It is aimed at a more mature audience than RuneScape but is still written in Java and will be played directly in the browser.Īs best we can tell, it will be a sci-fi version of RuneScape, although this is more heavily implied in the original game MechScape (considering the name) than Stellar Dawn. It will be a sci-fi MMORPG set in an alien star system. Other than what little information is available on the official website, we know next to nothing about the actual game. Jagex has been keeping everything Stellar Dawn on the down low. So the game was scratched and the remains provided the platform for Stellar Dawn. They wanted an epic new game that could match up to the success of RuneScape and they didn't have it. Unfortunately the game did not seem to turn out as good as they had originally hoped. In 2009 they nearly had a final product and began releasing it to Jagex employees to test the game - not just for bugs but to get a sense of the gameplay, mechanics, and story. In 2004 Andrew asked other Jagex employees, "If we could make RuneScape all over again, what would we do differently?" This question set the stage for the development of MechScape, a sci-fi MMO. Stellar Dawn originally began as MechScape. Jagex has two more chances to prove that it can release another hugely successful or groundbreaking game: Stellar Dawn and Transformers Universe. So where does this leave Jagex? So far they have one massively popular and successful game under their belt and a handful of other games that are nothing too special. Empire building games are far from unique or revolutionary and Jagex certainly won't be referenced as, "developers of 8Realms, the world's most popular free-to-play MMORTS." While I have heard it is a decent enough game, it once again is nothing special. This game is an HTML-based empire building strategy game developed by Jagex and released for closed beta in May 2011. Skipping a few mobile games, we now arrive at 8Realms. According to Gamers Intuition, Herotopia is "an exploratory and educational adventure aimed at children 6 and up." While RuneScape, FunOrb, and War of Legends weren't necessarily developed for adults, they weren't deliberately created for young kids either. But what's most interesting to me is that it is deliberately aimed at very young kids. This is a browser-based flash MMORPG published (but not developed) by Jagex in May 2011. Players can purchase in-game items with "JCredits," which are bought with real money. It is an MMORTS, is not written in Java, and is Jagex's first game with microtransactions. This became Jagex's first externally-developed game. Jagex then branched out a little bit more with War of Legends.
At least on the outside, it looks like an abandoned project. Other than two website maintenance notices, the last noted game updates are from September 2010. FunOrb was never destined to be amazing but after a while, it faded away entirely. We've all heard of or used casual gaming sites like MiniClip or Addicting Games or now even Facebook. This site wasn't anything groundbreaking. Let's take a look at some of their recent post-RuneScape games…įunOrb was launched on February 27th, 2008 as a site hosting casual mini-games. Are these the kinds of games that Jagex will continue to develop and publish? A bunch of games that are okay but not particularly amazing? Or will some of their more eye-catching games currently in development "save" them and become the RuneScapes of the future? Will Jagex continue to develop and publish a little bit of everything, or will they finally settle down with one genre? Do they aim to create games for kids or young adults? What are Jagex's goals for the future?įrom my observations, Jagex has taken on several new projects, but so far they have not been hugely successful (at least not to the same scale as RuneScape) and have not particularly appealed to my own gaming interests. They have developed casual mini-games, published and produced massively multiplayer online real-time strategy games (MMORTS), published a browser-based flash MMORPG, published several mobile games, developed an HTML-based MMORTS, and have two MMORPGs in development. Since RuneScape's release, Jagex has dipped its toes in a variety of new game genres. Naturally, when someone hears the word Jagex or when the company is mentioned in an article, it's always associated with "developers of RuneScape, one of the world's largest free-to-play MMORPGs." But what will we say about Jagex in the future? Will the company ever become known for something other than RuneScape?