theHunter: Call of the Wild
Cuatro Colinas

WRITER

Doña Alejandra del Bosque Garcia enlists the help of her old friend, a seasoned hunter, to help her manage the Cuatro Colinas reserve in Iberia.  Hunt ibex, mouflon sheep, red deer, and the Iberian wolf while helping Alejandra unravel a plot to rob her family of their hard-won and long-protected legacy.

PLAY

Four Hills, Three Wolves

After shipping Danger Rising, I had the refreshing opportunity to kick back and develop story for theHunter: Call of the Wild's upcoming Iberian preserve.

To develop characters, story and theme, I chatted with the game design team and world artists, studied documentaries and films about the region, watched videos about hunting the region's vaunted ibex, and kept some flamenco guitar going in the background as I wrote.

As sole writer, I worked hard to bring together the gameplay and art with a story that matched and expanded on theHunter's pedigree: lightweight storytelling, fun characters, eco-conscious yarns, ethical hunting, and a prominent theme of one family's religious duty to protect a sacred land, its animals, and its people.

Working in the ecosystem of a living game with steady, predictable drops and an engaged community generating tons of data was interesting. I reworked mission design and story ideas to match players' expectations and respond to their critiques of prior preserves.

During the writing, I fell in love with Call of the Wild as a game. It has an unusual pace, with long stalks and slow stealth building up to one perfect shot. Overcome that hurdle of unfamiliarity, and its serene exploration and tracking are addictive, yet calming pursuits.

Shortly after settling the characters, story beats, much of the paper mission design, and a few early drafts of the trailer script, I left Cuatro Colinas to lead the Mission & Story team on Contraband. Fellow writer Ross Alexander can be credited with all development after that point, and the actual implementation.

I got to come back as a fan, play Cuatro Collinas and experience how Ross had picked up the vision and carried it to fruition.​ I'm happy to say it became one of my favorite preserves.