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about 6 years
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RuneScape
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| 0s | the ball welcoming is a very special day |
|---|---|
| 2s | a runescape 18th birthday we had a very |
| 5s | special stream joining me to my left |
| 8s | first of all we have the Gower's and |
| 10s | then of course ash Monash although at |
| 12s | the ends and actually for the first time |
| 14s | ash me and you have been on the stream |
| 15s | together which is a rare it's the first |
| 17s | time we feel that maybe they thought we |
| 18s | were the same person |
| 21s | by the way of course I mean I think we |
| 25s | have to come clear that the myths and |
| 27s | get it cleared out you know and |
| 28s | everything else with that so laughs ever |
| 30s | do let's go one by one well you know |
| 32s | fiscal guys what are you up to nowadays |
| 33s | what have you been crack on with I think |
| 36s | we've probably all looked at the same |
| 37s | thing I'm still working on a new game |
| 42s | engine a new programming language that |
| 44s | goes with that and some test games but |
| 57s | really enjoying it |
| 57s | so how is it developing in this day and |
| 61s | age compared to sleep a lot if more |
| 64s | difficult cuz obviously the bar is a lot |
| 66s | higher you know the get me know when we |
| 68s | launched rescale originally it was it |
| 69s | was pretty basic and then we were able |
| 70s | to sort of evolve it and grow it you |
| 73s | know after launching it whereas these |
| 75s | days you know you sort of look at you |
| 77s | know the most basic sort of mobile phone |
| 79s | game and it's it's quite you know |
| 81s | advanced so yeah it's all a bit of a |
| 83s | treadmill this is fast is what we're |
| 84s | developing our technology and I graphics |
| 86s | engine and everything if I make it |
| 87s | better |
| 87s | what's expected is also getting better |
| 89s | there's a lot more competition is a lot |
| 92s | more competition as well it's harder to |
| 94s | find a sort of a niche something to get |
| 97s | you noticed |
| 98s | you know but anyway I mean it's good |
| 101s | it's good you know really really pleased |
| 103s | with how the game engines going it's |
| 105s | definitely gonna be both at the war |
| 108s | heavy awesome and all right so let's |
| 111s | just get into obviously know we're here |
| 112s | from runescape let's list them and some |
| 114s | questions we have some questions we'd |
| 115s | like to ask you know as a collective |
| 117s | group and ash by all means feel free to |
| 119s | join in as well |
| 120s | so first of all you know what do you |
| 123s | think was the reason runescape has died |
| 125s | has done as well as it has and |
| 127s | essentially going on all the way to the |
| 128s | 18th year I mean I think |
| 130s | was a degree of being in the right place |
| 133s | at the right time you know I identified |
| 135s | that so I wanted to play that I could |
| 138s | find that didn't exist which was you |
| 140s | know a browser-based game that you can |
| 142s | play anywhere I wanted to be able to |
| 144s | play that's all big sort of what the RPG |
| 146s | without pain |
| 147s | oh great big you know massive monthly |
| 149s | fee bitch at the time you just couldn't |
| 151s | do the fact that you you could play it |
| 156s | in a library right at school was |
| 158s | massively helpful because and it ran on |
| 160s | a really low spec computer you know it |
| 163s | was a combination to all those things |
| 164s | you know it meant there was a whole |
| 165s | massive audience of people who basically |
| 166s | music it was the only game they could |
| 168s | actually play it was the only thing they |
| 169s | can play at school it was anything they |
| 171s | could afford to play it was anything the |
| 173s | random their Hardware all that many |
| 177s | effective we've got free marketing you |
| 179s | know just being a good game wasn't good |
| 181s | enough |
| 181s | you also need all those other things as |
| 182s | well that's how to make it work I think |
| 186s | another thing as well in terms of be |
| 187s | longevity of it having lasted eighteen |
| 190s | years he's obviously been since we |
| 192s | launched it updated almost every week |
| 193s | and you know most games they might have |
| 196s | a big expansion compact mount like every |
| 198s | year or two where's Vince Gates being |
| 200s | able to be very sort of reactive |
| 201s | especially more recently we've sort of |
| 203s | like polled content and the like you |
| 205s | know we can see what works we can go |
| 206s | with what what the players are most |
| 208s | interested in that I think you know that |
| 211s | Jack just play really well to vet |
| 214s | strengths you know always having |
| 215s | something to keep it fresh means that |
| 217s | people don't have a reason to get bored |
| 219s | there's always something new to try out |
| 221s | so you can always some games have |
| 225s | stopped updating a little bit or they |
| 226s | look date less and less and then people |
| 228s | wish to get bored and find something |
| 230s | else just fill that time instead yes |
| 232s | it's not like they're playing the same |
| 233s | game for eighteen years it's very |
| 235s | different from what two years can make |
| 238s | some recognizable we've you choose the |
| 240s | right here I mean also as well if we |
| 243s | look at both games that old-school of |
| 244s | course half cab offs come out next week |
| 246s | and one side that - sniffing - sniffing |
| 248s | rework as well for when scape to come |
| 250s | out next week so too significant content |
| 252s | releases make that safe to save the |
| 253s | games and as you guys mentioned |
| 255s | continually updating every week that's |
| 257s | kind of the biggest rain and then also |
| 258s | shows that the devs are trying |
| 260s | everything they can to keep this game |
| 261s | afresh doing these little fixes and |
| 263s | sometimes course you might not have |
| 264s | these |
| 264s | weeks but if there's little bug fixes |
| 266s | the commitments there and as a player |
| 269s | playing you're like okay these guys want |
| 270s | to keep updating and doing from the can |
| 272s | and for a game to do that as long as |
| 274s | we're in scape is insane really so I |
| 276s | mean when we look back at RuneScape's |
| 278s | release by 2001 and then of course we |
