Theme and research
As our game is heavily inspired by Vikings and Norse mythology, I had to do some research about the subject as I was not that familiar with it.
Since I typically listen to music while I work, I remembered hearing about Amon Amarth, a Swedish death metal band who themes their songs about Viking culture, history and Norse mythology. While listening to some of their songs, I researched about their topics and took some notes for later use. This allowed me to lay the groundwork for a later narrative.
I also based a bit of my research on the Norse mythology as depicted in the Marvel comics and films. While I tried to stick closer to the actual legends, I took inspiration from Marvel for the characters that would be depicted, namely the four gods that are the most relevant to the story:
- Heimdall, the foreknowing God who keeps watch for intruders (portrayed by Idris Elba). In Norsevar, he helps the protagonist progress and serves as a guide.
- Thor, the God of thunder who wields the mighty Mjölnir (portrayed by Chris Hemsworth). The protagonist seeks him to return his magic belt to him.
- Odin, the Allfather (portrayed by Anthony Hopkins). His role in the game has not been fully decided yet, but his ability to see every and all things will come into play.
- Loki, the God of mischief (portrayed by Tom Hiddleston). He is the antagonist of the story and hid Thor's magic belt to cause chaos.
Finally, my last source of inspiration came from the 2018 game God of War and its upcoming sequel, God of War: Ragnarök. From this game, three characters caught my eye, namely:
- Brokkr and Eitri, two dwarves who crafted many gifts for the gods, including Thor's hammer Mjölnir. In the game, they were merchant and blacksmith respectively, roles that they could fulfill as well in Norsevar, providing the protagonist with temporary and permanent upgrades.
- Baldr, Odin's son who was killed by Loki out of jealousy. In God of War, he fought Kratos twice, having enhanced strength and being able to regenerate, but not to feel anything, notably pain. While his role in Norsevar has not been decided yet, a person with virtual immortality could be useful.
Working in a group and writing process
While I am the only member of the group to be working on narration, this is still a collaborative project and other members are free to bring in some plot elements.
For instance, the very first draft for the script went as followed:
You play as a Viking, starting in the cold, grim forests of Helheim, the lowest of the Nine Realms. While you cannot remember how you died, you are certain about one thing: You died a warrior's death and should be feasting in Valhalla.
You grab your axe and battle your way through all Nine Realms up to Valhalla, learning more and more about what really happened.
However, as our scope narrowed down and my teammates suggesting a story about "Thor's magic belt getting misplaced by Loki in Midgard", I decided to approach the narration the same way I would write a TTRPG campaign: Write a fully detailed introduction to the story, stopping when the player would take control of the protagonist. Then, list some key plot points that need to be brought up during the gameplay. Finally, while I usually don't do it for my campaigns as the outcome isn't fixed, I wrote the conclusion of the game.
Doing like so allows for flexibility while keeping a consistent narrative structure.
- Knowing where the character's story starts and where it ends smooths out the evolution, instead of making several shots in the dark and have a potentially disappointing and incoherent ending.
- If things need to drastically change, the damage will not be as large, due to only having general reference points.
After narrowing our scope again, the story changed again. From there on, I worked on the story, dialogues and implementing the plot points in the game by myself.
Erik Einarsson, the protagonist
The story of Norsevar
You play as Erik Einarsson, a viking who was chosen to partake in the final trial of his clan's games. His task is to get to Freyrglade, a mystical clearing which was - according to the legends - blessed by the Gods. As you get deeper in the forest, you get attacked by snakes and wolves. In spite of his will and axe, he ends up succumbing to his wounds, or does he…
He wakes up at the outskirts of the forest, a giant figure clad in gold stands before him, sword in hand, his eyes as deep and dark as the night. The man introduces himself as Heimdall, the foreknowing God who keeps watch for invaders. In a deep, booming voice, he explains that Loki, the chaotic trickster God and his eternal rival, cast their magic on the forest and possessed its inhabitants for the sole purpose of messing with Erik. However, as Heimdall swore to oppose them, he decided to protect Erik and undo any of Loki’s actions that would lead to the Viking’s death, until the trickster God would give up and leave him be, although that wouldn’t happen until he would leave the forest.
After hearing Heimdall’s warning and pondering his choices, Erik decides to head back in. No hero ever backed down from a challenge, let alone coming from a God.
Implementing the story
The main thread weaving the story through the game is its dialogues.
We already had a dialogue system from Pixel Crushers, which was used for merchants. I reused this system to add lines of dialogue that would help drive the plot forward. Thanks to the help of some friends, I was able to get recordings for all voice lines, which makes the immersion even better.
During the first level, Erik will remark on the strangeness of being attacked by wolves and snakes. Once the player enters the "roguelite" loop, the dialogues are used when the player enters a combat as well as when they exit it, be it successfully or by meeting their demise. I first saw this method of short lines of dialogue used to frame combat used in Tales of Arise, which inspired me to adapt it to Norsevar.
After the first player death, the original comments are replaced with a short dialogue between Erik and Heimdall, explaining why the animals attack him, as well as presenting the antagonist, their goal and the reason the player can resurrect indefinitely. Afterwards, once the player starts a new iteration of the run, they might hear a snarky remark from Loki, taunting them and hopefully instigating a drive to go further this time.
Heimdall, the foreknowing God
Loki, the trickster God
Abandoned plots
The original game had a much larger scope. You would've played as a Viking warrior who died in combat and was wrongfully sent to Helheim. Believing you belonged in Valhalla, you would have fought your way back through all Nine Realms to get to the Warrior's Hall.
As the scope narrowed, so did the plot. You were now playing as Bo Einarsson, a Viking warrior who found a magic belt belonging to Thor, god of thunder. The belt was stolen and hidden on Midgard by Loki, god of mischief. You had to fight your way through Loki's magical forces with the help of Heimdall, Loki's rival, to return the belt to Thor. It would've been revealed that Loki weaved strands of hair from the immortal Baldr, explaining how you were able to repeatedly defy death.
Not only the scope narrowed again, but the tone of the game was also drastically changed. The number of characters was limited to three (the protagonist, now named Erik, Heimdall, and Loki), and the story was lightened. Bo was a disgruntled, grumpy lone wolf with a tragic backstory who was dragged into the game unwillingly, whereas Erik is younger, happier and chose to defy Loki when he was able to walk away. In hindsight, Bo was a clone of God of War's Kratos (his work-in-progress name was even Trakos) so dark and edgy, the early 2000s called to reclaim him.
Useful links
Mahara skin made by my teammate Paul Bichler.
Character portraits made using Hero Forge.
The asset used was Dialogue System by Pixel Crushers.