Lots of people said it would be really great if RuneScape had more of an overall story-line and if there was some sort of ongoing plot. Therefore we're pleased to say that we've designed a massive twisting plot which we're going to release over multiple episodes.

Whilst the rest of the dev-team have been focusing on that, myself and Tony have been working very hard on the promised new 3d-graphics system. This is a mammoth task since we are replacing a vast chunk of the graphics and code. The new engine is coming together extremely well, although there's still a lot of work to do.

We're now nearly ready to show a preview demo of our new landscape engine, our new character animation system, and our new improved user interface.

However since that update is still quite a long way off, the rest of the dev-team is going to work on a new 'agility' skill next. This will give the members something else new to enjoy meanwhile whilst we finish off our big graphics update.

So there was lots of talk of this new update. Lots of people wondered how it would affect their gameplay and what would become of Runescape. Then, a news article would be released that would have huge implications on Runescape. A new game engine - The dawn of Runescape Version 2!

We just wanted to let you know how things are going with the big 3-D update.

Andrew had originally planned to just update the graphics. This is no small task, as it involves remodelling every single image, and creating a new system to run it on. But the big man is not someone who does things in half-measures...

For this reason, he is taking this opportunity to actually rewrite the underlying game engine. This way, Jagex can introduce new features that we've been itching to bring to Runescape for ages. Some of these things were suggestions from players, that just weren't possible under the current game engine.

Things like bank-to-bank trading, multi-player combat (e.g. multiple people against one dragon), and rare weapons with special moves. Excited? You should be!

Last December we decided that if we're going to spend this much time and effort doing 3-D graphics, we might as well have a game engine that can do justice to it. This does of course mean that you have to hold out a bit longer than we originally suggested, but we believe that it will be WELL worth the wait.

Runescape will of course be the same game that you know and love- just with more features and things to do. Watch this space for some sneak previews!

And so it was decided, they would make a new Runescape. This would lead to new graphics, more skills and a wider spectrum of possibilities they would be able to achieve with the new game engine, such as player owned houses and summoning, that was simply not possible on Runescape classic.

We are very pleased to announce that the RuneScape2 Beta has launched!

For the moment, only RuneScape Members can access this exclusive beta by clicking the link at the top of our front page.

Important Note!
There will initially be a large number of users trying to download the new RuneScape2 client - please be patient and do not restart your client download if it seems slow.

Since the RuneScape2 game window is larger than before, we advise that users running at a resolution of 800x600 use Internet Explorer's fullscreen option (press F11 or select 'View -> Full Screen') and then auto-hide the top navigation bar by right clicking on it and selecting 'auto-hide'.

Oh, and if you want to talk in colour try:
red:hello
yellow:greetings froobs!
or
wave:wooohooo!

We hope that you enjoy testing RS2 - please send all feedback/bugs for this RS2 beta to our Forums rather than via Customer Support.

Thanks,

Andrew and the RuneScape Team

And so Runescape (Version 2) launched officially by coming out of beta on the 29th March 2004. To avoid confusion, they named Runescape (Version 2) to just RuneScape and then renamed version 1 to Runescape Classic. Players could now run across runescape, sleeping bags, fatigue wwas gone and runescape was much bigger than before...

It's finally here, the RS2 beta has ended. And you can start playing it for real! We have reset everyone's RS2 saves for the last time, so from now on all that you do and everything you gain in the new game will permanently affect your real character.

Here's how the launch works. We've changed the original plan slightly, so please read this carefully:

We have decided to copy your stats to both games. So you will have all your stats and abilities in both RS1 and RS2. You can play each game whenever you wish, using the same username/password. Skills you gain in one game will not affect the other game in any way. So if you're going to put some effort into levelling up we recommend you do so on the game you most want to stick with.

We have moved your items to RS2. So you will find all your armour/money etc. is all on your RS2 character, and you (currently) have no items on RS1. We can't just copy the items because it causes big problems with the economy if we do. However we will shortly be introducing a temporary webpage that lets you move items between the two games, so if you want to keep playing RS1 you will be able to move some or all of your items back. There will be a further news post explaining this in detail when it is ready. The only thing you need to bear in mind right now is that your items have NOT been duplicated. You only have one of each, so don't go throwing away items in RS2 that you might later want in RS1.

RS2 has been renamed to 'RuneScape'. This is to reflect that it is now the main RuneScape game. It is this main game which affects your hiscore, and this is where further updates and improvements will be focused. To play just press 'Play game' at the top of the main webpage.

RS1 has been renamed to RS-Classic and moved to it's own separate section. This will be brought back online later today if everything goes to plan. This is being kept as a bit of history so people can see what the game used to look like, and for players who prefer a simpler non-changing game. Take a look at the RS-Classic pages for more details.

Apart from that we hope you enjoy the new improved game! It's taken an incredible effort from everyone here to get it to this point, and we hope you enjoy playing it as much as we've enjoyed creating it

The Jagex Team

Introduction    RSC Combat System