It’s been five whole years since the Firewatch devs announced their tomb-raiding adventure, In The Valley Of Gods , and in that time the idea of the game itself has fossilised. The first-person archaeology game was put on hold in 2019 after Valve acquired Campo Santo and had them
It’s been five whole years since the Firewatch devs announced their tomb-raiding adventure, In The Valley Of Gods, and in that time the idea of the game itself has fossilised. The first-person archaeology game was put on hold in 2019 after Valve acquired Campo Santo and had them support other Valve projects like Half-Life: Alyx. Now Campo's in-limbo game has a December 2029 listing on Steam, which almost certainly means nothing, but it’s fun to dust off some memories.
It is a sad day for pretend archaeology. Firewatch developers Campo Santo have placed In The Valley Of Gods on hold, instead choosing to work on Half-Life: Alyx, Dota Underlords, and other Valve projects. This follows their move to Valve last year, which John (RPS in peace) quizz
It is a sad day for pretend archaeology. Firewatch developers Campo Santo have placed In The Valley Of Gods on hold, instead choosing to work on Half-Life: Alyx, Dota Underlords, and other Valve projects. This follows their move to Valve last year, which John (RPS in peace) quizzed them on at length in 2018. That means we’ve got a weird, melancholy portal into when Campo were excited about what the move would mean for their new game.
Half-Life with a sprinkling of Firewatch sounds neat and all, but I was looking forward to filming pyramids.
Two years ago, developer Campo Santo unveiled In the Valley of Gods, the highly anticipated follow-up to its acclaimed narrative adventure Firewatch. Since then, there's been little in the way of additional news, and now, Campo Santo has confirmed that the project, as was increas
Two years ago, developer Campo Santo unveiled In the Valley of Gods, the highly anticipated follow-up to its acclaimed narrative adventure Firewatch. Since then, there's been little in the way of additional news, and now, Campo Santo has confirmed that the project, as was increasingly feared by fans, is officially "on hold".
In the Valley of Gods, described as a "thrilling narrative adventure in first person" on its Steam page, was intended to follow the journey of filmmaker Rashida, as she explored the Egypt of the 1920s in search of an incredible archeological discovery with her companion Zora. Its first trailer, revealed during 2017's Video Game Awards, looked breathtaking, and anticipation for its release, especially given the quality of Firewatch, was high.
Several months into 2018, though, Campo Santo announced that it had been acquired by Valve. Despite the move, the studio assured fans that it would still "maintain our jobs as video game developers and continue production on" In the Valley of Gods.
Last month, Firewatch fans began to get a little antsy about Campo Santo's current project, In the Valley of Gods . Attentive followers noticed that the Twitter bios of three lead developers—Firewatch producer and 3D environment artist Jane Ng, art director Claire Hummel, and Cam
Last month, Firewatch fans began to get a little antsy about Campo Santo's current project, In the Valley of Gods. Attentive followers noticed that the Twitter bios of three lead developers—Firewatch producer and 3D environment artist Jane Ng, art director Claire Hummel, and Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin—had been changed to remove any mention of the game.
Valve, which acquired Campo Santo in 2018, was quiet on the matter, but suspicions intensified with the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx, which members of the Firewatch team are working on. Today studio co-founder Jake Rodkin finally clarified the situation, telling Polygon that the game is "on hold," as former Campo Santo developers are now working on other things—and not just Half-Life: Alyx.
"To fans looking forward to In the Valley of Gods, it’s probably clear that the optimistic '2019' at the end of the announcement trailer isn’t going to be accurate. In the end, Valve Time makes fools of us all," Rodkin said. "But yes, developers from the former Campo Santo team have joined other projects at Valve, including Half-Life: Alyx."
