Any games in the Geneforge style?

[Purplewisp]

Anyone know if the devs (or anyone for the matter) plan on making a game set in the Geneforge story? Or even just a game set in a similar setting? I don't know why but the Avernum/ Avadon games just don't immerse me in the same way. Don't get me wrong, they are great games, but theres just something about the Geneforge style that they don't have. And its not just the addition of shaping either, I have done shaping free playthroughs before, and it doesn't lose that certain something that Geneforge has.

 

If I had to guess, I would say it has to be something to do with how most of the creatures and magic in Geneforge are original fantasy. Maybe I have just played too many games set in the same type of fantasy settings to be captivated by them anymore. Since I expect that the answer to the first question is no, or at the very least its not in the near future, so I'll ask another in advance. Are there any good rpgs set in an original fantasy settings? (To clarify.. there are alot of games that only use goblins, orcs, giants, big spiders, merfolk, undead and similar creatures, along with the exact same types of mages and clerics: In other words, things that have been far too overused. I don't know about anyone else, but I originally liked the fantasy setting for a sense of wonder and of discovering things that I knew nothing about!)

[Alorael at Large]

The short answer is no. The Geneforge series is over. The next game out will be Avernum 2, then probably Avadon 3 and Avernum 3. After that we don't know, but that's at least a cuople more years.

 

But never is a long time. The Avadon series will itself end someday, and maybe Jeff's next new world will be more to your liking. Jeff has ended a series before, adn then expanded it years later, so there might be more Geneforge yet. And if all else fails there will probably eventually be Geneforge remakes, too. Maybe after Avernum 3's remake is done.

 

—Alorael, who will just say that you shouldn't give up hope of ever getting exactly what you want, but the wait's going to be a long one.

[Level 1 Hermit]

What I really love about the Geneforge series is the flexibility of the storyline (Esp. Geneforge 1). You can walk your own destiny, forge and break allegiances, be a sneaky spy, righteous hero, or all powerful wizard. There was so much room to do everything differently twice, and more!

Wrapping it all up, the decisions that YOU make decides the outcome of the story, not having the story forcing you to streamline to one ending.

 

In addition, there is also the introduction of moral values, codes of play, and provoking thoughts on how we perceive the Geneforge world in relation to how we act in real life. Do we treat animals like children? Is genetic modification a good or bad thing? What makes a faction evil or good?

 

I think all of this, and more, combined really makes Geneforge a one-of-a-kind game and keep players desiring for more.

 

Geneforge 1-5 remake please.

And some similar series please.

Pleaseeee

[Aleric]

Well, I think it will be a long time, if ever, that you get a Geneforge remake. However, I think they would be interesting, from a mechanics standpoint, in using the current skill/leveling system.

 

Since Geneforge didn't have traits, you could devote one screen to combat skills, one to magic skills, and one to shaping skills. The "other" skills could be on each of these pages, maybe 1 each, with no prerequisite. I would play the game based on just those changes.

[Purplewisp]

Well, I think it will be a long time, if ever, that you get a Geneforge remake. However, I think they would be interesting, from a mechanics standpoint, in using the current skill/leveling system.

 

Since Geneforge didn't have traits, you could devote one screen to combat skills, one to magic skills, and one to shaping skills. The "other" skills could be on each of these pages, maybe 1 each, with no prerequisite. I would play the game based on just those changes.

 

I'm surprised that there isn't a mod for this kind of thing.. Is there no modding scene for Geneforge at all? The only thing I can find are basically cheats, like fast movement. I would have assumed new campaigns or at least more summons and skills would be in high demand. Even just extra challenge areas for late game would be neat to have. Is it just that Geneforge is hard to mod? If that is the case it would be amazing if the developers could add modding tools if it wouldn't take too much time (I don't want future games delayed alot just for a feature most people would never see or care about).

 

Anyways, this thread was originally about games (somewhat) similar to Geneforge. So I'll start it off by saying the game Kenshi, by Lofigames, looks pretty amazing. It's still in a (n open?) beta of sorts so I haven't tried it out yet. Its also more about sword fighting, with little (or none at all) focus on magic, but the monsters seem fairly original and there are alot of factions (that you can actually interact with and destroy if you choose to do so). You also have the option of controlling massive armies, or well trained elite groups that I imagine are as overpowered as they are in old samurai movies. It seems as open ended as fallout 1 and 2 as well. This is mostly just stuff I remember reading from blogs of the game, so alot of it could have changed by now. I don't know how well done the story is going to be, but it has shown alot of promise so far!

 

Hopefully someone else contributes and recommends another (preferably) rpg that has something special to it so we can discover some great games that we might not have heard of! Please write what you think is interesting about it if you recommend something. I can probably dig up some more games that are interesting if anyone wants that sort of thing as well.

[Alorael at Large]

Geneforge modding is limited to script modification. That means you can change dialogue, special attacks, items, and monsters, but you can't alter geography or change fundamental mechanics of the game. Or rather, doing so would require a level of access to the game that is really, really difficult and probably illegal.

