Jeff Vogel Interview

Following the recent launch of Queen’s Wish 2: The Tormentor, RPGWatch had a chat with Jeff Vogel, the mastermind behind this RPG series, as well as all the other Spiderweb Software projects. The resulting interview touches on Vogel’s decades of experience in the video game industry, the uncertain nature of independent development, his latest series, and more.

Here’s a couple of sample questions:

RPGWatch: Also for the first time in Queen’s Wish you allowed players to create a save when the game is completed. Will the decisions players made in the first game affect the sequel?

Jeff Vogel: There are a few changes, yes. Most of the decisions you make that carry forward will take effect in the final ending of the trilogy. There are going to be a LOT of endings, some of which can be affected by decisions you made early on.

RPGWatch: Now comes the dreaded question I’m sure has been asked over a thousand times. Have you ever thought of updating your game engine?

Jeff Vogel: Updating in what way? Remember, we’re a niche, tiny, low-budget company. I create full-length games almost entirely by myself. We have to be very careful what we spend money and time on, because we have little to spare.

My engine creates very fun, playable RPGs in a reasonable amount of time. Nothing is perfect, but everything is fine, and we’ve achieved a lot of success with it.

A lot of our success in this business comes from knowing just the right amount of resources we need to spend on every part of the game, and not one bit more. Real artists ship.