summary

A fantasy strategy game with examples of:

- Lore and Worldbuilding

- Dialogue

- In-Game text descriptions

project Overview

I was brought into development on Warfronts at an early stage to develop the characters, story and narrative delivery from the ground up.

It was important to Sand Forge that the lore be deep enough that there was a sense of depth and scale, whilst also containing recognisable fantasy archetypes. My approach was to develop a world history that would form the backbone of our setting and allow us to draw from it for future updates and additions.

Lore and worldbuilding

World History

The Isle Of Toria was born through chaos and destruction. Once a small continent of The Great World, a cataclysmic storm threatened Toria with annihilation. However, as the storm approached Toria’s Eastern borders, something unexpected happened. Ancient stones of unyielding power were awakened. For reasons unknown, the stones formed a barrier, forcing the storm back. However, the storm’s power was of such magnitude that Toria was torn asunder from The Great World and thrown far out into the Vast Sea. 

The remaining survivors split into four factions, each seeking refuge in different parts of the land. There, they formed their own cultures and mythologies, each taking advantage of their habitats to build great and prosperous kingdoms. Criminals and waywards left the different factions to form their own bandit groups, but outside of sporadic raids they were little threat to the other kingdoms — until now.

Player Factions

Each faction will represent different units and buildings that the player unlocks (we reframe the idea of simply buying units by having the other factions that “join our cause”):

Northmen Of Oskil (Mountains - North): 

Location: Glaciers and Snowy mountains, giant walls of stone and ice, long dark nights.

Culture: Only the hardiest are able to survive in the Oskil mountains. The Northmen are few in number but their strength and endurance is legendary. They are sombre, serious people and much of their tradition and culture is shaped around hardship and luck (everything is a good or bad omen). When the Northmen first came to Oskil, they were challenged by the giants, who saw them as trespassers. However, impressed by their strong will and determination, the giants befriended the Northmen.

Tactics: The Northmen are siege masters and defenders. Their warlocks are able to channel defensive energy, creating ice flats, ice walls and even the power of great storms — summoning blizzards to slow down their enemies. 

Appearance: The Northmen’s skin is so pale it’s almost blue. They are tall and wide with great beards and long shaggy hair, ice silver in colour. However, the toughest among them shave their heads to symbolise their endurance. Showing emotion is considered a weakness.

Architecture: The Northmen have mastered the art of combining mountain rock and ice glaciers. Their buildings are flat faced and square, tough and functional and adorned with runes and hieroglyphics.

Keywords: Viking, Norse, Pagan, Druid, Draugr, Scandinavian, Ice, Rock, Mountain, Cold

The Tribes Of Cashal (South):

Location: Dry, scorched earth. Dusty and hard, sandstorms. Tunnels and spiky, red rock valleys.

Culture: The Tribespeople of Cashal are mystics. They were led by elder shamans who could hear the spirits of the desert, who shared the secrets of desert magic with them. In return, the tribespeople worship all life that survives in the desert, placing significant importance on snakes, who they believe are used as vessels for the spirits to exist in the mortal world.  

Tactics: The Tribespeople combine magic and mysticism with potion and bomb crafting. They channel attacking power from the earth to cause Earthquakes, Chasms and Sinkholes. They use their bombs to confuse and misdirect, mixing in sand and flash powder to temporarily blind their enemies.

Appearance: The Tribespeople combine furs and animal bones to use as clothing. They are dark skinned and paint themselves with bright colours and wear animal furs and leathers.

Architecture: The Tribespeople use rock, bone and animals furs and leathers to construct their lodgings. They decorate and design their buildings to reflect their worship of the snake spirits, such as large fangs at the entrances to buildings and patterns designed in the shape of snake scales.

Keywords: Badlands, Tribal, Desert, Bones, Shamanic, Witchcraft, Bedouin, Nomad, Dust Punk, Mystic, Eldritch, Mesopotamia, Arabian mythology, Persia, Nubian, Gold, Bronze

In-game text descriptions

Below are some examples of text descriptions for buildings, units and abilities.

Story integration

A key challenge posed on Warfronts was to deliver a compelling storyline through the available narrative canvas (Task-lists, quest descriptions and character dialogue text).

Below are some examples of how the story functions in-game.

dialogue

The video below shows an early cutscene featuring character dialogue.

The key things I needed to establish in this opening sequence were the voice of player’s mentor — Gordon, the bandit antagonists and the basic gameplay systems that are tutorialised as each new system is introduced. With the unlock of each new area, a cutscene like this is triggered to introduce a new ally (who then become quest/task givers).