Jagex’s publishing arm Jagex Partners has signed Melvor Idle, a RuneScape-inspired idle game due to be released in November.

Currently in early access, Melvor Idle has been downloaded more than 600,000 times across Steam, the App Store and the Google Play Store.

Brendan Malcolm, Games by Malcs founder and the creator of Melvor Idle, has played RuneScape since his youth and devised Melyor Idle as a means of reimagining the core components of RuneScape in a casual context.

Taking inspiration from the setting, skills, combat and mechanics, Melyor Idle is a distillation of core components down into an idle game in the same vein as games like Clicker Heroes and Egg Inc.

“Being able to work with Jagex directly on this has been a dream come true. I never would have imagined when I started development on Melvor Idle back in 2018 that I would eventually receive the support of the very studio that inspired me in the first place,” said Malcolm.

“[The support] will help me really establish Games by Malcs as an up-and-coming studio with an office in Perth, Australia. I can’t wait to work with Jagex on making Melvor Idle an even bigger success than I had hoped for.”

Jagex became aware of Melvor Idle in early 2020. It decided to reward the fan-made passion project and bring it to the attention of RuneScape players around the world.

“Every once in a while, we come across a game and a developer that is so well aligned with our core values that it seems a natural fit for Jagex Partners," said Jagex Partners' director of product management, Chris Pfeiffer.

"With so many of our staff being fans of the game, and seeing what Brendan has been able to achieve as a solo developer inspired by the games we have been developing for 20 years is truly magical,” 

In early access, on Steam the game currently has 93% positive reviews. On iOS it has a 4.9/5 review score, and 4.8/5 on Android.

Melyor Idle launches officially in November. It will be priced at $9.99.

You can find out more via its website.