Developers from multiple award-winning triple-A and indie games–including Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank, Journey, Skyrim, Fallout, and What Remains of Edith Finch–have today announced their new game development studio, and the team is already working on its first game.
Gardens aims to create “vibrant online games that foster meaningful multiplayer moments and relationships between players around the world”. While based primarily in Portland and Los Angeles, Gardens is among the first in the industry to operate remotely–part of the wider vision of its creators.
Helmed by a trio of creatives with strong backgrounds in indie game development, Gardens is the brainchild of Chris Bell (Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch, Sky: Children of the Light), Lexie Dostal (Dustforce), and Stephen Bell (Blaseball, Edith Finch). Together, they want to foster innovation and originality in a world now better equipped to work from home.
Chris explained: “With Gardens, we wanted to create a studio that cares as much about the health, happiness, and wellbeing of its team members as we do the craftsmanship of the games we create together.
“Our top priority is making sure our teammates enjoy their lives, and are given the tools and resources to grow while creating compelling, well-crafted, thoughtful games that cultivate novel shared experiences between players online.”
The Gardens name is inspired by the types of game worlds its team wants to create: artfully crafted, alive, and reliant on communities to thrive. As with games like Journey, the studio wants to encourage players to be considerate of one other as well as the world, and potentially create lasting friendships along the way.
To support this vision, veteran developers have readily signed up to this vision, including:
- Executive producer Sarah Sands (Fullbright, Nike, DirectTV);
- Lead artist Ryan Benno (Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Telltale’s The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, and Ratchet & Clank);
- Principal engineer Rose Dale (Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4);
- Senior engineer Roldán Melcon (Blaseball, Where Cards Fall);
- Gameplay engineer Tonia Beglari (Monster Hunter World: Iceborne XR Walk, The Under Presents); and
- Art director Leighton Milne (Ashen, The Hobbit).
Gardens’ upcoming but unnamed game is already building upon the ways the team have designed shared online experiences in the past, most notably Journey, Sky: Children of the Light, Ashen, and Way). It promises that players will cross paths with one another “in a mysterious and magical world driven by the concept art of ma-ko, with art direction from Milne and an art team led by Benno.
A strong funding drive in July 2021–when Gardens raised $4.5 million in a seed round–helped the organization grow its line-up of creatives to ten people, though the team is growing its team further through job opportunities, and hopes to raise more capital through future funding opportunities to add more talent and bring its first game to market.
