In 2016, indie studio Campo Santo released their debut title, the narrative adventure game Firewatch. Set in a national forest in the Wyoming wilderness, you play as a fire lookout named Henry. The game beautifully portrays the isolation of the wild, and Henry’s only source of human connection is the voice of his supervisor, Delilah, over a walkie-talkie. In this episode, writer Sean Vanaman and composer/writer Chris Remo revisit the development of Firewatch, in which every aspect of the game was built on the fly.
[TRANSCRIPT COMING SOON]
References:
• Campo Santo Development Blog
• Chris Remo: Rethinking Story-Driven Games
• Interactive Story Without Challenge Mechanics: The Design of Firewatch
• Yelling at teens: A look at the small choices that define Firewatch
• Campo Santo's debut, Firewatch, is an exploration of isolation and choice