Jeff Vogel

Avernum 4: Greed and Glory is out! The 31 year old cult classic Avernum series is back as a unique indie RPG set in a vast underworld nation. Fight a monster plague. Explore the depths. Be loyal or treacherous. Get rich and famous! Huge & full of fun. store.steampowered.com/app/3882020/Av…

1/3 + 1/9 + 1/27 + ··· = 1/2. The proof is in the picture. No words needed.

Nerd Deep Housecleaning Update: Our first games were published by a company called Fantasoft, best known for a 1994 shareware hit called Realmz. (In 1994, a "hit" meant you could buy a house. These days, an indie hit means you can buy Vermont.) In a fit of enthusiasm, Fantasoft wanted to try to get our games sold on CDs in actual stores, like proper grown-up developers. So they worked with me to make these sexy CD prototypes with proper hand-drawn art (which is simultaneously horribly garish and kind of cool). The exciting thing about this is that, if the plan worked out, they thought I could get as much as (cue Dr. Evil Voice) TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. At the time, this seemed an unimaginable payoff. Never panned out. The guy in charge of the deal flaked out. Fantasoft disappeared from the face of the earth. All that remains are 3 ancient CDs, which I carry from state to state for no particular reason. A lot of this old crap will eventually become Kickstarter backer rewards, I suppose.

@JonathanOC It is not a boot disk. I do remember it was exactly one small file.

@spiderwebsoft Gotta be a boot disk?

Nerd Deep Housecleaning Update: I found one of my MOST IMPORTANT POSSESSIONS. About 20 years ago, I had some sort of software problem. To fix it, I needed some sort of a file. It contains a key OS file or authentication code or game component or something. It was so vitally important than I copied it onto a floppy and labeled it "In Case of Emergency ..." and put it in a drawer. Neglecting, of course, to write exactly what was on it, because it was SO IMPORTANT I assumed I would never forget. I found the disk 10 years later and had absolutely no recollection of what vital file was on it. But I can never, ever, ever get rid of it! Because who knows ...

New rule of thumb. If you post something on Xwitter and people start suggesting you go to military surplus stores, your situation is worse than you think.

@spiderwebsoft i bet it has a text file full of ascii boobs

@spiderwebsoft That must have some amazing 20kb Playboy photos on it

@TerrorCosmic Of course I can. It says "In Case of Emergency ..."

@spiderwebsoft can you even read it today?

@Ron_Dilley "source archive" 😬

@spiderwebsoft The struggle is real! iamnor.com/2026/03/05/i-f…

To everyone telling me how to look on the disk: YES I KNOW EBAY EXISTS. I could look on the disk, but I won't, for two reasons: 1. It is not yet an emergency. 2. There is no guarantee that I would recognize what the file on the drive is. (I do remember it was one file.) 3. As of 4 PM PST on 3/17/2026, there is a ceiling on how much I care.

So if you ever emailed me asking about some quest or bug in a game I released 15 years ago, and I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, I hope this provides context. I will be buried with that floppy disk. I will present it at the Pearly Gates.

@PrideOfHumility No drives that can read this disk still exist.

@spiderwebsoft Personally, I'd just put it in the drive and see what's on it.

@Narkogog I haven't had a drive that would read that thing in over a decade.

@spiderwebsoft Please, you gotta boot it. It's the disc that will reset our reality back to the good timeline!

@totalnewbie1 I do not.

@spiderwebsoft Do you even have a 3.5 drive to pop that in to? I was talking about putting some files on a CD with a friend a week ago and realized none of my computers even have a CD/DVD/whatever on them

@jlericson Universal Paperclips is a great game.

@spiderwebsoft Nah. They know what paperclips are! It's the MacGuffin of clicker games. decisionproblem.com/paperclips/ind…

Nerd Deep Housecleaning Update: My house is infested with paperclips bent like this. For the youngs: Once, if a disk got stuck in a drive and the computer crashed, you had to jam this bit of metal into a tiny hole to physically eject it. Then you put the bent paper clip into a drawer, thinking you would reuse it, and you never did.

BIG NEWS! We've released Queen’s Wish: The Judgment, the conclusion to our unique indie RPG series of empire management and high stakes family politics! This final chapter is a free expansion for Queen’s Wish 2: The Tormentor. Queen's Wish 2 on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1947750/Qu…

New Blog Post! We've concluded our Queen's Wish series of RPGs. These games contain some of our best design and worst decisions. I'm very proud of them and never want to think about them again. Here's a postmortem, with sales figures! bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/queens-wish-…