The Return of Andrew Gower: How a Veteran Developer Came Back to MMORPGs with Brighter Shores

After a long hiatus, Andrew Gower, the renowned creator of the hit MMORPG RuneScape, has made a triumphant return to the genre with his new game, Brighter Shores. Gower, who co-founded Jagex and departed the studio in 2010, has been working on a brand-new game engine called FenForge, which has been in development since 2010. The engine was designed to be an off-the-shelf solution for game developers, but Gower soon realized that he needed a project to showcase its capabilities. This led to the development of Chasm, a real-time strategy settlement building game with simulation elements, which ultimately paved the way for Brighter Shores. Gower's decision to return to the MMORPG genre was influenced by the overwhelming demand from fans who wanted him to create another MMO. With Brighter Shores, Gower aimed to create a game that would appeal to both old and new fans of the genre, incorporating features such as a British medieval fantasy setting, a variety of skills to level up, and a rock-paper-scissors-style combat triangle system. The game has been designed to cater to players with limited time, featuring passive abilities that allow characters to grind automatically when the player is not actively playing. Gower's approach to game design has evolved significantly over the past 20 years, with a greater emphasis on forward planning and iteration. The game's launch into Early Access has been successful, with a Mostly Positive user rating on Steam and a stable performance that has proven the capabilities of the FenForge engine. Gower and his team at Fen Research are now focused on building out Brighter Shores, with plans to continue adding content and features to the game. The ultimate goal is to launch FenForge as an off-the-shelf engine, but for now, Gower is content to work on his hobby project, Brighter Shores, and share it with the gaming community.