The Guernica Engine
My role
Narrative Designer
Studio
Nedi Games
Team Size
~2
Platoforms
PC/Android/IOS
genre
Dystopia, Cosmic Horror, Fantasy, Mystery, Visual Novel
Game Brief
You wake up in the ashes of a dead world that stretches in every direction. With no memory of who you are and no hope for survival, you are drawn to the last standing structure: a lone tower. Here, you must navigate the labyrinthian tower reliquary, and choose difficult decisions to survive and discover your true purpose within the remnants of this forgotten realm. As you ascend the tower, you learn of its terrible secrets, ancient magic, dangerous rituals, haunting echoes of past, demons forgotten and uncaring eldritch machines. Will you survive?
Overview
Challenge
Holding complete responsibility over the completion and delivery of the Narrative.
Opportunity
Having complete creative control over the narrative.
Background
For this project, I was commissioned by Nedi Games to create a Visual Novel centered around themes of fantasy and intrigue. The client aimed to develop a rich world and interconnected stories to be presented as playable narratives on their mobile gaming platform.
The initial deliverable was a prototype built in Twine. Later, I was also tasked with refactoring the game dialogue and logic to accommodate new requirements and to adapt the content for use in Articy Draft 3.
Tools
Twine
Articy draft 3
Obsidian
Miro
Google Docs
Responsibilities
Pitched, Envisioned and wrote multiple
different worlds and story Ideas for the
client.
Created the main world,
history, and lore for the game.
Created
the characters and an outline for the
story.
Crafted an expansive branching
path narrative incorporating the themes of
the story.
Used twine and Articy draft
to create one among many prototypes.
Refactored
the story and ported the prototypes for
different platforms.
Pitched, Envisioned and wrote multiple
different worlds and story Ideas for the
client.
Created the main world,
history, and lore for the game.
Created
the characters and an outline for the
story.
Crafted an expansive branching
path narrative incorporating the themes of
the story.
Used twine and Articy draft
to create one among many prototypes.
Refactored
the story and ported the prototypes for
different platforms.
The Process
01. Conceptualization
I began by finding the right themes; Since, I was given complete control of the creative direction, I chose to draw inspiration from the artist works of artists like Zdzisław Beksiński and Picasso, whose works had deeply captivated me at the time.
Picasso's Guernica
Guernica uses a stark monochrome palette and a fragmented Cubist style.
Its eerie depictions of humans, animals, and architecture draw the viewer’s focus to the devastating bombings of guernica embodying the panic, anxiety, and suffering of those lost in the Guernica bombings.
This combined with my research about Environmental Suffering helped me conjure up the theme of ‘The Ripples of Trauma‘ which heavily influenced the direction of the story in this project.
Zdzisław's fantastic realism period
His paintings of this era had always evoked a deep sense of dread and fatalism in me.
Zdzisław makes use of haunting landscapes decorated with an otherworldly grunge that could not have been reminiscent of anything other than the representation of human suffering and evil that we humans are capable of inflicting.
I tried to replicate some of this kind of existentialism and dread through the world building for this project.
Facism
There was a common theme in both: a desire to emulate the anguish of the victims of Fascism. Guernica was a starkly political piece that had condemned the bombings of Guernica, during the Spanish Civil War by the Fascist air forces of Germany and Italy.
Similarly, the “fantastic period” can be interpreted as a representation of the horrors of the holocaust. And though Zdzisław rejected those claims, his life under German occupation of Poland had an undeniable influence on his art.
Other Inspirations
Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth, and I
Must Scream
Beserk by Kentaro Miura
Nausicaä
of the Valley of the Wind
The Hotel by
Boichi
02. Developing Themes
Ethos - The Ripples of Trauma
For the main theme, I chose to explore the intricacy of the cyclical and rippling nature of trauma that is prevalent within societies.
