The Start

It all began on a long road trip… We had a 24 hour drive ahead of us and a ton of time to kill. It was one of those endless drives where the best (and strangest) ideas always seem to come up. Out of nowhere, Cory said, “What if we made a video game?”

At first, I laughed. We’ve thrown around a lot of wild ideas on road trips but a video game? I mean, we love to play games but building one? We had zero experience. None of us were developers, designers, or artists. I remember thinking, “How do we even do that? How long would it take? Where would we even start?”

But as the miles rolled by, that thought wouldn’t go away. The more I thought about it, the more exciting it became. Maybe it was the challenge, maybe it was the creativity, or maybe it was just the idea of building something totally new. Whatever it was, I couldn’t shake it.

Then the real brainstorming began. What kind of game would we make? We tossed around dozens of ideas until the conversation shifted toward something we all loved: the outdoors.

We’ve always felt at home in nature. We have so the memories over the years of hiking, camping, and exploring national parks. There’s something about the mountains that brings a sense of adventure, peace, and accomplishment all at once. That’s when it clicked:

“What if we made a game that included the outdoors?”

A game where teams race to the top, stop at base camps to power up, and battle the elements (and each other) to reach the summit first. It could mix competition with exploration, challenge with teamwork. And more than anything, it could reflect the same love we have for the outdoors just in a digital world.

That was the spark, a random idea on a road trip that’s now turned into a full-blown project. We had no experience, no plan, and no idea what we were getting into. But we decided to go for it anyway.

Because just like climbing a mountain, building a game starts with one step and a little bit of faith that you’ll reach the top.