Congratulations! Wishlisted the new remake at once.
In terms of musicians, your career remind me of a certain little-known Swedish guitar player going by Hank C. Burnette. The guy started recording music on his own, by building a studio at home and playing all instruments some time in 60's and was still going uploading is stuff to Youtube at least 6 years ago, doing the same rockabilly routine, but with his own unique twist (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OWe1ANJCOU for example)
Geneforge is my preferred work of yours, along with Nethergate. I understand it didn’t work that well, so no chance for a remaster, sadly, as I loved it to bits. You captured the Celtics and Roman mytho-history so well! Anyway what you are writing about the difficulty of having more than a few hits, and therefore the need to spin them for years, strikes me as a scientist. This is indeed typical too: someone becomes established because a work of his becomes noticed, and then he makes a career of digging around small variants of the same question.
I’ve been playing your games since I got Exile on a demo disk that came with a Macworld back in the mid 90s and I’ll play everything you put out. You won Indie gaming a long time ago as far as I’m concerned, thank you!
Hey Jeff, grew up with Avernum and Geneforge and just want to give my opinion, though I admit it's probably going to seem harsh.
Exile/Avernum and Geneforge (and Nethergate, I think) are your best works. Period. You hit a stride that, while stumbling a bit on Avernum 4 and 5, ultimately lasted 14 years. 14 years of great titles with interesting ideas, excellent writing, a phenomenal sense of discovery. These games, as you well know, are what have given you this indie pioneer status. After Avernum 6, I think it's fair to say that Avadon and Queen's Wish simply haven't managed to hit the same level of success. They don't seem to sell as well and they just aren't as interesting or as fun. I wouldn't call them bad games, but it's like most creatives - at some point, their output just isn't as good as it used to be. Ultima Underworld is awesome. Underworld Ascendant is not. Deus Ex is forever a classic. When Warren Spector made Epic Mickey, it was very much not a classic. Metal Gear Solid is fantastic. MGS5 is an unfocused slog.
This is to say, as no doubt rude as it sounds (though that's not my intention), I honestly don't really want a whole new game from you. Like you with Billy Joel, that old stuff he made is good enough to stand the test of time for him to keep touring and playing that material to this day. I think you made experiences even more special than you realise and I'd genuinely rather see you remake and expand those games, tweak them here and there, do what you've been doing with them and just enjoy that opportunity to return to your old work and flesh out and enhance those worlds. I don't think you're ever going to hit those highs again with wholly new titles, and given how quickly time passes and age piles on, I think it's just a smarter move to focus on preserving those stories and making them more accessible while you can.
Of course, I also know you're a creative and you like to create. You will do as you view to be most fulfilling for you and that's fine, it's not like I'm going to scream and kick and get angry if I see Queen's Wish 3 pop up on Steam eventually. All I can offer you is my own perspective from someone who has always respected you and was blessed enough to be exposed to your work from childhood. I can tell you that I would buy every Geneforge remake you do, (hell, I'd buy remakes of Avernum 4 and 5, as that would be a great opportunity to improve those games), I'd buy a Nethergate remake (as unlikely as that is to ever be made), but I wouldn't buy a Queen's Wish 3 or a new IP.
Anyhow, thanks for making as many high quality games as you have. As you mentioned yourself, to make even one really good success is a huge accomplishment. And you made a bunch of banger titles. Thanks for that, man. I sincerely appreciate the work you've done.
Jeff I'm so thrilled about you remaking this specific Geneforge game.
For whatever reason I can get 1 & 3-5 to run perfectly on any of my three pcs. Geneforge two craps itself and crashes within 30 minutes without fail. I have no idea why.
Congratulations! Wishlisted the new remake at once.
In terms of musicians, your career remind me of a certain little-known Swedish guitar player going by Hank C. Burnette. The guy started recording music on his own, by building a studio at home and playing all instruments some time in 60's and was still going uploading is stuff to Youtube at least 6 years ago, doing the same rockabilly routine, but with his own unique twist (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OWe1ANJCOU for example)
Spiderweb was remaking/remastering content back in 2000 with the original Avernum Series. You were doing this long before it was cool.
Geneforge is my preferred work of yours, along with Nethergate. I understand it didn’t work that well, so no chance for a remaster, sadly, as I loved it to bits. You captured the Celtics and Roman mytho-history so well! Anyway what you are writing about the difficulty of having more than a few hits, and therefore the need to spin them for years, strikes me as a scientist. This is indeed typical too: someone becomes established because a work of his becomes noticed, and then he makes a career of digging around small variants of the same question.
I’ve been playing your games since I got Exile on a demo disk that came with a Macworld back in the mid 90s and I’ll play everything you put out. You won Indie gaming a long time ago as far as I’m concerned, thank you!
Hey Jeff, grew up with Avernum and Geneforge and just want to give my opinion, though I admit it's probably going to seem harsh.
Exile/Avernum and Geneforge (and Nethergate, I think) are your best works. Period. You hit a stride that, while stumbling a bit on Avernum 4 and 5, ultimately lasted 14 years. 14 years of great titles with interesting ideas, excellent writing, a phenomenal sense of discovery. These games, as you well know, are what have given you this indie pioneer status. After Avernum 6, I think it's fair to say that Avadon and Queen's Wish simply haven't managed to hit the same level of success. They don't seem to sell as well and they just aren't as interesting or as fun. I wouldn't call them bad games, but it's like most creatives - at some point, their output just isn't as good as it used to be. Ultima Underworld is awesome. Underworld Ascendant is not. Deus Ex is forever a classic. When Warren Spector made Epic Mickey, it was very much not a classic. Metal Gear Solid is fantastic. MGS5 is an unfocused slog.
This is to say, as no doubt rude as it sounds (though that's not my intention), I honestly don't really want a whole new game from you. Like you with Billy Joel, that old stuff he made is good enough to stand the test of time for him to keep touring and playing that material to this day. I think you made experiences even more special than you realise and I'd genuinely rather see you remake and expand those games, tweak them here and there, do what you've been doing with them and just enjoy that opportunity to return to your old work and flesh out and enhance those worlds. I don't think you're ever going to hit those highs again with wholly new titles, and given how quickly time passes and age piles on, I think it's just a smarter move to focus on preserving those stories and making them more accessible while you can.
Of course, I also know you're a creative and you like to create. You will do as you view to be most fulfilling for you and that's fine, it's not like I'm going to scream and kick and get angry if I see Queen's Wish 3 pop up on Steam eventually. All I can offer you is my own perspective from someone who has always respected you and was blessed enough to be exposed to your work from childhood. I can tell you that I would buy every Geneforge remake you do, (hell, I'd buy remakes of Avernum 4 and 5, as that would be a great opportunity to improve those games), I'd buy a Nethergate remake (as unlikely as that is to ever be made), but I wouldn't buy a Queen's Wish 3 or a new IP.
Anyhow, thanks for making as many high quality games as you have. As you mentioned yourself, to make even one really good success is a huge accomplishment. And you made a bunch of banger titles. Thanks for that, man. I sincerely appreciate the work you've done.
Jeff I'm so thrilled about you remaking this specific Geneforge game.
For whatever reason I can get 1 & 3-5 to run perfectly on any of my three pcs. Geneforge two craps itself and crashes within 30 minutes without fail. I have no idea why.