Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/21947...

When Adam Butcher was 14 years old, he had a vision for a video game that he wanted to make. It was a little bulky in scope, sure, but it was the game he wanted to play, and he had the tools to make it.So began the development of Tobias and the Dark Sceptres, a game that, 13 years later, is finally complete. Butcher has spent nearly half of his life adding bits and bobs to this epic saga, and at the age of 27, he's finally done."I was lucky that I never started hating the game," he tells me. "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."14 year old Butcher had decided that each set of levels should have their own special mechanics and concepts, rather than having one type of core mechanic running throughout the game. With this kind of knowledge, you begin to understand why this has taken 13 years."They're mostly weird puzzles and surprise set-pieces that I still haven't seen anywhere else," he notes. "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."My main question for Butcher, and a question I've seen bandied around, is why the heck he is giving 13 years of his life away as a free download. Was he not tempted to slap a small price tag on it?"It had to be freeware," he answers. "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."