Her focus on Tacoma is making spaces that feel lived-in, and it was her previous game, Cibele, that led her to Fullbright. “The kind of level design I was doing on [Cibele] was, ‘How do I design an in-game computer that feels plausible and feels lived in,’ very similar to how someone might design a bedroom in Gone Home or something,” said Freeman. She had never designed a 3D level before joining Fullbright, but a penchant for designing around authentic stories was there. “Tacoma is definitely about ordinary lives and people who feel like you could know them, like they could be your neighbor. That’s what we share despite coming from different backgrounds.”
While Freeman’s focus is heavier on tasking players with putting together the remnants of an ordinary life—connecting dots in a different way than in Obduction, or in Far Cry 4—all three designers share a desire to build plausible spaces.