Boot up your nostalgia drive; Jagex have just announced Runescape 3, coming to players this summer. Executive Producer “Mod Pips” and Design Director “Mod Mark” announced the news in a bonus edition of “Behind the Scenes”, a series which explores the latest developments of the Runescape world. It will use the same avatars that people are playing with right now, but the client has been completely rewritten in HTML 5 and utilises WEBGL.
Here’s the announcement video:
The biggest change has to be the new client, foregoing Java for the still infant HTML 5 and WEBGL. This will make the game run faster and look better than ever, making you feel “so much more part of everything going on”. Jagex also understand that some people play Runescape exclusively for it’s minimal demand for resources, letting them still use the Java version if they so wish.
There are changes coming to the way Runescape tells a story “The world is on a precipice, massive change is coming to the game world and the players will be at the forefront of that choice, leading the charge into the future” said Mark. Choices will play a big part in the game, where “every single player has the ability to shape the future of the world”.
The UI has had a complete overhaul, using a new “tear and share” system. This system will enable players to add and remove important part of the interface on the fly, tailoring the UI to what *you* need.
A new audio engine will provide higher fidelity sound and Jagex have also included a fully orchestrated score, taking full advantage of the new engine.
Finally updates to the game will mean a lot more to the community, evolving and reacting to player actions. A new community site is also in the works, “expanding on the highscores”.