"As you can imagine, our experience in the first-person adventure genre is pretty relevant. You hear a lot about how at Valve you can work on what you want. It turns out that’s true, and there’s a lot of work available. As we integrated ourselves into Valve it became clear there was a lot of valuable work to be done on Half-Life: Alyx. Some of us starting lending a hand, and have since become full-time on the project as it approaches launch. Similarly, some ex-Campos are working on Dota Underlords, some are on Steam, and so on. So to answer your question as of today, In the Valley of Gods development is on hold—but it certainly feels like a project people can and may return to. And when that happens, we’ll find an exciting way to let fans know."
Campo Santo is known primarily for its narrative chops—before launching the studio and developing Firewatch, Rodkin and co-founder Sean Vanaman were writers at Telltale—and so the transition to Alyx seemed like a natural fit. But I'm a little surprised that other former members of the team have gone elsewhere, particularly to Steam: It's a huge part of the PC gaming ecosystem, yes, but it's not really a place for developers to stretch their creative wings.
As for In the Valley of Gods, "may return to" is a far cry from "will," but it's better than an outright cancellation. The Steam page remains up, but the planned release date is currently listed as "TBD."
In the Valley of Gods , Campo Santo's follow-up to the excellent Firewatch, was unveiled at The Game Awards in late 2017. In April 2018 we got a closer look at the game and spoke in detail with the studio about the relationships in the game and its many inspirations, from silent
In the Valley of Gods, Campo Santo's follow-up to the excellent Firewatch, was unveiled at The Game Awards in late 2017. In April 2018 we got a closer look at the game and spoke in detail with the studio about the relationships in the game and its many inspirations, from silent films to 1920s archaeology, all in service of capturing the feeling of what it might really be like to run your thumb across an ancient, inscripted wall.
Since then, there's been nothing. That silence isn't out of character for Valve, which acquired Campo Santo right around the time of that preview, but recent changes in the Twitter bios of three of its lead developers—Firewatch producer and 3D environment artist Jane Ng, art director Claire Hummel, and Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin—has some followers worried that the game has been canceled.
A check of the Internet Archive confirms that the changes were made relatively recently. The Twitter bios of Ng and Hummel both indicated that they were working on In the Valley of Gods as recently as October 2019, while Rodkin's bio made the same reference up to September. All three now indicate simply that they are employed by Valve.
One person responding to McVicker's tweet suggested that the change could be a simple matter of developer turnover, but that doesn't strike me as very likely given the leading roles that all three played at Campo Santo. It could also be related to the recently confirmed Half-Life: Alyx VR project, which could be a good fit for a team that's already got one super-personal (and very good) first-person game to its credit. Or maybe it just doesn't want its developers talking about what they're doing before it's ready for an official reveal. That certainly wouldn't be out of character.
It's a strange situation, and not necessarily indicative of anything more than a shift in focus for these particular developers. Valve famously allows employees to work on any project they choose.
The website for In the Valley of Gods is still up, and so is the Steam page. But the announcement trailer on the Campo Santo YouTube channel has been set to private (you can still see it via The Game Awards), and in response to a recent tweet bemoaning the game's purported cancellation, Ng said that she was glad the poster connected with Firewatch (despite some low-key rudeness) but made no mention of In the Valley of Gods' status one way or the other.
Taken altogether, it seems a bit odd at the very least, and not at all reassuring for anyone eager for Campo Santo's next thing. I've reached out to Valve for more information and will update if I receive a reply.
Campo Santo, creators of Firewatch and the forthcoming In The Valley Of Gods , announced last month that all twelve members of their studio were packing their bags and moving to Valve. The team are all currently in the process of relocating to Seattle, where Valley Of The Gods wi
Campo Santo, creators of Firewatch and the forthcoming In The Valley Of Gods, announced last month that all twelve members of their studio were packing their bags and moving to Valve. The team are all currently in the process of relocating to Seattle, where Valley Of The Gods will be finished in Valve’s Bellevue tower as a Valve game. So we caught up with studio heads Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin to find out much more. (more…)
Firewatch developer Campo Santo has announced that it has "agreed to join Valve", where it will "maintain our jobs as video game developers and continue production on" its Ancient Egyptian adventure In the Valley of the Gods . The announcement was made over the weekend in a blog
Firewatch developer Campo Santo has announced that it has "agreed to join Valve", where it will "maintain our jobs as video game developers and continue production on" its Ancient Egyptian adventure In the Valley of the Gods.
