When he was 14 years old, Adam Butcher envisioned a videogame that he wanted to make and play. Thirteen years later, Butcher has finally finished "Tobias and the Dark Sceptres" and released it for free.
"I was lucky that I never started hating the game," he said. "I guess that is unusual. I think it's because, ultimately, there were a lot of ideas that I liked in the game and still like to this day."
One of the core pillars of 14 years old Adam's vision was that each level should have its own special mechanics and concepts.
"They're mostly weird puzzles and surprise set-pieces that I still haven't seen anywhere else," explained Adam Butcher. "Although the game style is pretty derivative, I guess it always had some originality that I wanted to put out in the world. What I did fall out of love with was the game dynamics - all the jumping and sword-swiping that isn't so playable by modern standards. I wouldn't make a game like this today, but it has a nice nostalgia to it."
Clearly, Tobias and the Dark Sceptres is a child of love; but why didn't Adam try to make some money out of it? "It had to be freeware," he put it simply. "Anyone who plays the game will realize it's not quite a commercial venture! It will probably take 1-2 hours for a player to even know whether they like it or not. And ultimately I'd rather as many people played it as possible."
You can download Tobias and the Dark Sceptres for free from here. You can also buy the game's sound track to support its developer.