Podcast

The Official OSRS Podcast is a podcast hosted by Mods Ayiza and Sween, where they invite several other Jagex Moderators or guests and ask them about their experiences/responsibilities. This series started in 9 November with the first episode, with episodes being released weekly. The videos listed below are in reverse chronological order.

In 2024, two pilot episodes were made as part of Game Jam V to test the format.

• Mod Elena detailed the project's difficult early phases, noting an initial mistake was attempting to scale the development team too quickly before fundamental prototypes for boat movement were finalised.
• A core challenge was creating a boat movement system that felt new yet appropriate for the game. Early iterations, such as a bathtub-like design with high walls, were found to be annoying and were scrapped after prototyping.
• Mod Elena confirmed the use of a player group under NDA to gather feedback. This group intentionally included players who voted 'No' to Sailing, ensuring their criticisms were heard and addressed.
• The skill was chosen not just due to developer preference, but because it was the number one player suggestion across multiple surveys. Mod Elena stated she was very glad previous skill proposals failed, as the team and community were not ready until now.
• Before the poll, other concepts were explored. Shamanism originated as a desire for a "nature magic" skill, while Exploration was deemed difficult to implement as a repeatable skill loop.
• When asked about future projects, Mod Elena expressed a strong interest in working on a new raid, particularly designing encounters that utilise defined multiplayer roles, similar to traditional MMOs.

• The current state of Old School RuneScape has been termed a "platinum age" by some community members, following successful content updates such as Varlamore.
• The design principle of permanent progression is considered paramount; the team avoids devaluing existing player achievements, such as drastically increasing experience rates for skills like Runecrafting.
• Another core pillar, "single player, but together", was highlighted, emphasizing that the shared-world environment is essential for validating the personal achievements of players.
• It was confirmed that offering separate, easier drop rates for Ironman Mode would be detrimental to the game by devaluing achievements across the entire player base.
• The "birdhouse problem" was used as an example of post-launch balancing difficulties, where content that was overtuned on release has now existed for too long to be nerfed without significant community disruption.
• Looking to future content, designing rewards for a fourth raid presents a unique challenge, as the mega rare weapon slots for all three combat styles have been filled by previous raids.
• It was confirmed that the next Leagues is currently in pre-production, with the team targeting a release cadence of every 1 to 1.5 years to prevent player burnout.

• Official website, linking to various platforms the podcast is on:
  • YouTube
  • Spotify
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Audible
  • Amazon Music