The announcement was made over the weekend in a blog post on Campo Santo's website, in which the developer explained its reasoning for agreeing to the acquisition. "First", it said, "we really like making video games. Furthermore, and perhaps more accurately, we really like making and producing entertainment."
According to the developer, everything it does, "is geared towards surprising, delighting, and entertaining the customers who have shared in our success".
This article was originally published in PC Gamer issue 316 . For more quality articles about all things PC gaming, you can subscribe now in the UK and the US . Campo Santo—the studio behind the contemplative forest experience Firewatch—is swapping tinder-dry trees and Wyoming fi
This article was originally published inPC Gamer issue 316. For more quality articles about all things PC gaming, you can subscribe now in theUKand theUS.
Campo Santo—the studio behind the contemplative forest experience Firewatch—is swapping tinder-dry trees and Wyoming fire lookout towers for ancient Egyptian tombs and early cinematography in its next game, In the Valley of Gods. Its announcement trailer offered a glimpse of a first-person adventure set deep in the Egyptian desert of the ’20s. You and a partner scramble through stunning ruined spaces before setting up a shot for your beautifully animated film camera.
The duo, as studio cofounders Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin tell me, are Rashida and Zora—filmmakers whose careers have hit the skids. The women are using their last chance at resources to try to make a hit documentary.
But a documentary must have a subject, and thus Rashida and Zora have decided to investigate the rumour that an obscure archaeologist has discovered the tomb of Nefertiti. “They’re determined to be the ones who make the movie about its discovery,” explains Rodkin.
“Yeah, they’re going to be there with cameras rolling when he discovers this tomb,” says Vanaman. “In the world which we occupy, which is the world the characters occupy, [Nefertiti’s burial place] is one of the last great unfound things. There’s a lot of rumour and archaeological speculation that perhaps it was found but not really identified because it didn’t have the scope and grandeur one would associate with someone as prolific as Nefertiti, or it’s still out there, or, or, or, or…”
He adds, “In terms of the sociocultural, historical, archaeological aspects of the game, we’re trying to keep that stuff founded in reality. Our art director [Claire Hummel] is incredibly well read and well researched about Egypt, not just in ancient times but in the time in which the game is set.”
In fact, it was an image called 1923 in Hummel’s portfolio which inspired the game in the first place. “We were at a time when we’d cancelled a game and… ideas aren’t super precious,” says Vanaman. “Somebody who is as talented as Claire is, you could open up her portfolio and, aside from her Animorphs fan art, you could make a game about anything.” (Rodkin disputes the exclusion of the Animorphs fanart, by the way.)
Art inspiration
1923 struck a particular chord. Vanaman explains that he was looking for something that tapped into the studio’s ambitions as well as providing a point of difference—he knew, for example, that lead artist Jane Ng did not want to make trees anymore. “We knew we didn’t want to go back into the woods. We didn’t know if we wanted to do something interior or exterior—maybe a blend of those two.”
Explaining why he gravitated towards 1923, Vanaman points out the level of interest and care when it comes to elements like the hieroglyphics, the confidence expressed in the image, the colours and textures which sidestepped papyrus effects and Egyptian blue accents in favour of pinks and greens on an Art Deco-esque poster.
“It was a piece you could look at and wonder what other stories could be told in Claire Hummel’s version of Egypt,” says Rodkin. “It was about that era and about Egyptomania but it was clearly from someone who had an understanding of and respect for the ancient Egyptian culture as well.”