 

Jeff actually used to make tools for DIY versions of his games. Blades of Exile and Blades of Avernum for the Exile and (original) Avernum trilogies, to be precise. People have made some really fantastic scenarios, but the amount of work it required for Jeff to make the tools available and usable (lots) versus the amount of money it brought in (little) and amount of anger he got over the flaws in the tools from fans (also lots) made it so that he's quite clear that he never intends to do that again.

 

—Alorael, who thinks that's a shame. Blades is a really powerful, fun thing to play with. But it's probably not to be for Geneforge even if a lot of people would be happy to see Blades of Geneforge too.

[Spukrian]

But it's probably not to be for Geneforge even if a lot of people would be happy to see Blades of Geneforge too.

There are some people in this forum working on this, though I don't know how it's going. I haven't tried the programs they've made so far...

[Slawbug]

Nobody has posted anything even remotely plausible about any such homebrewed editor. Lots of people who don't actually know any programming languages post ideas and suggestions and occasionally grand plans, but that's about it.

[Randomizer]

Kelandon described some ideas for doing somethings in Blades that mimic Geneforge, but I don't think he ever tried them out. You have to transfer information between zones and then have scripts in each zone to do creations.

[Slawbug]

He might have described a theoretical process but he didn't say he was doing it, nor that he wanted to. Let's just avoid being ambiguous or spreading misinformation. There will probably never be a Blades of Geneforge, homebrewed or otherwise.

[adc.]

Anyone know if the devs (or anyone for the matter) plan on making a game set in the Geneforge story? Or even just a game set in a similar setting? I don't know why but the Avernum/ Avadon games just don't immerse me in the same way. Don't get me wrong, they are great games, but theres just something about the Geneforge style that they don't have. And its not just the addition of shaping either, I have done shaping free playthroughs before, and it doesn't lose that certain something that Geneforge has.

 

If I had to guess, I would say it has to be something to do with how most of the creatures and magic in Geneforge are original fantasy. Maybe I have just played too many games set in the same type of fantasy settings to be captivated by them anymore. Since I expect that the answer to the first question is no, or at the very least its not in the near future, so I'll ask another in advance. Are there any good rpgs set in an original fantasy settings? (To clarify.. there are alot of games that only use goblins, orcs, giants, big spiders, merfolk, undead and similar creatures, along with the exact same types of mages and clerics: In other words, things that have been far too overused. I don't know about anyone else, but I originally liked the fantasy setting for a sense of wonder and of discovering things that I knew nothing about!)

 

This...

 

You took the words right out of my mouth, it is the EXACT same reason why I don't feel immersed in any of Jeff's games, aside from Geneforge.

 

Can somebody please tell me about that special something Geneforge has? I can't seem to get it out from the tip of my tongue.

[Aleric]

I like Geneforge due to the original fantasy elements, its blend of fantasy and science fiction, and it's replay ability. I have yet to play any of Jeff's games that I didn't feel immersed in though.

I've never really given a lot of thought to a Geneforge editor. Looking back, I'm not sure why. Maybe I just felt Geneforge was meant to be experienced the way Jeff designed it.

[BMA]

There are some people in this forum working on this, though I don't know how it's going. I haven't tried the programs they've made so far...

 

There's a Blades of Geneforge wiki with modding information here.

[Spukrian]

There's a Blades of Geneforge wiki with modding information here.

That's cool, thanks. Good to see that Geneforge's internal structures aren't a total mystery.

[Waterboy_Matt]

I've often wondered if perhaps the Geneforge world and Avernum world are actually connected. After all, Archmage Erika had to basically Shape almost all of the things that made life possible in the caves: the glowing fungus on the walls to provide light, mushrooms that were nutritive, trees that could survive in the low light, and all of it growing fast enough that it reached distant parts of the cavern before the Avernumites tried to settle in a region. Being that necessity is the mother of invention, is it possible that Erika invented Shaping, making Avernum come before Geneforge?

 

Or perhaps the other way around, that the empire on the surface was established because of Shaping, either as a Shaper empire or as an anti-Shaper rebellion that won and outlawed Shaping entirely. Either would explain why they were so tight with knowledge of magic, and Erika had to teach herself via illegal and stolen books (and probably canisters, given how she comes across as more than a bit crazy and power-mad).

 

I dunno, I find more connection between Avernum and Geneforge than I do with any of the others that I've played. Possibly because the settings are both exotic, where Avadon seems a fairly standard sword & sorcery setting.

[adc.]

I dunno, I find more connection between Avernum and Geneforge than I do with any of the others that I've played. Possibly because the settings are both exotic, where Avadon seems a fairly standard sword & sorcery setting.