In my reading into how trauma originates, I learnt that environmental circumstances are often the initial trigger for the beginning of any such cycle. Environmental suffering such as war, disasters, oppression, fascism, and or other intense periods of distress can drastically change one’s behavior and force them to develop maladaptive coping mechanisms. This in turn can cause them to inflict the same suffering onto others – children, communities, and, over time, these patterns can even become embedded in the very fabric of logic that shapes entire civilizations.
Like stones dropped in a pond, this trauma ripples outward, and then inevitably inward, sustaining a never-ending cycle across generations, until those effected can recognize it and break free.
This theme strongly embodies the struggle of the protagonist of The Guernica Engine, who, in the story, seeks meaning to the centuries of proxied suffering they have endured – as a consequence of a vain misguided attempt of another to right their own wrongs. This journey parallels the divisive ways in which people grapple with inherited trauma.
Core Themes:
– Trauma and how to deal
with it.
– Fascism as an ideology
deeply rooted in hate.
– Violence
as the primordial form of force and
language.
– Parent-child
relationship
– Facism
Sub-themes:
– Patriarchy in its inherently unstable
form of governance.
– Mistakes are
to be learned from or to be repeated.
–
Control and Manipulation by authority.
–
Colonial Mindset
– Environmental
Degradation
– Nature vs Nurture
03. World Building
The World of The Guernica Engine
I crafted a post-catastrophe world set a millennium after the civilization’s collapse. In this nightmarescape, scattered survivors forage the ruins for the last the of Arkana Contracts (Powerful artifacts created by the Allfathers, a group of technomancers whose reckless experiments scarred civilizations and began the end that led to the catastrophe).
The Tower
In the midst of this austerity, stands The Tower, a labyrinthine reliquary-library housing ancient knowledge, memories, and the mysterious Guernica Engine – An enigmatic instrument that was once purposed to manipulate and understand the Arkanic essence ever-prevalent in the world – which now sits fused in the tower’s edifice, powering the tower with a wild Arkana that leaks through its halls and blurs the line between memory and reality.
The Guernica Engine
The setting is meant to evoke a persistent, inescapable exhaustive dread. It embodies the final stage of the trauma cycle, where the environment itself becomes a victim, scarred by the inherited suffering passed down from those long dead. With the birth of the protagonist into this world, a new opportunity chances to confront the legacy and perhaps, finally, to end the cycle.
There’s more to the World Lore than what is presented here.
If you’d like to explore additional work I’ve done for this project, please feel free to reach out.
04. Story
Short Description
1. In a devastated world shaped by long forgotten experiments, the Player Character, known only as the Vessel, emerges from a tar pit with no memory of their origin. Drawn to a towering structure that looms over the wasteland, they enter the Tower in search of answers.
2. Inside, they meet Dorian, a sentient mural who insists that the answers the protagonist seeks lie at the summit in the enigmatic instrument known as the Guernica Engine and urges the Vessel to ascend.
3. Along the way, an unstable Arkana surge drags the Vessel into a simulated memory of the pre-catastrophe world where they encounter Fay, a mysterious girl. Unavoidable circumstances pull both of them into reality, and from there, all three of them continue upward through shifting magical chambers.
4. As the climb progresses, the begin to learn the truth. Garland, a long deceased caretaker of the Tower, reveals the horrifying reality:
The Vessel is the latest incarnation in the long
series of artificial test subjects created as a
part of an experiment by the
Compiler Mage,
(one of the last surviving mages responsible
for the catastrophe). In believing that he could create a form of
life superior to what came before, the mage
repeatedly subjected each “Vessel”
to brutal trials. One of them eventually
rebelled and killed the Mage. But instead of
chosing to end the experiment, the rebelling
subject took control of the Tower and continued
the experiments. That was Dorian.
Garland, the tower's caretaker AI, set in motion
and orchestrated the birth of one final Vessel,
hoping to end this cycle of suffering, once and
for all.