The game that is resulting from this initial artwork is at the liminal stage between preproduction and production. There are tools in place and the trailer offers a statement of intent, a collection of art assets, and it can act as a point of reference for the team, but the game itself is still in separate parts at the moment.
This is 1923; the image from Claire Hummel s portfolio which set Campo Santo on the path to this game.
“We don’t have that piece where you go, ‘Oh man, between character performance and dialogue and music and lighting and flow and the way this level loads in…’” Vanaman says. “How do all the disciplines come together to produce the feeling that you see in the trailer? That’s the stuff we’re working on now and then we’ll go back and build the game out with a lot of mechanics.”
The idea is that you’ll be walking around these spaces in the game, exploring them and talking to the other character, Zora. In doing so you make choices and you build that relationship. Where Firewatch feeds you snippets of another character—a stranger—via radio conversation, in In the Valley of Gods Rashida already has a backstory with Zora and you establish that as you play.
“You guys have baggage, you have conflict,” says Vanaman. “It’s really a story about the chasm between friends who need each other and cocreators who need each other and how you trust each other based on the past transgressions of the participants."
Frenemies
He adds that Zora and Rashida also exist at the intersection of two male-dominated fields in the ’20s—archaeology and filmmaking. “We think all that stuff is super interesting. How do you navigate friendship? How do you navigate the world? How do you navigate the mystery? And, on top of that, instead of having a radio in this game, you have your documentary film camera that allows you to see the world through a different context and capture it and cut it up and recreate it.”
The camera is particularly interesting to me. In Firewatch you could pick up a disposable film camera and take photos in-game. Those photos would show up at the end while the credits rolled, as well as being available to order as a physical souvenir of your time in the game, but they weren’t an integral part of the tale. The documentary element of In the Valley of Gods means recorded imagery will take on far greater significance, but the exact format is a work in progress.
“We have a lot of ideas around that, from as bonkers as when you look through the camera the world looks different, all the way to you’re editing your own movie,” explains Vanaman. “We don’t know where the sweet spot is for any of that stuff [yet].” As Rodkin puts it, “It seems like thematically that’s going to be in the game, but how it’s expressed through mechanics and to what degree that’s expressed in the mechanics, we’re still figuring out.”
Rodkin draws an unexpected parallel while discussing the moment at the end of the trailer when Rashida is loading the camera up with a film cassette. “I had fun thinking about, ‘What is an old silent movie camera?’ And it actually feels to me like the really prolonged and super satisfying animation that plays when you are the Demoman in Team Fortress 2 and you reload your grenade launcher. That’s all I was thinking about when talking with James about how to animate that scene!”
The camera ideas have been put to one side at the moment. In the Valley of Gods aims to have Rashida’s filmmaking partner, Zora, meaningfully present in the space. Building that aspect of the game is what the team are focused on right now. “We wanted to do something that had some pretty high-paced madcap character interaction so... Charade is a great movie,” says Vanaman by way of example. “It's characters going from one thing to another and moving through the space quipping at each other.”
Feeling connected
The main challenge right now is making it feel like the characters are aware of each other, down to movements and individual dialogue. “We’re trying to figure out where’s the most bang for the buck in terms of character performance and dynamic behaviour and scripted behaviour and behaviour tree scripting versus straight-up trigger-based scripting,” says Vanaman.
He adds, “When we wanted you to feel something because of Delilah saying it, it was the simplest thing in the world! I wrote the number of a .wav file in a field and then I told the computer to wait 0.4 seconds before she says this or two seconds before she says this and then I hit save and it worked. This is not that.”
Rodkin talks in terms of old movie special effects documentaries where you see individual techniques being mixed and matched to find a solution to a particular challenge. “You keep failing with all these things until you get the moment of suspension of disbelief and go, ‘Okay, I believed for a few minutes right there that that was an actual person I was in a room with.’”
