Survival-Horror-Esque Spiderweb Game?

[RaustBlackDragon]

As I was playing the spiderweb games (Particularly Geneforge 1 and Avernum: EftP), A thought kept growing in my mind regarding what a cool direction would be for Jeff to take for the next series when the Avadon series is eventually done. Geneforge 1 and Avernum: EftP both had absolutely massive and hostile worlds that it was your sole objective simply to escape. And as I was playing, I suddenly got the thought into my head: "Hey, what if somebody built a survival-horror-esque strategy game using the Geneforge and Avadon style of movement and combat?"

 

I imagined a zombie apocalypse game with Geneforge's general game engine, taking a group of ragtag survivors exploring an abandoned and dead world full of buildings and houses and underground tunnels, all overrun with hostile monstrosities. The regularly-seen elements in the Spiderweb Games (the ability to sneak past battles, a system of picking locks, the incentive to explore the world, and non-linear gameplay) would all lend itself PERFECTLY to a zombie apocalypse or other survival horror game type. The core gameplay elements and appeal wouldn't even be changed, really, it would just be the aesthetic and setting that would be different. There would be no alienating the core loyal fanbase, just a light survival horror twist

 

Sadly, I'm well aware of the unfortunate fact that something like this probably will never, ever, EVER happen. Shame, because I honestly feel it would work wonderfully, and we already know that Jeff can effectively spin a compelling tale of the downfall of a society revealed through journals and documents (Geneforge 1). The reason why I say this will never happen is because it would likely demand a crapton of new artwork that could potentially be difficult to recycle for other, later spiderweb games.

 

Oh well, it was fun to imagine.

[Randomizer]

Jeff's got plenty of undead graphics as I just faced some today.

 

Now convincing Jeff to write the story....

[RaustBlackDragon]

Jeff's got plenty of undead graphics as I just faced some today.

 

Now convincing Jeff to write the story....

 

Well I was talking more about WORLD graphics...

 

Yeah, and as I said, I don't have much hope that anything resembling this will ever come to fruition.

[RaustBlackDragon]

Am I the only one who thinks this would be interesting?

[Triumph]

I've never liked the survival horror or zombie apocalypse genres (or are they basically the same and thus just one genre?) in any medium. Thus I would feel absolutely no interest whatsoever in such game as you propose, whether made by Spiderweb or anyone else.

 

 

Also, there's no need to post two hours after your last post, just to ask for attention to your thread.

[Death Knight]

I think that its really there in small parts. When I first played Avadon, the Shadow Beast was kind of freaky within that forest. Coupled with the fact that most of the first times that battle can be tricky if you are not used to the game. When you are not used to playing and you got this weird looking wolf, it can have some of those elements in there for you to see.

 

Geneforge is really the game where you have to worry about getting eaten. Especially with solo characters.

[RaustBlackDragon]

 

Also, there's no need to post two hours after your last post, just to ask for attention to your thread.

 

Not quite sure what I was thinking there, honestly.

[Questionably Legal]

A suvival horror game would be great, not so sure about it being a Zombie Apocalypse^TM game, Somthing more Lovcraftian would be perfect thought, and not quite so new environment graphic heavy.

 

Let's send Jeff a bunch of emails.

[Enraged Slith]

Make it in Blades of Exile or Avernum.

[Lilith]

Make it in Blades of Exile or Avernum.

 

Revenge actually comes pretty close.

[RaustBlackDragon]

A suvival horror game would be great, not so sure about it being a Zombie Apocalypse^TM game, Somthing more Lovcraftian would be perfect thought, and not quite so new environment graphic heavy.

 

Let's send Jeff a bunch of emails.

 

Lovecraftian. Oh god yes.

[Alorael at Large]

I feel like zombie horror has been played out already and Lovecraftian horror thrives on more audiovisual oomf than Jeff can provide. But there's one thing that Jeff already made that comes close to survival horror: Avernum 2, chapter 2. Play up the need for food and other supplies and the isolation in a hostile, unknown world does all the rest.

 

—Alorael, who thinks the idea dovetails nicely with Jeff's vague stated pondering about an Avernum prequel. The First Expedition would be survival horror, but early Avernite settlement would also come very close.

[Randomizer]

Avernum: The First Expedition

 

Cut off from the surface, facing nephils, sliths, and demons, a small party of Empire soldiers tries to survive to reach the main expedition.

[RaustBlackDragon]

Avernum: The First Expedition

 

Cut off from the surface, facing nephils, sliths, and demons, a small party of Empire soldiers tries to survive to reach the main expedition.

 

Oh god yes. YES.

[Cairo Jim]

Avernum: The First Expedition

 

Cut off from the surface, facing nephils,

 

I'm pretty sure there won't be nephils until the Empire starts sending them down.

[Goldengirl]

I feel like zombie horror has been played out already and Lovecraftian horror thrives on more audiovisual oomf than Jeff can provide. But there's one thing that Jeff already made that comes close to survival horror: Avernum 2, chapter 2. Play up the need for food and other supplies and the isolation in a hostile, unknown world does all the rest.

 

Ah yes, Alorael as the constant fan of the Black Waters scene.

