Avernum and Geneforge creator Jeff Vogel says “sustainability is tricky” - even when you’re a bottom feeder

As he plots his final decade or so of garage RPG development, Vogel is remastering past work

Image credit:Spiderweb Software

“I really fight being envious of Larian,” says indie RPG designer Jeff Vogel. “Or any other big company. Because everyone’s scared, everyone has hard times, and the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I’ve had a very successful life where I’ve earned enough and gotten enough stability. And so I’m really happy with my choices. It would be awesome if I could write a big hit that everyone played, or had a big team and could do a big thing. But you know, I’m content. I’ve had enough people play my games.”

Like Larian, Vogel makes acclaimed Ultima-style RPGs. Unlike Larian, he makes them in his spare bedroom, with the assistance of his wife, Mariann Krizsan. As we speak, it’s 2am in Seattle, but that doesn’t bother Vogel. Almost all of his programming happens between noon and 6pm, or from midnight to 4am, to the accompaniment of Comedy Central on a nearby telly. To his credit, Vogel still gets dressed for the occasion. “I could work in my pyjamas or in a robe if I wanted,” he says. “But for some reason, I’ve just always been able to concentrate better with clothes on.”

Of the 30 years Jeff Vogel has toiled away as a game designer, just four months were spent at a AAA games studio. In 1999, he worked in a temp position for Microsoft as a designer on Mechwarrior 4. It didn’t work out, and he was fired. “They decided to swap me out for someone a bit less independent-minded for the long slog of implementing the game,” he says. “It was the right choice for everyone. I learned a huge amount about how to develop a game properly, which I immediately put to work making the first Geneforge .”

Today, Vogel is working on the remaster of Geneforge 2. It’s a dense and atmospheric western RPG with shades of early Fallout. You play as a Shaper, a wizard with the ability to turn gooey essence into disposable, subservient life - high fantasy scorpions or velociraptors who can step in between you and your enemies, like ethically-complicated Pokémon. Geneforge 2 - Infestation was Kickstarted in March to the tune of $76,777 by just 1,549 backers. That’s an average of almost $50 each, which tells you Vogel’s games are deeply adored by a passionate few. To them, his independent-mindedness is a virtue, not a flaw. They find that the Geneforge games support their independence, too.

“One of the trademark qualities of Geneforge is that you can learn about this guy on the other side of the island, who’s the bad guy,” Vogel says. “And you walk across the island and finally meet him, and he explains where he’s coming from. And if you go, ‘Actually, no, this guy kind of has a point,’ you can just switch sides and still get a perfectly satisfying ending.” These are games in which every ending is achievable without ever throwing a fireball or firing a dart. “I love putting choices in my games,” Vogel says. “Even if most people won’t take them, because players appreciate knowing they had a choice.”

When the first Geneforge came out, it was unheard of for RPG developers to support pacifist playthroughs. “No one had ever done anything like it before, that I know of,” Vogel says. “Even now, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a great game, but you still gotta hack your way through the thing from beginning to end.”

Image credit:Spiderweb Software

It’s undeniably fascinating to look at the histories of Larian Studios and Vogel’s Spiderweb Software in parallel. Larian launched its debut game, a Commander & Conquer ripoff named The L.E.D. Wars, in 1997 to no notice. At around the same time, Vogel had struck gold with the conclusion of his first fantasy trilogy, named Exile. He had earned enough to hire a team and build a company. “I thought about it a long time,” Vogel says. “And finally, I was like, ‘I don’t wanna do that. I like sitting alone in my room surrounded by weird nerd stuff, and making my oddball little low-budget fantasies. It’s very important to kill your ego.”

By contrast, Larian fought to make RPGs at scale. Teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and irrelevance for almost two decades, the developer finally pulled off their transformation into a AAA studio against the odds - and only thanks to the stubbornness of CEO Swen Vincke. Had Vogel taken the same route, it’s overwhelmingly likely that Spiderweb Software would no longer exist today.

“Larian had so many years where they could just barely keep the lights on,” Vogel says. “At any moment, with a flip of the coin, they’re out of business. I knew that if I followed that path, there would be periods of time where I’d be kept awake all night wondering if my business was gonna survive. I’ve made less money, I’ve gotten less fame. But in return, I’ve had a great deal more tranquillity in my life. Sitting here at age 53, looking back, that’s been valuable.”

There’s something especially appealing about the slowburn sustainability of Vogel’s career right now - at a time when the games industry at large has switched tracks from boom to bust. Embracer has reportedly cancelled a new Deus Ex - and many who worked on it will now be competing for new roles with an estimated 6,000 others who lost games jobs this January. The RPS layoffs tag is horribly stacked with recent news stories of games companies realigning, restructuring, and otherwise slashing frightening numbers of roles.

Image credit:Spiderweb Software

It’s the result of an all-or-nothing approach to business that leaves untold stress and even ruined lives in its wake. Whereas Vogel has trundled along for three decades without sacrificing anybody to get a game done or to stay afloat. That said, it’s not always romantic to be, as Vogel puts it, a bottom feeder. “I grab the little bits of meat that the big fish cannot bother themselves to eat,” he says. “Sustainability is tricky. Even in the best possible time it’s a cutthroat, bloodthirsty business.” He has survived by being relentlessly pragmatic - reusing assets without shame and learning to be happy with ‘good enough’.

“I’ve been fascinated with politics since I was 14,” Vogel says. “Even when it’s really painful to read the news, I still do it. As I get older, I see that everything’s complicated. There are no solutions, only trade-offs. You just muddle through and pick the least bad thing.” It’s a worldview that’s become only more pronounced in his recent non-remaster projects, like the Queen’s Wish series - “a political muddle”. And it’s a flavour he suspects might be too sharp for some.

“The Queen’s Wish games are nowhere near as popular as the older games,” he says. “Every once in a while we’ll get an email like, ‘This game is really cool, because it’s not talking down to me. This is what life is like.’ But Geneforge I did a long time ago, when I was younger and had more idealism and less cynicism. And so you really can hack out a happy ending for yourself. I really want in these games for you to be able to feel you got away clean.”

Image credit:Spiderweb Software

There are a wide variety of happy endings available in Geneforge 2, in fact, and Vogel isn’t messing with those. But he has added new zones and large quest lines that expand on the Geneforge world and its lore, while respecting the shape of the original story. “A lot of these games I spent a year and a half writing,” he says. “And honestly, that’s not quite enough time. It gets the game off the ground, but it doesn’t make it shine. An extra year and a half for each of those games makes them really good, and that’s a lot of what I wanna do.”

Before retirement, Vogel intends to bring the Queen’s Wish series to a meaningful conclusion. But mostly, he’ll be remastering past work. Of the 18 original games in his rear-view mirror, there are six candidates that are “really cool, full of good design, and just don’t work anymore”. So he hopes to spruce them up and enjoy a further trickle of back catalogue sales into old age.

Some of Vogel’s friends, fellow designers and artists, can’t understand his choice to revisit old work. “They talk to me like I just said that I have a fatal disease,” he says. “And I don’t look at it that way.” Vogel is a huge fan of Billy Joel, “like all right-thinking people”. And like his idol, he’s content to tour the hits.

Especially when Larian has just introduced a whole new generation to the joys of Ultima-influenced RPGs. “There’s a lot of people who are gonna play Baldur’s Gate 3,” Vogel says. “And a few of them are gonna come to papa.”

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Avernum: Escape From the Pit

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Geneforge

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

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ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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