5. At the top of the Tower, the Vessel reaches the Guernica Engine, a godlike artifact that is the the source of the Tower’s power and the heart of the experiment. It offers the vessel a series of critical choices. These included - choice to whether to destroy or to preserve the Tower, to grant or to deny life to Fay, to resist or to continue the cycle of experiments , by erasing Dorian and taking full control of the tower and the experiment.
6. Depending upon player choice, the story can end in multiple different ways. (Covered under Gameplay)
05. Characters
The Vessel
The Vessel is an artificial shell created by the Compiler Mage to inherit dead world of guernica engine. (ungendered for player insert)
They were designed with traits such as curiosity, strong will, and heightened perception, but at the same time, they also lack adequate mechanisms to cope with the prolonged mental and physical distress of the experiments, resulting in impulsive behaviors and phantom pains in them.
As they ascend the Tower and confront remnants of world’s past, their path fractures into multiple arcs shaped by player decisions. Whether they accept, repeat, or resist the cycles they uncover, the Vessel’s transformation reflects the complex ways people reckon with inherited trauma and the influence they hold over others.
Dorian
Dorian is another artificial shell, born of the Compiler Mage’s grand experiment to repopulate the ruined world. Unlike most others, Dorian survived the trials, outlived his creator, and ultimately killed the Mage. Yet rather than end the experiment, he seized control of it.
Dorian was forged with a dominant personality. He is cunning, knowledgeable, and adept at scheming. However, he is also fundamentally compromised as a result of his maladaptive coping mechanisms – fixation on control, might makes right beliefs, and a lack of a physical body .
Dorian represents the “wrong” lessons taken from the experience. He is someone who co-opted the violence inherent in the system and, instead of breaking the cycle or moving past it, chose to continue it – forcefully so.
Fay
Fay is a 13 year old reverie figment the Vessel encounters during an Arkana Surge, drawn from a simulated reality of past history tied to the Tower’s deeper memory.
She was born into one of the genetically altered bloodlines designed by the Allfathers to produce Arkana sensitive heirs. From early on, Fay was being prepared as a ritual offering to become part of a mortal engine – a fate she was too young to understand, but old enough to fear. Though the original fay died long ago, her reverie is accidentally brought into reality as a byproduct of Dorian’s effort to bring the Vessel back to reality, where her presence becomes both a burden and a chance for the vessel to break the cycle.
Scarred, anxious, and soft spoken, Fay carries visible signs of past abuse but maintains a deep kindness, shaped by memories of her grandmother and the small joys they shared. Though she knows little of the world, she speaks with clarity and trusts easily, making her both vulnerable and deeply, human even as a reverie.
Garland
Garland was the Tower’s caretaker curator, a dignified construct entrusted with preserving its reliquary and overseeing its archivists.
During the Compiler Mage’s proprietorship of the tower he remained silent about the experiment, but when Dorian took control and twisted the trials into something far more brutal, and began to damage the tower through reckless use and shortening its lifespan, Garland could no longer stand aside.
Working in secret, he sabotaged systems and helped sever Dorian from his body, but died before completing his plan or meeting the Vessel. Before his end, he passed his intent to one of the last archivists, setting a quiet plan in motion.
When the Vessel awakens, it is Garland’s lingering will that guides them to the Guernica Engine, offering a final chance to end Dorian’s reign and shut down the experiment.
06. Dynamic Character ARC & Gameplay
I wanted to create a dynamic character arc for the protagonist that would reflect the complicated ways in which people learn to either deal with their trauma or co-opt it.
For this, I wrote multiple differing arcs that the player could pursue by making certain choices throughout the game.
These choices are grouped into different categories where each type thematically represents a certain aspect of the struggle of the Trauma, like –
- Acceptance (Central Thread) - Accepting the past and forgiving those who hurt you.
- Propagation (Secondary Thread) - Learning to identify and control your harmful behavior, and making an active effort to not let those around you be affected by them.
- Control (Tertiary Thread) - Understanding the relation between oneself and authorities.
The ARC,
The central thread of
the protagonist’s
arc is
acceptance
– coming to terms
with the difficult truth
of who they are and what
precedes them.
