Jeff Vogel has written in to let me know that Avernum: Escape From the Pit has finally been released. (We last covered it this past July.) This game is actually a remake of the first Avernum, originally released as Exile: Escape From the Pit. The remake runs on the most up-to-date version of the Avernum [...]

Jeff Vogel has released his remake of the original Avernum for Mac. If you’re a Mac user, the game can be yours for $20; if you’re a Windows user, you’ll have to wait for “Q1, 2012.” Either way, here is a trailer showing off the game in its new engine.

Today I scored an interview with Jeff Vogel, one of the great-grandaddies of the indie RPG world.Vogel has been developing indie RPGs for a whopping 15 years, and by all accounts, he’s been quite successful at it. We discussed the reaction to Avadon (his latest game), what his next move will be as a game [...]

Earlier this week, Spiderweb Software released Avadon: The Black Fortress for Mac. The Windows port is “Coming in Spring 2011,” or “hopefully by the end of April”; sometime after that, an iPad port is apparently on the horizon as well. Avadon has had a remarkably short development cycle since its  announcement in May of last [...]

It has been somewhat in vogue recently among a certain class of indie game designer to assert that games are not a good storytelling medium. Now, I have never made a secret of my views on dialog and other narrative techniques in games. While interactivity is of course central to any gaming experience, that is [...]

Spiderweb Software posted a page for a new game slated for release in early 2011: You are a servant of Avadon. The Black Fortress. Your job is to protect the Pact, five nations that have banded together in a fragile alliance. The purpose of the Pact: To hold back the waves of invaders that seek [...]

Jeff Vogel’s given two separate interviews over the last week or so: first this one from Captain D’s PC Gaming Blog, then this one on GameBanshee. Also, just because I find it interesting, here is a recent blog post Jeff wrote evangelizing the reuse of old game engines and assets for RPGs.

Title: Avernum 6 Developer: Spiderweb Software (Jeff Vogel) Platforms: Windows, Mac Price: $28 (plus $6 to purchase it on CD) I’ll start with a confession: Avernum 6 is the first Avernum game I’ve played. So I write with a fresh eye toward the thing, rather than seeing it as one in a series of gradually [...]

Jeff Vogel is, in his own words, “older than the stones and the dirt.” He’s been releasing indie RPGs since 1994, which makes him one of the great-grandaddies of the indie RPG scene. Vogel’s company, Spiderweb Software, just released the final chapter of his Avernum series, Avernum 6, on Friday.