Rewilding

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Milestone digest

Pitch

Rewilding is an ecology sim where you grow a forest in desolate American landscapes. The game follows a Regeneration Corps hire named Syd, who hopes to escape their city life to find some sense of meaning in the wastelands. But Syd’s pursuit of solitude is challenged by their mandatory AI companion Geva, who will push Syd towards a deeper understanding of what it means to be a member of society.

Description

In Rewilding, the player wakes from cryosleep once a month to develop their budding ecosystem. As they sleep, the effects of their work will manifest in the environment, transforming their ravaged site in Upstate New York into a lush forest. Each “turn,” or day, players strategize on how they should spend their resources to support the ongoing growth. In our ecosystem simulation, plants have different effects on the environment that help other plants to flourish. Planting buttercups allows the soil to retain more moisture, which the wild rye needs to grow and produce nitrogen. Your actions will compound exponentially as plants have babies and spread wildly in the right circumstances.

Rewilding is a game in which the player is designing an ecosystem, not a garden that can support infinite plants without consequence. The player is not a god-like figure with control over the space, and the stability and success of the ecosystem comes from time and persistence, not superhuman resources.

Narratively, the player has an AI companion named Geva, who will be their primary conversation partner throughout the day. Through these interactions, the player builds a relationship with Geva, learns more about their own past, and details about the organization that has employed and sent them to this desolate wasteland.

Design Fundamentals

We believe the game is meditative.

We believe that the player is just one person, not an RTS commander. The player does not act as a god over the space. The player’s power comes from time, persistence and attention to detail, not superhuman resources.

Rewilding aims to alter a genre. It is not about an exploitative relationship with nature, but rather about living within nature.

Rewilding fosters a relationship between player and space

Production

Spencer Bernstein - Creative Director: Spencer is our Swiss Army knife. They make a wide variety of contributions to the game, including narrative design, programming, music, and production.

Sammy Chuang - Producer & 3D Artist: Sammy is a 3D modeller and has created various props seen in the game right now. She also works as our Scrum Master to keep us organized and on track!

Parker Darren Crandell - Technical Artist & Level Designer: Parker learned everything he knows about technical art over the past two years of making this game, and has worked closely with Dayoon to deliver immaculate plants and gorgeous environments based on her stunning visions.

Martin Nayeri - UI/UX Designer: Martin is a designer and Unity generalist who joined the team to take our sci-fi aesthetics and interaction design to the next level. He also created our website and other branding materials.

Rowan Wood - Systems Designer - Rowan engineered the plant dynamics that drive Rewilding and allow for hundreds of plants to interact in our simulation.

What is Success?

To Rewilding, success looks like getting a publisher that supports our vision of the game by the end of 2021, and fully funds our development . We hope to finish the game in 1 ½ - 2 years.

Ideally we would be supported in marketing our game to the wide spectrum of players we intend it for, ranging from cozy Animal Crossing gamers to hardcore sim players. In order to do this, another major goal for the team is to ship the game on console.

Furthermore, the release of this game will hopefully be able to support the creation of a new studio, so this team can continue to work together and deliver interactive experiences as we support Rewilding and work towards a second major project.

Distribution Plan

Our goal is to have a ready-to-pitch demo by September 30, 2021, and begin pitching immediately.

Milestones

September 30, 2021

Design and production

The demo should include

Less than 30 min of gameplay

Ecozones (?)

The dome interior

Voice acting

A narrative end to the demo

Planting should feel really good

Narrative

Two different builds

Short version, has cheat keys to speed up plant growth and see the full forest faster. Potentially an option that does a “cut” to further in the game. (<10 minutes)

Full version (30 minutes)

A new Game Design Document, updated and fleshed out

Marketing/PR

Website finalized and public

Updated trailer uploaded to YouTube

Cinematic trailer

Gameplay trailer

Financial & Legal

Apply for the 25k grant

Pitch deck ready and begin pitching to publishers

Establish an LLC for the team

December 31, 2021: Have pitched to multiple publishers at least, and the demo might have undergone changes based on publisher feedback

Design and production

Updated demo build that’s reflective of publisher feedback

Outside of Demo

Additional plants are being added into the game (outside of the demo build) (at least 8 plants total)

September - December will be a narrative period. Major narrative beats decided and have a moderately detailed outline of the full narrative

Finalization of narrative direction, and can begin writing

Marketing/PR

Updated trailer uploaded to YouTube (if publishers had significant comments)

Full launch of marketing campaign. This includes:

Scheduled tweets

Dev diaries?

Blog posts? :0

Financial & Legal

Still pitching to publishers

May 31, 2022: Publisher deal secured, and funding received.

Design and production

Begin expanding the game outside of the current existing area (for example, adding the town that can be explored nearby)

Rough draft of the entire game written

Marketing/PR

Financial & Legal

September 30, 2022

Design and production

Second pass on full narrative written

Marketing/PR

Financial & Legal

December 31, 2022

Design and production

Alpha?

Marketing/PR

Financial & Legal

May 31, 2023

Design and production

Second pass on full narrative written

Marketing/PR

Financial & Legal

August 31, 2023 : GAME RELEASE?

Design and production

Second pass on full narrative written

Marketing/PR

Financial & Legal

Financial

Funding

Our current plan is to find a publisher by the end of 2021 who will financially support the development of Rewilding. We’d like 2 million dollars to make the game over the course of two years with 7 full-time employees and additional contract work.

Business Model

We would be thrilled to put the game on a service like Xbox Game Pass, and encourage these placement opportunities. Apart from that, we’d like to offer individual copies on other platforms. Ideally we would be fully funded by a publisher but we also have several contract opportunities for the team.

Close Competitor Analysis

Terranil

terranil, firewatch, astroneer

subnautica

slime rancher

outerwilds

Costs and Revenue Projections

Marketing

Identify what makes your product unique. Do that by listing the qualities that define your game. Make a big list! This could include the platform, the emotions it evokes, important features, how long people play, the people who made it, the people who love it, etc.. There are no wrong answers; the goal here is to locate what is authentic and unique about your game.

Tone: desolation/optimism

Theme: cozy apocalypse that doesn’t feel hollow

Gameplay: uniquely ethical approach to plant games

Narrative: Intimate, contemporary sci-fi

Team: hip young new yorkers

Audience: climate-conscious (climate-anxious) gamers of all kinds

Ensure that there are gaps in the market for that unique product. Do that by researching the market and the competition.

Audience A: cozy gamers/wholesome gamers

Rapidly expanding, young market with evolving tastes

Audience B: Sim-curious/sim-seasoned gamers

The market lacks something this presentation-forward and accessible

Audience C: Narrative gamers

Firewatch but you grow the forest - something to sink your teeth into

Identify your competition.

Market Research

Planting/ecology games are rising in popularity right now in the face of the current climate crisis. This game will appeal to the largest makeup of climate change activists--zoomers.

Also, as a cozy, meditative game, it will be tapping into the Animal Crossing audience.

Competitive Research

In about a paragraph, summarize who you believe to be your competition, identifying 3 key competitors.

Market Differentiation

In a sentence or two for each competitor, describe what makes your game different from the competition.

Contrary to traditional planting and strategy games, Rewilding puts a strong focus on the concept of control vs. lack of control and a tension between different components of the game (for example, machinery vs. plants)

Unique Value Proposition

A game that unifies the systemic complexity of Factorio with the cozy vibes of Animal Crossing.

Market Positioning

In a sentence or two, describe the affirmative and unique qualities of your game in relation to the market.

This game is gorgeous.

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