Hi everyone, I'm Brenna. I participated in the first game jam and made a game called Void Talk. This is such a great event with such a great community and I'm so happy to be back!

I just finished another major project (I wrote a novella in a couple weeks, ha ha) so I'm not sure how much time or energy I'll have to devote to the jam this time around, but I'm hoping to at least complete a playable demo by the end of the two weeks!

This is a fangame based on the book Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett, so I definitely won't be selling the game, but I'm hoping to make it fun and accessible to people who have never read the book, too!

Orcs of Uberwald: A Discworld Fan Game

Orcs of Uberwald takes up where the book Unseen Academicals leaves off. Pie-chef Glenda Sugarbean and her soft-spoken orc boyfriend, Mr. Nutt, are on their way to Uberwald to find Nutt's scattered people (once thought extinct) and help them to become a part of the wider Discworld community. Of course, Glenda and Nutt will also face the challenge of getting humans (and the other various humanoid species of the Disc) to accept the Orcs, who are widely viewed as mindlessly violent, evil creatures.

It's a game of travel, adventure, and diplomacy!

To quote an exchange between Lady Margolotta and Mr. Nutt

"I would like you to teach [the orcs] civilized behavior," said Ladyship coldly.

He appeared to consider this. "Yes, of course, I think, that would be quite possible," he said. "And who would you send to teach the humans?" --Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

Gameplay

I want to do a sort of combination of a map exploration / text adventure game.

My basic concept is this: You travel around spaces on a map occasionally running into encounters. When an encounter is triggered, a text box pops up that explains what happens during the event, giving the player choices of what to do in response. Usually the player will gain something or be hurt by the results of their choice.

The player will also gather resources that will aid in traveling and in completing tasks.

I based my map of Uberwald on this map by SM9T8 on Deviantart

Characters

Glenda Sugarbean: Fat, motherly, and always the responsible one, Glenda ran the Night Kitchen at the Unseen University. Glenda is strong willed, determined, and can't stand to see people taken advantage of, whether they're poor football players or a nice orc boy with a tragic backstory. She's always ready use her street smarts or her cooking skills to get her where she needs to go, and she's not afraid to chew out authority figures if they deserve it. She has a 3-eyed teddy bear and, despite her overwhelming practicality, loves soppy romance novels.

'They really are all the same, aren't they?' she said to the three-eyed teddy bear. 'You know it's going to be Mary the Maid, or someone like her, and there's going to be two men and she will end up with the nice one, and there has to be misunderstandings, and they never do anything more than kiss and it's absolutely guaranteed that, for example, an exciting civil war or an invasion by trolls or even a scene with any cooking in it is not going to happen. The best you can expect is a thunderstorm.' --Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

Nutt: Nutt is an orc, a species that is widely feared and despised in the Discworld. At an early age, he was chained to an anvil by fearful villagers. Eventually rescued by a clergymen named Reverend Oats and given an education by the vampire Lady Margolotta, Nutt devoted his life to becoming "worthy" of life and affection. Uncertain and afraid of his own origins, Nutt eventually learns to accept himself for who he is. Nutt is soft-spoken, intelligent, and very strong.

"But here I am. You asked why I am strong? When I lived in the dark of the forge, I used to lift weights. The tongs at first, and then the little hammer and then the biggest hammer, and then one day I could lift the anvil. That was a good day. It was a little freedom."
"Why was it so important to lift the anvil?"
"I was chained to the anvil." --Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

Game Engine

I think this game would be pretty easy to make with any number of visual novel engines, but I'd really like to start learning some real programming that I can use for multiple projects, so I'm going to be building this game in Unity. I'm a total beginner here, so it'll be exciting to see how this goes.

Art

Once again, my sister Rose will be joining me to do the art for the game. I'll start posting some concept art as she makes it.

Edit 7/10: Added the finished map near the top of the post.

Progress 7/10

I spent a lot of the day yesterday and then some time today watching/reading various Unity tutorials. This is my first time using the platform so I have a lot to learn. Orcs of Uberwald will essentially just be a series of menus so I'm focusing on menu tutorials, ha ha.

I also spent about six hours today making the map for the game.

This map will essentialy be the main screen for the game. Players will travel between the white spaces on the map, occasionally running into encounters (essentially small text-based adventures). I definitely won't be able to finish encounters for every space, but I'm hoping I'll at least get some done for the major locations.

This was the only art asset that I was doing myself, so now I've really just gotta concentrate on figuring out the coding.