Torchlight creator co-founders departing studio

The creators of Torchlight developer Runic Games, Travis Baldree and Erich Schaefer, will depart from the studio next month, Baldree announced via the company's forums.

Baldree writes that the departure is an amicable one, and that Schaefer leaves with him as an equal partner. At Runic, Baldree served as the company's president and lead engineer, while Schaefer was the chief creative officer and a designer.

"I'm personally excited — oh, hell, I'm super stoked — to be getting back to smaller-scale development, where I can wear many, many hats performing many, many different kinds of tasks," Baldree wrote. "Working within the boundaries of limited means and resources is the best fun I've ever had, and that sort of work satisfies me in a fundamental way — I can't wait to be working that way again.

"To those of you who have played our games, interacted with us on our forums, met us at trade-shows, and Tweeted/Facebooked/social-media'ed with us over the years, I want to thank you all. You have helped to make this a rewarding journey for me, and I hope the same holds true for you."

Baldree and Schaefer founded the company, along with Max Schaefer and Peter Hu, in 2008. The studio released Torchlight in 2009 and its sequel, Torchlight 2, in 2012.