Some 23 years after co-founding Jagex as the lead dev and sole engine developer on the original RuneScape, Andrew Gower is making another MMO. It's called Brighter Shores, it's out on PC and Mac later this year, it's free-to-play, and it looks and sounds an awful lot like RuneScape.
With rare independent success and decades of experience behind him, Gower's in a unique position with Brighter Shores. He's not worried about investors or publishers. He says monetization isn't a priority, and Fen Research's small dev team of just eight is instead singularly focused on bringing in players. Gower reckons free-to-play games, mobile games, and MMOs have generally gotten a bit too microtransaction-heavy, and wants Brighter Shores to be contrastingly up-front about its paid premium pass. The hope, he says, is for the game to be a relaxing escape that people can play idly or actively.
