RuneScape: Dragonwilds: Bringing Ashenfall to life 

The word iconic is bandied about a lot, but RuneScape is one of the few games worthy of the description. It defined its genre, and has been a daily companion for millions of people over more than two decades.  

So when Jagex asked us in 2023 to help make the newest release in the franchise—RuneScape: Dragonwilds—which would be the first game in the series that strays from the original RuneScape experience, we could barely contain our excitement.  

In Dragonwilds, Dragons run amok on RuneScape’s forgotten continent of Ashenfall. As the player you are stranded and must gather resources, build shelter, develop your weapons and abilities, complete quests, and ultimately, reclaim Ashenfall. While it is a very different gameplay experience to the original RuneScape, that world’s lore runs right through Dragonwilds. It is a reimagining of the fiction so many people hold dear.

The challenge 

At a high level, we had the honor—and the responsibility—of working on the first game in the RuneScape world that steps away from the ‘traditional’ RuneScape experience. As a game it is quite different from Old School RuneScape and RuneScape 3, with a heavy focus on crafting and survival. 

As such, our task was to contribute elements, like environment designs and augmented gameplay loops, that were novel and interesting but which also stayed true to the spirit of RuneScape.

On a technical level, it was important for developer Jagex that in-game assets were designed efficiently and in a way that they could be reused, given the importance of resource-gathering and crafting in Dragonwilds. 

The game is still in early access. We’re still working on it; plenty more content is still to come. Here’s what we’ve done so far. 

What we did 

Specialists from our Art, Technology, and Game Development teams worked on Dragonwilds, but the bulk of our contribution came from our artists (Room 8 Studio)—particularly in the areas of level art and set-dressing, props, and asset architecture units. 

Level art, props, and asset architecture 

To meet the partner’s need for fast, cost-effective, and modular solutions, our team prioritized asset reuse, and developed a material library that enabled the rapid construction of most structures. This was after our concept artists had suggested designs for various environments in Ashenfall, from the natural environment to props like furniture and buildings. 

Some of the assets we created include: 

• Modular pieces for different architecture sets, such as floors, walls, and stairs; 
• Full buildings, from small houses to huge structures 
• Dressing-kits of brick, rubble, destroyed parts and much more for populating Dragonwilds 
• Architecture materials, like tileables and trim sheets, which were mostly used to form modules (trims were often used to speed up the process of props creation) 

The crafting and architecture system in Dragonwilds has received plenty of praise since the game’s release, and we’re proud to have contributed to most of these assets. In fact, the majority of props the player sees in the game—such as plants and other harvested resources, quest items, furniture, rocks, and much more—were made by Room 8 Group.  

Game design and development 

Specialists from our Game Development team helped to design some of Dragonwilds’ key levels, especially the vaults found throughout the game. With dungeon-type content it’s important that the locations have gameplay variety, so we spent time making sure vaults were not repetitive. 

We also: 

• Fixed bugs and collision flaws—for example, we synced the timings of traps found in vaults (and created new trap variants with different timings), created new trap layouts and setups around quieter areas to increase player engagement, and generally made them defect-free 
• Iterated on enemy compositions, improving the overall structure and cadence of vaults to smooth the gameplay experience 
• Worked with Jagex’s sound-effects team to improve the audio for game features like traps 
• Maintained interactable items and script improvements 
• Created a structure for resource and reward redistribution around vaults 
• And worked on other gameplay improvements throughout the game world 

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