Runescape History and development

DeviousMUD, the forerunner to RuneScape, was created in 1998 by Andrew Gower. The game, which was never publicly released, used isometric graphics. In 1999, Gower completely rewrote the game, albeit with no improvements to the graphics or several other aspects of the game. This version was released as a public beta version for approximately one week before it was withdrawn.

As a Cambridge University undergraduate, Gower worked on a complete rewrite of the game with the assistance of his brother, Paul Gower. The isometric view was replaced by a mixture of both three-dimensional and two-dimensional sprites. The game, renamed RuneScape, was released to the public as a beta version on 4 January 2001 and was originally operated from their parents’ house in Nottingham. In December 2001, the Gower brothers and Constant Tedder formed Jagex to take over the business aspects of running RuneScape. Jagex developed a programming language called RuneScript which is used to code the game.

On 27 February 2002, a monthly membership service was made available, allowing access to additional features including new areas, quests, and items.

Gameplay in RuneScape Classic.RuneScape’s popularity is partially attributable to being accessible from most web browsers allowing players to play the game in many locations.

As RuneScape gained more users,[citation needed] Jagex began planning major changes. The developers completely rewrote the game engine so that the graphics were entirely three-dimensional producing a version called RuneScape 2. A beta version was made available to paying members on 1 December 2003, and the finished version was launched on 29 March 2004. Upon release, RuneScape 2 was renamed RuneScape, and the older version of the game was kept online as RuneScape Classic. On 12 January 2006, Jagex banned more than 5000 Classic accounts due to cheating and RuneScape Classic was closed to new accounts and restricted to paying members who had played Classic at least once since 3 August 2005, and once every six months after that.

On 16 May 2006, Jagex upgraded RuneScape’s game engine, primarily as a back-end upgrade rather than a visible graphical boost. RuneScape’s memory requirements were significantly reduced, allowing the game to be expanded and improved without increasing the loading time for most players. The engine was upgraded once again on 26 June 2007 to allow the addition of future complex content.