The Story Stack of Caravan SandWitch

The story stack is a framework for analyzing elements of a game and the way they depend on each other, ordered from least flexible to most flexible. If you're unfamiliar with the structure, you can learn more about it in Jesse Schell's GDC talk from 2019 (his part begins at 51:00) but essentially, each element of the story stack builds upon the elements that come before it.

After playing and thoroughly enjoying Caravan SandWitch recently, I wanted to dive into its story stack to identify how its gameplay and story came together so seamlessly.

Player Fantasy

The player fantasy of Caravan SandWitch is to explore and scavenge abandoned technology in a search for a missing person.

Actions

A large part of Caravan SandWitch's actions revolve around traversal, which makes sense to serve a player fantasy revolving around exploration and discovery. The player can run and climb among the ruins, as well as driving their van to cover longer distances. While exploring, they can collect abandoned components and restore power to defunct tech. As the game progresses, upgrades to the van let the player take more actions, such as tearing away fragile doors and hacking security systems, opening up more of the ruins to explore and scavenge.

Progression

Progress through Caravan SandWitch is marked in chapters, each of which has two main quest elements: destroying a signal jammer and building a van upgrade. The signal jammers are devices around the world that block electronic communication in or out; deactivating them gets the player closer to identifying the distress signal that they are following. (More on that in the story section.)

This progression gives purpose to your exploration; the components you find are necessary for the van upgrades, and the van upgrades allow you to access more signal jammers and components.

World

Caravan SandWitch explores a planet colonized and then abandoned by a space corporation. The people we interact with are either the colonists who chose to stay behind or the indigenous groups of the planet. The landscapes we explore range from beach to swampland to desert, all peppered with large abandoned facilities in various states of disrepair.

In the distance, there's a humongous stationary tornado; the remnants of the disaster that caused the space corporation to abandon the planet. Even before we know what it is, the aberration immediately telegraphs to the player that there's a mystery to solve.

Story

Our protagonist, Sauge, grew up in this world but left after her sister died, or so she thought. But now, she's received a distress call seemingly from her sister, and returns to track down the signal. Sauge reconnects with old friends and discovers connections between her sister and the planet's disaster.

Other Story Concepts

Like I often do with these story stack analyses, I'd like to put the framework of the story stack to the test. If story is supposed to be the most flexible, can I come up with three alternative stories that still support the other elements of the stack?

Story 1: The Disgraced Scientist

In this concept, the protagonist is a former researcher for the space corporation. His negligence at work caused the disaster that still plagues the planet, and wracked with guilt, he retreated to an island and refused to show his face again. But when a child from the nearby village goes missing in the abandoned facilities, the researcher is called on to search for him, as the only one still around who understands the tech. As he searches, the researcher is forced to reckon with the damage he caused, but also learns that he is not an irredeemable monster; there is still much he can contribute to the community.

Story 2: The One Who Lived

After her family were wiped out in the planet's disaster, an indigenous girl is determined to learn what happened. When a distress signal comes from ground zero of the disaster, the girl decides to steal a van and set out to learn the technology of her colonizers so she can follow the signal.

Story 3: Are We The Baddies?

A corporate agent is sent to a planet she thought was abandoned to track a mysterious distress call coming from the company's abandoned facilities. As she explores the planet and meets its residents, she realizes the corporation has been lying to her about its exploits and the harm it does to planets that it colonizes.