| 281s | have the membership released in February |
| 282s | 2002 yeah if we look at how it's spiked |
| 286s | do you guys anticipate it did you have a |
| 288s | plan for like if it's faker spikes as |
| 290s | far what we're gonna do no I mean not I |
| 291s | mean my aim at the time was to basically |
| 293s | get more players than the sort of little |
| 295s | text-based sort of mug that I've been |
| 297s | playing prior to that you know and that |
| 299s | game was sort of getting maybe sort of |
| 300s | twenty sort of thirty simul taneous |
| 301s | players at peak and my aim was sort of |
| 303s | like I'm gonna be that I'm gonna get |
| 304s | more players than they've got by having |
| 306s | graphics that was kind of that was the |
| 307s | level of my ambition you know the actual |
| 310s | soft part of it at the time couldn't |
| 311s | actually handle more than you know a few |
| 313s | hundred players concurrently because I |
| 315s | just didn't expect to ever happen and I |
| 317s | went all of a sudden and a very people |
| 319s | very rapidly started going up I could |
| 321s | okay the software and you know it was |
| 324s | very much I'm going this off as fast as |
| 325s | I possibly could because it what was |
| 331s | super management like back then was it a |
| 332s | pain to try and get new servers bad |
| 333s | things how much nowadays you can just do |
| 335s | it right but was it difficult |
| 337s | yeah but back then the only way to get |
| 342s | set by machine physically located in the |
| 345s | hosting facility and the members had |
| 347s | madly time getting Hardware in the you |
| 349s | don't you have to order it get it |
| 350s | shipped it would take a few several days |
| 353s | you probably for you weeks to get it set |
| 355s | up which I mean if the game would be |
| 356s | faster you expected it was we actually |
| 358s | had point where we had to |
| 360s | surely should we just move all the phone |
| 370s | to anything what could totally do it |
| 374s | watch an airplane I had no idea what |
| 377s | she's allergic |
| 378s | sorry areas we're so invested in it we |
| 380s | didn't realize so apologies for that so |
| 382s | we're all yes service so yeah I mean |
| 384s | when it comes down to I mean if there |
| 386s | was an outage like how are you guys how |
| 389s | did you guys have to deal with it back |
| 391s | then we didn't have any 24/7 coverage so |
| 397s | if it broke in the middle of night |
| 398s | we you know we didn't even know we're |
| 399s | asleep so we got in the morning well |
| 400s | that's broke |
| 402s | just after I went to bed and he's been |
| 404s | up all night yeah we had issues what |
| 407s | were you you had to come off for holiday |
| 409s | once because um yes I definitely |
| 411s | remember one thing we had like like a |
| 413s | one-week holiday in the year and we got |
| 415s | about three days and beholding and was |
| 416s | like I've got to go back to Cambridge |
| 421s | yeah we I see I actually did take a |
| 424s | laptop and a really really earlier GPRS |
| 428s | car which cost worse than dialing you |
| 433s | know it sort of at least sort of dude |
| 435s | sort of text-based administration of the |
| 436s | service of anything went wrong which is |
| 438s | reason enough that he was able to spot |
| 439s | it gone wrong but but yeah weird |
| 441s | upgraded to a new database like a couple |
| 443s | of weeks before the holiday and |
| 445s | basically that performance problems that |
| 447s | we hadn't anticipated when when the load |
| 449s | got high and it it didn't manifest |
| 452s | immediately because what happened is the |
| 453s | up to certain point he just sort of |
| 454s | backed up the sort of work so it was |
| 457s | just all cached in memory she couldn't |
| 458s | tell it wasn't keeping up in the venue |
| 459s | that buffer Gothel and then it will get |
| 462s | killed over and basically you couldn't |
| 463s | log in and you couldn't do anything in |
| 464s | the game was just died basically and I |
| 467s | just I was no way I could fix something |
| 469s | that complicated over this absolutely |
| 470s | awful internet connection on the laptop |
| 472s | sydejko I'm since it's like the team as |
| 475s | in jagex as company was very small as |
| 477s | members right so I imagine contact wise |
| 479s | it was a bit more of a struggle on that |
| 481s | regard |
| 481s | well obviously very integrated as well |
| 483s | yeah I'll start off was it was just uh |
| 486s | it was I mean I suppose 2006 you were |
| 496s | about the only one who could fix |
| 497s | anything outside of ours I think the |
| 499s | first call-outs outside of ours that you |
| 502s | didn't have to do personally mr. filed |
| 503s | almost every go so I mean he obviously |
| 507s | won we did 15-year anniversary |
| 509s | documentary he had a special section |
| 511s | where you talked about the story I guess |
| 512s | of that I mean what was the reaction in |
| 515s | the office I guess to that most of the |
| 517s | office resiliency support oh the next |
| 522s | day kind of okay so that happened find |
| 527s | out who wrote how that code came to be |
| 530s | and you invented a new thing |
| 532s | put in the game engine area properties |
| 534s | so that we could do safer checks to stop |
| 536s | people getting out of areas without side |
| 539s | effects running extensively for pretty |
| 544s | much every single piece of content ever |
| 545s | since yeah no but I mean they could have |
| 549s | let some in a lot worse if it didn't |
| 550s | exist prior to that so I mean I'm |
| 552s | sending him out of there some other |
| 554s | thing we're in scape I mean we kind of |
| 556s | talked about this in the documentary now |
| 557s | how the name winds came runescape came |
| 559s | about I mean how how did it start like |
| 561s | how was the name was put together we |
| 563s | mentioned in the documentary yeah |
| 564s | basically we wanted to come up with a |
| 566s | name that wasn't already used which I |
| 569s | tell you looking now it's even harder I |
| 571s | mean back in 2001 it was hard now it's |
| 573s | flippin impossible but but we came with |
| 577s | the whole LOTOS little word fragments |
| 580s | you know had a sort of fantasy setting |
| 582s | and then ran them through a program that |
| 584s | sort of combined them together in random |
| 585s | combinations and then through another |
| 587s | program it checked to see if that the |
