Hendrik is writing an ashcan about nuns
@napel.itch.io
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I design tabletop games from my apartment in the Netherlands. (he/they) Subscribe to my newsletter: buttondown.email/hendriktennapel
I design tabletop games from my apartment in the Netherlands. (he/they) Subscribe to my newsletter: buttondown.email/hendriktennapel
![Humans have disappeared from the planet, leaving only a few remains dotted throughout the newly lush vegitation. [...] However, humans did leave something for animals: the gifts of speech and imagination, the ability to anticipate and predict, the power to invent. But not all creatures accepted those gifts. There are animals who speak, walk, and use objects and tools; and there are beasts, who remain speechless and fierce, and kept their original nature.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:uer5fkbpt7o4ht5lyp7uwk57/bafkreidxv67ry5izssk4gqwt2znuwidplmqcvd72xs5uvb2t2kcahe6pqu)
![Six years in the making!
Big Walk is our attempt to capture our favourite parts of playing games together online. We started working on it during covid lockdown, when playing games was the main way we’d spend time together. We wanted to make a game for friends that pushes you into finding new ways to communicate and connect with each other. It’s a game with a big open world, full of challenges and things to do, but whatever you are doing, the focus is always on the people you are playing with.
Our hope is that Big Walk has some of the loopy energy of being on the second day of a hike and feeling like normal life is very far away, and all that matters is the friends with you and the world around you. As part of our research for the game, each year we went hiking in Wilsons Prom — the place the game’s landscape is based on. It’s a beautiful place, and we hope we’ve captured that in the game.
[A photograph of the team looking out over a mountainesque view.]
(Photo credit: Kalonica Quigley)
When we started work on Big Walk back in 2020, we thought we were making something small and quick, as a way to learn the ropes of online multiplayer games. We figured we’d spend a few months making this talky-co-op thing, and then move on to a different Big Ambitious Game. But we just kept having so much fun playing it that we didn’t want to stop working on it.
It was clear from pretty early on that the core activity of walking and talking paired pretty well with having a big open world full of interesting stuff, so we took the plunge and decided to make one. The end result is something much bigger than we could have ever imagined. Six years later, we still love playing Big Walk together, and we hope you will too!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:uer5fkbpt7o4ht5lyp7uwk57/bafkreigvpq3xgg2bqlfjugfkcova3viirxtircxv33fq6gvce2wyr33qj4)
