Checkpoint III · the studio
Forty-one people in a cold stone mill.
Vesperhold is an independent studio in Marrowby. We make hard, fair action RPGs slowly, on purpose, and we own every game we have ever made.
Three rules on the wall
What we promise each other.
I
We never crunch
Contracts say it, schedules prove it. We have not worked a weekend since 2021. Games take longer. People stay.
II
Strangers decide
No feature ships until people who owe us nothing have played it. 212 sessions for Wickmoor alone.
III
Hard, never unfair
Every enemy tells you before it strikes. If you died, the game showed you why. If it didn’t, that’s our bug.
The Weir Mill · built 1814
A river runs under the floor.
We signed the lease in 2016 because nobody else wanted it. The ground floor flooded twice in the first year. Now it holds forty-one desks, a playtest room with a one-way mirror and a sound booth in the old boiler house.
Visitors by appointment. Bring a jumper.
The people behind the lantern
Some of the forty-one.
AC
Aldous Crane
Studio head
Founded the studio above a bakery. Still answers the door.
Since
2014
IH
Ines Harrow
Game director, Pale Orison
Cut the map. Would do it again.
Since
2015
TV
Tobiah Venn
Lead artist
Paints fog for a living. Owns eleven grey jumpers.
Since
2016
MO
Maren Osk
Audio director
Recorded the bell at 4am. Has not slept since.
Since
2017
PL
Priya Lawn
Technical director
Keeps it at sixty frames. Keeps the heating on.
Since
2018
CB
Cal Brenner
Lead combat designer
Believes every death should teach you something.
Since
2019
OM
Ottilie Marsh
Community lead
Reads every review, even the three-word ones.
Since
2020
RA
Rune Adeyemi
Head of production
Has never once let a milestone slip into a weekend.
Since
2021
41
people, 38% of them in art or animation
3
days a week at the mill; the rest wherever you think best
212
playtests run for Wickmoor, every one of them silent
100%
of our games still owned and patched by us