Avernum rewrite

[Dragonlady]

Apparently Spiderweb Software is working on a rewrite of the original Avernum, calling it:

Avernum: Escape From the Pit features:

* Epic fantasy adventure in an enormous underworld.
* Huge outdoors and eighty towns and dungeons.
* Three separate game-winning quests. Seek safety, escape or revenge. Do just one of them or all three!
* Unique races and settings make Avernum different from any adventure out there.
* Dozens of side quests and hundreds of magical artifacts.
* Rich game system with over 50 spells and battle disciplines and a multitude of beneficial character traits to choose from.

Extra Information:

Avernum: Escape From the Pit for Macintosh and Windows will be available at a considerable discount for anyone who has purchased Exile: Escape From the Pit or Avernum from us in any form (including on compilation CDs).

Macintosh Version Coming Q4, 2011.
Windows Version Coming Q1, 2012.
iPad Version Coming Q1, 2012.

There are screen shots up too. Apparently too many machines no longer can run the older games so they're redoing it for the newer machines with added content. (see FAQ)

They've set up a FAQ for questions that have come in so far.
Link to it: http://www.avernum.com/avernum/avernumFAQ.html

[Evnissyen]

Ugh. Yeah, I saw that a few days ago. Well, maybe I'll pick it up... going back into a game I found unplayable although narratively interesting, with an interface that's playable, does sound like it might be more fun that Avadon looked. Well, I'm sure when the demo comes out I'll be able to decide if I want it or not.

I mean... I understand his need to update it, since he wants to keep his products alive... I'm just so tired of his style, by now. Which feels awful to say; I used to love his games. And I know his 'simple' graphics and skeletal interface and excessive recycling allow him to focus on the writing and enable him to push these things through once a year, but I still wish that every time he goes to improve the graphics he does it more than just a tiny little bit.

...Because, even with every new title with their 'updated' graphics... his games still look crude... always. I mean, I'm sick of those same old benches and shelves and tables. I'm sick of the piles of grain sacks, the little jars, the bedrolls. I'm sick of the same old atmospheric sounds. I'm sick of those angular grey lines denoting pathways... I'm always wondering if they're multiple roads by people who keep spontaneously duplicating themselves, or if they're just tire tracks made by really, really colossal monster trucks.

...Maybe it's the colors that make much of the difference... someone mentioned this before, I don't remember who... but I think it might be true: Jeff — or whoever does the graphics — just doesn't seem to have a good sense of how to establish a color palette and how to make the colors work with one another. Everything either looks blah or it looks like it was just pasted in and isn't really part of the game world.

[Sslaxx]

So, take three eh? Wonder how many times Jeff is going to be able to rework this one.