Aside from the day to day of game creation, we have another time-consuming project in the works: a new office. That’s right! We’re marshalling forces and moving our family Secret of NIMH-style a whopping half a block away.

We started with 17 people, subletting an office that fit us all just fine, but since then we’ve grown to 26. Suddenly, the office is a bit tighter and it’s not cool to play movies on the futon after hours when it’s next to the desk of someone working late. Happily, this growth spurt has coincided with our lease being up, ergo, moving!

The new office is half a block away, pretty much kitty-corner from where we are now. There’s a peek-a-boo view of the Sound (that’s a fancy realtor term for “you can see it between the other buildings and parking structures”) and it will let us stretch our legs a bit and even put that TV and futon in a separate room of their own.

So what’s involved? Well, after countless meetings and walk-through’s, papers were signed and the work begins. They’re tearing down the walls of the old offices that used to be there because we like an open bull-pen feel where we can shout across the room and gesticulate wildly in full view of everyone – no cubicle prairie-dogging.

We’re getting bids on the cabling, the wiring, being called daily to make choices about lights, sheetrock, elevator access, and a thousand other things you’d never think of otherwise. We also have to begin the awful task of picking carpet, wall color (I just say “blue” and have done with it), baseboard trim, and flooring for the new kitchen (which will include a dishwasher – allow me to pause while I weep tears of joy on my desk ).

Ahem. Anyway, many decisions loom and it’s a big task to get everything ready and habitable. Fortunately, moving won’t be as large a task, since we can basically have office-chair races from our current door to our new door.

Move in is supposed to happen around end of April or early May, depending on when we all stop bickering like designers on a reality TV show over the colors of the laminate for the office supply cabinet. And hey, maybe we’ll even get an actual couch for the TV room and put that futon back on Craigslist where it belongs.

In the same astonishing day, Torchlight won both the Game Industry News’ RPG Game of the Year Award, and the Game Developer’s Conference Choice Award for Best Debut.

Game Industry News prides itself on being of the people and for the people, and over 100,000 readers voted for Torchlight. Likewise, the Game Developer’s Choice Award is based on the votes of seasoned industry professionals.

“To win both of these awards is absolutely incredible, and means so much coming from our peers, our fans and friends,” said CEO Max Schaefer. “We could not be more proud of Torchlight and of our team. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who voted and supported us.”

President and Project Lead Travis Baldree had this to say in his acceptance speech at GDC: “Thanks to everyone at Runic Games, the 17 people who took a huge leap and started with us just a little over a year ago, thanks to Perfect World for allowing us to do what we thought was the right thing to do, and thanks to everyone who played the game and enjoyed it, and thank you to everyone who nominated us.”

John Breeden, GiN Editor in Chief, speaking from the GiN Lounge, says this of Torchlight on the GiN Awards: “Kudos to Torchlight for going up against some of the giants in the industry and in the RPG field and winning.” He also says he’s still playing Torchlight. That’s what we like to hear!

Runic Games also wants to applaud our fellow nominees at GDC who made some amazing games: The Maw, Zeno Clash, League of Legends, and Spider: the Secret of Bryce Manor. We urge you to check them out and support them!

Thank you again to our fans, friends and friends in the press, supporters, and our publishers.

Max, Erich, Adam and Marsh returned from their China adventures with stories galore and pictures too. We rounded up some of the best and most entertaining for you! We’re actually pretty darned impressed with the bravery shown by Adam in trying new food overseas. His derring-do in the face of the exotic and downright strange, well, it approaches masculinity and brings a tear to our eye. All growed up! Kudos to you Adam!

When asked about his overall impressions of China, Adam said: “China was amazing! I felt like I was in Bladerunner only moooore space-age.” (Emphasis added for the necessary Sword of Adam-style expression.)

Marsh shared this laugh-out-loud story about one of Erich’s culinary experiences:

HOST – “This is a herbal soup..” ERICH “I’ll try it..” Erich takes a bite… ERICH – “Oh my God that was the grossest thing I have ever eaten. It exploded in my mouth.” HOST – “Yes, the soup has cow penises in it.”

They found out later that wasn’t all it had in it, but we’ll leave the finer details to your imagination. Let’s just say that dining in a foreign country often is an adventure, and sometimes it’s a reality TV challenge.

Everyone had a great time, and many thanks to our hosts at Perfect World! We’ll close out with some great photos, below.