Andrew Stewart – Game Designer

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-NtGBS_LxA

A Town Called Hjell is a strategy puzzle game where players must survive long enough to escape by sacrificing their townsfolk to a monstrous creature. The game was made as part of the Yogscast 2019 Jingle Jam. It was made by Matt Burgess and myself in 48 hours, produced in Unity for PC. I took the lead in feature design and programming, with Matt taking point on visual design, technical art and UI/UX design.

The theme for the jam was ‘giving’ (’tis the season after all), with a range of modifiers designed to provide inspiration. While looking at synonyms for giving we came across ‘offering’, which the concept of A Town Called Hjell is based around. We were intrigued by the idea of offerings and exploring the concept of giving as an act that deprives oneself in pursuit of an abstract goal, rather than a transnational relationship that is endemic to many game mechanics.

In A Town Called Hjell players take on the role of a Viking chief who’s clan is beset by the Nidhogg, a notorious monster from Norse mythology. To keep the beast at bay the player must sacrifice one of their clan each night, surviving long enough to construct a long-ship and escape. Each day random events will test the player’s town on a range of survival metrics, which are improved by clan members stats and player’s action point spending.

The primary loop is based around days (turns) that are divided into three phases. In the first phase players consult the town shaman to receive predictions about potential events that may befall the down that day, expressed in the form of stat checks.

In the second phase players prepare for the possible events by spending action points in either one of the five main buildings (that provide slight buffs to their respective stat) or to one of their villagers, that apply more substantial benefits but with additional consequences. At the end of this phase the event will take place, with a reward for passing and a punishment for failure. Some events are not stat checks, including windfall benefits or additional characters for your camp.

In the final phase of each turn, players must choose one of their villagers to sacrifice to the Nidhogg, after which the next day will take place. After 12 turns if the player has managed to survive and construct a long ship (which advances every turn unless certain events are failed) then they will receive a positive ending, otherwise being shown a more sombre outcome.

The game features a complete game loop with randomly generated villagers and daily events to improve repeat plays. All visual assets were produced during the jam including the randomised character portrait generator. The only third party assets are the font and background music (credited).

I really enjoyed working on A Town Called Hjell, and appreciate Matt for getting me involved and working so hard to produce a characterful and unique title. The project gave me a chance to develop for a new genre compared to my existing body of work, and gave me some great experience to channel into our long-term collaborative project Pixel Fixer (see development diary for more information).

If you would like to play A Town Called Hjell for yourself, it is available on itch.io: https://mattydidsomething.itch.io/a-town-called-hjell