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Typically, if a bird discovers an abandoned lighthouse, it may land, rest momentarily, leave a mess, and fly away. Not so in Keeper, an upcoming over-the-shoulder puzzle adventure game created by Double Fine Productions; in this world, the lighthouse sprouts tiny limbs, forms a friendship with the bird, and sets off on an daring hike.

Although a recent preview at the gaming convention answered some questions, it also sparked a curiosity to discover additional details about this absurdist lighthouse-meets-bird tale. Thus, we connected with the creative director, the visionary lead behind Keeper, to shed light on his team's vibrant creation.

A Unique Adventure Experience

Although at its core designed as an exploration title, Petty explains that Keeper aims to deliver a distinctive experience through a combination of dreamlike graphics, enigmatic setting, accessible puzzles, and, most notably, the absence of words. He refers to the game a “palate cleanser,” a short adventure different from any title gamers have experienced before.

“Keeper communicates fewer details than a typical game,” he says. “It was essential for us to let the player relax and not worry about making mistakes; just pause to attempt and accept the weirdness.”

As a result, Keeper isn’t just a series of challenges, nor is its exploration highly goal-oriented. Taking place in a post-civilization world without humans, you will explore the world as a sentient lighthouse joined by a bird sidekick named Twig, but there is no death, the game lacks skill trees, and there is no need to farm for items.

Puzzle Design and Environmental Interaction

“When we began to design the puzzles, we aimed to craft puzzles that felt deeply woven into the world and the characters there. In a typical adventure game, you might encounter a obstacle first,” Petty clarifies. “You're like, oh, I can't get in this door, and you usually understand that, because there are people there telling you so with dialogue.”

“But in our game, we aimed to really create this sense of an peculiar, evocative world and not reveal precisely what it's about. Our puzzles work a bit uniquely, so you frequently kind of wander into them without understanding what you're supposed to be doing.”

Handmade Aesthetics and Limited Interactions

To impart the game a “crafted” atmosphere, Keeper avoids using numerous iterations of the identical concept. “We implement that to some extent, as it's not like each element is done only one time and thrown away,” Petty explains, “but there is a great deal of unique setup. Every few steps away, you encounter something very different from the remainder of the game.”

In response about sustaining gamer’s interest in the absence of failure and defined objectives, Petty stands firm: “I think we captivate the player's attention through the unexpected. You're not really sure what's going to happen around each corner.”

This curated approach is also noticeable in Keeper’s restricted set of interactions. To navigate through its dreamlike world, players require more than a handful of buttons, as the lighthouse’s primary way of interacting with the world is through its headlight, which has a standard mode and a focused mode. For instance, you can aim it at plants to make them grow, shine toward a creature to make it squint, and use it to uncover secrets and tackle puzzles.

Partner Dynamics and Diverse Interactions

Twig, the lighthouse’s reliable bird companion, is usually perched on the lighthouse, from where he’ll occasionally take flight to indicate the path forward or trigger secrets. Apart from these scripted movements, the lighthouse can additionally direct the bird to perform actions like lifting objects, pulling levers, or — maybe the intriguing one — attaching itself to creatures.

The last example is a great illustration of how Keeper’s streamlined approach to the control system nevertheless provides a broad range of gameplay mechanics. The various environments, items, and creatures open the way to distinctive interactions, and particularly metamorphosis.

“For instance, there's a moment where a sort of pink pollen, which resembles fairy floss, gets attached to the lighthouse, rendering it less heavy. For that segment of the game, the lighthouse can jump, float, and move around,” Petty says. “A breath of fresh air from being stuck to the ground. So we aim to vary the rhythm up in a many various ways.”

Narrative Devoid of Words

But hopping around and interacting with their surroundings isn’t the only task bestowed upon the lighthouse and its bird; they must additionally express a story of friendship, companionship, and overcoming obstacles as a team as they travel toward a breathtaking mountain peak. To make matters more complicated, they must accomplish this without using words — and without the kind of gestures and facial expressions a person could have used.

While Petty confirms that players will experience more expression than one would expect from a lighthouse, it’s the bird, specifically, who is instrumental in expressing emotions. “When they're riding along on the lighthouse, you actually have a whole button assigned for just expressing with the bird, and often it will mirror the emotional tenor of that location,” he states.

“For instance, when you enter a kind of unsettling or darker area, the bird will crouch and coil around the top of the lighthouse. And if you hit the expression button, rather than a cheerful tweet or directing you, it'll kind of glance about and duck down.”

Threats and Friendly Inhabitants

By “darker area,” Petty is talking about the menace that derives from something called the “Wither,” a malevolent ecosystem. As the lighthouse and Twig proceed on their journey, they’ll see more and more of this violet, vitriolic substance, which may occasionally appear as of thorns, creepers, and bugs. “It's what Twig is escaping,” Petty explains.

In contrast to the Wither, the majority of creatures in Keeper are in fact friendly. When Twig expresses at one of the odd critters, for instance, it may emote back and possibly produce an ambient noise — in the absence of words, audio cues and music are another tool used to narrate Keeper’s story.

Narrative Conclusion and Influences

This method of wordless storytelling raises the question if Keeper’s narrative ends in a cryptic ending, but Petty assures that there will be a balance. “It's not a total mystery, but because it's wordless, it's inherently subject to interpretation. We purposely aim to leave space for that because that's my favorite thing about art; the conversations that happen after people experience something,” he says, “But we do provide defined narrative arcs and closure.”

A quick look at Keeper’s snowy mountaintops, elaborate cave systems, and unusual rock formations will reveal that natural scenery formed one of the primary influences for this people-free tale. As Petty shares, the scenery is not only based on ordinary locations: “I live in California and there's a lot of amazing mountains in this region,” he says. “Close to where I live, there's an abandoned Mercury mine that was left like a hundred years ago, and it has been converted into hiking trails; that's one of my big inspirations. It's not anything extraordinary, but what makes it interesting is the many hills, and as you ascend, you sometimes discover old pieces of machinery that you can’t identify what they were for.”

“They sort of look like strange monuments, just sitting within nature, with nature taking back the space. When I reflect at the game and the remains of humanity in there, I can see the direct connection to me hiking around all that stuff.”

Symbolic Meaning and Closing Reflections

Although Petty humorously calls the lighthouse protagonist