An Interview With the Developers of Winter Burrow

Recently, I reviewed Winter Burrow, an adorable yet deeply real, cozy survival game. Benjamin Salqvist, the CEO and Creative Director at Pine Heart Games, kindly agreed to chat with me about its development! Here's what he had to say.

SUPERJUMP

Winter Burrow is a 2D isometric survival game where we play as a mouse trying to survive the harsh winter. What inspired the story behind the game?

Benjamin

For some people it would be a surprise that the zombie survival game 7 Days to Die has inspired the cozy Winter Burrow, but the idea to make a game that explores the cross section between a harsh outside and a warm safe inside come directly from an experience in the game of running around in a cold rainy world shrouded in fog, searching for the base, and while completely frozen finally seeing the warm light from the base through the fog and entering a room with a warm fireplace.

I can't remember where the idea with woodland creatures came from, but it just seemed like an exciting twist to the survival genre, and that made me think of the book The Wind in the Willows, which was a huge inspiration, and from there things just popped in by themself. Like, when we decided to go with 2D isometric graphics, Don't Starve naturally popped up and we played that and realised that we wanted something where it was more straight forward to build on your progress instead of losing it all when you die, and that was what started the idea of a cozy more forgiving survival game, which I'm perfectly aware that some people think defies the genre, but we felt it had a potential and it turned out to be true.

SUPERJUMP

Can you dive into the mechanics of the game a little? Aside from the usual food, shelter, and defense systems, what else can the mouse do?

Benjamin

Well, those three things are a big part of the game. But besides that, you can engage in the story of the different characters of the game, and through them, you will progress in not only the story but also the game itself. You can also furnish and decorate your home burrow to make it feel more like home to you. But besides that, the game is mostly about exploring the different woodland areas, knitting nice clothes, and baking warm pies.

SUPERJUMP

This is definitely an example of a cozy game despite the darker stories of some of the similar titles in the genre. Why did you choose this warm, comfortable tone? Are there darker elements to the game beneath the surface?

Benjamin

We believe that the contrast between the cozy elements and the darker elements of the game enhance each other, which points back to the initial inspiration, as a warm safe burrow just feels much more cozy when there is a freezing snowstorm outside, in the same way as it is cozier to cuddle up under a blanket on a rainy day than when it's warm and sunny outside. And yes, there are darker elements beneath the surface, but they are not that dark. You can find some unfortunate souls who didn't survive the winter, and some of the characters have some emotional stories to tell, but that is it. Oh, and then the spiders, they put some people off as well. 😄

SUPERJUMP

What was your favorite part of the development process for this game? What was the hardest part of development?

Benjamin

It's when everything comes together for the first time, and gameplay and visuals and audio are all there, and you play through this game and feel that you are in a different world, that's an awesome feeling after so much pre-production time. The hardest part was probably to find the right balance between cozy and survival. It hasn't really been done before, so we had to move forward on our own, doing trial and error. It's still something we are very aware of and still tweak a bit based on feedback from players.

SUPERJUMP

Just for fun, what do you think the cutest item or character in the game is?

Benjamin

I love the Forest Strawberry that the Mole hands you late in the game. It just looks too nice and delicious and has this surprising contrast to the earth tones and winter setting of the game. For characters, it would probably be either the Toad or the Squirrel.

SUPERJUMP

Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?

Benjamin

There is actually much to learn about nature and biology by playing the game. The Toad is called Bufo, and the scientific name for the common toad is Bufo Bufo. Or when the aunt is called Betulina, which is part of the scientific name for Northern Birch Mouse (Sicista betulina). And then almost all of the plants and growths are from the real world, and their location is usually close to where they would normally grow; for example, the Shrimp Mushroom grows in the pine forest where they usually would. And there are plenty more examples in the game, but I won't spoil more here. 😄