 

Jeff has come close to this many times. Avernum 5 was the closest to being an entire game on this premise. Geneforge 1 also came close to this premise. Other scenes throughout the games, such as the alien beast hunt in Avadon or the ending sequence of Avadon. I actually wouldn't say a game along these premises is too far out of Spiderweb's realm, especially since the scenes that approach that in Jeff's games tend to be well-liked.

[Triumph]

I remember playing the Dark Waters segment in the Avernum 2 demo many years ago...it was amazingly atmospheric! Very well done.

 

As Goldenking notes, lots of Jeff's games involve a struggle to survive in difficult, hostile circumstances. They just to occur in fantasy settings. The survival-horror genre, as I understand it, tends to be set more in modern surroundings, and with more science-fiction-y threats rather than magical ones. Part of the horror associated with the genre comes from setting the story in the shattered remains of familiar civilization. Another common feature of survival-horror (at least as I perceive it) is gore; probably not all survival-horror involves blood and guts, but that sort of thing does seem to be popular. That's never really been a big part of Jeff's games (yeah, there's violence, of course, but not a lot of graphic, indulgent emphasis on gore). I suppose Jeff could do these things if he wanted to, but I point them out as substantive differences between SW games and the genre under consideration.

[Questionably Legal]

I feel like zombie horror has been played out already and Lovecraftian horror thrives on more audiovisual oomf than Jeff can provide. But there's one thing that Jeff already made that comes close to survival horror: Avernum 2, chapter 2. Play up the need for food and other supplies and the isolation in a hostile, unknown world does all the rest.

 

—Alorael, who thinks the idea dovetails nicely with Jeff's vague stated pondering about an Avernum prequel. The First Expedition would be survival horror, but early Avernite settlement would also come very close.

Keeping in mind that Lofcraftian horror is named after the (illustrationless) BOOKS written br H.P. Lovecraft, I don't think audiovisual oomf is really a requirement. The vagueness lent by limited graphics might even improve the atmosphere, since each player could project their individual fears onto the same template.

 

[Alorael at Large]

Mostly short stories, actually. He wrote, if I recall correctly, one novel and a handful of novellas, but he's mostly famous for short stories. Anyway, that's fair, but I think that kind of intellectual grimness is a hard thing to make the centerpiece of a game. A thematic aspect, sure, but I don't think it actually makes for a something that feels like a horror game. But I also don't think the stories work as horror, just as works portraying a bleak, inhospitable universe. For a horror game you need something more (as much as I loathe the term in its acquired meaninglessness) visceral.

 

—Alorael, who likes A5 because it has so much of Dark Waters in it. And he doesn't think Avernum's Dark Waters does justice to it. It's really scary in E2, where you lose your food and start taking damage from starvation. And even that's ruined once you realize that Minor Manna and Manna can keep you going indefinitely.

[Triumph]

But for that one shining moment, the notion of spells that could conjure food (normally a pointless cantrip) became incredibly cool and flavorful.

[cbecker78]

There is "Call of the Cthulhu: Wasted Land". It's a tactical computer RPG. Turn-based combat is great. The down-side compared to spiderweb style is no open world and/or friendly-zone exploration. Just scene/combat/dialogue/scene/combat/dialogue.

[Questionably Legal]

Mostly short stories, actually. He wrote, if I recall correctly, one novel and a handful of novellas, but he's mostly famous for short stories. Anyway, that's fair, but I think that kind of intellectual grimness is a hard thing to make the centerpiece of a game. A thematic aspect, sure, but I don't think it actually makes for a something that feels like a horror game. But I also don't think the stories work as horror, just as works portraying a bleak, inhospitable universe. For a horror game you need something more (as much as I loathe the term in its acquired meaninglessness) visceral.

 

—Alorael, who likes A5 because it has so much of Dark Waters in it. And he doesn't think Avernum's Dark Waters does justice to it. It's really scary in E2, where you lose your food and start taking damage from starvation. And even that's ruined once you realize that Minor Manna and Manna can keep you going indefinitely.

That depends on what you consider to be a horror game. It wouldn't be the kind of game that invokes instant terror with sudden scares, but more of a slow unsettling feeling of creepyness.

[Alorael at Large]

Lovecraft's actual stories have largely failed to evoke creepiness for me, though. Bleak cosmic grimness is not the same. Even something like "The Thing on the Doorstep" which isn't cosmic and is creepy just comes across as too stilted.

 

I also think that some special effects go a long way in slow unsettling creepiness, too.

 

—Alorael, who doesn't deny that books can handle creepiness with intense depth. He's just not sure that text can do it when married to relatively crude audiovisual. Spiderweb's graphics are serviceable, but they're just not ever going to cause unease.

[The Reverend]

Spiderweb's graphics are serviceable, but they're just not ever going to cause unease.

I don't know, I still have nightmares about the GIFTS. And don't get me started on the Chitrichs ...

[Triumph]

I don't know, I still have nightmares about the GIFTS. And don't get me started on the Chitrichs ...

 

Jeff's version of a survival horror game consists of a literally endless chitrach encounter...followed by pylons.

[The Reverend]

followed by pylons.

I'd almost managed to block those memories ... Now I know what tonight's nightmare will be!

[Lauren CW]

I will take The Last of Us over any SW survival/horror game. By the end of the game, I would have killed the entire family of anyone who even looked at Ellie the wrong way. Their whole village even.