Illwinter Game Design is the name of a small software company in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 composed of Johan Karlsson and Kristoffer Osterman. Registered officially as a company in Sweden since September 27, 2001, Illwinter's products include three fantasy strategy games and an installer creation program for Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

. Illwinter's games are characterized by large amount of content, replaybility, support for multiple platforms (Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

, Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

, Solaris and Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 included), good multiplay support and simple, perhaps even outdated, visual and sound effects. The games are said to have a steep learning curve and a somewhat lacking user interface. Labor division within the tiny team is simple: Kristoffer Osterman creates the units, spells and descriptions while Johan Karlsson makes everything else work.

Both Johan Karlsson and Kristoffer Osterman have expressed their love for role-playing games, especially Ars Magica

Ars Magica

Ars Magica is a role-playing game set in Mythic Europe, a quasi-historical version of Europe around AD 1200 with added fantastical elements. The game revolves around wizards and their allies...

 and roguelike

Roguelike

The roguelike is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by randomization for replayability, permanent death, and turn-based movement. Most roguelikes feature ASCII graphics, with newer ones increasingly offering tile-based graphics. Games are typically dungeon crawls, with many...

s. Kristoffer Osterman teaches religion and social sciences as a primary occupation.

Games by Illwinter

• Conquest of Elysium II
  Conquest of Elysium II
  Conquest of Elysium II is the title of a computer game produced by the Illwinter Game Design. Conquest of Elysium is a fantasy turn-based strategy game. The game can be played with up to eight human players. Single player against computer is possible...
  
  (released in 1997)
• Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders
  Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders
  Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders is a turn-based strategy game designed by Illwinter Game Design, in which up to fourteen "pretender gods" at a time each battle for global dominance...
  
  (released in 2001)
• Dominions II: The Ascension Wars
  Dominions II
  Dominions II: The Ascension Wars is a 4X turn-based, computer strategy game. It was developed by Illwinter Game Design and published by Shrapnel Games. The game was released on November 14, 2003 in North America for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux....
  
  (released in the end of 2003)
• Dominions 3: The Awakening
  Dominions 3: The Awakening
  Dominions 3: The Awakening is a fantasy turn-based strategy game created by Illwinter and published in 2006 by Shrapnel Games. It is the third game in the Dominions series, preceded by Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders and Dominions II: The Ascension Wars.The game combines a simple...
  
  (released in October 2006)

Community

Dominions 3 maintains a thriving online community.

External links

• Illwinter Game Design
• StrategyWiki entry about Illwinter