Apollo, first off, yes I have something other to do with my life than avara.

1. I am 16 and going to college
2. I'm in a band
3. I have a girlfriend
4. I am a graphic editor

Like any sequal I have gotton, it has made me want to get the prequal. If making an "avara2" will do this, then I"m all for it. I love avara, and don't want it to go to waist any more than it already has.

Cowboy, I hate hypocrites, so next time, try not to act like one please.

This is a pointless topic, don't expect me to reply anymore, 'cuz I dont give a ####...

-Kyle "Vader" Blessing

Yep...I'm responding to old topics. I haven't even played Avara for a month...I check the boards now and then to look for anything interesting, and this caught my eye.

andrew, those questions depend on the company. If it is a big-shot company such as Bungie (dead...those Microsoft bastards) Blizzard, or id, I'd expect all of those things from them. But from a small-time shareware business like Ambrosia, I'd really only expect a bugless version, and continual tech support. Ambrosia doesn't really need to provide tech support with the webboards available to ask questions, however. If the developers of a shareware game later decide to revive a project by updating it to use currecnt technologies (OpenGL, Input Sprockets, etc. in Avara's case) in hopes of getting more people to register, all to the good. But I can't really expect developers to make their life their games, especially when cash doesn't exactly grow on trees for them. Charging for updates is also another solution. You've already done it for EV. You screwed around with the engine a little bid, threw in a new scenario with POS graphics, and made us pay $25 for it :D. No one seems to be complaining either.

My 1˘

I don't expect Ambroisa to update unprofitable games. That would be financial suicide. Imagine this:Microsoft cutting windows and office to concentrate on... lets see... QBASIC or the paint program? That would be just plain dumb. True, they could turn QBASIC into a competitor with CodeWarrior etc, and paint into a Photoshop competitor, but it would never generate profit like Win9x/NT/2000 and Office.

Ambroisa, of course, has caused the Avara Community to lose faith in the company by never updating it. What if Apple stopped making the Mac back in the mid eighties, just because the Apple II generated more profit? That would have been a death blow, as well as having the Apple community losing faith in them. They would have no choice other than to move on to windows (which graphically would have eventually been the most advanced OS eventually).

Anyway, I like Avara, but I have lost hope that Ambroisa will update it. This has biased my opinions against using and registering any other Ambrosia products.

Ambroisa cannot sue something like MechWarrior or an Avara 2 unless they copy Avara EXACTLY(or close enough) in a certain way (eg, if the HECTOR graphics were the same, or if it used the same internet system). I guess it could if it held a patent on the walking robots with weapons idea, though. I don't think it does, though.

El Barto

PS I agree, EVO was crap. Well, it wasn't much of a sequal. And I liked EVs inbuild galaxy better. But I guess thats just personal opinion.

There's some truth in El Barto's post, but as andrew said, Avara was essentially a perfect product when it was released, and notwithstanding 1.0.1, still does it's job today.

I personally think the mistake was the wrong emphasis on its marketing, and extremely poor maintenance of the Avara.com website.

WOW! My eyes hurt now-I read through the WHOLE thing.

I think Ambrosia should make new games with new basic ideas. I mean, working on Maelstrom forever? Like, what can you add, eh? By now, if Ambrosia was only working on Maelstrom, they'd have, umm. different engines? Tons of guns? My point is, not everyone likes games where you shoot rocks. If the game works, leave it, and move on.

Phew!

My signature is explained in the "Just Chat" forum, if you care at all.

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"I don't understand why he works so hard on a device to duplicate a sound so easily made by hand and armpit."
-Barrin, progress report