Trading name Campo Santo Area served Worldwide Services Video game development Headquarters San Francisco Video game Firewatch | Industry Video game Products Firewatch Founded 18 September 2013 Type of business Private | |
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Key people Sean Vanaman
Jake Rodkin
Nels Anderson
Olly Moss Founders Sean Vanaman, Olly Moss, Jake Rodkin Profiles | ||
Campo Santo Productions LLC, doing business as Campo Santo, is an American independent video game developer founded on September 18, 2013 by Sean Vanaman, Jake Rodkin, Nels Anderson and Olly Moss, based in San Francisco, California.
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Their game Firewatch was released in February 2016. By December 2016, the game had sold over one million copies.
History
Sean Vanaman, the company's co-founder, was originally the co-leader and lead writer of The Walking Dead. However, after discussing along with Idle Thumbs co-founder Jake Rodkin, he and Rodkin co-founded Campo Santo along with Mark of the Ninja lead designer Nels Anderson and graphic artist Olly Moss on September 18, 2013. Soon after, they announced Panic would back their debut video game.
After a painting by Moss, lead environmental artist Jane Ng adapted the painting's aesthetic style into a 3D environment with the color and inspiration drawn from both New Deal advertisements and icons from the National Park Service as well as a camping trip in Yellowstone National Park in which team visited a preserved fire lookout tower 2 miles out from the campsite. Development eventually led to the announcement of Firewatch on March 2014, with release originally slated for 2015.
On August 30, 2014, the game demo was released at PAX West, revealing the overall plotline and story of a fire lookout named Henry in the Shoshone National Forest in 1989. The demo was then released again on March 12, 2015 at GDC, which also had a separate booth hosted by Ng containing the art, and at PAX West on September 2, 2016 again. The game was released on February 6, 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, OS X and Linux with an Xbox One version released September 21, which included an audio tour and free roam mode. The game received positive reviews from critics, and has been nominatively known alongside other "walking simulators".
On February 3, 2016, in an interview with Red Bull, Vanaman stated that, although they are in no rush at all, Campo Santo's next game will not be a sequel to Firewatch. On September 26, both Campo Santo and Good Universe issued a partnership to produce a feature film adaptation of Firewatch and other content. In November, the company stated that the game would begin a limited-run physical release towards the end of 2016. Firewatch sold over one million copies, overall.
Ford controversy
On June 27, Ford Motor Company used an image that was similar to promotional art from Firewatch, which caused controversy from both Panic, Vanaman and others. Shortly thereafter, Quirk Auto Dealers issued an apology, stating that Ford was not involved within the advertisement planning.