| 589s | main name was still available but then |
| 590s | you only video check of the domain name |
| 591s | was seen available these days you go |
| 593s | check of the domain names available |
| 594s | the Twitter handles available Facebook |
| 596s | cameras available if the YouTube handles |
| 597s | available available |
| 599s | it's absolutely insanely hard about that |
| 601s | it was hard now it's just impossible |
| 602s | but is there anything about runescape |
| 609s | that you've never shared with anyone |
| 610s | that you would be willing to share today |
| 612s | no wow I mean players and players I got |
| 616s | one by one on this if you want if |
| 618s | anything gonna share it yeah it's hard |
| 621s | to say what the original plan was with |
| 626s | Rimington originally when I originally |
| 629s | made Remington |
| 630s | it was going to be a sort of an |
| 632s | alternative stopped area so that you |
| 634s | could start as an as gone in and start |
| 636s | anew in turn or start as a Miss alien |
| 638s | miscellany in' and start in Lumbridge |
| 641s | and i the witch's potion quest was |
| 645s | originally designed as a nice easy |
| 646s | starter quest which was equivalent to |
| 648s | cooks assistant for people who started |
| 651s | and I was Garnier but then we never |
| 653s | followed through on that so then |
| 654s | Remington is just this little funny |
| 656s | village with one little question it but |
| 660s | to be fair we if you look sort of to you |
| 663s | know to |
| 665s | to the west over the um the the free |
| 667s | area there's a great big sort of sort of |
| 671s | slightly broken off and originally we |
| 672s | were planning on watching the members we |
| 674s | had a plan that we were going to make a |
| 676s | members game before we actually made the |
| 678s | members game and all the bits of the |
| 680s | sort of west of the the curve yeah it |
| 681s | was going to be the members content and |
| 683s | you can actually see there's lots of |
| 684s | boundaries and stuff around there and |
| 685s | then we whipped out at the last minute |
| 687s | give it away for free because we thought |
| 688s | it wouldn't fly |
| 689s | oh yeah abandoned between us Donny oh |
| 691s | and whistling it was gonna be the |
| 693s | members game except it was gonna be the |
| 695s | free game but let me put as ganya in the |
| 697s | game while we're building it with the |
| 698s | wall and people got all excited about it |
| 700s | and we hadn't told them that it was |
| 701s | gonna be pay only and it'll be a bit of |
| 703s | a letdown if by the way you have to pay |
| 706s | before we need to warm a bit in advance |
| 708s | or it's just going to yeah it would have |
| 710s | gone done very very badly if we said it |
| 714s | was game it's fat just a question for me |
| 720s | if that's all right so obviously in the |
| 723s | nowaday of runescape no alzheimer in |
| 724s | scape it's very hyper image as to how |
| 727s | we've got to be engaging with topics and |
| 729s | no posts and so on and so forth what was |
| 730s | it like back then trying to handle let's |
| 732s | say the forums for example by them |
| 734s | always trying to communicate back |
| 735s | originally we didn't even have our own |
| 736s | forums we were entirely dependent on fan |
| 739s | forum forms I mean we were so worked off |
| 741s | our feet just making the games of China |
| 743s | but the forum's I think was a little bit |
| 744s | even sort of considered and then we |
| 746s | didn't you know we weren't very sort of |
| 747s | clued into the whole these days you |
| 749s | wouldn't dream of sort of making a game |
| 750s | without thinking about all the sort of |
| 752s | social media form although they exist |
| 756s | schemes didn't even have forms that were |
| 760s | people talking about them it was a bit |
| 761s | of an alien concept and when people |
| 763s | first started making fan sites and |
| 764s | putting forms over they totally are |
| 766s | whoa assume we didn't expect didn't |
| 768s | expect people making fun story about the |
| 769s | game and we went to the third party |
| 771s | forums you know be exciting for this |
| 774s | twice to go oh we've got plans like this |
| 775s | is exciting |
| 776s | how do they know it was you cuz |
| 778s | obviously anyone could just register the |
| 779s | name we were you guys how would they |
| 781s | know it was actually you go in to post |
| 782s | on kuku confirming game with the |
| 784s | character people who would experience |
| 789s | yeah I mean the people here at the forum |
| 791s | you know made check that we were yeah |
| 795s | quite quite quite a few people loose or |
| 798s | venting forms at the times all |
| 799s | high-level players that we knew anyway |
| 800s | the community was much smaller |
| 802s | you knew actually quite surprising yeah |
| 810s | when we went into the game there were |
| 813s | the ones which should give most feedback |
| 814s | about how the game was going awesome |
| 821s | okay so let's talk about early days of |
| 823s | drag excerpts and when you guys saw |
| 824s | Locke go in you I believe is st. John's |
| 827s | innovation says that correctly if I |
| 829s | score slides yeah yeah in the first |
| 830s | office so what was that first office |
| 831s | like like work in there it was it was |
| 834s | small it was it was a lot smaller than |
| 837s | the room but there were in now we sort |
| 840s | of reason he had four people in that was |
| 844s | me important and tear others and then we |
| 847s | rapidly grew that up to seven people |
| 849s | which really didn't fit into a space |
| 853s | that was not big enough for seven people |
| 856s | and yeah and then we just dropping it |
| 859s | off this just you know to another buff |
| 862s | is in the same building I mean he was |
| 863s | lucky that ability had lots of different |
| 865s | size units and you can move a very short |
| 867s | notice it wasn't like you were tied in |
| 868s | to a long sort of contacts of a perfect |
| 871s | for a rapidly growing company and we |
| 873s | moved office I can't do scat happy times |
| 875s | and moved offices in that building in |
| 876s | the first few years it was I think I |
| 878s | think we move office we only moved |
| 880s | office three times but I various time as |
| 882s | we we we've got an office and then you |
| 884s | know a hole in the wall to the next |
| 887s | office and yeah made it bigger that way |
| 891s | knocking hello |
