I released Octoville on October 20, 1999. The design was influenced by the title font from the sci-fi film “Outland”, though I aimed to make it distinct. It became a compact, octagonal typeface with a low x-height in its lowercase letters. The name is a play on “Alphaville,” the Jean-Luc Godard film, combining my interest in science fiction with typography.
I originally distributed Octoville with a free commercial-use desktop license. In November 2022, I placed it in the public domain.