Firewatch: (Studying) the Anatomy of a Game Design Process

This paper presents a method for studying game design processes by combining game jam practice with development timelines, applied to the 2016 narrative adventure Firewatch by Campo Santo. Its central argument is that a rapid, structured approach to gathering publicly available sources, including interviews, developer logs, podcasts, and developer talks, can quickly map the territory of a game's creation and surface insights worth deeper investigation. The authors situate this within the game design research paradigm and frame it as a complement to more extensive, longer-term studies.

The method was tested during a two-hour session at the Multi Method Analysis Jam held at DiGRA 2022. Working independently at first, the authors collected sources and then iteratively analysed them to build a timeline spanning ideation, preproduction, production, and postproduction. Key insights identified include blurred starting points shaped by the developers' childhood experiences, the influence of publisher and public showings on locked-in design choices, a linear rather than fully pre-planned narrative design process, several abandoned design directions such as Metroidvania elements and Far Cry-style systems, and production constraints, such as a small team producing a playable area with only 20 tree assets and 8 rock assets.

The authors compare the jam approach with a six-month timeline study of the game Noita, noting that the jam trades depth for speed. A classroom application in a game prototyping course suggested the method also produces timely, relevant case studies for educators. The authors propose that its efficiency could enable comparative analysis across hundreds of games, provided sufficient public development material is available.