| 937s | and we've got these four the three of |
| 940s | you open them if you want to use it okay |
| 984s | well actually let's talk about what are |
| 989s | you guys able to tell us what was more |
| 991s | like when he first started Jagex yeah |
| 995s | before he started I guess we were |
| 999s | friends saved all my family members and |
| 1007s | I somehow must persuade well I have said |
| 1013s | I'll take any job in Cambridge Cambridge |
| 1017s | after I graduate not have to move buckle |
| 1019s | it when mum and you suggested the |
| 1020s | support team team didn't win Christmas |
| 1025s | 14 by long because it was faintly vastly |
| 1027s | over the court team got promoted thank |
| 1031s | you yes there was a unexpected vacancy |
| 1035s | in the autumn of 2004 and |
| 1038s | I got moved to QA to fill that vacancy |
| 1040s | then when you restructured the company |
| 1042s | of bits and created the upload manager |
| 1044s | for 105 you sort of gave it to me yes it |
| 1054s | was not me I think it's important to |
| 1062s | have that kind of delegation as well |
| 1063s | especially for your sanity as well I |
| 1065s | mean obviously the passion is there but |
| 1067s | me you know yeah I mean prior to that I |
| 1069s | do remember that I had to change my |
| 1070s | ringtone periodically because it he got |
| 1072s | the point where I associated my ring |
| 1074s | time with the game being broken because |
| 1076s | that was pretty much the only reason my |
| 1078s | phone rang in the middle of the night |
| 1079s | so I hear that noise did happen often |
| 1088s | yes very very often something needed |
| 1095s | fixing and it was 3 o'clock in the |
| 1096s | morning I wouldn't weekly basis because |
| 1099s | the thing is at the time you know we had |
| 1102s | what we focus on having a really really |
| 1104s | good system for fixing bugs really |
| 1106s | quickly what we didn't have is a really |
| 1108s | good system for voiding the bug being |
| 1109s | there in the first place so we'd launch |
| 1110s | a piece of content we test it but we |
| 1113s | could never test the thousands of |
| 1115s | permutations that the players could |
| 1116s | testing than a matter of minutes it |
| 1117s | wasn't you know 100,000 so there was |
| 1121s | always always bugs but I trick was where |
| 1124s | we'd fix them so fast that only one or |
| 1125s | two people would actually noticed it but |
| 1128s | they did mean pretty much got called out |
| 1133s | every time yeah which is not what people |
| 1136s | were associate with being the company |
| 1137s | found early start on us doing really |
| 1139s | well it's not expected that you'll be |
| 1142s | the one on the end of the phone for so |
| 1144s | many years yeah I mean I remember |
| 1146s | calling you myself once to report that |
| 1148s | some people could PK in the new abyssal |
| 1151s | area that had been launched that day |
| 1152s | because although the attack option was |
| 1154s | removed |
| 1155s | you could still casts spells manually |
| 1156s | because removing the attack option |
| 1158s | doesn't actually stop you fighting and |
| 1160s | what you had to come in and do about |
| 1163s | that was quite extreme er a call you |
| 1165s | were changed one command to work like |
| 1167s | another one so that you could get a very |
| 1169s | easy code fix in place for the night |
| 1171s | and have worked with the dev about how |
| 1173s | to stop combats differently |
| 1175s | the next morning yes I know all about it |
| 1178s | but in terms of there were certain |
| 1179s | updates that we could do without I'm |
| 1181s | just what reboot all the servers no bet |
| 1183s | the client and they were certain days we |
| 1184s | could do which we called hot fixes |
| 1185s | without where we could just do it a lot |
| 1187s | of money false the game was really but |
| 1188s | there was only a certain limited class |
| 1190s | of things you could do as a hotfix |
| 1191s | there's only certain bits of the code |
| 1193s | that you could change in that way and we |
| 1194s | got very inventive of coming up with |
| 1196s | ways of with this very limited toolset |
| 1198s | for fixing different bugs you know any |
| 1201s | sort of trick was you put down and then |
| 1203s | you could you could spawn an npc using |
| 1205s | this system so you could so you could |
| 1206s | spawn an npc and then program at MPC and |
| 1208s | to do something like on a timer to fix |
| 1211s | the actual problem so yeah there was all |
| 1212s | sorts of indirect so there's sort of |
| 1214s | various NPCs you used to pop up when |
| 1216s | there was a bug and act as a bug fixer |
| 1217s | yes I used the wise old man mostly |
| 1219s | kissing firstly it's a wise old man I'm |
| 1223s | fond of my wise old man secondly his |
| 1226s | config happens to involve him not moving |
| 1229s | so he's perfect for putting in a place |
| 1230s | he won't go anywhere and he didn't have |
| 1233s | any particular code because that |
| 1235s | conflict of him was a model used by |
| 1237s | multi NPC's so he'd never do anything |
| 1240s | else I just put in place and he'd run |
| 1242s | his timer and sometimes like put him |
| 1244s | somewhere the players could see him and |
| 1245s | give him some dialogue to explain oh I |
| 1247s | heard people getting stuck in the water |
| 1248s | here at canopy so I thought I'd turn up |
| 1250s | and teleport them out other times we |
| 1253s | just stick him on top of a nearby |
| 1253s | building because he didn't have to be |
| 1255s | there I think it's cool that you can |
| 1257s | apply like kind of a flavor textu that |
| 1259s | scenario as well like in the main |
| 1260s | minister of trying at least yeah we kind |
| 1263s | of made this mistake but if we can find |
| 1264s | a fun way to try and fix it like I |
| 1266s | remember about we had two years ago on |
| 1268s | runescape where there was a way to |
| 1269s | duplicate your followers so you'd have |
| 1272s | followers everywhere |
| 1273s | yeah so we ha fix there we could have |
| 1275s | deleted all the followers but we made it |
| 1277s | into a bit of a game where everyone who |
| 1278s | would right-click examine a null |
| 1280s | follower would delete it so returned |
| 1282s | into groups who would go and hunt these |
| 1284s | followers there and null and just remove |
| 1285s | them and just stuff ah that's really fun |
| 1288s | it was really cool the way it was done |
| 1290s | this we operated in multiple languages |
