Spiderweb Games - Developer Spotlight

[Couchpotato]

Pixcelation picked Spiderweb Games as their next developer to talk about in a new article they call Developer Spotlight. As usual here is a short sample.

Game development has changed a lot over the last twenty years. Alright, yes, that statement could have been stolen from the desk of Captain Obvious himself, but it’s still the best place to start for this article. Genres have come and gone. Consoles have come and gone. Developers have sprung up, dissolved, merged with one another and split off on their own. Our world is an ever-changing beast, and the gaming industry is as clear an example of this as any other. In the past two decades, however, there has remained one constant. One developer whose style remains as simple and effective as it was when they were founded in 1994. One developer who has successfully released one new game nearly every year since fifth-generation gaming was still in its infancy. That developer is Spiderweb Software – experts in the field of old-school, open-world PC role-playing games, strongly reminscent of 90s greats such as Baldur’s Gate, Ultima and the original Fallout titles.

More information.

 

[GuybrushWilco]

Nice article. I only just discovered Spiderweb when Avadon: The Black Fortress was released, and I became an instant fan. People are excited over Kickstarter bring back these 90s style RPG games, but Spiderweb never stopped making them I haven't tried the Geneforge games yet, but I am certainly going to play them, even though they are in an older engine.

 

[Gwendo]

I've been following Spidweb since the Exile games. The constant recycling of their games is a bit odd, specially considering that Vogel is using the same engine, with slight modifications and a lot of reusing the assets, since the first Avernum (which was a remake of the first Exile game).

But if he's selling, that because there's a demand. So good for him.

 

[mercy]

They have this Avernum 2 engine and GUI really well thought out and perfectly done. I'm really interested, whether they plan to improve the visuals. How their next 2D engine will look like?

 

[Kordanor]

I would actually like them to improve their UI, especially considering hotkeys (Opening and closing inventory with the same key would be an incredibly easy thing to implement) and an more customizable action bar. 4 Slots for 20 spells or so are just not enough. In addition there are another 4 slots for quickactions from the inventory which I don't use at all. For me it would already be a big improvement if I could use all 8 for spells.

For me recycling the games is a great thing. I have a "pain threshold" which is surpassed by the older games. For me the graphics are fine since they fit a "modern" screen resolution. But especially the sound of the older games is really painful. I started with Avadon 1 and played all the games released since then. But from the older games only Geneforge 5 really is enjoyable for me.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

The formula is getting stale and repetitive, honestly. He admits himself that it's a job and that he has no choice but to make mainstream fantasy games. He had to raise the price of Avadon 2 back to $20.

We're very far from brave experiments like Geneforge or Nethergate.