Delverium’s survival crafting gameplay was inspired by family game nights

“I started work on around 2016 ...

and I was playing a lot of with my family, at that time,” Scott Lowther, founder of Sagestone Games, told . “We loved sitting down and playing splitscreen, and I really wanted to have more of that sort of experience with family, especially because we all have different play styles, so we all like doing different things.” “So I started designing, way back then, what I wanted to do.



” , which , is a product of Lowther’s desire – to create a survival crafting experience where everyone can share their adventures, while indulging in their own personal tastes. It’s a game clearly inspired by its forebears in the survival-crafting adventure genre, and , and one that aims to celebrate this legacy within a rich solo or multiplayer sandbox. “When I was designing and making my own game, it was a subconscious mishmash of all the things I liked from these other games, coming together,” Lowther said.

“I’m just making the game I want to make ...

the game I want to make is the game I want to play.” Entering the world of , you’ll be able to build your own cosy township, plant crops, and farm, but you’ll also need to defend your lands from strange creatures, venture into dangerous caverns to find new ingredients, and fight for your right to cosy living. Per Lowther, these mechanics are directly inspired by his own experiences gaming with family and friends, and seeing what excites other players.

“I’ve been inspired so much by and and playing with my family,” Lowther said. “[ ] supports splitscreen multiplayer. That was always a key feature for me, right from the beginning, so I could sit down with my family, and play together on the same screen.

” Having multiple options for play, catering to an array of player preferences, was also core to development of the game, as inspired by Lowther’s own family game nights. Some might like to build houses and make farms. Others may prefer gear progression and grinding.

aims to do both, and Lowther is keen to ensure the balance is right. Early streams of the game have proved to be a learning experience, with insights into how players spend time with shaping what comes next. “I was worried if it was going to be able to balance that properly – the cosier end against the survival end – but [based on early streams] I seem to have done a pretty good job,” Lowther said of his proudest achievement with .

“People are happy now. I’m happy playing with my family, as well.” How was born On the cusp of releasing ‘s first demo publicly, Lowther reflected on the game as a product of his experiences working in the Queensland games scene.

“Sagestone Games” is really the pairing of Lowther and his wife, with guest appearances from a range of other local Queensland-based game developers – including composer and audio specialist, Jeff van Dyck ( ). It’s through community that has come to life, with Lowther’s experiences working in the Queensland game development scene in the early 2000s and into the 2010s – including at the now-defunct Sega Studios Australia (formerly known as The Creative Assembly), and at KIXEYE – helping to forge connections, as well as knowledge. “There’s a lot of people that came through Sega,” Lowther said.

“I’ve met lots of really great friends there, and at other places as well ...

The Queensland games scene and industry is really supportive ...

When I got my first job in games, it was suddenly like [I’d] found my tribe. Even though you’re all different, come from different walks of life, you think differently, there’s still some sort of underlying connection.” It’s passion and camaraderie that holds the scene together.

Lowther’s own passion for games started young, with the introduction of the Commodore 16, in the 1980s. As Lowther explained, these computers came with a manual that explained basic code, and they even had a text adventure onboard that you could type in. At around 10 or 11 years old, it was a source of fascination for Lowther, particularly when he realised he could change the text and reprogram it.

What followed was a study and a career in electrical engineering and software development – a more practical course, prior to the blossoming of Australia’s local game development scene in the early 2000s. When the industry began to grow, Lowther found himself well-positioned with highly in-demand skills, and so he eventually got his “first break” at Creative Assembly, which became Sega Studios Australia. After several years at Sega, Lowther pursued other avenues, working on indie projects, freelancing, joining KIXEYE, then going independent once more.

Eventually, Lowther wielded his experiences, and the support of his friends, in the creation of . “I started actively prototyping around 2018. I was doing it part-time for many years, while doing work for my friends at the same time, to pay the bills,” Lowther explained.

“Then it was late 2023, I showed a couple of my friends. We went to lunch for a business thing, and I showed some of them the game. Some of them were like, ‘dude, you have to – you need to make this thing, you need to go full time.

'” From there, Lowther began investigating funding options, and found support in Screen Queensland. Funding, and the future of “It’s really valuable, in a games industry that’s had a bit of a downturn, especially for AAA stuff, and a lot of publishers seem not to be willing to fund as much, these days,” Lowther said. “The government programs really help the games that show a bit of promise.

It allows them to get some funding they may not otherwise get, and allows them to get the support they need to grow, and become a better experience for players.” Funding allowed for to grow. Lowther was able to hire friends to help improve the quality of the game, adding more content and more features along the way.

This is a larger part of the value of funding: it creates jobs, supports developers, and eventually contributes to bigger, more ambitious scopes. And Lowther is ambitious in his hopes for , inspired by early impressions, and how players have parsed the game. As Lowther makes clear, we’re all our own worst critics, and he found it hard to judge fairly, as he had a “lower opinion of the game than some other people might.

” “I wasn’t sure what people were going to think,” he said. “But I’ve been very, very pleasantly surprised with the response so far.” He’s been watching streams of the game since it was shared with creators, watching the ways they interact with it, and making notes for the future.

Currently, is set to launch later in 2025, and Lowther is keen to ensure it’s the most polished, mechanically-interesting version of the game it can be, ahead of launch. “I’ve been watching a lot of streams and finding lots of common issues that streamers have ..

. I just watch how they play as well, and I see common things that should be improved to allow better discoverability, or allow better flow, or a better experience,” Lowther said. “Every day, I’m making changes behind the scenes, and occasionally putting a new build up with some of these improvements.

” On 7 February 2025, the first public demo for will be available. For Lowther, it will be one of his biggest tests, and the best opportunity to get feedback about the future direction of the game, and where it can be improved. With his experience working for Sega, as a gameplay engineer and programmer, it’s a challenge he’s looking forward to.

Iteration and implementing new processes is familiar, and there is still joy in carving out the ideal version of the game. In the months ahead, following the demo release, Lowther and his team of friends will focus on critical changes, before plowing ahead to the game’s release, towards the later half of 2025. He knows there is much to do before then, but is keen to keep chipping away, to create a game that satisfies a diverse range of tastes, and pays homage to the survival-crafting genre, as a whole.

“I’m not going to release it until I’m happy that there’s enough to satisfy people,” he said. “I know open world survival-craft players demand a lot of content. I do too.

The bar is so high these days, for the amount of content to have in the game.” “It’s about adding features and content enough to release, and then beyond that, it’s continually adding features and content. For as along as players are around to support me, I’ll be supporting .

That’s the long-term plan.” Those keen to dive in with will be able to from ..