Spiderweb Software Interview

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Written by BuckGB on July 9th, 2007

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Q: Now, you're also working on Avernum 5 and I believe you recently finished the opening area. Avernum 5 has a more elaborate plot than the action-oriented A4, correct? Can you elaborate on this? Any hints to explain your recent comment that the starting position is (completely opposite)?

A: The main selling point of Avernum 4 was that it had an insanely huge world, with hundreds of quests, piles of hidden dungeons, and many cool, scripted encounters. On the down side, it had a less involved plot. It was more of a hack and slash game. Avernum 5 will have a very neat and intricate plot. I'm really psyched about it.

For people who've never tried the Avernum series, Avernum is a nation in the underworld, inhabiting caves far below the surface of the world. The surface is ruled by the Empire, a monolithic power that controls everything. Once, Avernum was populated by convicts and misfits the Empire sent down there to rot. A big prison colony, basically.

In the first game, the players arrive and try to escape, or to get revenge on the Empire. The later games tell the story of the Avernites' struggle for survival and freedom.

Avernum 5 will be very different from all of the earlier games. You don't plan an Avernite. You play soldiers of the Empire for the first time, send down to the underworld to hunt down a madman who just tried to assassinate the Empress. That's what I mean when I say that it's an opposite position. You're not the misfit cave dweller anymore. You're supposedly one of the oppressors, dumped into this dark, alien environment full of paranoids and former rebels who hate you.

Meanwhile, you are looking for clues and trying to kill your enemy before he kills you. And he will try to kill you. A lot.

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