Back then, there weren't the tools available for most single devs to launch a full game (which is where Ambrosia came in with a suite of libraries, artists, and knowledge) as they can do nowadays. So there wasn't a huge mass of games, and also there was an overhead to releasing something- nowadays you can throw things up on the App Store and see if it sticks (not diminishing anything from the amazing people working on things nowadays). Ambrosia had a phone line you could phone for free at any time to get tech support!
So Ambrosia games were not big budget but they were created by people who loved what they were doing and who had the expertise to make games with great playability. Nowadays that is possible, but it strikes me as harder to differentiate yourself.
Once something is big budget and with a big team, I think the dynamics change a lot. On a small team every voice could be heard, everyone could have an impact on the direction of the game.
it feels like something that won’t be regained from that era
How might you attribute these feelings? Is it the vastly increased competition in games and the race to the bottom in mobile app stores? Microtransactions and monetization strategies?
I still try to support a lot of my favourite indie developers. I buy Spiderweb software games because I played them so much as a kid. I think it’s awesome that Jeff can still keep doing what he loves.