The Forge
Reach out to heal a broken man while aiding his quest for revenge.
Roles: Narrative Designer, Writer, Programmer, Artist.
Tools used: Twine, Ren'py, Adobe Photoshop.
Solo project.
The Forge is a game I created for my Non-Linear Storytelling course in the 1st year of my studies at Sheridan College. It’s a visual novel based on Irish mythology, where you play as the smith Goibniu, who’s tasked by Manannan Mac Lir to assemble an arsenal to aid in his quest for revenge against the Oilliphéist.
Play it here!
Roles
Narrative Designer
I designed the game’s progression, such as what decisions the player could make, and how they’d affect the ending. All of it was finalized in Twine initially, where it could be easily visualized and changed, before recreating it in Ren’Py for the final version where I could shift my focus to assets. If using Ren’Py failed, I could also fall back on the Twine version, refining it instead.
Writer
All of the game’s text was written by me. I had a specific dynamic in mind for the game’s duo of characters. While Manannan Mac Lir is much older and more jaded than Goibniu, his youth and more optimistic outlook can illuminate the dark time he finds himself in. Goibniu, however, also has his own insecurities hidden beneath his demeanor that Mac Lir can help him through.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
The project had a major learning curve, as I’d never used either Twine or Ren’Py before. For Ren’Py specifically, I had to do look at online tutorials in addition to the documentation and some practice to feel comfortable with it. All of this was occurring later in the semester as well, so I needed to do this while juggling the projects in my other courses at the same time. For projects since, I've made sure to learn any unfamiliar software or tools well in advance if possible.