by Robn Kester


With all of the latest new games from commercial developers hitting the shelves, many Mac gamers lose sight of the hidden gems that are released by shareware developers. The Mac's shareware side has always been strong, with a selection of excellent games created by real gamers for real gamers. Jeff Vogel was one of these gamers.

Five years ago, Jeff decided to take his ideas and put them into action. In 1994, his vision became Spiderweb Software.

Their first product was an exploration based game called Ocean Bound, released only for the Macintosh. Ocean Bound's basic gameplay revolves around exploring an unknown island trying to stay alive to build a boat to get off the island.

Following Ocean Bound was Exile I: Escape From The Pit. In Exile I, the player is cast into a subterranean pit populated with misfits, troublemakers and those who don't follow the rules. You then must decide to escape or to get revenge for your incarceration. The Exile Series proved to be quite popular and as a result, they released sequels, including Exile II: Crystal Souls and Exile III: Ruined World. Exile II's story brings you back to the familiar Exile land, but this time you claim the pit as your own. In Exile III you attempt to finally reach the surface again. Blades of Exile was the last of the Exile games, in which you must return to Exile to stop a war and keep the surface dwellers content.

Lately they have been hard at work on their latest effort, Nethergate, which just began shipping and features Roman and Celtic exploration and conquest in an RPG environment not unlike previous Spiderweb titles. This time around, the player can choose sides with either the Romans or the Celts, thus giving the game more replay value and a new angle. With rich 3D graphics and an involving storyline, Nethergate promises to please any Mac gamer, but will ultimately appeal to RPG fans who want a little more than running around a shooting everything.

Recently, IMG had the opportunity to talk with Jeff Vogel, not only about Nethergate, but also about his other titles and the company itself:


IMG: First off, can you tell us about yourself and Spiderweb?

JV: Well, we're a small company in Seattle. Two full-time employees and an ever-expanding web of part-timers and freelancers. We've been doing this for five years, and Nethergate is our fifth game. All our games come out for the Mac first, and shareware has been very good to us.


IMG: Spiderweb has a long history of making RPG games. How did you get involved in this particular kind of gaming?

JV: I played my first role-playing game, Eamon, many, many years ago. It was a text Dungeons and Dragons type game on the Apple II. I started playing D&D at the same time. I've just always really liked role-playing games. I've played practically every good computer role-playing game, ever.

When I got my first Mac in 1994, there just weren't any role-playing games out I liked to play. So I wrote one. And it took off from there.


IMG: Your games tend to avoid the latest technologies, like 3D acceleration, and seem to lean more towards games that even older machines can play. This kind of approach makes your games much more accessible to a larger range of users. Is this intentional?

JV: I'm a designer, not a programmer. I can't program very well. I can't write a good graphics engine, or good sound, or anything like that. All I can really do well is create really involved, fascinating adventures and cool game systems. So I write games that take advantage of that.

One great side-effect of this is that my games will run on just about any machine (or, in the case of Nethergate, any PowerPC). This accidental effect has been very lucrative for me, especially since so many new games require a really stacked system.


IMG: Let's talk about your latest effort, Nethergate. Even though it follows the same playing style as your previous games, it has a different feel. What were you trying to accomplish this time around?

JV: A cool, compelling story, in a unique setting, presented in a way different from anything done in a computer RPG before. In particular, I'm proud of the way that you play the same story from two different sides. You play Romans, and the Celts are the bad guys. Then you play the Celts, and the Romans are the bad guys. You really get a different, unique feel playing each side. It turned out to be really neat.


IMG: Nethergate's storyline is a departure from the fantasy based storylines from the Exile Trilogy, taking the player into ancient Roman times. You did your homework to make sure the feel was captured. Is this something you felt necessary to complete the whole look and feel of the game?

JV: It was necessary, but also fun. The Romans and Celts were amazingly interesting and complex peoples. It was not a chore reading about them. Plus, it made my life easier. Every fascinating detail was more grist for the mill. When I read, for example, that Romans often cleaned themselves by covering themselves with oil and scraping their skin with a metal hook called a strigil, there was no way that was not going to be mentioned in the game.


IMG: Many gamers know Spiderweb for the Exile Trilogy and Blades of Exile. Will there be another Exile based game in Spiderweb's future or have you moved on?

JV: That's an interesting question. I am considering going back to Exile, a game not many people buy anymore but which contains a lot of cool content, and redoing it with the Nethergate engine. I'll also add a lot of stuff, new missions, flesh out the characters, etc. It could be a really interesting thing, and a way to put a fresh face on a now-neglected game.


IMG: What are Spiderweb's future plans? Anything new on the horizon IMG might have a sneak peak at?

JV: We have more ideas than we could ever write games around. Ideas are cheap. Execution is hard. But I love the first Exile game, and it's pretty archaic. I'd love to see it be a hot game again.


IMG: And finally, if we visited Spiderweb Software today, what games would we find you playing currently?

JV: Alpha Centauri and Baldur's Gate. Alas, games for the PC. As a professional game designer, I need to play the most interesting, cutting edge games, looking for ideas and to be familiar with what people have already done. Alas, that often means I have to look on the PC side. All I can try to do is then come up with some cutting edge design (if not cutting edge sounds and graphics) for the Macintosh.


Jeff Vogel created Spiderweb software in 1994 with the intention to create fun, involving games. His success at grabbing the players attention using the mind and not quick trigger fingers is sure to continue with Spiderweb Software's latest RPG title, Nethergate.

Spiderweb's games have gotten awards and high praise from most of the top Mac Game Magazines. They must be doing something right. IMG thinks so.

Be sure to check out the Nethergate demo and check out Spiderweb's latest creation.