We’d love your support in nominating Fireside for the SIT BACK AND RELAX category in the upcoming Steam Awards 2024! 🏆🤗
To celebrate, Fireside is currently on discount—the perfect time to unwind and enjoy! 🥳
Fireside
The Steam Awards 2024, Nominate FIRESIDE!
We’d love your support in nominating Fireside for the SIT BACK AND RELAX category in the upcoming Steam Awards 2024! 🏆🤗
To celebrate, Fireside is currently on discount—the perfect time to unwind and enjoy! 🥳
Join the Wholesome Games celebration together with Fireside!
We’re thrilled to be part of the Wholesome Games Steam celebration this week!😍 It’s the perfect time to cozy up and get lost in the warm and charming world of 🌲Fireside🌲!🧡
Fireside has been out for two months now, and we’re incredibly grateful for all the love and positive reviews you’ve shared!🫶 While the game has largely played as we envisioned, we’ve also listened to your feedback and made some improvements to enhance your experience:
- Added a hint for skipping the walking animation, which many of you found slowed the game’s pacing.
- Added the ability to reorganize your inventory via drag & drop.
- Fixed an issue where intermediate recipes (such as dough) couldn’t be cooked at the house.
- Fixed a softlock in one quest.
- And addressed several other small bugs.
We’re delighted that so many of you are enjoying our unique, cozy game about taking breaks on a journey, and we hope many more of you will give Fireside a try during this special celebration!🧡
And to make it even better, Fireside is now 20% off!🤗
🌲Take a break, unwind, and let Fireside bring a little calm to your day.🌲😌
Fireside is OUT NOW!
Grab a cup of your favorite hot drink, make yourself comfortable, and dive into the cozy and wholesome world of Fireside!🌲 Embark on an unusual journey, learn the stories of the cute and quirky characters you meet, and discover what's waiting for you ahead!✨
🌲 Sit back, relax, and enjoy the calm of being here and now - together with FIRESIDE. 🌲😙
💚 The day has come - the game is OUT NOW! 💚
Fireside—Devlog 8, Social Media
Our social media manager, Ann-Kathrin Günther, who is also the author of these devlogs, has published dozens of posts over the last few months, starting with the official announcement of Fireside. On November 28, a collaboration between Emergo Entertainment and the publisher Nordcurrent Labs was officially announced, putting Fireside’s development in the home stretch. To show interested gamers the journey Fireside has been on over the past few years, Paul took a look back at two years of development.
The social media team tried a few things out with Fireside to emphasize the relaxed and cozy atmosphere of the game, in addition to introducing some of the characters. To this end, there were collaborations with Jochen Koubek, a professor at the University of Bayreuth, who read the game dialogue in his lovely voice as if he were reading from a book. The Emergo team also tested Fireside’s cozy factor together with the influencer nikeydauringon.
Another Fireside milestone this year was Steam Next Fest in February. The game was the focus of a developer Let’s Play video, and a new demo version of the game was also presented there. In addition to this online fair, the team behind Fireside also appeared at trade fairs such as GG Bavaria in Munich, Caggtus in Leipzig, and LFG Con in Hof. At all these events, feedback from the community was overwhelmingly positive. At Caggtus, CP and Paul were even interviewed by the German gaming magazine GameStar.
After the hard work of the last few years in game development and the many social media posts of the last few months, the final announcement was made on 9th of May: Fireside will celebrate its official release for PC and Nintendo Switch on 4th of June! The entire Emergo Entertainment team is looking forward to this day and hopes that you are all looking forward to it as well.
If you are interested in seeing the core posts of the development of the last month's again, please follow our Twitter account: @EmergoE
Fireside—Devlog 7, the Core Mechanics
Fireside has three core mechanics: trading, cooking, and talking. First up is the bartering system, where the player can trade items with NPCs using a scale. The items have no specific value. Instead, each NPC has their own desires and ideas as to what each item is worth to them. This creates a sense of bargaining—instead of just paying for items, the player has more freedom when trading.
