For over two decades, I’ve been immersed in the world of what we now call Old School RuneScape, and the changes have been monumental. Gielinor’s landmass has expanded, offering countless new adventures, and its world map, once dotted with uncharted black boxes, is now fully revealed. Yet, a vast, unexplored ocean still beckons. For years, whispers and memes about a potential ‘Sailing’ skill have circulated, promising the ability to brave the high seas and discover what lies beyond known shores. After numerous April Fool’s jokes and even failed community polls, Sailing is finally here. Ahead of its November 19 launch, I had the privilege of an exclusive peek behind the scenes with Jagex’s Kieren Charles (Design Director), Ed Pilkington (Principal Narrative Designer), and Elena Nordmark (Senior Game Designer).
Within RuneScape’s deep lore, the concept of sailing has a long and storied history. Players have long relied on NPC-captained vessels, whether being ferried to Crandor for the legendary Dragon Slayer I quest or joining the festivities on the Tempoross party boat. This reliance on pre-arranged transport has always been a core part of the Old School RuneScape experience, much like the frustratingly rare Barrows drops or engaging in peculiar discussions with Gemstone Crabbers. Yet, the dream of building and commanding one’s own ship, venturing into the vast unknown beyond Gielinor’s existing shores, remained just that – a dream.
A video discussing the history and development of Old School RuneScape’s Sailing skill.
Once the idea of Sailing captured the community’s imagination, Jagex quickly embraced it – sometimes with a playful twist. The studio first ‘announced’ the skill on April 1, 2007, and repeated the April Fool’s gag in 2014, before genuinely revealing its vision in 2015. In RuneScape, new features must pass a community poll to be implemented. Sailing, however, faced rejection until players finally voted yes in 2023. So, after nearly two decades, what fueled Jagex’s unwavering commitment to this seafaring skill?
Design Director Kieren Charles explains the enduring appeal: ‘It’s the sheer mystery of the ocean. It aligns perfectly with the game’s core themes. For too long, this vast section of the world has been underutilized. We already have NPCs taking us on boats, but players have never truly commanded their own vessel. Imagine the undiscovered islands, the potential underwater realms! It feels like a natural progression. We’ve discussed it for years, and it’s high time we granted players this access. The sheer scale of the world map once Sailing is fully integrated will be truly astonishing.’
Ed Pilkington, Principal Narrative Designer, adds with a smile, ‘There’s a brilliant, almost ironic, humor to it. Old School RuneScape’s identity is rooted in nostalgia, in preserving that classic feel, even with weekly updates. In a strange way, a skill that originated as a running gag actually embodies the ‘old school’ spirit more perfectly than anything else.’
Over the years, Jagex has steadily expanded Gielinor’s landmass, most notably with the introduction of the vast continent of Zeah in 2016. More recently, the Varlamore region saw its final content updates, coinciding with Old School RuneScape’s unprecedented surge in popularity and player records. While these additions primarily involved contiguous land, Sailing introduces a diverse array of scattered biomes across the ocean. Players might discover resource-rich islands or encounter unique oceanic creatures like the charming Tortugans. A significant hurdle for Jagex has been populating the sea itself with engaging activities, transforming the depths into a vibrant, interactive space. Senior Game Designer Elena Nordmark highlights this as a profound learning experience for the team, particularly in balancing spatial management with sustained player interest.
Nordmark explains the team’s approach to the ocean’s immense scale: ‘We pondered what would differentiate navigable waters from impassable ones. Similar to how certain woodcutting axes require higher skill levels, we determined that different types of waters would demand greater sailing expertise. This realization led us to strategically limit initial sailing areas, not only for a clearer skill progression but also to reserve exciting new zones for future expansions. That was truly the genesis of the design.’