| 1292s | by the time I was doing some of these |
| 1293s | and while I can write humorous flavor |
| 1296s | text in English I can't do it any other |
| 1298s | language so the localization team gave |
| 1302s | me a few stock phrases that I could use |
| 1304s | for odd |
| 1304s | situations but the wise woman standing |
| 1306s | on caveny beach teleporting people out |
| 1308s | who got stuck in the sea constantly he |
| 1312s | talked about how he come to rescue |
| 1313s | people if you want an English world but |
| 1315s | if you're on a German world you speak to |
| 1317s | him and he just say sorry I don't speak |
| 1318s | German so you mentioned I'm see going |
| 1331s | into QA in 2004 if Dom I'm asking what |
| 1335s | projects did you initially QA before |
| 1336s | moving into release manager if I never |
| 1338s | did I was the player reported bugs |
| 1343s | between about September and December o |
| 1346s | for people would report bugs through the |
| 1348s | bug report form and I'd read him the |
| 1350s | next day and triage them into whether |
| 1354s | they sounded serious or not then |
| 1356s | investigate them starting the most |
| 1357s | serious ones yeah and putting a job for |
| 1362s | the devs to fix and if necessary and |
| 1364s | test the bug fix me it came back I mean |
| 1366s | I wasn't always good at it at first and |
| 1369s | there were a few houses got through that |
| 1371s | and you had to hotfix for me like that |
| 1375s | the job was don't let people enter the |
| 1378s | agility arena with a cat's eye forget |
| 1380s | what we were trying to fix but that's |
| 1381s | the fix the developer wrote for it and I |
| 1385s | managed to test this one without finding |
| 1388s | the new bug which is you can't enter the |
| 1391s | arena if you've got a cat out fine |
| 1394s | dismiss the cat you can now enter the |
| 1396s | arena fine what I didn't notice was that |
| 1398s | you could now only enter the arena |
| 1400s | if you'd had a cat and dismissed got |
| 1406s | written but it preys on my mind still |
| 1410s | that I might make a bug like that one |
| 1412s | day anywho it's good to have out on your |
| 1414s | mind though I mean it makes you double |
| 1415s | and triple check everything right I've |
| 1417s | always believed that if you've been in |
| 1418s | QA it's going to be good for your future |
| 1420s | career as a dev mindset right you can |
| 1423s | see all the sort of things we could go |
| 1424s | wrong a team to do an extra check forget |
| 1431s | the dev kind of knows what they've |
| 1432s | written and what may or may not actually |
| 1434s | get work know what they think it's meant |
| 1436s | to do and what |
| 1437s | yes okay let's go left to right favorite |
| 1442s | piece of content you've worked on I |
| 1445s | think there's some last time we did one |
| 1447s | of these teams I actually really liked |
| 1448s | the coverage picking skill which I did |
| 1451s | fateful fools and old school in their |
| 1453s | evolution of cabbage yes yes yes yes |
| 1455s | indeed and yeah if I was still working |
| 1457s | here I would be doing some kind of |
| 1459s | follow-up to that I think the last time |
| 1463s | you asked my question I said engineering |
| 1465s | so I feel yes probably saving different |
| 1467s | lists what did I work on I did a lot of |
| 1471s | work on fishing didn't I say that I mean |
| 1477s | there wasn't much content I did so it's |
| 1480s | a pretty I mean it was lots of stuff I |
| 1481s | input it on but fishing was an actually |
| 1483s | made pretty much finish I mean I'm |
| 1490s | Jordan the herb-lore skill I mean it's |
| 1492s | nice to have a skill where you could try |
| 1494s | and get the different bits from it in |
| 1496s | all sorts of different places at the |
| 1497s | time I mean a lot of the time these days |
| 1499s | people will just buy what they need it's |
| 1503s | nice to have a little bit of the skill |
| 1505s | over the place and have some monsters |
| 1507s | which were better at dropping some |
| 1509s | reagents and some which was born here |
| 1511s | and there so it felt like quite a fun |
| 1513s | very just cool to play at the time so |
| 1514s | that was fun |
| 1515s | oh yeah sure I have written a fair bit |
| 1519s | of canto I think still the love story |
| 1522s | quest the design the programming the |
| 1526s | dialogue the music they gave me a lot of |
| 1529s | free rein on that one and I had a lot of |
| 1530s | fun they even let me write a romantic |
| 1533s | silent movie cutscene including the |
| 1535s | gushy soundtrack for it where there's no |
| 1538s | dialogue no text just the wise old man |
| 1540s | and his but when he was young and |
| 1542s | meeting a girl exchange she bought him a |
| 1546s | drink then they start dancing around |
| 1547s | each other and we see them play together |
| 1549s | like players would and show a sort of |
| 1552s | relationship in runescape with all three |
| 1554s | motes I had a lot of fun of that I guess |
| 1560s | advice but I've seen in the industry is |
| 1562s | a whole different ball game nowadays |
| 1564s | Andrew but you know what was the most |
| 1566s | challenging part of running a tech |
| 1567s | startup like jagex back in the 2000s |
| 1575s | so that wasn't you couldn't sort of go |
| 1577s | in google how do you solve this problem |
| 1579s | because nobody had even tried so you |
| 1582s | know we were having to we're having to |
| 1583s | invent everything and not just sort of |
| 1585s | you know the actual game but all the |
| 1587s | sort of supporting stuff as well was |
| 1588s | like how do you actually run a |
| 1590s | browser-based game no one's really |
| 1591s | trying |
| 1592s | how do you make a game how do you make |
| 1594s | your models small nothing download well |
| 1595s | over dial-up trying to do that so we're |
| 1599s | gonna have to come up with techniques |
| 1600s | ourself though it was it was because it |
| 1602s | was literally nowhere to look for any |
| 1604s | advice as to how to do anything I mean I |
| 1608s | was doing the biggest challenge I mean |
| 1609s | is there any advice you could personally |
| 1610s | give I mean to anyone who if anyone in |
| 1612s | this chat wants to start text that up |
| 1614s | you know in this day and age little |
| 1616s | differently obviously you were going |
| 1617s | through this right now with your company |
| 1618s | certainly yeah any advice to go yeah I |
| 1620s | mean obviously it's easier said than |
