Game News Geneforge 2 - Infestation remake now on Kickstarter

[KeighnMcDeath]

I hope it hits at least $60k.

I hope it hits $100k. (Not that he has a bonus for it).

Will he go full remake and turn all of his works into the new era of hexalogies?

Geneforge getting a 6th entry, Queen's wish with 4 titles in the oven, Avadon redone up to 6 titles, Avernum getting 4-6 redone, and Nethergate going beyond the call of duty?

Will there be a new Blades series:
Avernum
Avadon
Bethergate
Queen's Wish
Geneforge

There's still money to dip your hands into Jeff. Milk that money... milk it faster than

Spoiler

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Yeah, milk it dry.

 

[OSK]

I hope it hits at least $60k.

I hope it hits $100k. (Not that he has a bonus for it).

For the stretch goal? Why? It'll still look bad.

 

[Tacgnol]

Can you still break the mold and do stuff you shouldn't be doing in the Geneforge 1 remake?

Like in GF2 I went mage and loved the poison DOT spell. I went to the mines near the beginning that you're clearly supposed to return to later when higher lv and kited the mobs in there killing even the boss dragon. Later, I did the challenge to get that bracer or whatever in the center of that other challenge with escalating mobs where the poison dot was barely able to DPS them down, but still was workable.

I appreciated playing a game with the old school rewarding of unconventional actions like that, not the hard, forced "You're not suppoded to be here yet!" crap.

Yep, you can still get in way over your head.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

I wouldn't mind it if the guy were really updating the game, but all of his remakes really are just remakes. Relatively the same or worse engine, same or worse gameplay, same or worse graphics.

I see he released Queens Wish 1&2 on the app store for a reasonable price though, not that I'm buying it. I would consider getting an updated Geneforge or Avernum on my phone for $10, but on PC, I would rather play the original.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I mean like somebody pointed out, it's hard to blame the guy for making safe choices to keep the lights on instead of taking a risk on some big bold project. But with crowdfunding the whole point was to allow developers to do something bolder basically risk-free and it's a bummer that it never materialized.

 

[flushfire]

Just overhauling the art assets so it'd look significantly different from his previous games shouldn't be that big of a risk. But at this point it's clear the issue isn't financial, so that'll never happen.

 

[almondblight]

Best art he ever had was the art for the Exile series*, and those were art assets he shared with Fantasoft (makers of Realmz), so it had someone else making the decision as well.

*Exile I and II originally had different art, but they were updated with the new assets when they became available.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Considering how his latest original work turned out the past 5 years or so, eh, i'd rather have the remasters, at least they give us UI scaling

 

[OSK]

Considering how his latest original work turned out the past 5 years or so, eh, i'd rather have the remasters, at least they give us UI scaling

It's been much longer than 5 years. Geneforge 5 came out in 2008 and Avernum 6 came out in 2009. Since then, it's been remakes, Avadon, and Queen's Wish.

 

[ScepticCat]

My only hope is that they don't switch to the Unity engine for their future remakes. I don't want to upgrade my computer to i9-13900.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Best art he ever had was the art for the Exile series*, and those were art assets he shared with Fantasoft (makers of Realmz), so it had someone else making the decision as well.

*Exile I and II originally had different art, but they were updated with the new assets when they became available.

Do you have the original art packs? I'm rather curious on the differences.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

The Queen Wishes Avadon would get a remake.

 

[almondblight]

Do you have the original art packs? I'm rather curious on the differences.

There's a series of videos up on Youtube where they're playing through Exile with the original graphics:



If you want the old graphics, your best bet is to go to the Spiderweb forums. Every so often someone goes on there and shares the old files. All the links are currently dead, but if you ask you might be able to get someone to put them up again.

 

[luj1]

he explains that he's learned not to attempt to change the mechanics of his classic titles, but instead to simply add more

Most devs still don't undestand this. They try to fix what's not broken.

