RPGWatch - Game of the Year 2012: Most Promising indie RPG in 2013

Here is the last of the articles on the game of the year awards, which is on the topic of the most promising Indie RPG. For this award the 2nd to 4th places are very close together and are just a small number of votes apart.
More information.

Again. This I like!
Now, hope these games bring satisfaction and live up to expectations.
And of course, bring some good fun on the "table".

How on earth could Eschalon 3 surpass Grim Dawn???

My question however is how Dead State surpased them both.

I forgot to vote. Too bad too. It would have brought Grim Dawn into the top 3. I consider AOD vaporware as I don't believe Vince will ever release it. He likes playing with it too much. I've never been interested enough to play a Zombie game, so I've never even heard of Dead State. Eschalon might be worth a couple of bucks on a Steam sale or the equivalent. Grim Dawn sounds like a really decent ARPG and the best of the lot.

Worthy top 3's! Grim Dawn? Snoozefest.

I agree wholeheartedly with the top 2, altough I had them in the other order. And Echalon book 3 is a worthy bronze candidate although I didn't pick it as a favourite.

Sure, we have been waiting for AOD for…well, ages, but I think they show so much progress that I actually believe it might be released this year. To call it vapourware is just stupid, even the demo was more fun to play that most bigger budget "RPG's".

Grim Dawn and Dead state yes for the rest who cares. I don't think we will be seeing The Age of Decadence this year either. Not saying it will be vaporware but hell what is it going on now 5 or 6 years already?

Oops. I would have voted for Grim Dawn also.

Meh @ Grim Dawn. Seriously, how many "ARPGs" (and I hate that label) a month do we need?

Originally Posted by killias2
Meh @ Grim Dawn. Seriously, how many "ARPGs" (and I hate that label) a month do we need?

Since Grim dawn is unofficial Titan quest 2 I say it's all ARPG we need screw the rest.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Grim Dawn and Dead state yes for the rest who cares. I don't think we will be seeing The Age of Decadence this year either. Not saying it will be vaporware but hell what is it going on now 5 or 6 years already?

Let's see. In that time they: 1) Changed the engine. 2) Released a combat demo. 3) Released a public beta that has more content, and is far more replayable than some full games, including many classics of the genre. 4) Gave regular updates about how the game is progressing and waht exactly is taking their time. 5) Got themselves greenlighted on Steam, to have a solid distribution partner from day one.

I must admit to being more interested in #4-6 than I am in #1-3. Tastes vary.

Originally Posted by tolknaz
Let's see. In that time they: 1) Changed the engine. 2) Released a combat demo. 3) Released a public beta that has more content, and is far more replayable than some full games, including many classics of the genre. 4) Gave regular updates about how the game is progressing and waht exactly is taking their time. 5) Got themselves greenlighted on Steam, to have a solid distribution partner from day one.

Yes that's fine and all but still doesn't negate the fact it keeps being pushed back. I'm not criticizing the game just following the pattern of the updates. It's behind schedule. I already said it wont be vaporware just wont be out anytime soon.

People need to chill when it comes to certain games.

Very intersted in the top three. However I really hope to also see another game from Spderweb this year.

Speaking of Spiderweb, can anyone in the know confirm what the next project/release will be? I'm curious about a possible remake of Avernum 2 in the style of Escape from the Pit.

Originally Posted by Pessimeister
Speaking of Spiderweb, can anyone in the know confirm what the next project/release will be? I'm curious about a possible remake of Avernum 2 in the style of Escape from the Pit.

More or less. On the page at http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/
They state:

What Are We Working On Now? -We are also still slowly gearing up to announcing Avadon 2: The Corruption and Avernum 2: Crystal Souls.

I wonder spiderweb may try to go a bit 90's and improve the graphics a bit.

Originally Posted by rune_74
I wonder spiderweb may try to go a bit 90's and improve the graphics a bit.

Wouldn't mind if they went all the way to the year 2000 - 2005 somewhere Some indie devs seems to think they can get away with releasing games that looks like a** because, well, they're indie and "that's how indie looks". They're not gonna get away with it for much longer, there's a ton of really nice looking indie games these days.

Well, I guess everone has some kind of red line regarding to tolerance of graphics.
And they need to be over the "red line" for most players who are interested into the game itself. And to be honest I think they would already achieve that if they had graphics looking like Eschalon 2.
Doing even more in terms of graphics would have some kind of diminishing returns, it becomes much more expensive for just a couple of additional players per spent grand or so.

But as Spiderweb is re-using it's Arts so much, I really wish they would utilize kickstarter. Spiderweb seems to have a very solid Fanbase and I guess lots of players would pour money into a kickstarter project to get additional, overprized merchandise, their Name into the game or something similar.
This would mean additional promotion, and they might be able to get additional funding for one of their new games. They could use the money for one time purchases of Art Assets and some music which they could not only use for the kickstarter game but reuse it at their next 5 games or so.
I can hardly come up with game companies where I think a Kickstarter Game would be more effective.