Game:Torchlight Online  

Runic Games is hard at work on its upcoming title "Torchlight," having just announced a publishing deal with Perfect World, the leading online game developer in China. Torchlight will be a single-player action-RPG, with a subsequently released MMO to be published by Perfect World. The game is set in a mining-turned-boomtown situated above a recently-discovered vein of rich magical ore. The ore is a potent substance that can be harnessed to grant the wielder great power, but by the same token imperils the lives of all those around them.

Runic Games has a unique history for a start-up--the team of 14 all signed on following Flagship Seattle's closure last year, and has since added several key team members. Previously working on Mythos, an action-RPG MMO, they elected to stay together to continue developing a similar title. The Runic Games team is made up of industry veterans including Max and Erich Schaefer, two of the cofounders of Blizzard North, developers of Diablo and Diablo II, Travis Baldree, the project director for Mythos and creator of FATE, and many other talented individuals.

Torchlight stays close to the fast-paced, randomized, and accessible roots of the developers' previous titles. Work on the MMO will be underway following the release of the single- player game due out this year, and will build upon the gameplay and lore developed for the single-player title.