| 1622s | done but you've got a sort of trying but |
| 1624s | work out what you can do that you know |
| 1627s | that you want I feel you should make |
| 1628s | something that you want for yourself |
| 1630s | because it trying to make something that |
| 1632s | that you're not yourself interested in |
| 1634s | you're never going to be know if he's |
| 1635s | any good or not so you know look for |
| 1637s | something that you want to do look |
| 1638s | something that you wish existed that |
| 1639s | doesn't exist in there and try and make |
| 1641s | that that's what I'm doing with my game |
| 1642s | engine now you know I wanted a way of |
| 1644s | making multiplayer games much easier and |
| 1646s | could not find it still can't find it so |
| 1650s | you know it's the same philosophy that |
| 1651s | made me make music in the first place or |
| 1654s | some question forever an hour what's |
| 1657s | been your favorite line of dialogue to |
| 1658s | write very open-ended question no I mean |
| 1665s | I quite enjoyed writing the dialogue in |
| 1667s | general form spirits of the lid that was |
| 1670s | quite a sort of amusing quest so I quite |
| 1672s | I had a bit where the genie asks you to |
| 1676s | collect the soul of the mare and |
| 1678s | obviously the pun is that it says that |
| 1680s | to be the sole of issue and then you ask |
| 1683s | the genie say what did you want some |
| 1684s | want this soul he said oh and then the |
| 1686s | genie just says oh I just heard that all |
| 1689s | the powerful beings these data were |
| 1690s | collecting Souls and I had already got |
| 1693s | money yet so I sort of take the |
| 1694s | opportunity to explain my collection so |
| 1698s | that was a lot of fun I think my |
| 1700s | favorite is the line you wrote in |
| 1701s | spirits Thea lid where the three |
| 1703s | and Caesar share our mind two of them |
| 1706s | women one from a man are talking to you |
| 1708s | about how they are against Caesar we |
| 1710s | think has one except what he leaves the |
| 1712s | toilet seat up that's how it's supposed |
| 1714s | to be oh that was fun to light as well I |
| 1715s | enjoyed that wonderful I loved what you |
| 1717s | wrote |
| 1721s | and everything that wasn't dialogue it |
| 1724s | was a character it was Bob yes so either |
| 1728s | take your pick or act that was my fault |
| 1731s | but your favorite loaded I think I'm |
| 1737s | generally like working on cutscenes and |
| 1740s | slapstick this style cutscenes so I did |
| 1743s | be the Goblin part of recipe for |
| 1745s | disaster quest |
| 1746s | we've got Lin chef so that was I quite |
| 1749s | enjoyed working on him I also wrote a |
| 1752s | quite controversial cutscene in monkey |
| 1755s | madness - I'm not gonna say what happens |
| 1758s | in it in case people haven't played it |
| 1759s | but some people didn't like it some |
| 1764s | people did well ash ash thinks it's epic |
| 1767s | so I think we're okay there if you want |
| 1769s | to be honest how did you guys like it |
| 1771s | sooner we just talked about content |
| 1773s | quest but back then how did you guys |
| 1774s | decide okay we should probably work on |
| 1776s | this quest storyline or this content now |
| 1778s | how did you guys flesh that out I guess |
| 1783s | as in we had massive list of things we |
| 1787s | wanted to improve in the game both from |
| 1788s | our own imaginations and also players |
| 1790s | saying do this and we built up a |
| 1793s | humongous list of things we wanted to |
| 1795s | add things we wanted to kill we wanted |
| 1798s | to add and quests we wanted to do and |
| 1800s | improvements to the engine you know the |
| 1802s | mechanics of the engine and then we went |
| 1804s | oh we can't possibly do all this so it |
| 1806s | was it was a question working out what |
| 1807s | not to do and he was bridge me to |
| 1810s | prioritize that list in the order of |
| 1811s | what we felt was gonna be given that |
| 1814s | most entertainment for the least effort |
| 1816s | we're trying to get a variety you have |
| 1818s | like different content come out so you |
| 1820s | have a certain number of quests come out |
| 1822s | over time when they need to have a bits |
| 1824s | of skill improvements and try make sure |
| 1827s | we had certain ratios of different sorts |
| 1830s | of dates we wanted selected assets yeah |
| 1834s | things just the last two up days I mean |
| 1836s | quest |
| 1837s | we're not going to request an extra |
| 1838s | place you just don't in question you |
| 1839s | want to cater to different sorts of |
| 1841s | players a certain amount and the quests |
| 1844s | themselves you're sort of to an extent |
| 1847s | we're just trying to find things which |
| 1848s | will fit with the sir skills which you |
| 1851s | want to make people use or the area |
| 1854s | which you're building it and then you |
| 1855s | should build something from that in |
| 1857s | terms of the other goals which you've |
| 1858s | got request so obviously Ian mention air |
| 1861s | when he worked on of course evolution of |
| 1863s | cabbages were aware where did the |
| 1864s | fascination of cabbages come from why |
| 1866s | cabbages I mean the fascination |
| 1869s | companies actually predate runescape |
| 1870s | ever so slightly |
| 1872s | I certainly started sort of mentioning |
| 1875s | cabbages and stuff don't know why I |
| 1877s | think I think I probably got it off a |
| 1878s | friend who was a bits of he likes using |
| 1880s | the word cabbage and then gonna work out |
| 1884s | which one yeah I'll give it to you |
| 1894s | leaving the house oh that one any more |
| 1899s | excited about that yeah and I used it in |
| 1905s | various sort of error messages so |
| 1906s | internally oh you know I put it in as a |
| 1911s | sort of placeholder string when it went |
| 1912s | wrong and he still had to return the |
| 1913s | strings of the program would compile and |
| 1915s | occasionally those placeholders things |
| 1916s | that were meant to be unreachable |
| 1917s | escaped there was a bug in the chat |
| 1920s | filter very briefly where it was meant |
| 1922s | to be impossible for a certain code path |
| 1924s | to be reached but in fact it got which |
| 1925s | no matter what your types do to another |
| 1927s | bug which mean everything everyone said |
| 1929s | to the word cabbage if you say hello how |
| 1932s | are you and here we go |
| 1933s | can we get a cup of cabbage and now she |