(This includes
identifying and
confronting the
cycle of
trauma.)
Over the course of their
journey, the protagonist
uncovers the full extent
of their past and
gradually understands
how the world came to
its current desolate
state.
When the
Guernica
Engine
finally reveals itself
and binds to the
protagonist, it presents
a critical list of
facilities and
choices:
- Whether to hand control of the Tower over to Dorian or assume control themselves
- Whether to erase Dorian or let him live
- Whether to destroy the Tower or allow it to remain
Thematically,
these choices respectively represent:
Accept: To accept the past and acknowledge its failures, or to deny it and justify the oppression as a necessary evil
Forgive: To forgive those who have caused pain, or to choose not to
Forget: To forget the past and start entirely anew, or to remember it and move forward with its weight
Each decision represents a key step in the process of healing from trauma.
Mechanically,
these choices allow the player to pursue distinct paths toward catharsis, shaped by what they’ve learned from the Tower’s reliquary, its inhabitants, and their own personal reflections.
The decisions are entirely player-driven, to shore up the idea that the journey towards healing and understanding trauma is deeply personal and non-linear.
Thematically,
It represents the voice everyone has in the back of their mind, continuously critiquing and demeaning them.
This is the voice that becomes a surrogate for all the negative and constant derogations that are directed at them by others, by authority figures, even when they are no longer around.
They lose all shape and form and become mystified, lingering whispers.
Mechanically,
The voice is there to color any first impressions of the player and influence their decision-making.
It has no direct effect on the game, other than softly trying to influence the player themself. However, over the course of the game, choosing to listen to the voice and follow its advice will make the vessel slowly lose control of their body and become weaker over time.
Once a threshold is passed, the vessel’s body becomes to weak to make use of the Guernica Engine at the end of the game and perishes.
Narritvely,
This disembodied voice recurrently speaks to the protagonist, sometimes at vital moments preceding a player choice and sometimes when it feels it needs to be opinionated about something that just happened.
It is a remanent of the compilermage’s instructions to the shells, to help them navigate the tribulations of his experiments.
The Arc,
The protagonist begins the story with a disembodied voice speaking to them, at first it seems helpful, but gradually it can become apparent that listening to it too closely can lead to decay – a loss of agency, strength, and ultimately life. This sets up a side conflict between external influence and inner autonomy.
The ARC,
The Propagation arc is about the protagonist learning to identify the harmful behaviors that have been programmed into them and coping mechanisms they have inherited or developed, and making a conscious effort not to let those around them be harmed by the same.
This arc is tested through their interactions with Fay,
Mechanically,
Throughout the game, the player is given repeated chances to interact with Fay in ways that demonstrate care or neglect. These interactions directly determine her fate.
If the player consistently treats her with kindness and guidance, they unlock the option to save her near the end of the game. If not, her death becomes unavoidable.
Thematically,
Propagation represents the way trauma spreads when left untended, through learned behavior, and unconscious influence. People often replicate what was done to them, especially when under pressure, and pass it on to others without meaning to.
07. Refactoring
Along with the technical changes, the UI layout was also updated to be more compact, so I adjusted the writing to fit the smaller design and word limits, ensuring everything was still clear and effective in the new format.
As the project progressed, the requirements shifted, and we needed to move to a new platform, which meant using Articy Draft for the prototype. I wasn’t familiar with it at first, but I quickly got up to speed with its features and used it to create what was needed for the new platform.
After finishing all the prep work, I executed the story and created multiple drafts of the game prototype using, twine and articy draft. After multiple rounds of editing, I delivered the prototypes to the client for further development.
Twine Prototype - Branching Paths
This is a quick demo of the prototype. You can play through it and see a small introduction to the story and the world.
If you would like to see more of it, please feel free to reach out.
08. Review
There’s more to this case study than what’s presented here.
If you’d like to explore additional work I’ve done for this project, please feel free to reach out.