 

Avernum is fantastic, it's simple and fun, unlike the other RPGs I've played with incomprehensible D&D stats. But Geneforge felt more original, it's not just any other RPG you will find. Avadon, on the other hand, seems... like a bit of Geneforge, a little of Avernum and then everything else feels like the "standard sword & sorcery setting"

 

Plus, I've remembered the time where I still was on 5th grade with my old desktop PC, playing a demo of Geneforge 4 before Steam was mainstream. I've made my own house near the uncle shaper guy and completed almost every quest that's available, even trying to bug the game so it would fully unlock the demo. Good times, good times.

[BMA]

trying to bug the game so it would fully unlock the demo. Good times, good times.

 

How did you try to bug it ? Back when I couldn't buy the full G3, I so badly wanted to visit Dhonal's Isle that I tried copying all the scripts from that zone into zone 0, and the effects were weird

[ThricebornPhoenix]

Can somebody please tell me about that special something Geneforge has? I can't seem to get it out from the tip of my tongue.

Holistic design, maybe? Avernum certainly has creative embellishments, but it leans heavily on common fantasy tropes. Nearly every aspect of Geneforge's setting is dictated by its themes, and even the more familiar elements often have a twist. You can shake down bushes for ammunition (tell me that's not weird, and fun), and that makes sense in the world of Geneforge, so much so that you may never even question it. You quickly realise that the world in which you find yourself is Not Quite Ordinary, even by fantasy standards.

 

When generic fantasy demons pop up later in the series, they feel very out of place. I was never really comfortable with Drakons, either, although the transhumanist transdraykist angle helped me to accept them.

[Hyena of Ice]

I've often wondered if perhaps the Geneforge world and Avernum world are actually connected. After all, Archmage Erika had to basically Shape almost all of the things that made life possible in the caves: the glowing fungus on the walls to provide light, mushrooms that were nutritive, trees that could survive in the low light, and all of it growing fast enough that it reached distant parts of the cavern before the Avernumites tried to settle in a region. Being that necessity is the mother of invention, is it possible that Erika invented Shaping, making Avernum come before Geneforge?

 

Or perhaps the other way around, that the empire on the surface was established because of Shaping, either as a Shaper empire or as an anti-Shaper rebellion that won and outlawed Shaping entirely. Either would explain why they were so tight with knowledge of magic, and Erika had to teach herself via illegal and stolen books (and probably canisters, given how she comes across as more than a bit crazy and power-mad).

 

In Avadon2, Yannik has a line when you first meet him about looking for ancient magic to "raise castles from the ground, or even shape life" I've wondered if this was an easter egg or if they're actually the same world/universe.

 

And LOL, Erika (remember the shaper by that name at the Main Army Camp in G3?). I wish I knew what random name generator Jeff uses for er... fic-related reasons. >_>

 

When generic fantasy demons pop up later in the series, they feel very out of place. I was never really comfortable with Drakons, either, although the transhumanist transdraykist angle helped me to accept them.

I was going to disagree with you, but I think I recall initially finding the demons odd as well-- it quickly grew on me, though. It's no more out of place than ghosts and necromancy, which I've come to love having in the series. I haven't played G4 or 5 yet, but I hope they followed their predecessors in keeping the demon world mysterious and not-touched-upon at all.

[Randomizer]

Jeff has a long history of naming characters after friends. See Name cameos in Jeff's games for examples. Others are just taken from TV shows and music.

[ThricebornPhoenix]

It's no more out of place than ghosts and necromancy, which I've come to love having in the series.

I don't recall how ghosts and necromancy are justified, but they are prevalent in the first game and they seem, possibly because of that, to mesh better with the setting. The few demons come out of left field and seem to have been added because "I would normally put a demon here" or "Where else can you get Demon Claws?". I'm just glad that they are, as mentioned, not common, nor particularly important.

[Hyena of Ice]

Jeff has a long history of naming characters after friends. See Name cameos in Jeff's games for examples. Others are just taken from TV shows and music.

 

Another feature inspired by Ultima

 

I had assumed that he used a random name generator since I see name duplicates in different games (e.g. Therese, Erika)

[Slawbug]

Jeff has talked about reusing certain names just because he likes them. The most reused names do seem to be his close family -- there are three or possibly four uses of his wife's name, and many uses of his daughters' names as well. Of course, with many hundreds of named characters at this point, it might be hard not to get an accidental duplicate now and then.

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

Like merry the traveling salesman

[Slawbug]

No, not like Merry -- I was talking about names he reuses in different games, not a single character who appears in multiple places.

[TomoftheLand]

I'll go ahead and stick my neck out for a new game that's currently still being developed. It's called Underrail and it's a similar vantage like Geneforge. No creature shaping, but it's set in a post-apocalyptic underground future and you get to craft cool weapons and gear; some frome our era, some from their future. I wouldn't personally say it has quite as much replay value as Geneforge, unless you count going back through the game with a different "particular set of skills." In this future reality, the ability to use 'psi-abilities' amounts to you basically being able to do most things an agent could do, sans acid magic. But, you can also be a a thief, a grenadier, a sniper, etc. Also, I'm excited to try out Kenshi -thanks for the tip.