Am I just crazy or do I see something that looks like a spider in this Endless Legend screenshot?











Looks like we might get spiders after all

Oh no Oo EVERYBODY RUNNNNN

it could be a snowman, or a hallucination, or maybe even a killer endles robot that will kill everything you ever held dear. wink wink, hint, hint

I have arachnophobia as well, but oddly enough I don't react to animated spiders at all. My phobia is triggered by their legs and movement, and no animator or studio I've seen so far have managed to get it "right."

As a result of this, I have developed the uncanny ability to instantly know wether a spider is real or digital in movies and on tv.

I used to have a phobia but i asked myself "what am i afraid of?" and after i realized spiders are not that scary i stopped being afraid.... as long as i stay as far away from Australia and the death knights it has, they have armor and they are big! JUST RUN! But yea, i am now fine with spiders and especially in games.

Ail,



I actually live on a Caribbean island where there are large centipedes. Don't think I ever saw one over a foot long. The bite still sucks just the same if not more than most spider bites. I have only ever gotten bitten by a very small one. Other people I know...not that lucky.

*shivers* good grief I hope there are no spiders in EL. I wouldn't stop me from playing, but it would detract from the immersion greatly, since I would pretty much have to do a reality check every time I saw a spider on screen. Plus, I think it would be bad marketing on amp's part to allow something so widely disliked into a game that will serve as the stepping stone to Amplitude's future.

I'm not quite sure this issue is viewed from the marketing point of view.. Since JRR-damn-Tolkien established this kind of decorum in fantasy that spiders are the generic necessary enemy, no one really pays attention to this idea. Can you name ONE hack and slash/rpg without spiders?

I don't like them either, and probably would never be them if they're a playable race.

How realistic is it to expect, that a developer would remove a race/monster type and all the assets that accompany it from a game based on a small subset of people who have a fear of spiders, of which a smaller subset are actually gamers at all? Let alone 4x fantasy gamers...



When you really sit back and think about it, it isn't even worth asking if they would consider not putting them in if they are planning to do it anyway. As a developer, I certainly wouldn't waste resources to remove them.



Apart from all that, I kinda like spiders. They eat insects. They're mostly shy and really cool in their sheer variety. They kind of get a bad rap in modern media though...

You know, if spiders are in the game in some capacity, which is pretty likely, you could try viewing it as an opportunity to overcome your irrational fear instead of letting it limit you. Digital spiders can't hurt you after all, and I know from experience that the more you let something like that influence your decisions, the harder it will be to overcome. Just a thought.

I capture and release the spiders I find back outside, but they still creep me out... so I found these

pledouth wrote:
I'm not quite sure this issue is viewed from the marketing point of view.. Since JRR-damn-Tolkien established this kind of decorum in fantasy that spiders are the generic necessary enemy, no one really pays attention to this idea. Can you name ONE hack and slash/rpg without spiders?

Marketing 101: Sell what is plausible to the customer. I.e., it would not make nearly as many people upset if their are no spiders in the game, as there would be if there were. Further, I have no need to name a hack slash RPG without spiders, since Endless Legend is in the wholly different genre of strategy games.

Slashman wrote:
How realistic is it to expect, that a developer would remove a race/monster type and all the assets that accompany it from a game based on a small subset of people who have a fear of spiders, of which a smaller subset are actually gamers at all? Let alone 4x fantasy gamers...



When you really sit back and think about it, it isn't even worth asking if they would consider not putting them in if they are planning to do it anyway. As a developer, I certainly wouldn't waste resources to remove them.

I am confused... No one ever even mentioned removing current assets in Endless Legend, let alone wasting at least a month re-doing that content. In his OP, the poster clearly refferences the G2G program, which has always been about planning, not ripping out content and replacing it. So where along the line did you figure that we were demanding that assets be redone, rather than our (at least my) posts talking about the matter in a future tense?

wintermute213 wrote:
You know, if spiders are in the game in some capacity, which is pretty likely, you could try viewing it as an opportunity to overcome your irrational fear instead of letting it limit you. Digital spiders can't hurt you after all, and I know from experience that the more you let something like that influence your decisions, the harder it will be to overcome. Just a thought.

Digging in a little deep into the psychology, but that's ok lol

As far as my arachnophobia is concerned, they merely frighten me up until the point I crush them in between my thumb and forefinger. It has never limited me, but as I said, being momentarily frightened (as most people are) of seeing arachnids, it would jolt me from the immersion of the game, which is a fairly big deal as far as I am concerned.



Again, it wouldn't stop me from buying the game, and users will (in most cases) have the option to not use a faction/feature. But if the idea of making Spiders into a race is being kicked around by Kaboomer, Chronodrax or SpaceTroll (creative director), then I advise against it.



As far as spider's bad rep through the media goes, this is my fav (adder you are slacking off tonight ) Nice ones, T41 ^^

Stealth_Hawk wrote:
I am confused... No one ever even mentioned removing current assets in Endless Legend, let alone wasting at least a month re-doing that content. In his OP, the poster clearly refferences the G2G program, which has always been about planning, not ripping out content and replacing it. So where along the line did you figure that we were demanding that assets be redone, rather than our (at least my) posts talking about the matter in a future tense?

Let me see if I can clarify. If they already have spiders in the game as far as assets go, then they are likely not coming out. If they don't have them yet, but they are a planned race/monster to be implemented before the end of development, I doubt that would change either without significant pressure from many fans.



If you are talking about voting in a new Spider faction after release versus some other factions, then maybe. But usually, in G2G, the stuff gets put in anyway...just not as top priority.

Spiders? Bah, they're helpful and, as Stashman have put it, quite shy.

Centipedes are what's really scary.



Jokes aside, I understand your problem dudes and wouldn't mind spiders not being present in the game.

I fear spiders too but I never had problems with them in videogames, either as enemies or decorations or fauna or mounts or whatever.

Teodosio wrote:
I fear spiders too but I never had problems with them in videogames.

It's movies where they're depicted most horribly. The first time I watched The Return of the King, that creeped me out, after watching it a bunch of times later (one does not simply watch a Peter Jackson movie once), I was over Shelob.



As long as the spiders aren't too hideously detailed, I should be fine (I think it's the eyes and hairs that freak me out the most)

I'm not sure if my fear for spiders counts as Arachnophobia or not.



Because it

a) heavily depends on the size of the spider

b) is not limited to spiders but includes a lot of insects exceeding a certain size (those 40 cm Centipedes are about the scariest I can imagine and easily trump all sorts of spiders)

c) i only fear physical contact, if there's a glass between like in a zoo-terrarium I don't care how big and dangerous they look



And because of c) I, of course, also don't fear virtual spiders because physical contact is prettymuch impossible.



So while I can very well understand the fear of spiders themselfes, fearing images or even virtual-spiders to me just seems irational.

Is there any chance that there won't be any spiders in the game? Every time a nice game I am waiting for is due to be released, I keep asking this question, but given this G2G program and all, maybe someone can take my argument into consideration?



It is hard to believe how many games I had to miss because this irrational fear of spiders. I guess I'm not the only one out there with this predicament?

Slashman wrote:
Ail,



I actually live on a Caribbean island where there are large centipedes. Don't think I ever saw one over a foot long. The bite still sucks just the same if not more than most spider bites. I have only ever gotten bitten by a very small one. Other people I know...not that lucky.

Ever been bitten by a fully grown female black widow spider? Ive never been bit by a Caribbean centipede so I can't say that its worse, but tbh it sucks...