Lead- Writing and Artist Teams
Drafted an outline with clear narrative direction using governing styles as gods
Created meaningful characters and motivations through voice lines/actors alone
Presented proof of concept, mid-scope, and final product to investors and peers
Built a complex, but uncomplicated plot/world players can easily get immersed in
Directed and cast voice actors to aid in storytelling so players could connect the story dots
Iterated on the story, voice acting, and voice lines based on peer and executive feedback
Presented Aierlon at "The Celebration of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity" and led a demo for the game
Aierlon has amassed over 2,000 downloads on Steam with many positive reviews
Scrapped choice mechanic where the player could switch their god and defy Eniki with efficient scoping
Communicated between 4 departments for shared vision and scope
Edited and produced the trailer alone using adobe after effects
Stepped into the producer role when needed
Quick Summary:
Awoken by a strange voice in a dark temple, the champion is quickly thrust into "The Trials of the Gods". Using his archery skills and wits, does he have what it takes to survive?
Genre: Puzzle Platformer.
Contribution: Lead Writer, Artist, Designer, and Sound Designer.
Team: 1 Writer, 6 Developers, 3 Artists, 11 Designers, and 2 Sound Designers.
Fun Fact: Aierlon is in the Steam library with over 25,000 downloads and a speedrunning page!
All voice lines in chronological order.
Game Trailer
Trailer made by Nathan Raia
Detailed Overview
You are chosen to compete in the “Trials of the gods”, a gauntlet of challenges and puzzles deep inside a Mesopotamian temple. Through your skills of archery and ancient gifts bestowed upon you by the gods, progress through each increasingly difficult challenge in order to claim leadership for your god. Your arrows are paramount to your survival. Use them to break targets to reveal exit doors, drop hidden platforms, and use your skills to quickly navigate fast-breaking platforms before perishing in the abyss below. Only one champion ever emerges from the temple. Will you be that champion? Or will you disappear deep inside the temple, never to be seen again? Trust is the key.
Aierlon was made for my senior Game Studio course in the Fall of 2021 in a group of twelve other students. Game Studio is a preliminary capping course (only available to senior game developers) that breaks the class into two groups who each make a full game over a semester. The key to a successful game with such a short time frame is always scoping appropriately and keeping up with communication.
Full Game Plot: Spoiler Warning!
Aierlon approaches the time where a new leader must be picked. These times are always the most turbulent. The old leader is getting ready for a power exchange since they are too old to continue ruling. Four members of the society are chosen by the gods to become champions and must enter the temple of the gods. They will be tested by the gods, but they should be warned no matter how many people enter, only one has ever come back out.
Each god is trying to win over the society and whichever god's champion wins has a puppet in control until the next leader is chosen. The player is chosen by a god who introduces himself as Nuzion and gives the player an enchanted bow. As the game progresses, Nuzion seems to get more and more aggressive until the last couple of levels where he reveals himself as Eniki, the god of Anarchy.
As other champions perish in the temple, the other gods reveal themselves and try to warn the player they’re being deceived. In the end, the player can choose whether they embrace Eniki who has helped them along the whole way. Or attempt to reject Eniki for what he wants for Aierlon.
But in the end, did the champion really have a choice?
Character Breakdowns: Potential Spoilers!
The Champion
Art by Katarina Tzortzis
One of the four champions chosen to compete in the “trials of the gods” claimed by Eniki posing as Nuzion. Not much is known about this character other than they are highly skilled in archery and a mysterious symbol appeared over their head claiming them for the trials.
Eniki
Art by Tyler Pranger
Art by Katarina Tzortzis
Art by Nathan Raia
Eniki is the god of anarchy and rightly so because he is a trickster god, always pushing an unseen agenda and he seems to mess with the champion just for fun. Eniki's goal for Aierlon is to plunge the society into everyone for themselves. Eniki, in all his years of governing over Aierlon, has only ever won a trial of the gods once before and it ended terribly. Eniki is with the champion the whole time, at first masquerading as the god of socialism, Nuzion in an attempt to come off more genuine and earn the champion's trust.
