Games
We spoke with Forager’s Mariano Cavallero on the development of his dream game, its humble beginnings and everything that comes with moving countries.
First released for PC earlier this year, HopFrog’s Forager sold over 150,000 copies in less than a month, placing itself into the best selling games on Steam. Mainly developed by one person, Mariano Cavallero, this mix between Stardew Valley and The Legend of Zelda rapidly gained popularity around the globe.
Now, after a recent launch on both Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, and starting a roadmap of planned content for the months ahead, we talked to Cavallero about the long journey of Forager. He talks financial difficulties, the move from South America to the United States, and the serendipitous discovery of one of the year’s best indies.
It all started seven years ago in Santa Fe, Argentina. Cavallero decided to drop college to pursue his love for video games as a developer. Even though his mother wasn’t so keen on the idea, she supported his choice early on. By that time his father had passed away and he inherited a sum that made for the support he needed during the first few years of learning.
The game development scene in the country wasn’t as established as it is nowadays. Especially in Santa Fe, since most of the biggest events take place in Buenos Aires, but Cavallero had a strong passion that only increased over time. He started to learn how to code, make art and work around a game engine. “I knew that practice is the best way to learn, so I decided to pick up GameMaker and make a lot of ugly prototypes. I did this every day, 12-14 hours, for months,” he said on a personal post over at Imgur.
“A year and a half later, I had made a few dozen games, mostly for game jams. They were all pretty bad, but I learned a lot from doing this. I was starting to build up a portfolio,” he added. “I tried finishing over-scoped game ideas that failed miserably. I tried finding contract work, that also failed miserably. Half of my money was gone and I decided to invest the other half for making HTML5 type of games to sell to web portals around the globe. This failed as well.”
Two main projects made themselves present before Forager. Most of the developer’s resources were allocated to Cinquedea, a platformer in which you had to dodge obstacles and jump from one small world to the other, using a cast of cute characters. Cavallero posted it on Steam Greenlight (while the program was still available) but the public didn’t seem to like it. He reflects that it was a poorly executed idea, one that was taken down shortly afterwards by him.
But the second game, called Impossible Dungeons, which started out as a different take on Risk of Rain, was the winning ticket that he needed. It was a small project that came to mind after a gaming session with his cousin, which mixed tower defence with platforming elements, wrapped around an arcade-style backdrop.
Nothing was to come from it at first, and even though he had asked for a loan from his mother, resources were starting to run short. One day, the opportunity to attend a local video games event called EVA (Argentinian Video Games Expo) arose and his cousin insisted he travel and showcase Impossible Dungeons.
People of all ages took interest in the game, playing co-op with friends and family alike during the convention. At the end of the day, the project was selected among the rest for a major prize: A full paid trip to Casual Connect (now called GameDaily Casual Connect.) Cavallero, without realising it, had just won the opportunity that would lead to his partnership with Humble Bundle.
Forager was already in existence at this point, having been created during a game jam, in which it earned second place. It remained installed on Cavallero’s laptop during the trip but, at least at first, he was attending the event in the US to try and obtain a partnership with a publisher for Impossible Dungeons. Interviews didn’t go as he expected, however. It was thanks to a person at the booth next to him that a Humble Bundle representative noticed Forager, since they were supposed to meet the dev and he'd completely lost track of time playing Cavallero’s prototype.
His life changed in many ways that day. He would continue developing Forager into what we know today, working alongside contractors who helped during the last phase before launch, but he also left Argentina. One would think it was due to this new opportunity, but at least during the beginning, the motivation was personal.
“My girlfriend is North American and we'd been having a long-distance relationship for a couple of years. As soon as I had the opportunity to move in with her, we took it. Now that we both moved to Seattle, it’s easy to tell how better job opportunities are for those involved in the game industry, but my first year living here wasn’t for work,” he explains.
Even if moving countries had always been on his mind, Cavallero says that it was not an easy decision. “I tend to miss my previous life, friends and family often. Starting over from scratch is hard and you don’t realise how many things become complicated all of a sudden when you don’t know anyone and there’s no one to take care of you if everything goes wrong.”
Still, surpassing these fears was part of his personal goal and he strongly believes that tracing back your steps when you've already made so much progress is irresponsible. In his words, the toughest situations are the ones that teach you the most.
Cavallero says that while improving his skills and being confident in his abilities were key to him achieving his ambitions, being in the right place at the right time was also crucial. Which is exactly what happened during his visit to Casual Connect. Compared to Argentina’s development scene, Cavallero says that opportunities are far better in Seattle, but it all comes down to his stroke of luck.
“I would have continued working on Forager either way, since 80 percent of the game was made while I was still living in Argentina. But everything that came after the release, and even some stuff that we can’t announce yet, happened because I got to meet the right people at the right moment.”
He reflects on the idea behind Forager and how the development journey represents an unintentional parallel. The game is about doing big things from scratch, building materials, crafting items, and purchasing new pieces of terrain to expand your humble land.
“In the beginning, the problems that you need to solve are related to hard work (gathering resources) and acquiring knowledge (how to craft a certain object or item). Once the foundation is settled, these problems become bigger and far more complex, but the tools at your disposal are also wider and far more efficient,” Cavallero says.
“Playing Forager reminds me of how it felt to build the game. It was tough at first, even if problems seemed fairly small (designing the game, learning to program). As everything marched on, challenges became bigger, but so did the ways that I could tackle them. My biggest takeaway from all these years is that the more complex they are, the more satisfaction you get as a result.”
As for the future, Cavallero says that he wants to have more time to continue expanding Forager’s IP. This includes working on more games built upon its universe, but also other types of media, such as more in-game comic books, videos, blog posts and even TV shows.
Forager is a charming tale of hard work and challenges, mixing farming, exploration, and battles against all kinds of foes to obtain treasures. You can play it on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch now.
