Hacker News Reader

Comment by Grafikenjo | Hacker News Reader

I'm not surprised about him, his job, how he thinks and works.

I'm very very surprised that he is able to find that niche and he makes enough money tbh. How does someone find his game before really really good games like baldur gates etc.?

I probably know more people playing old games over and over (lets say baldur gates1 or 2) but i don't know anyone who is aware of those type of indie games.

For me personal though: I decided to push for carier first, and i really hope i will have enough time in my 40 to switch over to something i'm passioned for. He is probably quite lucky but i could imagine its stressful

View on HN

So I've played a couple of his games, and they are great (for me!) because they feel like old-school RPG games like the 'gold box' series (Pools of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds ...) but with a more modern interface and much more content.

I would say Spiderweb Software games are very different - necessarily - to something huge like BG3 or other AAA games because there is only so much a one-man developer or small team can do.

Focusing on telling interesting stories and allowing the player to really explore the game world while letting them feel their choices are meaningful is key, I think. However, I'm sure Jeff has blog posts on the philosophy behind this, so probably read him instead :)

For me personally many of those high fantasy polished D&D based games have become quite boring. I mean they objectively are of high quality! But I couldn't e.g. manage to finish both Pillars of Eternity games because they somehow just became a chore to play further. The writing was great, the visuals were great, but something was still lacking. Achievements and collectables and similar 4th-wall-breaking elements were a turn-off for me, and the D&D ruleset again and again...

By contrast Jeff's Avernum series was such a breath of fresh air. Really interesting world, great writing, no D&D. Those were really great. I wouldn't mind better graphics, but that's a minor point for me.

Even if said polished D&D games are great, how many of them do they make per year? 1/8? 1/5?

Even if you add the non design-by-commitee immersive games that are not quite rpgs, you end with maybe 2 titles per year.

That's not always enough, and then you go and snatch the Avernum series and whatever promises to be similar.

Btw there was another indie company that promised to go the same way: https://basiliskgames.com/

They seem to have got snagged into an ambitious engine change though. And nothing's come out of there in many years.

> How does someone find his game before really really good games like baldur gates etc.?

They don't. There have been really good AAA games before Jeff started making games. His business model does not revolve around getting people to play his games before they discover better ones. His business model is to make games that can't be compared like that.

He was there at the right times: back when the internet became generally available and there weren't many easily downloadable games; Back when Steam got started but didn't have so much content - indie titles could soar.

Yeah, I had the shareware version on the old Apple Mac back in like 2002. I then bought the full version as it was fun.

But like back then I think the computer had shareware version of Avernum and of Unreal Tournament (1999), It wasn't like you had a huge amount of choice.

They are good games though nonetheless.

If you actually read the article, he answers your question multiple times over and even goes through all the numbers involved and the reasons why people buy his games.

Have we read the same article?

Because you know, i read it and i have been followng the game industry for ages as well.

And there was no clear answer to my question: How do people keep finding and buying his games so he makes the mone he does for ages.

But thanks for your comment...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com