Crashable Studios is launching an award-winning hybrid 2D/3D point-and-click adventure starring a lifelong friend struggling with health issues

Micah was a guest on my game development shop talk podcast, GameDev Breakdown. You can see our video chat on Spotify or listen anywhere you follow podcasts.

Micah Orsie is quick to count his blessings.

As we log into Zoom to chat, he hones in right away on my bass guitar leaning forlornly between two Arcade1Up cabinets. I’m a drummer, really, but I explain that ours is a musical family. There’s also a Pioneer DDJ-FLX4 DJ deck at my stand-up desk. I just like to have ways to interact with music nearby.

Micah relates. Just about everyone in his family has been involved with music going back for generations, he says.

When Micah says “family,” picture a big group. He’s situated on the East Coast where he is one of five brothers (his parents eventually stopped trying for a daughter), so he was never short on collaborators for projects. He says he’s collaborated with them on art projects and musical performances. The five collectively formed a band, Tears of Mars), and eventually, game development.

Oh, and there’s a sixth brother from another mother (and, as far as I know, another father). Micah’s friend Daniel has been one of the group since childhood, Micah explains, and he’s stayed closely involved with the guys well into adulthood. I’ve learned a lot about Daniel in the last week or so, like that he loves pro wrestling, he enjoys making people laugh and smile, and he happens to have Down Syndrome.

“I grew up with him. He’s like a childhood friend,” Micah says. “We were in diapers together.”

While Micah stayed on the East Coast, Daniel eventually moved with his mother to the West Coast, which limited their time together. Daniel started visiting Micah’s family each summer which he still does today. It was on one of these visits that the idea for Wildwood Down was born.

Wildwood, Micah tells me, refers to a large beach boardwalk tourist attraction in Wildwood, New Jersey. He mentions the retro aesthetic the community hangs onto and its iconic “Wildwoods” sign complete with scattered concrete beach balls. It’s regionally popular enough that, since starting a Discord community, members have been posting their own boardwalk photos to a dedicated channel. One voice actor would turn out to be from the area with their own sentimental attachment to the boardwalk.

One specific visit, however, stood apart to Micah and Daniel.

“We got there and it was like, Senior Week, which is when all the high school seniors go there to party,” Micah explains. “…So we’re like, ‘Holy crap. This place is, like, flooded with just like, teen angst.”

Between the teens’ cliques, drama, and ducking the cops, the group made an observation that changed their trajectory for years to come.

“My wife actually said to me…’I feel like we’re in a real-life point-and-click adventure game,’” Micah says. Unable to let the idea go, they started making connections between their unusual trip and the genre which Micah holds dear to his heart. A kid hanging onto a pipe overhead and interacting with passersby would make a great NPC called Pipe Kid. Real places jumped out to inspire scene backdrops and puzzles.

Daniel, they agreed, would be the perfect hero of the story.

Micah and his brother Luke went into development and never looked back. Daniel had creative input about his dialog and really read the lines for the game.

Unfortunately, Daniel’s time since development began has been fraught with challenges.

“Just like three months ago…Daniel was diagnosed with third-degree lung cancer…” Micah says. “I flew out there. Luke flew out there. We’re like in it with him in the hospital and…we don’t know if he’s going to live.”

Micah says the time since has been filled with critical care treatment, scary machinery, and uncertainty. Thanks to aggressive treatment and several rounds of chemotherapy, doctors say there’s some hope for Daniel to live a full, healthy life.

One bright spot during Daniel’s recovery took place when Wildwood Down won the BIG Impact: Diversity award at the 2025 BIG Festival at gamescom latam. While the team couldn’t attend to receive the award, Micah and Daniel relayed their thanks in a video recorded from Daniel’s hospital room. Daniel watched a video of the official winner announcement surrounded by family and friends.

Micah recalls the day emotionally. “They’re like, ‘…and the winner is…Wildwood Down!’ He knows it’s his game…he started crying and we were just all, like, weeping.”

Now, some three years since development started, Wildwood Down is slated for Steam release on August 7th. Micah’s grateful for the game’s positive early reception and Daniel’s improving health. He looks forward to seeing his friend entertain what he hopes will be many new players.

When I asked what comes next, if the game proves successful, Micah appeared thoughtful.

“It’s a great question,” he says. He tells me about a design notebook he started for a second installment in what could be a series while there was still uncertainty about Daniel’s survival, describing it as an act of faith.

“By faith, Daniel is going to live,” he said. “I’m going to start designing Part 2 of this game.”

In addition to the game’s store page on Steam, interested players can join Wildwood Down’s community on Discord.