| 1934s | went alive for a few minutes and that'll |
| 1942s | help sort of reinforce the whole cabbage |
| 1945s | thing because it's sort of that way |
| 1946s | alive still be there you've got one of |
| 1951s | the compiler with them if we've got an |
| 1953s | unsafe use of a pointer or a pointer |
| 1955s | that some needs another pass to see |
| 1957s | whether it's being used safely but the |
| 1959s | name of the pointer hasn't been |
| 1960s | specified as a string |
| 1962s | it defaults to eep-eep cabbage |
| 1965s | so I get to again that big cope was |
| 1968s | meant to be unreachable in fact I fixed |
| 1970s | that bug but then when you launched |
| 1971s | article runescape you yes sometimes you |
| 1976s | can get the same error message thousands |
| 1978s | of times just a single come in a single |
| 1980s | pack if lots of procedures might be |
| 1983s | corrupting eep-eep cabbage then the |
| 1985s | compiler wants you to rerun the tool to |
| 1987s | make sure that your use of in keep |
| 1988s | cabbage is safe screenshots what's been |
| 1999s | your favorite piece of content released |
| 2000s | in the last what in the past five years |
| 2001s | if it stands out yes I mean I like that |
| 2012s | we've got the mobile version I mean it's |
| 2014s | been exactly content but it's a a good |
| 2016s | thing to be able to like playing little |
| 2018s | gaps here and that's that's a fun using |
| 2019s | death was a release I mean another one I |
| 2021s | quite enjoyed waking on was Deadman mode |
| 2024s | and because that so quite changed the |
| 2028s | way people we're playing it compared to |
| 2030s | you know the more you can okay I mean |
| 2033s | people very sort of no XP waste but you |
| 2035s | know you can play runescape relatively |
| 2037s | relaxed and then you should look up the |
| 2039s | sort of phonetic energy in there dead |
| 2041s | man Moses and the whole the whole stream |
| 2044s | streaming community in the fact that |
| 2046s | live streaming games is now a thing I |
| 2048s | mean I think it launched at the right |
| 2050s | time I talked about this and I think the |
| 2052s | 15th anniversary stream and dead man was |
| 2053s | mentioned back then but I mean dead man |
| 2056s | were I think launched at the right time |
| 2057s | for a game my old school and as you |
| 2059s | mentioned the streaming it was taking |
| 2061s | off from that and obviously the support |
| 2063s | from the article guys and the team as |
| 2065s | they continue to get iterates out better |
| 2067s | and better and better and I'm States |
| 2068s | doing incredibly well so it's a |
| 2070s | testament to obviously the value of that |
| 2072s | mode as well and how well it does ash |
| 2075s | favorite piece content released the last |
| 2077s | five years |
| 2081s | despite the balancing issues solver |
| 2085s | reason for that is that some old school |
| 2088s | had been expanding over 20 30 and 40 but |
| 2091s | mostly with things that rs3 had had like |
| 2094s | the God Wars dungeon or smallish things |
| 2096s | a new |
| 2097s | lunging with some more slur monsters in |
| 2099s | but creating zora was the first time we |
| 2103s | changed the shape of the landscape |
| 2105s | created some new truly new law done a |
| 2110s | pretty significant update it wasn't even |
| 2112s | just content there was really unique |
| 2114s | graphics for it from odd ghosts and you |
| 2117s | gave us full visibility instances so |
| 2119s | that we could use the terrain more fully |
| 2123s | and have a decent player experience in |
| 2125s | it it felt like we were the old school |
| 2128s | was really coming into its own plus we |
| 2131s | kicked off 2015 with that and the |
| 2133s | seasonal increase in players really |
| 2136s | retained very well through January and |
| 2138s | in February so we worked on things like |
| 2140s | the grand exchange and launched the |
| 2144s | members were the dominant dispersion of |
| 2147s | old school and I think achievement I |
| 2151s | always came out around that time too |
| 2152s | which was huge from my colleagues it |
| 2155s | felt like old school was really really |
| 2158s | taking off at that point and I was very |
| 2160s | happy to be part of it we then we start |
| 2165s | to move old school you know it felt sort |
| 2167s | of quite sort of caretaker sort of role |
| 2169s | in terms of fixing bugs and most |
| 2171s | equality of life updates and then as we |
| 2173s | got to actually do proper big updates |
| 2175s | again monkey madness - like the first |
| 2177s | new quest in old school we escaped is |
| 2179s | kind of like you know which is a game we |
| 2181s | chose that expanding and exploring new |
| 2182s | directions and new law so that was all |
| 2185s | very exciting alright final bit before |
| 2189s | we segment this stream and go into |
| 2191s | another section where we're gonna begin |
| 2192s | noir mods to join us um can you tell us |
| 2195s | a story about one if you can tell us the |
| 2197s | story about your time at Jagex just any |
| 2201s | story that comes to your mind this is |
| 2203s | free rein as can be okay so I remember |
| 2208s | this before was a time in the very early |
| 2212s | days of Jagex well we were just sort of |
| 2214s | beginning to experiment with sort of |
| 2215s | trying to get the actual solve press to |
| 2218s | talk about is a bit more you know open |
| 2221s | to this point it all being word of mouth |
| 2223s | and most of the magazines weren't even |
| 2226s | aware we existed you know even though |
| 2228s | the game was quite big because we've |
| 2229s | such an |
| 2230s | unconventional way of distributing a |
| 2232s | game and they were all very every time |
| 2233s | they weren't even aware we were out then |
| 2235s | we like how can we actually get the |
| 2236s | games pressed and notices and talk about |
| 2239s | as and actually realize we had actually |
| 2241s | quite a big game and we thought well we |
| 2243s | were going off on a company jolly we did |
| 2246s | these sort of company rewards for our |
| 2250s | staff to sort of celebrate the fact that |
| 2252s | the game was going so fast and we were |
| 2253s | taking everyone to Iceland which is a |
| 2255s | pretty extravagant thing because we've |
| 2256s | hit a massive milestone and the number |
| 2258s | of members and we thought well we're |
| 2259s | going there anyway why don't we take a |
| 2260s | few journalists long with us so that we |
