The talks progressed to the point that Melvor Idle was soon signed to RS Gold, the RuneScape company's publishing arm. Jagex provided Malcolm development advice and helped with a complete brand refresh as well as helping in managing the community and localisation. This involved turning the game that was created by one person to be accessible in 13 languages (so to date).

The launch was earlier this month and even the Early Access version proved this formula is well-received by RPG gamers, having been downloaded more than 600.000 times in Steam and the major apps for mobile devices. It was way above and beyond what Malcolm's expectations were when he first set out. Naturally, he wanted to ensure that his game would be successful but he didn't have an 'endgame to think about.

"Luckily the enjoyment that fueled those first few months remains with me over the last few years of work, and being working in conjunction with Jagex direct on this is an incredible opportunity to fulfill a dream," he says. "I never imagined that I'd ever get the backing of the same studio which inspired me in beginning.

Making the leap from hobby into fan project was definitely a scary experience However, when you look at the direction I've taken, and the support I've had in establishing Games by Malcs as an new studio, it's surely worked out for the most favorable outcome."

Despite the close ties to Melvor Idle and RuneScape, and the direct involvement of Jagex the publisher chose to keep the game as an original IP rather than make it an officially-licensed RuneScape spin-off. It was a recognition that Malcolm was successful in a place that Jagex itself failed.

"We have actually thought about creating the idle RuneScape game a number of years ago, with RuneScape: Idle Adventures," Pfeiffer tells. "In Alpha, we stopped development in order to concentrate upon the core RuneScape games.

We've always believed in that RuneScape's possibilities are vast in the idle space and Melvor Idle more than proves that RuneScape can inspire a brilliant idle game. But Melvor Idle stands up on its own merits too, which is why we decided to remain true to the vision for the game that Brendan first began designing Melvor Idle."

Pfeiffer also cites the popularity of Melvor Idle as proof that talent can come from any game's community as Jagex has discovered already. "We've always noticed that the RS3 Items game community an excellent resource of potential talent to Jagex, not just in terms of game designers but any of the various roles inside a studio that create games," the director affirms. "RuneScape has had almost 300million accounts created in over 20 years, and the number of people with talent who have played the game is enormous."