The second core mechanic is cooking. When players barter or travel to campfires, they receive mainly building materials and groceries. Groceries can be thrown in a wok and combined to create delicious food. Cooking also provides players with recipes that NPCs request.
The third important mechanic is talking to each other. At campfires, the player can talk to NPCs and learn about their wishes and needs. At times, the player can also select dialog options.
All three mechanics generate soul energy, which can be used to rebuild shrines and the player’s house. This is a rogue-lite loop. In the beginning, this loop felt punishing for players, as they constantly lost soul energy and were teleported back home. Now that you have a fixed number of days after which you return and try to gain soul energy instead of trying to survive, it no longer feels frustrating.
The three core elements, as well as the overall gameplay, are designed to create a relaxed and heartwarming atmosphere. The gameplay doesn’t cause stress through battles or other complicated mechanics. At the same time, it offers depth and variety. This mixture makes Fireside unique. There are hardly any games outside of the narrative genre that manage without a combat system.
This aspect of gameplay was crucial for Paul: Fireside should feel cozy. That’s why there’s no fighting and no currency, just a barter system where players can experiment. They aren’t forced to think in terms of maximizing profit. For CP, weighing items was also an important aspect. Trading with a scale feels different from haggling with money. Finally, Fireside’s cooking system gives players the opportunity to experiment with food without actually being forced to cook.
The game's release DATE reveal!
Mark your calendars for JUNE 4th, when you can begin your cozy journey in Fireside and enjoy the wholesome story and relaxing gameplay without any stress. 🌲😙 Dive into a magical world filled with cute characters and discover what's waiting for you ahead! ✨
Check out our new video and spread the word to your cozy-games-loving friends too!
❤️Wishlist now and play on June 4th, 2024!❤️
Fireside—Devlog 6, the Art Style
At the beginning, Linus and Ilona talked about what the characters should be like and what would make them special so that Linus could get an idea of what they should look like. He then created three to five concept art drafts of the individual characters and discussed with Ilona which accessories, colors, and vibes would work best. Eventually, he produced the final concept and clarified everything with Ilona. The end product was typically one of Linus’s initial designs. For example, he created several designs of a frog, and the final character was the blue version.
But not all the characters were ready right from the start. Some of the most challenging were two female characters, who both had to be strong without seeming to be too masculine. First was Hazel, a woodcutter who leads her clan and comes into conflict with Owl. The second was Lady Hellmuth, a former princess from a castle who would rather be a knight. It took a while for Ilona and Linus to develop the right look and story for these characters.
One character that Linus absolutely had to include in the game was his dachshund, Buddy. In the game, he becomes the companion dog for Scout Gilbert. Unfortunately, other ideas did not make it into the finished game. For example, there are sketches of a shell with a pearl living inside, but we weren’t able to fit it into the final game. Another idea was a “Dragon Ball” reference for the mountain guide Greg, but nothing came of it.
This shows that the characters in a game change, and some are even completely thrown out, as the story and art style have to work together in harmony and not every idea ends up fitting. The art style of other things like items or the avatar’s house has also changed a lot.
This is because Linus initially drew everything on paper for the first demo, then colored it in on PC. It was only later that he did everything on the PC. In addition, his drawings were initially more sketches with room for error. Later, however, the designs had to be more precise, so Linus added more and more details like scars on the characters or traces of dirt on their clothes. Linus chose warm pastel shades for the colors and a mixture of cartoon and children’s 2D style for the world of Fireside.
Our testers have found the characters to be the most recognizable part of our game so far. They’re quirky, as they have realistic features, but are also completely over the top in their behavior.
Fireside—Devlog 5: Characters from Draft to Final Version
The team started with a rough idea of what the areas would be and what themes they would have. Ilona, as a narrative designer, and Linus, as a graphic designer, were mainly responsible for developing the characters of these areas together.
For some characters, they had a relatively clear idea from the start and did not change much. Owl, for example, was a character from the forest that remained the same throughout development. However, the plot did change a little. The central conflict that takes place in the second area was finalized later, and Owl became more involved.
