Best Spiderweb game to start with?

[Mister Macaroni]

I'd like to give Spiderweb Software's stuff a try, but with so many different titles and remakes of titles I'm a bit unsure where to start (or even where to properly ask this question. I just opted for the forum with the most activity). Anyone have suggestions where I might start, if I'm new to the dev and not that experienced with CRPGs in general?

[Twistor]

This one's good. Or Avadon: The Black Fortress.

The good thing about these two is that they're the first games of their series and they are made on the newest available game engine of the company. (They are making a new game series, titled Queen's Wish, in a new engine, to be published in the latter half of 2019).

Avernums 1-3 have been remade (and the remakes are on Steam, old games are not). Avernums 4-6 have not, so they are made with an older engine.

You can check their website spiderwebsoftware.com for demos of all their titles to see how you like them. The demos typically contain 1/5 - 1/3 of the full game, so you can test it quite well before purchase.

[Mister Macaroni]

Първоначално публикувано от Twistor:

This one's good. Or Avadon: The Black Fortress.

The good thing about these two is that they're the first games of their series and they are made on the newest available game engine of the company. (They are making a new game series, titled Queen's Wish, in a new engine, to be published in the latter half of 2019).

Avernums 1-3 have been remade (and the remakes are on Steam, old games are not). Avernums 4-6 have not, so they are made with an older engine.

You can check their website spiderwebsoftware.com for demos of all their titles to see how you like them. The demos typically contain 1/5 - 1/3 of the full game, so you can test it quite well before purchase.

Ahh ok thanks.

Naw I want to support them regardless whether I end up liking the games or not. Jeff's GDC talk has been super thought provoking for me and very helpful in dealing emotionally with my own launch, so this is a small way I can pay him back :). And if I end up liking the game, hey bonus!

[Twistor]

Първоначално публикувано от jefequeso:

Първоначално публикувано от Twistor:

This one's good. Or Avadon: The Black Fortress.

The good thing about these two is that they're the first games of their series and they are made on the newest available game engine of the company. (They are making a new game series, titled Queen's Wish, in a new engine, to be published in the latter half of 2019).

Avernums 1-3 have been remade (and the remakes are on Steam, old games are not). Avernums 4-6 have not, so they are made with an older engine.

You can check their website spiderwebsoftware.com for demos of all their titles to see how you like them. The demos typically contain 1/5 - 1/3 of the full game, so you can test it quite well before purchase.

Ahh ok thanks.

Naw I want to support them regardless whether I end up liking the games or not. Jeff's GDC talk has been super thought provoking for me and very helpful in dealing emotionally with my own launch, so this is a small way I can pay him back :). And if I end up liking the game, hey bonus!

Indeed, Jeff seems to have great insight on indie game business - I've also seen some of his talks and pretty much everything he says makes sense.

Also wow, you made that game! I saw it in my discovery queue, with some glowing reviews praising it. I'm sure to pick up DUSK before long. While this is possibly not the right place to do that, I'd still like to congratulate on the (at least apparently) rather successful launch.

[Mister Macaroni]

Първоначално публикувано от Twistor:

Първоначално публикувано от jefequeso:

Ahh ok thanks.

Naw I want to support them regardless whether I end up liking the games or not. Jeff's GDC talk has been super thought provoking for me and very helpful in dealing emotionally with my own launch, so this is a small way I can pay him back :). And if I end up liking the game, hey bonus!

Indeed, Jeff seems to have great insight on indie game business - I've also seen some of his talks and pretty much everything he says makes sense.

Also wow, you made that game! I saw it in my discovery queue, with some glowing reviews praising it. I'm sure to pick up DUSK before long. While this is possibly not the right place to do that, I'd still like to congratulate on the (at least apparently) rather successful launch.

Hahaha thanks very much, I appreciate it :)

Yeah the perspective of someone who hasn't just been in the industry for 40 years but has been operating at a very budget tier indie level for 40 years is, in my opinion, utterly invaluable.

[Mister Macaroni]

Yup I'm into this. This is a very comfy game.

[Nakos]

The Avernum series has been revised a number of times.

Originally, it was called "Exile". The first version came out as share-ware in the late 80's and/or early 90's. Over the years, Jeff has updated as technology has improved.

I'd recommend starting with this one.

[Whiteicefire]

start with exile escape from the pit much better than the remake

[Twistor]

Първоначално публикувано от Whiteicefire:

start with exile escape from the pit much better than the remake

Pros of Exile:
- freeware
- lots of spells and some of them are hilarious (like summon snakes)
- lots of skills and customization
- 6-member party allows bigger fights
- old-school, grittier, so you need to manage food, inventory weight and space, death is reversible but incredibly expensive etc.

Cons of Exile
- old-school, grittier, so you need to manage food, inventory weight and space, death is reversible but incredibly expensive etc.
- while it's free, it does not work on 64-bit machines, so you either need a virtual machine or an old computer or some other sort of hoop-jumping to even run it
- text interface is very out-dated
- rather unbalanced, with some overpowered or otherwise exploitable spells (like summon snakes) and useless skills (though admittedly, Avernum: Escape from the Pit also has useless skills like First Aid)
- IIRC, lots of skill granulation (every weapon type has its own skill)

Additionally, Exile was tile-based instead of isometric, which was more fashionable until lately.

Nowadays, Exile is a curiosity, and I'm not convinced it was better than the remakes. The old remake of Exile, Avernum (i.e. the one before this present remake) had lots of the old-school and gritty aspects of Exile, which some (e.g. I) enjoyed, and it might run on modern machines with some hickups.

The present remake has had away with these features to make the game more accessible and give more focus on combat, story, and dialogue (the main attractions beside the original setting) instead of inventory management and keyboard sleight-of-hand with the old interfaces.

[Whiteicefire]

another pro of exil is the combat space from world map to combat in avernum the space between your party and the enemy is much lower so unless you are guaranteed to go first against say giants your first party member is gunna go squish in exile the area was larger giving you at least 1 turn before everything got in range to start smacking you around, also having unlimited inventroy space just doesnt feel as realistic as being forced to manage your space on each character + assasination was a great skill that has sadly been lost