During a GDC panel about how the team at Giant Sparrow used 13 different game prototypes to provide the foundation for What Remains of Edith Finch's story (our favorite of 2017), Creative Director Ian Dallas revealed what their next game will be about.
The final slide of the presentation features two birds, a wacky cube toad, and a school of fish. And below the Planet Earth collage was the message. See it for yourself below.
Dallas didn't elaborate much on the subject, essentially repeating what was on the slide, but he did say they're looking for talented animators to help out. You can apply at Giant Sparrow's website, which is also housing a few more details on the new project.
"Our next game is still very early in development, but we know it's going to focus on animation as a means of conveying mood, revealing character, and providing for player expression."
Exciting stuff, given how effective Edith Finch was at conveying its dour, overwhelming themes. If the vignettes where you bounce between playing as a cat, shark, owl, and giant tentacle are good reference for a starting point, then a project that explores and expands on what it means to move as an animal is an especially exciting prospect in Giant Sparrow's hands. The project description continues:
"We're drawing inspiration from works like Ico, Windosill, Spirited Away, The Life of Birds, and the spirit of Winsor McCay and early Disney films like Bambi and Fantasia that used (for the time) cutting edge technology to build something that didn't feel technical at all, but instead felt personal and enchanting. That's our hope anyway."
We're still years out from playing it, for sure, but we'll wait as long as necessary for videogame's Bambi.