Spiderweb Games - Avernum 6 Update

Jeff Vogel has posted the first Avernum 6 details, with some nice tweaks in store for fans:

I am finally posting some long overdue information about Avernum 6. I was hoping to release screenshots and more detailed plot information next month, but here is a bit of what's been going on.

Avernum 6 is in full development, and the demo section is almost done. I still hope to have the Mac version out for Christmas. It will be the last Avernum game.

(OK, I think it'd be really neat to do a game about the first days of Avernum, like Avernum: Origins, but not until the far future.)

The storyline is the most detailed and twisty of any Avernum game. I think it's really cool. It's definitely very apocalyptic. Much of Avernum is going to be trashed. (Or trashed again.)

Many characters will return, and some of them will get the dramatic ends to their stories they deserve. Much of the future of Avernum and its place in the world will be settled. (And, of course, the player will make a real difference in this.)

Other things of note:

* Every graphic has been redone. All of the icons will be anti-aliased and have shadows, which makes the game look much nicer. It's the prettiest game we've ever done.

* I will use and expand upon all interface improvements from Geneforge 5. Being able to play in a window, play at any resolution, etc.

* The buffing system will be very similar to Geneforge 5. Haste is weaker now, and you can have fewer buffs overall. Haste potions will be full double actions, though, the sort from the older games.

* A bunch of game and system improvements. Dual-wielding weapons is back. The world map will be much more useful, as will quest destination marks on your map. You can see full information about items by mousing over them. (Finally!)

* My favorite trio of wizards, Solberg, Lark, and Gladwell, return. As does X. And many other familiar faces.

* The game takes place in Avernum. The old Avernum. But, for the first time, you start in the Great Cave.

* The final fate of Avernum, it turns out, is something I've been foreshadowing since Exile 2.

* Anama, no. Skribbane, yes. And yes, the first hit is free.

Hope this information is of interest.

- Jeff Vogel