Fireside’s focus is on sharing around the campfire and creating a sense of community. In 2020, when Fireside was first conceived, the primary plan was to focus on traditional RPG elements such as tending to your character’s hunger, thirst, and other requirements. However, the Emergo Entertainment team later decided to concentrate on the idea of coming together around the campfire.
Instead of a complicated and stressful combat system, they wanted to focus on the game’s cozy atmosphere. Fireside is a simple game that allows you to experience a journey to the fullest from the comfort of your couch. All you have to do is listen to other travelers’ tales, learn about their goals and needs, and figure out how you can help them. The game mechanics mostly involve talking to others, so dialogues are the main focus, but the game also features a cooking and trading system for non-violent gameplay.
Ilona was behind the game’s narrative design. She drew inspiration for the characters and their storylines from folklore and mythical creatures such as the mermaid. She was also influenced by movies like Up and cozy games like Animal Crossing. Her main concern was to evoke a sense of remoteness and untainted nature in her work. The world of Fireside is a peaceful environment that promotes positive coexistence, which also generates the game’s primary energy, soul energy.
Each traveler has a unique background and personality that is reflected in their looks, making Fireside’s art style an important aspect of the game. Linus, our artist, began by sketching out features of the game on paper. His sketches were then scanned, cut out, and painted on the computer.
He kept the paper aesthetic: for instance, he added some unpainted areas. The simple, charming art style was intended to be stylized rather than perfectly realistic, so the characters are more cute than lifelike, and some objects, such as food, are left to the player to interpret. Again, the focus is on coziness. Linus also took inspiration from comic series such as Rick and Morty and Gravity Falls.
Many characters and game world elements were created through pure experimentation. Linus and Ilona initially brainstormed to come up with important map features like rivers and bridges. They also collaborated on some of the character decisions to ensure that the characters’ appearance matched their behavior and role in the narrative. For example, Maren is a brave pirate who is supposed to both look and talk like a stereotypical pirate.
