Jeff of Just Press Start writes:
"When I was a teenager in 1991, I bought the first PC I’d owned since my trusty ol’ TRS-80 (Yes kids, I’m old…). One of my first purchases was the SSI Gold Box title “Pool of Radiance.” To me, this was the height of roleplaying goodness. I used to spend HOURS going through Phlan and it’s associated locations looking to finally defeat the evil Tyranthraxus and save this part of the Forgotten Realms. The reason I bring this up is because Spiderweb Software’s “Avadon: The Black Fortress” takes me right back to those halcyon days, and I can’t keep the smile off of my face as I think abut it."
Since Pong was invented in the 1970s (which was, according to Wikipedia, in the previous millennium), Jeff Vogel has been obsessed with video games. Jeff was a nerdy kid.
Vogel played them throughout his childhood. As soon as he learned to program in BASIC, he began to write games. Of course, in the beginning, they were terrible, but he was blessed with persistence and perfecting any craft takes time. He'd write a game, throw it away, then wrote another. At the time, it was just a hobby. Making it a real career never occurred to him. He followed other paths.
100 word limit, makes the title on the included image impossible to replicate here.
So, please accept the above title.
If hardcore is a thing measured by commitment and zeal than no gaming genre is more hardcore than the RPG. Scan any RPG-related forum and you’ll come away with the clear impression that RPG fans are among the most hardcore in the world. Which makes sense, because role-playing games are driven by story and story by character and if your average person is going to be loyal to anything it’s going to be to another person or the closest analogue at hand. And this is the sublime place where role-playing games, more so than any other genre, take us. Like other storied mediums, the best RPGs make us love them.
Unfortunately, when it comes to role-playing games, Android gamers have a few extra hurdles to cross before they can get to the good stuff.
Spiderweb Software has announced the v1.0.4 update of Avadon: The Black Fortress, a free upgrade to the Macintosh fantasy role-playing adventure. This upgrade fixes bugs and typos and improves performance with the Magic Trackpad. Installing this update is recommended.
It's really good to see Jeff Vogel's work getting some solid attention through Steam. He's been making pretty darn good games for so bloody long; I think he's earned a shot at making some good money at it.