Jeff Vogel - Kickstarter Next Week

I've only tried one or two of his games. I didn't play very long, not long enough to write a proper review. I just wasn't compelled to continue. The graphics / art weren't impressive but that's certainly not why I stopped playing the game. It seemed so uninspired, as if it was designed by a committee who were told to make a CRPG, but were not at all passionate about it Perhaps that's not fair. Maybe if I could have skipped the tutorial section it would've gotten better before I completely lost interest. IDK.

It's great he's hiring artists, but he should hire writers too. I imagine that this is going to be yet another generic fantasy pseudo medieval Europe RPG though. But assuming it's a turn-based CRPG I'll definitely take a look at the pitch.

New engine, innovation, and Jeff Vogel don't belong to the same sentence. It's probably a remake of the same soup served for the last 20 years.

I have a suggestion for him - include the ability to add our own music, to be played in certain contexts.

There's a great mod for Skyrim that provides this. The user just copies their selected tracks into some named folders, which dictate which music is played in various situations - daytime wilderness, nighttime wilderness, dungeons, combat, cities, etc.
I used stuff from all sorts of OSTs that I like, and it worked very well.

As he doesn't want to invest in original music, this would be an easy win, for me.

I don't really care that much about whether it's a new game engine, but I'm very excited about the possibility of a new world/story/intellectual property. Jeff is a great storyteller and I've loved the first version of every series that he has ever done. It's the derivative sequels where he tends to lose me.

I'll just add to my earlier comment and say if he uses a new game engine, adds music, and all the other frills indie developers are doing today then I will back.

Now this sounds harsh but he has never needed a kickstarter to make his games before, and according to his interview panel he made a million dollars, or more on Steam.

Anyway I bought all his games so-far but he has to improve if he uses kickstarter..

He is not going to implement music as he mentioned on reddit before.

Anyways, looking forward to the kickstarter. While I liked his last couple of games, as mentioned in another thread I think an upgrade could be a hit or miss depending on how much it screams low production value. Looking charming and looking garbage can be very closeby.

I haven't bothered kickstarting anything in a while, but this perked me up. I'd love to see a Spiderweb game with just a little bit more 'oomph' in the UI and graphics department.

Probably the best thing about Jeff is that he will build his vision of a game with zero consideration of armchair quarterbacks. It’s worked for decades and he isn’t about to change now.

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
Probably the best thing about Jeff is that he will build his vision of a game with zero consideration of armchair quarterbacks. It’s worked for decades and he isn’t about to change now.

Uhm, the same "armchair quarterbacks" he'll be hoping to lure in with a Kickstarter campaign?

Originally Posted by Drithius
Uhm, the same "armchair quarterbacks" he'll be hoping to lure in with a Kickstarter campaign?

Nah he's calling me and others like me who criticizes Jeff Vogel & his design decisions "armchair quarterbacks". He might be right and sadly Vogel will never change.

His games are nothing but rinse and repeat with small graphic updates.

Unless he shows us something that's radically improved from his prior work, I couldn't possibly be less interested in any Kickstarter from him.

He has a faithful following and a reputation for delivery so he can afford to ignore his critics in a Kickstarter. He will get funded. That was my point.

At least interested to see what it is.

I never played any of the originals. Just Geneforge and by then he was into the new engine making Avadon. As far as "sameness" I did have fatigue after Escape from the Pit. Its a damn long game so I couldn't start another Vogel for months. I'm about ready to try Avadon 2 with the new Tinker class.

Oh I have no doubt he will get funded. His fan base has proven time and time again that they're content with paying for unimaginative recycled content.

Even though I've only played one of his games (and it wasn't my cup of tea) I really like a creative person who has a clear vision and sticks to his guns. In fact I might just back his kickstarter with no intention of playing his game just because he has spine. A rare characteristic in these days of design-by-committee and focus groups.

I'm curious as to how advanced this new engine will be, but I'm not really expecting that much, I mean it has to be simple enough so Jeff can continue working mostly alone and still crank out his games on yearly schedule on his 3 plathforms, while it can't be that pretty as to not drive the art costs too much.

That said, I am looking forward to his new material, and the eventual Geneforge and Avernum 1-3 remakes in the new engine.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
He is not going to implement music as he mentioned on reddit before.

No music = no buy.
For me at least.

It was never about the graphics for me….it's about not having a new idea in 20 years….I don't need to play exile with a new coat of paint.

I found the story of Avadon quite refreshing.

I can understand though that people who played the old Avernum titles were not thrilled about the remakes.