RuneScape entered development when brothers Andrew and Paul Gower wanted a game they could easily play on the computers they had access to at school. It was an extremely indie project – so small-scale, in fact, that they initially asked friends and family members, including their own mom, to help with designing the MMO's first enemies.
"The first requirement for the game was that it needed to be quickly accessible from computers with pretty lightweight hardware and internet speeds," as former RuneScape design director Mark Ogilvie said in an interview for the October 2014 issue of GamesTM. "The founders were frustrated that at university, they would use different computers in libraries all over campus and have to install their current favourite game from a physical disk. That process would cut into precious gaming time, so they decided to make something themselves based around their early RPG and tabletop experiences, which they could play with other people at the same time. One of the founders loved making systems and engines, the other loved making quests and designing worlds, so it all fell together rather nicely.”
