Spiderweb games on GOG

[homer]

Right now the Geneforge series, Avernum 1-6, and Avadon 1-2 are on GOG. Avernum: Escape from the Pit and Nethergate aren't. Is there a reason for this? Will future Spiderweb games be available there?

[Earth]

yes.

 

when they'll be available only gog knows.

[mikeprichard]

Earth Empires - I emailed Jeff about this a couple months back, and he explained that GOG simply isn't interested in A:EFTP since they already have A1-6. Of course, that doesn't make sense (A:EFTP is really an entirely different game to, and not just a remake of, A1), but that's apparently their position. And by this GOG "logic," it's not likely the remake of A2 (which is coming out at the end of the year - awesome) will be on there either. So what information do you have that indicates they've changed their mind? Or is this just wishful thinking?

[Kelandon]

I assume that Earth Empires is, as often, speaking out of ignorance but as if based on fact.

[Rya.Reisender]

It's normal GoG policy to only offer originals of games and never remakes. The 'o' in GoG stands for "old" after all.

(That's why for example they also don't have Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. Apart from the fact that nobody wants it anyway.)

 

Of course for Avernum it's kind of strange because it is quite a bit more than a remake. I guess Jeff didn't communicate it like that to them, though.

 

You can always open a GoG petition on the wishlist for the game. If there are enough people that want it, there is a chance that they reconsider.

[mikeprichard]

Good point, Rya.Reisender, but with D:OS, The Witcher 3 (of course...), and other games that are definitely not "old" available on GOG, I still question their reasoning. Also, others have already been requesting A:EFTP, Nethergate, and Nethergate:Resurrection on their forums. Anyone who wants to see them on GOG should at least put in a vote:

 

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/avernum_escape_from_the_pit

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/avernum_escape_from_the_pit_2

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/avernumescape_from_the_pit_and_episodes_16

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/nethergate

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/nethergate_resurrection

 

[homer]

GOG has been moving away from the "Good Old Games"-only thing. They have a lot of recent games like the Avadon games, Kingdom Rush, Gone Home, etc.

[Rya.Reisender]

My point was more that they won't release remakes if they can have the original. The Witcher 3 and Divinity: Original Sin are not remakes of a previous game but a brand new game.

 

Yes, GoG does release new games as well. It seems that their requirement for new games is that they are somewhat between the RPG and Point & Click Adventure genres (for example Freedom Planet is not on there as a pure platformer, platformers with RPG elements are however).

 

Though the real irony here is that Avernum 1-6 are also remakes.

[Earth]

I answered to future games part.

[mikeprichard]

"Though the real irony here is that Avernum 1-6 are also remakes."

 

Exactly.

[adc.]

GOG has been moving away from the "Good Old Games"-only thing. They have a lot of recent games like the Avadon games, Kingdom Rush, Gone Home, etc.

 

Well, maybe the "Good Old Games" they could find were limited, so they kinda started adding up some recent successful sequels of the original old games. One such example is The Witcher 2. I mean, how in the world could you call such game as "old" when I can't even get 15 above fps in 1024 x 600 in the lowest possible tweaked settings.

[mikeprichard]

It's not surprising the Witcher series is on there at least... the Witcher devs run the GOG site.

[Jerakeen]

"Though the real irony here is that Avernum 1-6 are also remakes."

 

Exactly.

Not exactly. A1 to 3 are remakes of the Exile trilogy, yes. A4 to 6 are original.

[mikeprichard]

True Jerakeen, but that's kind of moot, as they still sell remakes (three, not six - but eh). Of course someone could further nitpick and say A1-6 are being sold as a bundle that includes 3 new games (4-6) and 3 remakes (1-3), so GOG didn't have a choice, but I remain thoroughly unconvinced of the logic behind refusing to sell A:EFTP. As for not carrying Nethergate, that simply doesn't make any sense at all, at least from this perspective - it's not even a remake.

 

Hopefully one of these days (years?), they'll come to their senses.

[Jerakeen]

There is indeed no excuse for not carrying Nethergate. It is good; it is old; it is a game.

[Lilith]

There is indeed no excuse for not carrying Nethergate. It is good; it is old; it is a game.

 

it also sold about five copies so it's possible that jeff has just decided that it's not worth the effort of whatever steps are required to get it up on there

[Randomizer]

it also sold about five copies so it's possible that jeff has just decided that it's not worth the effort of whatever steps are required to get it up on there

I think Tyran bought more than 5 copies.

[Kelandon]

Wasn't it also only sold on CDs or something?

[Randomizer]

The original was CD only.

[adc.]

I think Tyran bought more than 5 copies.

 

See? You can't be too sure if you only have one copy.

[Earth]

Not exactly. A1 to 3 are remakes of the Exile trilogy, yes. A4 to 6 are original.

 

and A4 was A3 w/o surface visits.

