How Obsidian made tiny survival fun in Grounded

As we all know at this point, I am a big fan of the ants in Obsidian’s new early access survival game Grounded. But the ants aren’t the only thing I ask about when I interview Obsidian’s Adam Brennecke, the game’s lead designer.

In Grounded you play as a child, or group of children working together, who has been mysteriously shrunk down so that a normal suburban garden becomes a huge jungle. It’s a great idea, but I’m curious where Grounded came from conceptually. Did they set out to make a survival game that eventually became about being tiny and encountering giant ants and spiders, or was there a particular idea or concept that came before that? It turns out it’s the former.

(more…)