She elaborates, ‘We deeply considered content density at sea, recognizing its stark contrast to land. In areas like Lumbridge, you find a myriad of activities packed into a small space – woodcutting, sheep shearing, goblin slaying, multiple quest starters. When we envisioned the ocean, we questioned if we should replicate that. Realistically, the sea is often barren. However, for a game, constant engagement is vital. It would be dull otherwise. Finding that perfect balance between realistic emptiness and compelling gameplay was a novel and intriguing challenge.’
Another key aspect of balancing Sailing’s exploration is the dramatically increased travel speed at sea. Imagine Gielinor as a vast grid. Traditionally, players move one tile per server ‘tick’ when walking, and two when running. With Sailing, for the first time ever, players will be able to traverse the ocean at an impressive four tiles per tick on their ships, a significant boost to mobility.
Charles beams, ‘The increased speed feels incredibly liberating. It’s a deceptively simple concept, yet we’ve never had this level of mobility before. Navigating the ocean at four ticks per cycle, watching onlookers on the shore, is an amazing experience. This new skill fundamentally redefines how players interact with and move through the world. We believe this ambitious undertaking was only possible now, with the right talent and team scale, as it presented a monumental technical challenge to bring to fruition.’
While the idea of Sailing has been around for ages, its current form has been actively developed since late 2022. Among all the hurdles Jagex encountered, Charles reveals that the greatest wasn’t the vast scale or content volume, but rather the fundamental challenge of simply making ships function correctly within the game.
Charles explains, ‘We developed something called ‘World entities’ to achieve this. Essentially, you have a moving object—the boat—and players can also move on top of that moving object. This ‘moving on a moving thing’ concept was entirely new for us, not to mention the complexities of controls. Boats don’t behave like characters; they have turning radii, they can’t instantly pivot. We had to consider deceleration, acceleration, sail mechanics, and whether a boat should stop like a player character or maintain momentum after a directional input.’
He continues, ‘Our solution allows boats to maintain momentum. Players choose a direction, and the boat smoothly arcs to face it, then continues sailing indefinitely in that path — or until an obstacle is encountered. This distinct movement system required immense effort. An engine developer even created a Unity prototype to test concepts before integrating them into our game engine. Throughout this phase, players were heavily involved, with small, NDA-bound groups conducting in-office tests until we refined the optimal feel.’
‘Out of the three years dedicated to this project, the entire first year was spent perfecting that foundational movement,’ Charles emphasizes. ‘It’s incredibly difficult to design ship combat, cannon mechanics, or Barracuda Trials when the basic physics of ship movement are still undecided. This created a significant dependency, severely hindering progress on other features until the core player interaction with a ship was fully established.’
In contrast to isolated skills like Hunter, Sailing boasts integration with over ten other existing skills, creating novel progression pathways. Enhancing your ship, for instance, involves Construction, Crafting, and Smithing. Players can also discover unique fish to cook or craft powerful new potions using marine ingredients like coral. Pilkington stresses that this broad integration was crucial for ensuring the first new Old School skill in almost two decades felt inherently part of the game’s fabric.
Pilkington notes, ‘Early on, we recognized the risk that Sailing could feel disconnected from the rest of the game, especially since it literally takes you off land and into new territory. Our priority was to ensure Sailing felt authentically ‘Old School,’ despite being a brand-new skill built with innovative technology. Deep integration with existing game mechanics was paramount to achieving this.’
He elaborates on the integration process: ‘Most well-designed skills incorporate some level of integration. While some are basic, like Construction introducing new trees for planks, we used that principle as a baseline. We assessed every skill, asking, ‘Does this naturally fit with Sailing?’ Some, like Runecrafting, felt like a stretch, even with forced attempts. However, many skills, such as Construction for shipbuilding, proved to be perfect matches right from the start.’
However, deep integration presents a double-edged sword. Over-integrating Sailing could make it an essential, dominant skill, forcing players to train it. Charles emphasizes that preserving player agency is vital for the MMO experience, and carefully balancing integration is paramount to avoid community backlash.