 

[vitellus]

In Vogel's basement is a collection of horse corpses he can keep raping ad nauseum.

Right on, he's still pumping out software that sells.

 

[Diggfinger]

What's the best Vogel game to into? Never played any of his games...

Geneforge 1 remaster?

 

[Maxie]

his next project will be rereleasing Exile again this time as Underground 1 on the QW engine

 

[OSK]

What's the best Vogel game to into? Never played any of his games...

Geneforge 1 remaster?

Geneforge 1 - Mutagen is a pretty good place to start. Otherwise I'd also suggest Exile: Escape from the Pit/Avernum: Escape from the Pit. They're pretty different games, so start whichever seems more up your alley.

His best stuff is in the Exile/Avernum and Geneforge series. Nethergate is pretty good too. Anything outside of those is hard for me to recommend.

 

[luj1]

What's the best Vogel game to into? Never played any of his games...

Geneforge 1 remaster?

Escape from the Pit is a masterpiece

 

[Beastro]

I mean like somebody pointed out, it's hard to blame the guy for making safe choices to keep the lights on instead of taking a risk on some big bold project. But with crowdfunding the whole point was to allow developers to do something bolder basically risk-free and it's a bummer that it never materialized.

But he so old...

... and tired.

Is there still no music in the Geneforge remakes?

 

[Zeriel]

It's a little disappointing that he doesn't seem to have especially grand aspirations, and that what goals he does have generally seem to draw his games away from what I liked about the older ones. However, I can't blame a man for treating his job like a job, especially when it seems to have worked out quite well for him.

Jeff has indicated many times (and probably outright stated) that he does not go in for super-ambitious, blockbuster-type projects. From reading his blog, I assume it's just another byproduct of his fiscal hyper-conservatism when it comes to gamedev. He doesn't want to spend too much money or time because at heart, he's a quintessential small business owner, carefully nursing his resources to maintain a decent quality of life.

There's a certain charm to that, but I don't agree with it.

The only things that are worth doing in life are things worthy of greatness.

But I still have the retardation of youth.

Eh, not really. All of his good products WERE the result of being ambitious and taking risks; afair it was Nethergate that maybe started his long decline into milking his dwindling fanbase. It was a big departure from his other games, and sold very poorly to my recollection.

But this argument doesn't really work when Exile was fundamentally a big risk when he made it. So was Geneforge. It's just that once he tasted scads of free money for little work, well. There you go. Why bother trying?

his next project will be rereleasing Exile again this time as Underground 1 on the QW engine

I'd actually be excited if he remastered Exile with its original art style, but we all know that's never happening.

 

[Tacgnol]

I'd actually be excited if he remastered Exile with its original art style, but we all know that's never happening.

Jeff thinks QW is the continuation of the Exile art style. He really doesn't seem to understand why a lot of people liked the look of the original Exile games.

Imagine if he actually replicated the flat, clean look of the original Exile games with higher res artwork. Sadly it will never happen.

 

[Zeriel]

I'd actually be excited if he remastered Exile with its original art style, but we all know that's never happening.

Jeff thinks QW is the continuation of the Exile art style. He really doesn't seem to understand why a lot of people liked the look of the original Exile games.

Imagine if he actually replicated the flat, clean look of the original Exile games with higher res artwork. Sadly it will never happen.

What's sad is there are much simpler games that basically do this, like DungeonMans. I'd kill for a new Exile with the art style & quality of DungeonMans.

But yeah, as noted many times, the problem is not the art out there and its cost, it is Jeff Vogel's total inability to grasp this. He literally doesn't know what is aesthetically appealing. Sometimes I wonder if he's legitimately brain damaged in some way.

 

[Infinitron]

Modding superior graphics into Jeff Vogel's games and forcing him to look at them like the six minute alley brawl scene in They Live

 

[Zeriel]

Modding superior graphics into Jeff Vogel's games and forcing him to look at them like the six minute alley brawl scene in They Live

"Doesn't look like anything to me."