[Kelandon]

 

 

and A4 was A3 w/o surface visits.

Huh?

 

I mean... huh?

[Lilith]

 

Huh?

 

I mean... huh?

 

I think he's making a joke that A4 is a remake of A3 because the plots of both are about stopping the same person from doing bad things, except one is set on the surface and the other isn't.

[Earth]

what lilith said.

[Rya.Reisender]

Update! Escape From The Pit is now available on GoG.

 

http://www.gog.com/news/release_bavernum_escape_from_the_pitb

[Valdain the King]

Its good to see that this happened for gog. This means that Crystal Souls will likely be released there soon because well, they sort of have to now. That just goes to show that some of the people on gog were wrong saying they won't ever release it on there they already have orig.

 

The only thing is just how much sales does jeff get when 1 game goes on gog. Its good for him yes, but will it necessarily boost his revenue, I don't know.

[Mike B.]

Well, I just bought a second copy to support the game being on gog.

 

-Mike

[mikeprichard]

When Jeff recently mentioned in his newsletter that the upcoming A2 remake would be sold on GOG, I emailed him to ask whether the A1 remake would finally be offered there as well, and he indicated talks were in the works. So I'm not surprised (but very pleased) that it's finally happened. Avernum and Geneforge were exactly the kinds of games GOG was made for, IMO; nice to see they've all finally made it. Now if he could just get them to carry Nethergate...

[Forget it]

Update! Escape From The Pit is now available on GoG.

 

http://www.gog.com/n...e_from_the_pitb

 

Great. I have all the Spiderweb games available on both Steam and GoG. And some real old discs of Exile III (my gateway drug) and Nethergate. Now I'll be buying Escape from the Pit from GoG as well. This is the only company I do this for.

 

A little disappointed to see Avadon 2 popping up lately in things like, Humble $1 Tier, Groupees Bonus Game, etc. I'm not "mad" that others got the game cheaper than I did or anything. I may have even bought a few humbles so I could make some friends (who otherwise wouldn't have bought it) try Avadon. But I feel it devalues the games (in public opinion) beyond a point that they deserve. Here's hoping that Jeff still has success at the new pricing levels he's aiming for, and Crystal Souls, Avadon 3, and Ruined World get more staying power in their pricing structures.

 

I'm not a regular on this forum. I've just been popping in lately because I'm anticipating the release of Crystal Souls so much so I stop by now and again to look for info. That said, it's too bad Crystal Souls got delayed. I'd rather have a finished game than a rushed one for sure. But I was going to buy it and play it over my Christmas break. Now I won't have time to play it until the summer so I'm tempted just to wait for a sale. Faculty are probably not his target audience, though, so it's all good.

[Lilith]

A little disappointed to see Avadon 2 popping up lately in things like, Humble $1 Tier, Groupees Bonus Game, etc. I'm not "mad" that others got the game cheaper than I did or anything. I may have even bought a few humbles so I could make some friends (who otherwise wouldn't have bought it) try Avadon. But I feel it devalues the games (in public opinion) beyond a point that they deserve. Here's hoping that Jeff still has success at the new pricing levels he's aiming for, and Crystal Souls, Avadon 3, and Ruined World get more staying power in their pricing structures.

 

Jeff's actually written a blog post about his pricing strategy. (Well, he's written several, but that's the most recent.) From the sound of it, heavily discounted bundles like that start happening when the game isn't selling a significant number of copies any more even when on sale at a 50% or 75% discount, which is usually a year or so after release.

[Forget it]

Jeff's actually written a blog post about his pricing strategy. (Well, he's written several, but that's the most recent.) From the sound of it, heavily discounted bundles like that start happening when the game isn't selling a significant number of copies any more even when on sale at a 50% or 75% discount, which is usually a year or so after release.

That makes sense. I remembered reading something by him about residual sales of old content library being a pretty nice thing, but I guess it would be more like a trickle than a waterfall.

 

What I think I'm going to do is buy the game on Steam right when it releases, to help out on the visibility factor. Just a shame that I won't have time to really play until June. I'll eventually buy it on GoG too but not until GoG have a "sale" or a "spiderweb bundle" that lets me get it there for at least half off. (I won't feel bad claiming a big GoG discount if I've already paid up on Steam, right?) I honestly prefer GoG to Steam, but having Crystal Souls in my GoG library first won't get Jeff any visibility, and I want Ruined World to be top notch.

 

Had Jeff said anything about implementing Steam trading cards? They're a stupid thing if you ask me, but tons of people have old Spiderweb content in their steam libraries. It couldn't take more than a couple days apiece to craft a set of cards for each geneforge, nethergate, avernums 4-6. That would be a hell of a lot of residual pennies from the card sale market, and maybe make bundling old titles a little (or lot) less sad to do. He might (or might not?) want one of his artists to do better-quality cards on his newer games though.