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Dhruin

May 5th, 2010 15:24

Spiderweb Games - Interview @ GameBanshee

GameBanshee has a nice interview with Jeff Vogel on the end of the Avernum series and the new game in development:

Quote:

Will the new game be closer to Avernum or to Geneforge in style? For example, will you be shooting for more or a linear or open world, a faction-based or non-faction based world, or party-based or solo adventures?

The game is based more on the Geneforge engine. It will have a linear world, but with many player choices. It wouldn't be one of my games without giving the player the ability to make huge choices that affect the world. There will be factions, and there is a dominant power that the player has a very complicated relationship with.

The game will have a three person party (although there are also solo portions). The game is very class-based. There are four classes, each with a very distinct suite of abilities and play style.

More information.

ikbenrichard

May 5th, 2010 15:24

This i really nice to hear. Good read.

GhanBuriGhan

May 6th, 2010 08:31

Quote:

Does starting a new franchise mean that you'll be upgrading your technology (a new graphics engine, higher resolution models, etc.), or will it use a lot of the same technology and assets that powered Geneforge and Avernum?

We will be sticking with the same basic technology. The truth is that it works for us. It works well. And I am mainly a designer. It is sort of the limit of what my programming skills are capable of.

But there are still a ton of improvements. All of the graphics are being redone at a larger scale, and we have some very skilled freelance artists redoing huge swaths of art. It will be the best-looking game we have ever written.

So he is still sticking with his old technology although continuing to improve the Gfx slightly. I had really hoped he would make a jump to something a little more modern as a basis for the next 15 years. Still, best of luck to the man, looking forward to hear about his new setting!

ikbenrichard

May 6th, 2010 12:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by GhanBuriGhan (Post 1061010239)

15 years is a bit steep, but yes a more modern base for lets say, 5 years cant hurt..

crpgnut

May 6th, 2010 14:38

Jeff's lack of skill on the programming side shows. His games are very simplistic, outside of the writing. Since story doesn't sell a game for me, I've moved on from his games. Still, I enjoyed several of the early games. I'd love to see Jeff create a mod on a newer engine, but those don't pay his bills.

Dez	May 6th, 2010 23:28

Yep its slightly dissapointing that he continues using this old tech although midly improved. I know that licensing 3:rd party tech would likely bring more costs, but aren't there older engines that don't have steep license fees?

But i can't really complain. Jeff's games have wonderfull storylines and gameplay is rock solid. Hopefully his business starts to flourish and he manages to upgrade newer tech someday.

vanedor

May 8th, 2010 02:24

I'm very curious about that new serie. The problem of his previous games, as far as I'm concerned, wasnt graphic. It was the fact that the game was way too close to what the previous games were. It gave me a feeling of playing over and over the same game with the same mechanism. Had these mechanism been very deep, it could have worked. But it wasnt the case.

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