| 2263s | can explain to them about the game and |
| 2264s | they're probably actually you know |
| 2265s | listen to as if they get a whole day out |
| 2267s | of it so so we invited a whole load of |
| 2270s | journalists to come to Iceland with us |
| 2272s | and they were the whole idea was to |
| 2273s | impress these dentists and you know and |
| 2276s | I mean we were great company and then we |
| 2279s | had two big monster trucks that we've |
| 2282s | hired that we were sort of driving how |
| 2283s | are you driving drive about something |
| 2286s | was quite small so as about sort of ten |
| 2287s | people in each truck and we're off to go |
| 2291s | and explore a bit of Iceland and you |
| 2293s | know ya know people want RAC they've |
| 2295s | another truck about half an hour down |
| 2297s | the road got a phone call from one of |
| 2299s | the journalists saying where are you I'm |
| 2302s | waiting in the lobby where are you and |
| 2303s | both turned up both people assumed that |
| 2306s | the journalist was in the other monster |
| 2307s | truck and we'd actually left them behind |
| 2309s | at the hotel so our plan to impress the |
| 2313s | journalists wrong journalist who had |
| 2318s | their luggage lost was oh yeah there's |
| 2321s | one of you doing this had their luggage |
| 2322s | lost that wasn't yes indeed and one of |
| 2330s | them twisted their ankle around a |
| 2332s | volcano yeah it wasn't entirely |
| 2335s | successful but yeah we get oh dear |
| 2346s | any stories Paul ash I mean anything at |
| 2350s | all um |
| 2355s | stop |
| 2357s | I can't think of anything my head which |
| 2359s | we've talked about before really but |
| 2361s | I've got a question if you don't mind um |
| 2364s | I mean you guys always come through in |
| 2366s | fest and it's really great to see the |
| 2370s | players getting to meet you again after |
| 2371s | all this time |
| 2372s | so you've also seen some of the |
| 2374s | revelations about what's coming in the |
| 2376s | two games over the forthcoming year it's |
| 2380s | don't think you've you I know you're |
| 2382s | particularly excited that you've heard |
| 2383s | about from either runescape the obvious |
| 2386s | one the obvious one would be warding |
| 2390s | yeah because if you know it but very |
| 2395s | much yeah very much so parallels be |
| 2398s | released of runecrafting when we |
| 2399s | released our s2 because it was kind of |
| 2402s | like well you can you can you can make |
| 2403s | stuff up range you can make stuff film |
| 2407s | le and you can't make stuff for mage so |
| 2411s | we were like well we had the moon |
| 2412s | crafting obviously completes the |
| 2413s | triangle so then when that's what we |
| 2416s | invested you you know we sort of vendors |
| 2418s | and Asian's about warding it was like |
| 2419s | it's the same parallel yes why can you |
| 2422s | make those things so it doesn't it |
| 2428s | doesn't feel like something which is |
| 2430s | being true haunting you just feels like |
| 2431s | a natural fit it feels I think that |
| 2433s | should always always have been there and |
| 2435s | we just somehow forgot you mentioned |
| 2438s | that there was so much stuff you want to |
| 2439s | do over there in the autumn seasonally |
| 2441s | and everything yeah it might be |
| 2444s | something which we to co-op with |
| 2446s | ourselves from we've given time |
| 2448s | potentially I don't know |
| 2449s | all right before we wrap this bit up um |
| 2452s | you know how can players still keep in |
| 2454s | touch with you guys obviously you know |
| 2455s | you don't want hammer in scape you are |
| 2456s | obviously on swear I mean how do they |
| 2459s | get yes I mean yep some you message on |
| 2461s | Twitter it's an act |
| 2462s | Andrew seek our and I don't get a lot |
| 2465s | misses on Twitter so you might actually |
| 2466s | get reply oh yeah that's the best way to |
| 2470s | keep in touch and I do look at my |
| 2473s | messages I don't post updates very often |
| 2475s | because you know talking about working |
| 2478s | on a programming language isn't very |
| 2479s | exciting when this winter actually |
| 2481s | beating some games in the Pegman |
| 2482s | language there'll be lots more updates |
| 2483s | because that'd be more interesting |
| 2486s | anyway keep in touch you Ian and Paul |
| 2488s | oh yeah same we've got a Twitter handle |
| 2490s | at mr. Ian Gower mr. Ian Gower Wow in |
| 2494s | garrard already gone somewhere that'd be |
| 2503s | awesome |
| 2503s | all right well obviously first of all |
| 2506s | thank you guys so so much because this |
| 2507s | is actually quite late notice to get you |
| 2509s | guys here so you know you guys took it |
| 2511s | on such short notice and we appreciate |
| 2512s | you guys coming in I think I can say on |
| 2514s | behalf of jagex but again 18 years of a |
| 2519s | game that will continue to carry on |
| 2521s | carry on carry on and you know I'm sure |
| 2523s | we'll be back here in two years time in |
| 2524s | 20 years when it hits the 20th birthday |
| 2527s | but is there anything you guys wanna say |
| 2529s | before we wrap up this ban that's all |
| 2544s | now are now adults in the world who have |
| 2547s | not lived in a time when there was been |
| 2548s | no runescape as of today there you go |
| 2552s | well there you go so again thank you so |
| 2555s | much to Ian Andrew Paul and ash ash are |
| 2558s | you staying on for this next bit I think |
| 2560s | they may have had enough of me by now |
| 2562s | did you really just say that you know |
| 2564s | what the chat is gonna say though dude |
| 2566s | you'll never know you know how this goes |
| 2569s | yeah there we go looks see pop-pop |
| 2570s | program right there I guess say one |
| 2575s | thing then 73 haha but yes the strings |
| 2580s | on the rapper in the meantime we're |
| 2581s | gonna play a couple videos you've been |
| 2583s | of course watching the stream before we |
| 2584s | went live on this couch you've been |
| 2586s | seeing some of the classic nostalgia |
| 2588s | videos these guys actually are watching |
| 2589s | them as well and remarking about the |
| 2591s | incredible quality and this doubt |
| 2593s | eclipsed all the way back then as well |
| 2594s | but yes we'll play a couple clips now |
| 2596s | and we'll be back with more mods on the |
| 2598s | couch discussing more of the memories of |
| 2600s | runescape and its 18 years so half on |
| 2602s | that we'll see you in just a little bit |