Once all other champions have perished in the trials, Eniki reveals himself and starts unveiling his plans. However, there are parts in the game where the player can start to see that something is amiss with the way the one who claims himself to be Nuzion is acting. There is also a part where the real Nuzion shows up telling the champion someone has been blocking him from communicating.
The direction I really wanted to take with Eniki was that at the end of the game, the player could choose whether they want to reject Eniki or not. I had both ends written but unfortunately; it wasn't in scope, so I created an ending where the champion is almost a bystander and has no choice in the matter as the gods squabble. The player's character gets possessed and the vision Cosmos has comes to pass. My hope for Eniki was for him to come across as a character who almost has a point in their actions but is too crazy to be considered seriously. The inspiration for Eniki came from Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2).
Cosmos
Art by Tyler Pranger
Art by Katarina Tzortzis
Art by Katarina Tzortzis
Cosmos is the goddess of democracy and is written almost as the leader of the four gods. Her champions have ruled over the Aierlon for so long that both Londros and Nuzion seem to have given up trying to win the trials. Cosmos is obsessed with balance, which is why her symbol is a scale, yet her rule never seems to truly work out in everyone's favor. There are still poor families that go hungry and an elite class that lives much better than the rest of Aierlon.
Cosmos attempts to come across as the divine, confident, and all-knowing ruler she thinks of herself as. She begins by not even paying attention to the champion, since she believes it's just another champion that will die like every trial. Once the champion proves himself resilient, she takes notice and starts to talk him out of winning because of Eniki. She tries to appeal to his sense of humanity by telling the champion she's had visions of him standing over burning fields smiling at the destruction, but it doesn't work.
Cosmos eventually realizes that the champion will not back down and attempts to use the support of Londros (her brother) and Nuzion to prevent Eniki from leaving the temple. It works until Eniki possesses the champion and walks out of the temple unaffected by Cosmos' attempts at blocking him. Thus Cosmos' vision comes to pass and the fall of Aierlon begins.
Londros
Art by Tyler Pranger
Art by Katarina Tzortzis
Art by Katarina Tzortzis
Londros is the god that represents authoritarianism or dictatorship, and inspiration for him was taken from medieval kings. Londros' mantra is "if violence has any shot of working, punch it in the face" and the player actually sees that in one of their first encounters. Londros talks about how he told his champion to knock down the wall, and they ran right into it knocking themself out.
Londros very much thinks of the trials as a game and enjoys making fun of his champion, the player's champion, and his sister Cosmos. He doesn't expect to win but as the possibility of Eniki winning becomes more and more assured, Londros actually seems to become serious at points asking the champion to not let Eniki win.
In the early stages of the development of Aierlon, I toyed with the idea of having the champion pick which god they wanted to be claimed by, and Londros would probably have been the most fun path to choose. He has a thunderous laugh and doesn't seem to take anything too seriously (unlike his sister), so the dialogue that could have been written would have been incredibly humorous.
Nuzion
Art by Tyler Pranger
Art by Katarina Tzortzis
Art by Katarina Tzortzis
Nuzion is the god of socialism and is seen as the most level-headed of the four gods. He is calm and methodical, as showcased by our brilliant voice actor Ethan Maslyn. Nuzion has the most voice lines out of the four thanks to him being the god that follows the player around and helps him through challenges. He serves to drive the story forward and give a bit of exposition to the champion.
Nuzion is meant to be the type of person that is always cool, but when they're provoked and pushed past a certain point, they're the deadliest of the four. Unfortunately, I didn't get to explore that as much as I'd like because Eniki was posing as Nuzion and blocking him for a good amount of the game.
Nuzion harbors a deep hatred for Eniki, which was a big reason Eniki chose to masquerade as Nuzion. This hatred stems from the fact that Nuzion believes Eniki has no morals or actually wants to do anything good for Aierlon. Nuzion wants the trials to be preserved and knows Eniki must be stopped even if his only crime was impersonating another god.
My role in Aierlon
I was appointed Lead writer, and I was tasked to help the Art team out with anything they need since writing and Art goes hand in hand for games. As the Writing lead, I was able to craft Aierlon's overarching story, its characters/protagonist, their voice lines, dialogue, as well as make narrative decisions for the appearance of the game. This was done through narrative choices like adding in the banners to each level, then once a god's champion died, their banner would be removed from the future levels.
