Overview

Diver Down is an independently created role-playing game emulating the feel of the original classics. It was developed in Windows 98 with the verge2 engine, and will run on all 9x and XP machines. It is an rpg for rpg fans and is completely free.

Rather than mimic the usual stock of storylines, Diver Down attempts to break new ground with a non-cliche plot that could support a movie. There are the expected common activities of rpgs in this fashion but care was taken to create a believable world with politics and detail. If you've always wanted to play an old-school rpg that took itself more seriously than the others, give Diver Down a try.

I've always made games and stuff as a kid, whether drawing a new board for Monopoly or making all the rules and maps from scratch. I even created half of a choose-your-own-adventure book. But once I learned Turbo Pascal I thought up a new plot and started a choose-your-own-adventure on the computer. Around the same time I had been playing around with a story to write based in a fantasy world. Although these two ideas had nothing to do with each other, when I found verge I decided to merge them into one (or rather run out the plot of the first in the setting of the last). So in October of 1998 I officially began work on Diver Down.

Since then it has been my first and only verge project. After just 6 weeks I released a demo with almost an hour's playing time. It was received fairly well despite just consisting of quickly thrown together graphics and a total absence of menus and a battle system. So I kept putting a lot of hard work into it solo and one day verge2 was released.

Verge2 was a lot more complicated and I did what every developer does - I decided to redo everything with the new technology and better knowledge. So I buckled down and started coding the actual engine of the game. The PURGE kit was the suite of functions I wrote for this purpose. I invested the better part of a year into this facet of the game alone. I felt I had the best menus and battle system of the time but couldn't show anybody because there wasn't enough new game material left. But the day finally came when my engine was complete enough that I could happily resume coding the actual events and story.

Since things started picking up again I continued to look for art help. While usually I wasn't successful, this time Metro decided to hop on board. He got to work drawing cel art, portraits, tiles- you name it. Shortly after, Arias (who had given the demo a good review) also joined us. With two artists helping out I was more encouraged than ever and picked up the pace of the project.

So a lot of time has passed and I've been quietly working away. Unfortunately, the entire team (including myself) has been extremely busy with other pursuits and development over the last two years has suffered. I never gave up on the idea and am very proud to say that Diver Down is finally complete and awaiting players. It's been fun.

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