On the left: the new Owl; on the right: an old version
Along with Owl, Buzzy the Bumblebee is one of Ilona’s favorites. But Buzzy is on the opposite side of the spectrum from Owl and has undergone the most changes. Buzzy wasn’t originally a bumblebee, but rather a moth. Ilona’s idea was that the moth is sad because it is not a butterfly, which is considered much more beautiful. The basic idea in Fireside is to foster togetherness and help each other. So, the player was going to help Buzzy learn that moths have the advantage of flying at night, and that night is much more beautiful than day. Also, the wings of a moth glimmer and shine, which makes them beautiful as well.
The theme of not belonging has remained with Buzzy. But, in the end, Buzzy became a bumblebee. The reason is simple. Linus had made some sketches in the beginning. These included a cute bee, which everyone liked so much that Ilona had to scrap her idea and rewrite the moth story. An insecure moth became a freezing bumblebee which has grown too big for its hive and now has to make it on its own and grow up.
As with some of the other characters, Ilona would have had much more story material for Buzzy. However, the quests had to be of a certain length, so Ilona had to cut some of the story content.
Fireside—Devlog 4, Teamwork
Ilona described the start of their collaboration as “creative chaos.” She joined the team later as a narrative designer, and first had to find her place. It was difficult for her to figure out what the idea behind Fireside was and how it could be best realized because it is difficult to compare it to other games. Initially, she was onboarded through multiple meetings to learn about the structure of the game and the team’s vision.
Linus’ role was to put visuals to the idea. It was his first time creating 2D animations. As he progressed through the drawing stages, his animations improved, but it took time. This also helped him grow and flourish as an artist.
Matthias’ goal was to compose music for all the areas. It was a challenge for him to set the dialog to music. He came up with the idea to incorporate writing sounds. To achieve this, he needed to first acquire the right writing surface to record a suitable sound.
A general challenge for Paul and CP as game designers was that Fireside would be based on roguelites, but without a combat system. One option was to replace the traditional HP bar with Soul Energy, which could be gathered rather than lost.
The team agreed to begin developing the game by creating a vertical slice of the second of three areas. In retrospect, this was a mistake during development. The other team members agree that, while it is industry standard to develop the first level last, in the case of Fireside, it would have been better to start with the first level due to the game’s unique gameplay and the need to describe the game’s environment.
In addition to these challenges, there were also the tools the team needed to use. For example, the team enhanced the internal node-editor tool, which Ilona used for quest creation throughout production. What helped Ilona to get used to the improvements and overall work with the new tool was just trial and error and hands-on learning.
CP also began the project research and experimentation. For him, it was the Quest Editor Tool, which is the heart of the dialog system. Existing tools lacked the necessary features for Fireside, so CP developed a custom dialog editor rather than using an off-the-shelf tool.
But the most important part in successfully completing the game’s development was communication among everyone, because Fireside would only be possible with a well-coordinated team that also motivated each other.
THE COZIEST GAME OF 2024 (the 2nd SNF stream)
Embark on a magical journey with 🌲Fireside🌲! Don't miss the chance to dive into our delightful demo and share your thoughts.🥰 Tune in as our developers stream the game and unveil the enchanting world of Fireside, filled with sweet stories and good vibes!🌲 No violence or stress, just immersive relaxation.🤗
Enjoy the stream, explore the demo, and, of course, cast your wishlist spell on the game!😉✨
Join us on:
🎮 Discord: https://discord.gg/9bHGGRWSM2
📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@firesidethegame
🐥 Twitter, Emergo Entertainment: https://twitter.com/EmergoE
🐥 Twitter, Nordcurrent Labs: https://twitter.com/NordcurrentLabs
🌠 Instagram, Emergo Entertainment: https://www.instagram.com/emergoentertainment/
And find Buddy, our artist's dog, in the game!😉🐶
Wishing everyone a joyous Steam Next Fest! 🌟