With the setting of the game there are a number of layers to consider. Firstly, there is the real ancient Egyptian civilisation of various periods which we know through relics and our own interpretations. Secondly, there is the game’s own ’20s setting which taps into Egyptomania and the fetishisation and trends accompanying that. Thirdly, there’s the contemporary world of Campo Santo and the playerbase where very different conversations about cultural destruction, repatriation and appropriation are taking place. So where is Campo Santo pitching its game tonally?
“A lot of the way we work as a group and a lot of the way I’ve always worked as a writer is, we have modern, pretty lefty feelings about shit,” says Vanaman. “But I don’t think we have declarative opinions about the way things should be. This game is not a political statement about representation or a political statement about appropriation of the past or whatever.” He adds, “The act of making the game for us helps solidify or challenge feelings we have held before we had to make the game.”
As part of the answer to this question there’s further insight into Zora and Rashida’s relationship: “Zora and Rashida got famous seven years before they make the game, making a movie we would now go watch in film school and go that’s kind of fucked up.”
‘Fucked up’ in this instance means how we would now view elements of protodocumentaries of that era, like Nanook of the North from Robert Flaherty. Flaherty is one point of reference for the team but others range from multiple visits to the British Museum in London to reading novels by Naguib Mahfouz, like Palace Walk.
Cursed coincidence
There’s even the story of programmer Aubrey Hesselgren’s great-granduncle, George Herbert, fifth earl of Carnarvon, who likely died from an infected mosquito bite. Popular culture prefers to attribute his death to the curse of the pharaohs, thanks to Herbert’s backing of and involvement in Howard Carter’s famous excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb, which began in 1922.
Deep dives into particular research rabbit holes are also common for the team and led Vanaman to observe, “We were both thrilled and annoyed about the prevalence of how many cat mummies there were in Assassin’s Creed Origins because we went on a six-month cat mummy bender.”
Rodkin notes that, because of the fascination with ancient Egypt in the early 20th century, “Every ancient Egyptian ruin is chronicled to an obsessive degree. Both the architecture and the paintings, but also you can find a lot of hobbyists in the 1.0 web era did 3D virtual walkthroughs of tombs and you can find complete maps deep into all of these ancient ruins.
“It’s been interesting because Egypt has been—Raiding tombs, believe it or not, is a thing that has been done quite a lot in videogames. It’s been really fun to work with Claire and Jane and Sean and Duncan too—especially Claire—to look at these real Egyptian ruins and try to get into the heads of the people who built those spaces and look at them as aesthetic objects to explore and think about walking through them, not with an eye to where you could put a sweet trap, but more what would it be like to descend into these almost like spelunking.
“I found that really a fun mental space to be in, to look at this imagery I have seen in a lot of videogames and a lot of movies and thinking about wandering through it really slowly with another person—a character that you know in the fiction—and a camera.”
Rodkin adds, “In Firewatch we looked at a lot of national parks and we’ve been to a lot of these places in the American West. But it’s not the same as looking at tiny paintings on a wall or carvings that you can run your thumb across and thinking about what that experience is like in a game and sharing that experience with another character. That’s been really fun.”
At The Game Awards, we got a look at the announcement trailer for Campo Santo's next game, called In The Valley of Gods. Due in 2019, the game is unrelated to Firewatch, though "if you enjoy well-told and well-acted dynamic video game stories, or you just really liked Firewatch,
At The Game Awards, we got a look at the announcement trailer for Campo Santo's next game, called In The Valley of Gods. Due in 2019, the game is unrelated to Firewatch, though "if you enjoy well-told and well-acted dynamic video game stories, or you just really liked Firewatch, this game is for you."
"In the Valley of Gods is a single-player first person video game set in Egypt in the 1920s," reads the official site's FAQ. You play as an explorer and filmmaker who, along with your old partner, has traveled to the middle of the desert in the hopes of making a seemingly-impossible discovery and an incredible film."
Check out the trailer above, and there's a Steam page for it as well.
