The Blog

Latest from the Team

Torchlight II
Posted on May 24, 2016

Hob in Boston

It's here at last! Torchlight II has arrived for GOG.com today, expanding multiplatform, DRM-free access to our favorite action RPG title. Get it now for PC, Mac, and Linux!

Gog promo art 2 large

We're super excited to bring Torchlight II to the GOG.com platform. There, it joins the original Torchlight game – and so to celebrate this reunion, both games are going on sale right now for a limited time: Torchlight II is 50% off, and Torchlight is 75% off!

So please enjoy today’s release – and make sure to let your friends know that Torchlight II has landed on GOG.com.

Hob
Posted on May 18, 2016

Building the World

PAX East in Boston was amazing! We connected with so many of you on the East Coast, and it was awesome to put Hob in your hands and hear your feedback. We always love getting the chance to talk to you face to face, and we of course love Boston.

Those of you who stopped by the booth, thank you for playing! If you missed it, we have some photos and highlights for you here in this round-up:

Booth pax east
Paxe quad

What people are saying

"Hob has all the makings of a classic adventure game" – EGM

"You can easily find yourself just staring at some of the screens in HOB, lost in the detail and scope of the beauty or pushing yourself to head off the beaten path for some hidden gems and views." – SKNR.net

An "enchanting little adventure" – US Gamer

"I honestly loved it and can’t wait to play more" – Irrational Passions

The mob

A look at Hob

TotalBiscuit came by to play! Here's his walkthrough of the demo:

Hob Hero Pin available now!

We debuted a new Pinny Arcade collectible at PAX East, featuring the hero of Hob. They're in the merch store right now, along with the sprite pin from PAX Prime.

Pax east pin merch

Playtesting opportunity – apply within!

We're looking for play testers! If you enjoy our games and want to be part of future testing opportunities, join the Runic Games Test Kitchen. All we ask for is your time to play through a demo and give us feedback.

The Runic Games Test Kitchen is open to everyone, regardless of where you live. Some play tests may require proximity to the greater Seattle area, but there will be opportunities for virtual play testing as well.

Love our games? Like having your voice heard? Join the Test Kitchen and help us cook up something awesome.

Wide demographic appeal

Want more Hob?

Then you need this detailed dev update from Lead Level Designer and Game Director Patrick Blank. Here's a taste:

"When we started talking about ideas for Hob, the biggest aspect that kept coming up was the world itself needed to be center stage for both gameplay and story. The main goal was for it to be something more unique, and engaging in interesting ways for the player to interact with it. Those core goals are what drove the idea of a world disheveled like a Rubik’s cube. It’s not complete, and the player needs to help fix it. It was proposed that we not only build the world around the player being able to move and transform large areas, but to also make those transformations a major part of the narrative. What that narrative is, however, is a secret for the player to discover."

Ommmmmmm…

Here's your Moment of Zen.


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Hob
Posted by Patrick Blank on April 28, 2016

When we started talking about ideas for Hob, the biggest aspect that kept coming up was the world itself needed to be center stage for both gameplay and story. The main goal was for it to be something more unique, and engaging in interesting ways for the player to interact with it. Those core goals are what drove the idea of a world disheveled like a Rubik’s cube. It’s not complete, and the player needs to help fix it. It was proposed that we not only build the world around the player being able to move and transform large areas, but to also make those transformations a major part of the narrative. What that narrative is, however, is a secret for the player to discover.

Pr glove screen2

After we had a grasp on the world, we then needed to build tools for the player to interact and fix the broken world. That’s when the player’s utility glove was born. Early on in the game the player acquires a glove that can be upgraded to be multi-function. The glove has several multi-purpose tools. They serve the player for navigation, puzzles, and combat. Once we decided what glove abilities we wanted, we shifted focus over to supporting it in the world space.

We delved deeper into what that meant gameplay wise, development wise, and tech wise. It started to sound like a crazy man’s fever dreams. Speaking as a level designer, the amount of work to design and build a space that transforms, sometimes multiple times into different configurations, each of which need to be fun and support various gameplay, was crazy and terrifying. I kept thinking, "What are we getting ourselves into?" It was nuts. If we could pull it off though, it could be amazing.

Hob grapple glove

As we started actually building towards that vision, I began to see the big picture possibilities. That is when things really got exciting. This was still a crazy plan, but now we were committed to making something crazy and very special!

I’ve always enjoyed games that encourage the player to explore and allow the player to venture off the main path and make them question if they are where they should be only to find out they are, and reward them for it. My rule when playing games is that if I know a certain direction is the main path, I instantly go explore elsewhere first in hopes of being rewarded for it, and it’s extremely satisfying when you are.

In Hob, we do not put you on the yellow brick road and lead you by the hand. In fact, we try to get you off that yellow brick road so you can find the non-obvious back door that’s half hidden by overgrown weeds, leading you in a roundabout way to your goal. Then we take it a step further and allow you to unlock the front door from the inside, creating a shortcut back out. That type of rewarding exploration is our goal with Hob.

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Puzzles big and small are scattered across the world. The world is broken, and the player has several tools to navigate and fix it. For instance, the player acquires an ability that allows them to use their glove as a grappling hook between points in the world to get to areas they could not reach otherwise. The same ability lets a player grab and pull objects around an area, to-and-from points that they might not be able to reach.

Another ability allows players to punch through walls creating shortcuts, and breaking apart tall pillars to create shortcut ladders. Each interactable has a telltale visual cue so that players will learn them and be able to identify them elsewhere. The player will often reach areas before they have all the abilities needed to find everything, so previously explored area will gain new surprises as the player acquires new abilities later on.

The most challenging aspect of building the levels has been the world shifting. Each space requires more thought and consideration. We have to plan around the powers the player will have for that area, the new ideas we are introducing, and the new abilities the player will have when they return to the area later in the game.

Some spaces rearrange once to solve a particular problem. In other spaces, the player can toggle levels back and forth as part of a greater puzzle, with each variation offering something different. Imagine being able to run freely across a large land mass while it is in the middle of transforming. Those moments are a special, memorable part of Hob’s gameplay.

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Designing for Hob has been a great experience so far. In the beginning of the project, I thought we were crazy to be so ambitious with so many unique gameplay elements and compound level design. Looking at the game today, it is all falling into place. It is clear that Hob is something unique, and really, really fun. All of the hard work will be worth it.

Hob loading screen