Avernum 5 - Update @ Official Forums

Jeff Vogel has posted an update on the progress of Avernum 5:

The lumbering beast has finally begun to move. I have completed the first section / town / adventure / tutorial. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it out much before Christmas, but it's certainly moving.

The tutorial section is much more of an adventure than before, with scripted events, actual fights, and it gets you involved in the plot. The plot, as promised, is very intricate, and the political intrigue begins pretty much immediately.

I'm having a bit more fun writing the dialogue, because the setup for this Avernum game is very different from the previous games. Your starting position is, it's safe to say, completely opposite from what it was before.

There are secret doors. But they work differently than they did before. (They'd really have to.) You will never have to find one to complete the game.

I am concentrating to cut down on the trash and have a smaller number of bigger fights. This will make the game more interesting for groups, but more punishing for single characters. I will do my best to make sure a singleton can still complete the game on the lower difficulty levels. One change ... smaller parties will get experience from creatures at higher levels than 4 person parties do.

- Jeff Vogel