The team reached out to me through Reddit and then Discord to discuss the possibility of working together and we found that we lined up very well on core values and what we think makes a good game. When Jagex Partners really looked at the game, they recognized how much had been achieved in a short space of time and how much of it aligned with RuneScape. It’s obvious to anyone who has played both games just how much Melvor owes to Runescape as a source of inspiration, its DNA is threaded throughout the entire experience. : Congratulations on getting published by Jagex, that’s incredible! Can you tell me a little about who reached out to who and how this partnership came to pass?īM: Apparently Jagex first became aware of Melvor Idle when one of its team flagged it internally. While I really enjoyed them and appreciated the immense amount of work that went into them, I felt like there was more room to explore within the Idle game genre. Before starting work on Melvor I went through games such as Clicker Heroes, Cookie Clicker, NGU Idle and a lot of other idle games. For the world building aspect, the Elder Scrolls series is definitely a big influence, along with Diablo. I like to think that Melvor Idle takes RuneScape’s core gameplay mechanics and condenses them down into bite-sized moments in a way that players can enjoy even when time is tight. : What games did you end up drawing inspiration from?īM: Obviously RuneScape is the biggest one. Both with planning future features and sorting out their implementation. Actually, getting in the zone and making that a reality is what I’ve enjoyed the most. I’ve gained a lot of experience over the last couple of years finding out what works for Melvor as an idle game, and what the community wants to see from it as an evolving living game. : Now on the other side of things, what was the easiest part about developing Melvor Idle? What came naturally?īM: This is always a more difficult question! But I’d say it was when I got to really focus on the design and the direction of the game. But looking back I found that engagement was also what kept me going and allowed me to turn Melvor into a success. In the early days engaging with the community could eat into the small hours of the morning, answering DMs and sharing details etc. Working 9-10 hours and coming home to develop a game that has no guarantee of success is very difficult! Looking back on it, a lot of the time wasn’t even spent on “developing” the game, but more on the connecting tissue, like the business side of things. : What was the hardest part about developing Melvor Idle on your own? What kept you going when things started to get more difficult?īM: The hardest part was something common to most game developers who are trying to work around a regular job - time management. It was definitely a terrifying idea at the time, but it has certainly worked out for the best! I realized I had to make the choice between continuing with education or focus on what would eventually become Melvor Idle. It was only in 2019 that I dropped out of a university cybersecurity course to focus entirely on developing Mevlor Idle. : Did you already have a background in game development, or was this a completely new adventure for you?īM: As far as game development goes, Mevlor Idle is my first public project, and I’m an entirely self-taught coder. It was an idea I’d been toying with for a while, but really focusing on Melvor only started in 2019, and it only became my full-time focus last year. : You’re the founder of the Games by Malcs studio and undertook Melvor Idle’s development all on your own back in 2018?īrendan Malcolm, Games by Malcs founder: Yes! I’m the founder of Games by Malcs, and for a long time the solo developer behind Melvor Idle.
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