For those who don't know me, my name is Colin and I have been working on Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 in some capacity for 15 years, first starting as a junior programmer back in 2011 (when I was still going to university in my early 20s) to eventually project lead, developing many features, right up until releasing the game's first truly major expansion (Italy) last year in 2025.
Back in 2009, I bought Red Orchestra for $11 on a whim and eventually, I made my first mutator for DH, eventually catching the eye of DH's lead developer at the time (Exocet), who brought me on to help develop the handheld mortar system. The rest, as they say, is history.
However, the time has come for me to move on. Truthfully, this has been a while in the making; releasing Italy was supposed to be where I called it quits, but the draw of "just one more feature" and "just one more bug fix" has kept me here a bit longer than I anticipated. There's no ideal time to do this, as I have many responsibilities on the team and there's always a million little somethings to work on. However, I think the game is in a stable state for others to take the torch and make it their own without me at the helm.
There's no one particular reason that I'm stepping down, but rather a confluence of reasons that has been slowly growing as time has rolled on.
The first is that game development is very difficult and time consuming; anyone who has ever tried to make a game knows this, but a lot of folks don't realize how all-consuming it can be even just running things behind the scenes. There's often very little or no pay-off (especially this being a volunteer role), and when this comes at the expense of other aspects of my life, that effort becomes harder to justify.
Another reason is that the game engine we are working with, while still powerful in some ways, is very outdated. There are so many problems that could be easily fixed and avenues for new features to be opened up with engine code access. However, due to ancient licensing agreements and the unwillingness of Tripwire Interactive to make Red Orchestra's source code openly available (a decision that would cost nothing and probably garner a lot of good will!), these problems remain intractable. This is the same reason that the game could never be a paid standalone product.
The final reason is more mundane, and that is my real life responsibilities have grown to the point where I'm spending less and less time working on the game. Part of this is getting older as well too, I'm sure. I don't have the energy to be pulling all-nighters working on new features like I used to in my 20s.
This game has done so much for me both personally and professionally. It helped me land my first job in the software development industry a lifetime ago, and gave me the drive to learn many new skills that I never imagined myself doing when I started out.
From the player's perspective, nothing will be changing in the near term except perhaps that certain features on the roadmap (mounted machine-guns) will likely be delayed. The Patreon donations still fund the development infrastructure and game servers. There is still a team of active developers working on the game, and I will remain on in a technical advisory/consulting role in some capacity probably for years to come, but I will not be actively working on new player-visible features or bug fixes.
It's a small miracle that the game continues to endure, and it's entirely thanks to the team of developers I've had the privilege of working with, both current and former. The core Darkest Hour team is and has been entirely driven by passionate and talented volunteers. In a world of soulless AAA flops, mountains of shovelware, and micro-transaction driven monetization-first games, DH development has always felt like an oasis of humanity, creativity, and genuine enthusiasm in a games industry that is often lacking in those categories.
Thank you to all the developers and players that have made this a journey worth taking.
See you on the battlefield,
Colin Basnett