Profile for Spidweb
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Spidweb |
| Member number | 1 |
| Title | Board Administrator |
| Postcount | 960 |
| Homepage | http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com |
| Registered | Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
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| Was Russia's occupation of Eastern Europe after WW II justified? in General | |
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Board Administrator
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written Friday, May 19 2006 11:54
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"Russia argued that its occupation of eastern Europe after WW II was to prevent another European war from occuring on its home soil. After all, noone lost more than Russia in either world war. Acceptable position? better yet, a defensible position?" You know, one of Spiderweb's employees (and my wife) is a Hungarian immigrant. She and her family actually have some opinions about Stalin and what he wrought. This thread locked due to being really dumb. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| a4 is the best game yet in Avernum 4 | |
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written Wednesday, May 17 2006 12:32
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"The main issue for me was that Solberg was chucked into a minor, unimportant role, and that Cheeseball wasn't present." This particular thing was quite intentional. Solberg was basically put on ice for a game. I intend for him to be back in a notable role in Avernum 5. I seriously doubt, by the way, that there will be any spawners in Avernum 5. Heck, at this point, I'm not sure there will be spawners in Geneforge 4. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| a4 is the best game yet in Avernum 4 | |
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written Wednesday, May 17 2006 01:10
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"I'm picturing an upset parent, who probably thinks Avernum is against their religion." I've gotten that one too. But I brought that on myself, by having a summon demon spell in the Exile games. I removed it when I put Avernum together, just because the spell didn't justify the hassle. (And because what business do the supposedly good characters have summoning demons in the first place?) - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| a4 is the best game yet in Avernum 4 | |
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written Tuesday, May 16 2006 15:00
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"I am not sure what sort of business wants its customers to go away and leave it alone." Depends on the customer. I've gotten some really nasty pieces of work over the years. Here's a hot tip for gaming fans on a budget. If you scream obscenities at me on the phone for long enough, I will refund your money to get you to leave me alone. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Taskmaster system in General | |
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written Tuesday, May 16 2006 14:56
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I have played games with this sort of system for years and years (the first was Dungeon Master, the most recent was Oblivion). It's an OK system, but I find it to be unsatisfying. The main reason is that I always find I have to spend time "grinding" the skills I need to bring up (i.e. casting minor heal on myself 500 times). And I think it's more mentally peaceful to concentrate on one big xp bar than 500 little xp bars. Now off to launch World of Warcraft and spend a lot of non-fun time hitting mice with my mace to get my 2-handed blunt skill up. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A4 Problem in Tech Support | |
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written Sunday, May 14 2006 22:27
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If you have weird problems E-mail me. If you have weird issues with WIndows and Macintosh, take it elsewhere. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A Few More Advance Words On Geneforge 4 in Geneforge Series | |
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written Monday, May 8 2006 12:45
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"I had imagined the PC's of previous games being NPC's of subsequent games. I was disappointed twice." This will never happen. It just feels weird to me. And your characters are your characters ... I don't want to take control of them, beyond referring vaguely to what they did in the past. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Best Bad Guy in General | |
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written Thursday, May 4 2006 19:29
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Al Swearengen. Springer Bell. Roman Grant. And, of course, Tony Soprano. I do so enjoy my HBO. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Geneforge 1 runs slowly under WinXP in Tech Support | |
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written Thursday, May 4 2006 10:01
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Did you actually redownload and reinstall the drivers and the game (uninstalling the game first)? This is generally necessary to fix any damaged files. Also, do you have multiple monitors? - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| RPGs vs. "Computer Games" in General | |
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written Wednesday, May 3 2006 13:19
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"I work with this goth who says that Computer RPGs AREN'T properly role playing games." He's half right. Some games really do encourage you to pick a role and play it. Fallout and Planescape come to mind. I've tried to put some of that into the Geneforge games. The essence of role-playing is, in my view, being forced to make decisions, seeing those decisions have an effect, living with their consequences, and then make more decisions. Computer games can and sometimes do achieve this. It takes a lot of work, though, and a large portion of the gaming populace just wants to hit things. Which is why don't don't see so much of that. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Exile 3 Cannot Run in Tech Support | |
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written Wednesday, May 3 2006 12:59
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A helpful bit of text will soon be on all of the Exile support pages. I found this page http://windowsxp.mvps.org/16bit.htm to be extremely helpful. I will also have the repaired files available for download. Apparently, the damage is caused by a Trojan horse. Anyone who has had this problem may want to get some appropriately powerful Antivirus software in the near future. - Jeff Vogel - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Exile 3 Cannot Run in Tech Support | |
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written Wednesday, May 3 2006 10:49
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I'll look into this and see if I can find an official link to send people to. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A Few More Advance Words On Geneforge 4 in Geneforge Series | |
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written Wednesday, May 3 2006 10:37
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"Serviles can't shape. Period. If there was a canister or something that allowed serviles to shape, I would be very angry." How about if the rebels found a way to remove the block the Shapers made and enable serviles to shape, but they're really bad at it. Would you then be just somewhat irked? As time has progressed, creations have attained the ability to edit themselves (starting with drakons) to build on/undo what the Shapers started with. This is both part of the solution and part of the problem. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Exile 3 Cannot Run in Tech Support | |
