How can a camera change the way you see the world? This is the fundamental question of photography, but also of a growing number of photography-focused games, including the highly anticipated adventure season on PS5 and PC. Season is part of a recent wave of games that are making photography their cornerstone, rather than an added bonus mode. Some, like the Umurangi Generation, present the hobby as a form of urban art, a tool to reclaim space through documentation. Others, like the classic Japanese horror game Fatal Frame, use the camera as a weapon, capable of dispelling demonic presences. But as members of the season development team told us in an exclusive interview, his game is different. It is a quieter, more contemplative title that rewards careful observation. And its virtual camera, anchored in the meditative charms of cinematic photography, is designed to encourage intimacy between player and environment.
An analog approach
In the trailer for the season, we see a young protagonist riding his bike through a beautiful Studio Ghibli world. “Our grandparents lived for a thousand years and our parents had a century of their own,” he says wistfully. "But we have a season." The world, as she knows it, is on the verge of collapse and, to take advantage of her last days, she sets out on a bicycle to immortalize her beauty. We see a sketchbook filled with drawings of a ruined monument, a tape recorder capturing the delicate sound of a dragonfly's wings, and most importantly, a camera aimed at a bright-eyed primate. "Everything in the game is about what photography is," says Kevin Sullivan, Season's creative director and writer. “What it means to take a photo, what it says about the photographer, the fact that we can freeze time in images, those incomplete glimpses of the past. It fits so much with the themes that we are trying to show the player,” he adds. Developed by Montreal studio Scavengers, Season has been around in one form or another since 2016, when it was just Sullivan's idea inspired by his travels in Southeast Asia. Before anything was programmed, he created video tests for the equipment and even a working board game to show how it might work in practice. Now that the game's production is in full swing, its shape is a bit clearer. There's a world to explore full of people to talk to, and of course, a bike to get around. At various points, you can pull out your camera to document your surroundings: animals, yes, and scenic views, but architecture and graffiti, all of which give the place something special before the "mysterious cataclysm."
(Image credit: Scavengers Studio) Everything in the game is about photography. What it means to take a photo, what it says about the photographer, the fact that we can freeze time in images, those incomplete glimpses of the past. Kevin Sullivan, Scavengers Studio Indeed, the photography in Season has changed a lot since its initial 2020 trailer. Camera enthusiasts may spot a machine that looks like a retro Bolex-style video camera (above), but it's turned into a camera. simpler, says Stephen Tucker, Senior Visual Effects Artist. What hasn't changed, he explains, is the emphasis on the “old ways” of documentation. An avid photographer, he mentions his own Polaroid camera, the nice artifacts that come from using old film with an analog camera, and the relative "lack of control" he offers. "It won't have a 10mm to 300mm zoom range or something like that," he continues. "You're going to have to stand more or less where you need to be to hit the shot you want." The ultimate goal, he says, is to create a device that feels "textured."
Depth of field
Tucker isn't the only photography enthusiast on the season's development team. Sullivan's father was an aerial photographer, which meant that his family's basement was essentially one giant dark room. Later, in college, he became interested in analog film processing while working on the Friends film projects on Super 16mm and 35mm. There's also Irwin Chiu Hau, Season's 3D programmer, who previously worked as a professional wedding photographer. He has his own collection of DSLRs and now takes macro and landscape photography for fun. The latter, mostly extreme close-up photography, feeds directly from Season. "There are many little things in the world to spin." Chiu Hau said enticingly.
(Image credit: Scavengers Studio) But outside of real-world gadgets, previous video games helped shape Season's game camera. Tucker is referring to the 1980s disposable camera used in the 2016 first-person drama Firewatch. In this game, you get to photograph the beautiful Wyoming forest and mountains, covered in various places by a bright orange sun. Another is 2017's first-person adventure What Remains of Edith Finch?, which gives players an outdated camera during a rainy hunting trip. "I like the feel of the cameras in these two games," says Tucker. Firewatch and what's left of Edith Finch? it happened before video game photography as a game mechanic became very popular. Most recently, Sludge Life and the award-winning Umurangi generation have cast players as photographers with distinct cyberpunk futures. And just a few months ago, the cult classic Pokémon Snap made its long-awaited return for players excited to pet their favorite makeup creatures.
The upcoming Martha Is Dead game lets you load a dual-lens SLR camera with film and even develop it in a virtual darkroom. (Image credit: Wired Productions) There are also two titles on the horizon that promise to add their own spin to the burgeoning micro genre. Toem is a cute adventure with anthropomorphic characters, while Martha Is Dead (above) takes the camera into much scarier territory with its 1940s Italian horror story. Photography as mechanics is apparently in poor health, but none of these games offers the poignant and poignant beauty of Season: the feeling that the present is slipping through our fingers and needs to be commemorated somehow.
A change of course
Regardless of tone and mood, however, what each of these games offers is a way to interact with the world that doesn't involve blowing it up or its inhabitants. The camera can be a useful way to structure the look, giving the simple act of looking a mechanical dimension for players who are concerned with always doing something. Perhaps most importantly, it's an intuitive action for most people thanks to the extent to which smartphones have popularized the hobby. Everybody knows what to do, in other words. "The moment you take out a camera, you start composing," says Chiu Hau, "you start framing your subject." Image 1 of 3
Gameplay screenshots from the game's season (PS5 and PC) (Image credit: Scavengers Studio) Image 2 of 3
(Image credit: Scavengers Studio) Image 3 of 3
(Image credit: Scavengers Studio) While photography is increasingly being integrated into the gameplay of indie titles, for many blockbusters it exists as a discrete "photo mode", separate from the game itself. All the player has to do is pause the action at a particularly gripping point and start composing their shot. In popular and flashy action titles like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, and The Last of Us Part II, there's almost a complete post-production sequel in its shooting, lighting, and FOV focusing modes. Often there are options to change the environment, including the time of day, the weather, and even the actual shooting props. While these tools are newly flexible, they are part of a tradition almost as old as the game itself: "screen capture," the ancestor of modern video game photography.
Virtual tourism
Throughout the pandemic, Tucker says he's been drawn to blockbuster video games as a substitute for travel, photographing his way through their stories and worlds as if he were on one of his own vacations. The lush foliage and striking dilapidated environments of The Last of Us Part II provided a worthy theme, so much so that he began printing photos in-game using the Instax Mini Link.
(Image credit: Scavengers Studio) For Sullivan, the season itself has manifested itself in the real world over the last difficult eighteen months. “I cycled around Montreal and took pictures to try to find out more,” she says. « J'ai l'impression qu'il ya un étrange va-et-vient entre les choses que nous faisons pour influencer le jeu et le sentiment d'être influencené par le jeu lui-même – juste dans certaines activités et en prêtant atención . The season feels like I've bled into my real life more than I expected when I started. Sullivan's own experiences are precisely what draw Season and his photography into the game. Players looking for all the features of "photo modes" may be disappointed, as are those expecting all the controls of a modern DSLR. . But those who want to experience the emotional essence of photography, particularly the simplicity and immediacy of an analog camera format, should be well catered for. By giving players a tool from the past, Season is able to bring a whole new perspective on the world.