Sunless Sea by Failbetter Games is the sequel to Fallen London, a browser-based text adventure. In Sunless Sea, you captain a steamship in the subterranean realm of the Underzee, charting unknown waters and exploring distant ports. Bring back news and goods from new lands to London and be rewarded handsomely — by which you can stave off hunger, cannibalism, mutiny, and eldritch waters lurking in dark waters just a bit longer.

In this interview, writer Chris Gardiner and developer Liam Welton, discuss how they built upon the world founded in Fallen London, bringing graphics and real-time combat to the Underzee; how Kickstarter crowdfunding and Steam’s Early Access gave them unique opportunities; and the challenges and opportunities unique to building their own world compared to playing in sandbox when developing games for third parties, such as BioWare’s Dragon Age or Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus.

Watch the video above, or download the audio edition from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive.

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