‘We must remain grounded,’ Charles asserts, ‘as it’s easy to overdo it. If nearly every skill becomes dependent on Sailing, it risks overshadowing others. While Sailing will be incredible, we don’t want it to dominate the game’s existing skills. Finding that perfect balance is key. When new islands and locations become accessible through Sailing, it’s tempting to populate them with every possible resource or activity—a Runecrafting altar here, a new mining rock there. But if taken too far, it becomes too prescriptive. We’ve implemented crucial ‘sense checks’ to prevent the game’s meta from simply becoming ‘train Sailing, then do everything else.”
From a narrative perspective, Sailing posed a significant challenge, potentially requiring extensive retrofitting across RuneScape’s vast quest library. Consider Dragon Slayer I, where players must repair the Lady Lumbridge to reach Crandor and confront Elvarg. Allowing personal ships could bypass this iconic Old School quest element entirely. Fortunately, to Pilkington’s pleasant surprise, the narrative designers of the past had ingeniously anticipated such developments.
Pilkington shares his initial concern: ‘It was a major worry at first. But upon reviewing the quests, we realized it wasn’t as problematic as anticipated. We made no significant alterations to existing content to accommodate Sailing, only minor narrative tweaks. Dragon Slayer I was a key example. The question, ‘Why couldn’t you just sail there yourself?’ was actually answered by the original writers two decades ago.’
‘The quest dialogue explicitly states that the map reveals a hidden, reef-laden path where ordinary boats would be destroyed,’ Pilkington explains. ‘It even mentions that only a unique, non-reproducible Crandorian vessel can survive the journey. I remember thinking, ‘My work here is already done!’ This was a wonderful confirmation that Sailing harmonizes with the world, and that even in 2004-2005, developers were thoughtfully building Gielinor’s broader mechanics. Ultimately, we made very few changes, which I’m delighted about. There was no need to retroactively alter classic quests.’
With the core mechanics established, Jagex progressed to public testing, beginning with an alpha at this year’s Runefest, followed by a full beta in June to showcase the early skill experience. While feedback has largely been positive, Sailing has encountered its critics. Some question its identity as a standalone skill, viewing it more as a world expansion facilitating other skill opportunities. Naturally, a segment of purists resists any change, fearing that significant directional shifts will lead Old School RuneScape closer to RuneScape 3. Charles and the team acknowledge these concerns but remain firm in their commitment to preserving the authentic Old School spirit through meticulous development.
Charles admits, ‘This is a monumental change, a deeply integrated addition to the game. The risk of getting it wrong is real, which is why we’ve approached it with such meticulous care, constant community consultation, public showcases, and extensive private testing. The current wave of community positivity surrounding Sailing is the strongest it’s been throughout the entire project. We feel we’ve culminated this journey by delivering something truly exciting that players will continue to love once they experience it firsthand. I genuinely believe this is our best skill yet. The impact it has on the world, its rich additions, and the sheer fun of the skill itself are unparalleled. Frankly, no one can convince me that another lap of Ardougne rooftops is more enjoyable than what Sailing offers.’
Sailing represents a true labor of love for Jagex, demanding immense technical innovation and meticulous design to deliver an entirely new experience that feels inherently ‘Old School.’ It introduces fresh, exhilarating gameplay without disrupting the established skill system. As Charles underscored, the Old School RuneScape community has been integral throughout, offering invaluable feedback and essential ‘vibe checks.’ This skill is the culmination of years of ideation and iteration—a two-decade-old meme brought to life. Whatever its ultimate reception, Jagex’s dedication to the Old School spirit is undeniable. Personally, I eagerly anticipate hoisting my sails, weighing anchor, and seeking new fortunes on the high seas when Sailing launches on November 19. Just don’t hold your breath for Sea Shanty 3.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming Old School RuneScape Sailing update? Share your excitement and opinions on the game’s most expansive skill yet!