or need a complete plot rework. For example, if you destroy the unbound at the end of gf4, the rebellion is fairly done for, at least by the ending there. Would be great though if it could be done well (perhaps in moderation, so not with the major endings, but some more minor stuff like you suggested about the gf3 shaper's name).

That's the point, it might take 500,000 years of experience and a truckload of Praxis points and augs. Also, yes, from the beginning, it would need a lot of plot rework. Let's say, Andras slew Ellrah, then he joined no sect, whilst escaping the island. Then there would be no Awakened. Which will affect the other series that follows.

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-Nightwatcher

[Catoblepas]

I would love a 'Geneforge 2a 'or a 'Geneforge 3b' sort of game, that explored some of the possible endings that weren't picked up in the follow-up games. I remember beign rather disheartened in Geneforge 4 when I found out that the canon ending for G3 was a rebel victory....some people on these forums might remember the particular degree to which I *hate* the Geneforge III rebels, so the idea that Esther went off and joined the Rebels was a bit painful, I'm sure other people feel similarly about some of the other canon endings for the other various games. At any rate I think it would be itneresting to explore the possibilities of alternate storylines with a new game.

 

I'm not sure how likely it is though, Mr Vogel doesn't seem to be very interested in revisiting the series at the moment. Avadon seems to be taking up most of his attention for the forseeable future.

[Randomizer]

Some day Geneforge will get updated and new content added.

[RainbowDashRadical]

Some day Geneforge will get updated and new content added.

 

Sounds fun! I hope that day comes soon .

[Student of Trinity]

(Oh come on Lilith!)

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(Not again!) To elaborate furthermore, some scenario designers have different ideas, and they're no mediocre, they add a few, special codes which weren't taught in the docs. Like Kelandon's Bahssikava or TM's Canopy: Manufactured Womb. Jeff would explore little by little the endless possibilities that might happen, while debugging them if needed.

 

 

Sorry, but this has been heatedly discussed, literally for years. Lilith knows what she's talking about. Jeff doesn't really make game engines. He makes games. His engines are only debugged enough to run his games. Debugging them enough to run all possible games would be great, no doubt; but in order to have the time to get that done, Jeff would have to stop making new games for at least half a year. The money would not be made up in sales of his great Blades-of-Geneforge game, because hardly anyone actually wants to make their own games, because making games is hard. Jeff can't afford to lose that much income. The bank would take his house.

 

Jeff knows all this, because he's tried it twice. He got burned twice. He's not going to do it again.

[Lilith]

Jeff knows all this, because he's tried it twice. He got burned twice. He's not going to do it again.

 

Wait, was Blades of Exile also a commercial failure? I know he's said he hated making it, but I don't think he's said anything one way or the other about its sales figures. It certainly attracted a more robust scenario design community than BoA, although I guess that's not proof that it sold well enough to be worth his while.

[Student of Trinity]

I doubt it paid well, because I strongly expect that almost everyone who bought BoE would have made contact with the community here at some point. That puts an upper bound of around a few hundred copies sold. Not bad if you're only looking for beer money, but not great, when this is supposed to pay your mortgage.

 

BoE must have done well enough for Jeff to consider trying it again with BoA, but I suspect that this wasn't really such a high threshold.

 

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.

[Lilith]

I doubt it paid well, because I strongly expect that almost everyone who bought BoE would have made contact with the community here at some point. That puts an upper bound of around a few hundred copies sold. Not bad if you're only looking for beer money, but not great, when this is supposed to pay your mortgage.

 

BoE must have done well enough for Jeff to consider trying it again with BoA, but I suspect that this wasn't really such a high threshold.

 

I don't think the bolded assumption is plausible. There are over 300 released scenarios, by well over 100 different designers. If only a few hundred copies of BoE were ever sold, that implies that a very large fraction of the people who bought BoE managed to finish and release a scenario. Given how much work it is to make a scenario (even a bad one), I don't buy that.

 

We know that about 4000 sales is a typical sales figure that's just enough to keep food over Jeff's head and a roof on his table, and that a Blades game has to sell significantly better than that to be worthwhile. If BoE only sold a few hundred copies, there's no way Jeff would have risked making BoA. I'd guess it sold at least 4,000 copies over its lifetime, but probably less than 10,000.

[Student of Trinity]

If only a few hundred copies of BoE were ever sold, that implies that a very large fraction of the people who bought BoE managed to finish and release a scenario. Given how much work it is to make a scenario (even a bad one), I don't buy that.

Hmm. That's a pretty good argument. Okay, BoE sales in the thousands is probably about right.