Andrew Gower developed the MMORPG RuneScape in 2001, one of the most successful online role-playing games of all time. Now, in 2024, his new MMORPG Brighter Shores is launching, and it’s only performing moderately well on Steam. Gower explains the issues, saying players just need to get used to the new system.
Who is Andrew Gower? Andrew Gower and his two brothers, Paul and Ian, began programming games in the 90s. For two of the brothers, it became increasingly serious over time.
In 1999, Andrew and Paul Gower founded the gaming studio Jagex while studying in Cambridge.
In 2001, their MMORPG RuneScape was released, which has become one of the largest online role-playing games in the world over the last 23 years. Players spend an insane amount of time leveling up their skills in the MMORPG to the max level, which has reached absurd proportions.
But Andrew Gower stepped back from RuneScape in November 2011 and developed a new MMORPG Brighter Shores.
RuneScape is a massive success for Andrew Gower:
New MMORPG starts moderately on Steam
This is how it is going for Brighter Shores now: His new MMORPG Brighter Shores was released on Steam on November 6. It currently stands at 70% positive reviews, narrowly escaping the dreaded yellow area of “Mixed” reviews.
The new MMORPG had a maximum of 15,920 concurrent players on Steam so far; for a free-to-play MMORPG from such a successful developer, these are rather disappointing numbers.
Many players find the profession and skill system of Brighter Shores problematic: As Gamesradar writes, players felt like they lost the progress they had made every time they started a new episode.
This is completely contrary to the gaming experience of MMORPG players.
“Please give the game a chance”
This was his announcement: When his MMORPG had 67% positive reviews on Steam, Gower addressed the players in a blog post and asked: “Please, give it a chance.”
Gower assured the players: No progress would be lost. With the start of Episode 2, 4 new professions would be unlocked – but the professions from Episode 1 would remain intact and useful. You could always return to Hopeport, that is, to Episode 1, and continue to use the old skills.
The sense of irritation among MMORPG players seems to be due to the fact that the respective skills are relevant for a specific area and do not apply universally as in RuneScape.
Brighter Shores breaks with the traditional way skills work in an MMORPG
This is the idea behind it: Gower says that when you start a new episode, it could be equally fun for everyone as long as everyone starts at the same level, that is, with new skills.
However, if you introduced a single combat value for the entire game, experienced players would have a big advantage when starting a new episode.
With the system of constant restarts, you avoid dead content. However, it is by no means the idea that you complete Episode 1, switch to Episode 2, and never return to Episode 1.
Gower says: Tests have shown that players find the new system good once they get used to it. But it seems necessary to better communicate this system now.
Skills and progress are part of the core DNA of MMORPGs
Here is the background: If an MMORPG so clearly breaks with the conventions of the genre, it is a bold experiment. With Gower, it is particularly ironic because he helped establish the intensive farming of skills in RuneScape, which he now identifies as a problem with his new MMORPG.
In RuneScape, skills are everything and define the character. Players spend months and years leveling individual skills, tackling specific lists, and enduring hardcore grinding.
To some extent, the negative feedback on the skill system of Brighter Shores is therefore not a communication problem, but a very real one: Many MMORPG players love progress in a game and want to become increasingly competent and powerful over time. The idea of starting fresh with each episode and providing everyone with the same starting conditions simply won’t appeal to everyone: The developer is so rich that his new MMORPG should make players happy on Steam
Our title image shows Andrew Gower at a RuneScape event in 2011. He rarely appears in public.
