Fourteen years, four rewrites,
one game
This is not a relaunch of something that stopped. The game has been running, in some form, since 2012, and the version you can play today was first switched on in 2017.
Prototyping starts on an earth-shaped map
Work begins on a RuneScape-style server built inside Minecraft, laid out over an earth-shaped world map. Nothing about it is off the shelf: skills, combat and drops are written from scratch, because nothing off the shelf does what OSRS does.
v1.0 goes public
The first public release, still running on the earth-shaped map. This is the date the project counts as its birthday, and the world has never been wiped since.
v1.1 moves onto a purpose-built world
Late in the year the game is lifted off the earth map and onto an MMO-oriented Minecraft map, the first time the terrain is chosen for the game rather than the game fitted to the terrain.
v1.2 ports to the Podcrash map
Early in the year the whole game is ported again, this time onto the Podcrash map: the first version of the world players would still recognise today.
v2.0 and the Podcrash partnership
An official partnership with Podcrash turns the port into a proper home, and v2.0 is the first full-on release: the point the project stops being a side build and starts being a server people plan their evenings around.
v3.0, recoded from the ground up
The game is rewritten rather than extended, on a much bigger map and with a wider skill list. Most of the systems the game still runs on trace their lineage to this rebuild. v3 runs through to 2015, and is the last version before Classic.
Minescape Classic
Classic follows the v3 recode and becomes the version a lot of players still mean when they talk about the old days. It is the last release before the game moves onto an engine written from scratch.
Beta on the Minescape network, rebuilt from scratch
The game moves onto its own network as a beta, running on a server engine built in-house. Every skill, item and NPC is built as its own piece rather than bolted onto somebody else’s game. This is the version that still runs today, first switched on in September 2017.
The Grand Exchange goes live
A real order book lands: buy and sell orders matched across the whole server, with an item inbox for fills. The same autumn brings a full rebalance of mining, woodcutting, farming, herblore, smithing, fishing, cooking and firemaking.
Home on the GamesLabs Network
Our busiest year of development so far. The game settles onto the GamesLabs Network alongside its sibling modes, and Bedrock crossplay arrives with it: custom 3D item models, a native Bedrock lobby, and form-based interfaces for banking and shops. Console and mobile players join the same world as Java players.
Leagues, and the in-game wiki
Season one of Leagues introduces a separate ruleset with its own drops, buffs and rewards. An in-game wiki starts documenting drop tables, clue steps and exploration beacons from the live game, so it can never go stale.
The quest engine matures
Quests move to a format we can write like prose: states, dialogue trees and entities in plain text rather than something only a programmer can touch. Waterfall, Shilo Village, agility shortcuts and scroll pouches all ship on it.
Endgame bosses
Kraken and the God Wars Dungeon join boss slayer. Timed boss leaderboards, the Tokkul shop and an advent calendar arrive in the same stretch.
A new HUD, and a second name
The interface is rebuilt: a new heads-up display, monster drops surfaced directly in the item UI, and a season nine rebalance across drops and stock. CraftScape is adopted this year as a marketing name, so the game can be advertised at all. Nothing about the game changes with it.
Corporeal Beast, and a winter world
Corp arrives with its own cave, shields and collection-log entries. Winter Island lands as a seasonal region with its own teleport, and item tier requirements gain a third tier.
Minecraft 26.2, and Bedrock back
The game moves up to Minecraft 26.2 and Bedrock support comes back with it. Beyond the version jump it is a year of consolidation: a long run of fixes, a great deal of quality-of-life work, and new sound and visual effects throughout.