There have been quite a few released since, the most well-known probably being The Fullbright Company’s Gone Home and The Chinese Room’s sophomore effort, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. Yet people liked it, and it birthed the genre of “walking simulators”-games with definitive, prewritten narratives, often revealed through audio logs or soundbites, that in the end grant no real player choice or agency.
It was completely linear-more in line with a visual novel than a traditional video game-and lacked any of the focus on interactivity that makes most great games great.
Meanwhile, in February 2012, a developer called The Chinese Room released a game titled Dear Esther (which, full disclosure, I own but have not yet played), about a ghost story on a mysterious island. It’s immersive precisely because of the investment its focus on choice creates. I pointed this out when I wrote about Undertale, and why it sits at the pinnacle of what video games can do it’s a game about agency and choice in a world where choices actually matter. In short, outside the odd stab at second-person writing, video games are the only fictional media that involve their audience in their stories. And video games? Video games take components from each of those mediums and combine them with something that nothing else can provide. Music creates sensory images-images that completely ignore the visual focus that dominates our perception of the world. Film, on the other hand, can communicate experience in both the most naturalistic and, with the advent of modern effects, the most spectacular ways. Literature is incredibly adept at revealing the inner motivations and machinations of characters’ minds in a way that most other mediums cannot equal. I should probably rephrase the original question: what makes a game, a great game? Because every medium has its strengths and its weaknesses. This new announcement seems to solidify this years-old partnership.Here’s a question you’ve probably heard before what makes a game, a game? And for that matter, what makes any piece of art in any fictional medium (to name just a few examples: literature, poetry, film, television, comics, music, visual art, dance), distinctly a piece in that medium? Sure, we can say that literature is written prose, and that film is recorded, and music is a composition of sound, but those are all surface level qualities.
Back in 2016, THR reported that Campo Santo and Good Universe reached a deal to adapt the game to the movie screen.
This isn't the first report of Firewatch getting the movie treatment. Campo Santo's next game, In the Valley of Gods, was put on hold following the acquisition by Half-Life: Alyx developer Valve in 2018. GameSpot's Firewatch review scored the game a 7/10. Launched in 2016 and selling over one million copies before the end of the year, Firewatch debuted to critical acclaim and copious accolades. We have no doubt in their expertise, their taste and their passion and assume that our experience as so-so game developers will make us first-rate producer partners." "Not unlike when we met Joe Drake and the team at Good Universe in 2016, we knew in our first conversation with Jess and Keith that they'd make great partners. "Jess and Keith are hard-working and visionary film producers with impeccable taste in video games," Vanaman said.
"I'm delighted that Sean and Jake are letting us ruin their perfect video game by turning it into a movie and/or TV show." "Firewatch is a stunning accomplishment, a beautiful and heartbreaking piece of art," Calder said. The Calder's briefly spoke of their Firewatch adoration with The Hollywood Reporter, saying they're excited to bring it to the big screen. Strange things start happening in the forests, and it's up to Delilah and Henry to uncover the truth behind the unsettling occurrences. Set in 1989 Wyoming, Firewatch follows the fire lookout Henry as he builds a complicated relationship with his ever-distant supervisor Delilah.
No other details, such as casting announcements or tentative release window, have been revealed.įirewatch is the title that put Campo Santo, an indie studio comprised of former Telltale Games developers, on the map. Campo Santo co-founders Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman will also produce. Snoot Entertainment co-founders Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder will serve as producers. It's being produced by Snoot Entertainment, the indie publishing label behind Blindspotting, Little Monsters, and others.
A movie based on Campo Santo's adventure game Firewatch is in the works.