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written Tuesday, May 2 2006 19:56
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Follow the directions you see when you enter the tech support forum, at the top. This fixes the vast majority of these sorts of problems. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Geneforge 1 runs slowly under WinXP in Tech Support | |
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written Tuesday, May 2 2006 19:56
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Follow the directions you see when you enter the tech support forum, at the top. This fixes the vast majority of these sorts of problems. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| a4 is the best game yet in Avernum 4 | |
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written Tuesday, May 2 2006 14:18
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"Baldur's Gate I - II is crap compared to Planescape Torment." While I am a huge fan of Planescape: Torment, I feel that Baldur's Gate II is one of the all-time great RPGs. I felt just as caught up in the story, but there was more game there. Torment was beautifully written, but I spent a lot of time going, "Oh, will you shut up? I want to hit something!" As for the weight limit, that is a major part of game balance in the Geneforge system. It's how I keep the more fragile, magic-based character builds from wrapping themselves in 5 inches of steel plate. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| BOA's Sound Effects in General | |
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written Tuesday, May 2 2006 12:35
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My sounds are licensed from the site sounddogs.com. I can't give permission to others to use them, but feel free to go there yourself. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Avernum 4 stuck in the game. in Tech Support | |
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written Saturday, April 29 2006 13:08
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i. Back up your save folders. ii. Do a full uninstall. iii. Redownload a fresh copy. Reinstall. (just reinstalling is not enough, you have to do it clean) iv. Replace your saved games. v. Load one of them. Hit Shift-D. Enter "backtostart" You should be fine. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A Few More Advance Words On Geneforge 4 in Geneforge Series | |
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written Saturday, April 29 2006 12:37
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"Seriously, this is awesome. No need to play a pacifist just so I can stomach it anymore! Random creations related to the plot! NO MORE HACKING AND SLASHING!" Oh, I wouldn't want to overstate that case. There are plenty of zones swarming with monsters in need of ass-kicking. There is a war going on after all. It's just that the ratio of story to fight is higher. Once change I did forget to mention, though. I am making an effort to replace swarms of individual monsters with groups. I want to reduce the "walk 10 feet, tiny fight, walk 10 feet, tiny fight" syndrome. This change should extend to all future games. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A Few More Advance Words On Geneforge 4 in Geneforge Series | |
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written Saturday, April 29 2006 00:23
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One more thing that I think I should throw out here is that I do not think that the Sholai will have a major part to play in the rest of the Geneforge saga. This is why. The rest of the games will focus with the full, sickening unleashing of the powers of the Shapers, and everyone, human and creation, dealing with the aftermath. That is why I don't really want the Sholai to be involved. They are staying well back from the crazy people. The Shapers and rebels are going to have to fix their problems on their own. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A Few More Advance Words On Geneforge 4 in Geneforge Series | |
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written Friday, April 28 2006 15:53
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Despite a new infant, food poisoning, and general inertia, I've now completed the first 5 areas of Geneforge 4. I have a lot better idea of the shape the game is going to take. I hope to have actual screen shots and PR available in a month or two. The game will be smaller in size than Geneforge 3, but with a much higher plot density. I've tried to make the game have a more intricate plot and more involved quest chains, battles, and characters. I have some concern that the amount of talky interaction in the game will cost me hack-n-slash gamer money, and this bums me out, but it ended up being the sort of game I wanted to write, so here we are. Avernum 4's relative success bought me some extra time, and, when I wasn't spending that time parenting, I spent it polishing Geneforge 4 and reworking a lot of stuff that was overdue for it. I added a lot of polish to the graphics, to the item system, and to the creations for starters. There will be some weather effects. They have no effect on gameplay whatsoever. They're just pretty. There are five basic rebel character types. Four of them are human. As said before, their are 3 new creations and eight new spells. I am also making some major changes to the alternate creation types to make them more interesting. The game still tracks your allegiance to one side or the other, but the system is now based far more on actions and less on conversation. A lot of encounters have a pro-rebel and a pro-shaper resolution. Still hope to have it out for the Mac by Christmas. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| What is happening to me? in Avernum 4 | |
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written Friday, April 28 2006 15:36
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No picking flame wars about Avernum 4 please. It makes me sad. Some people like it and some people don't, like every other game I've ever written, better or worse. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| The new armor system. (50% + 50% = 75%!?!?) in Avernum 4 | |
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written Friday, April 28 2006 12:19
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Ancalagonthe Black asked a question in another thread that I though deserved its own topic. "Jeff-why did you go from the exile system where 50% reduction + 50% reduction = 75% reduction to the more recent system of being 100% reduction? (This applies to traits as well)." I think you have this backwards ... it's the new system that has 50% + 50% = 75%. (i.e. the first piece blocks half of the damage and the second blocks half of the remaining damage) The reason for the new system (which I am VERY happy with and will stick with indefinitely) is that it makes the game much easier to balance, while continuing to have additional armor make a difference. With the new system, you can never entirely block out damage. The foes can always hit you. But new pieces of armor will always help out more. In the older games, it was possible to stack up pieces of armor to make yourself immune to damage. This is a very very bad thing for a game. Of course, some people still find Avernum 4 too easy. But then, I've never played an RPG that I wasn't able to make too easy with care. But I have to balance the games so that more casual gamers have a chance. If the hardcore Avernum fans find the game hard, it's too tough. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |