Wildheart Gourmet

Wildheart Gourmet is an interactive fiction cook-em-up about foraging wild foods and finding our place in the natural world.
For as long as your tribe's oral history records, people have lived within the idyllic world known as the Echo, thriving off of the land's generous bounty. But as inhospitable desert begins to spread across the world, you must venture out on a quest for truths rumored to explain the crisis.

In Wildheart Gourmet, get ready to:
Explore locations across the Echo to collect clues about its true nature
Every location reveals a piece of an eon-spanning puzzle, revealing a mystery with world-shattering consequences!

Meet people and learn about their way of life
Encounter the people of the Echo and discover their lives, beliefs and foodways in your search!

Live off the land by foraging edible plants and useful herbs
Using real knowledge of wild edible plants and herbs, survive and thrive on your journey by foraging! Develop your mastery of medicinal herbs by helping those in need with the right remedy for each complaint.

Featuring a bespoke score by musician and audio specialist Shelly Ferina as well as guest artwork from interdisciplinary designer Anna Zimmer!
The goal of this game is to introduce people to the concept of foraging wild foods, highlighting invasive species that are underappreciated as edibles and encouraging harmony with our natural world. Foraging is a highly local discipline, so I have limited the ecological focus of this experience to temperate North America.