Ian Gower

The RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: rsw:Ian GowerThe Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:Ian Gower

Ian testing the Wilderness shortly after launch.

Ian Gower (or simply Ian in-game) is the co-founder of RuneScape and Jagex. He played a major part in the creation of DeviousMUD, and RuneScape, from 1999 onwards. On 25 October 2016, Ian left the company to work with his brother Andrew at Fen Research after having worked at Jagex for 18 years.

He was responsible for designing a large amount of the sprites for monsters and player characters (his earliest work being the sheep), as well as many 3D models found in the game on a freelance basis. He also designed the original RuneScape and Jagex logos.

Ian is credited for the art on the GamesDomain Castle, which contains many art assets reused in RuneScape Classic, including wall/wood textures and the table model.

Trivia

• Ian was in full-time education while working on RuneScape. Like Andrew Gower, he has a degree in computer science from the University of Cambridge.
• He was a user of Corel's PaintShop Pro for at least some art. He drew some early sprites on an Atari ST.
• He drew the party hat, and considers it to be the "most coveted thing I've drawn".