Pact and Promise: The Arcane Door

Submitted for the Once Upon a Time Game Jam - Fall 2023.

The Story:

Find your friend before the Pulse injures him. Or unlock the Arcane door.

Lena and her friend Skylan practice uncommon magic in the Eastern Forest. During a break, he hunts for rare magic herbs. He does not return after a while, however. If he gets lost or injured, the Arcane Pulse - a local danger to forests and wide expanses - makes travel through the forest extremely risky and may kill him.

While frantically searching, Lena finds the Enchantress - a local, powerful, and dangerous magic user – and asks if she has seen her friend. She’d help find him if Lena agrees under one condition: unsealing her Arcane Door bound by a family pact. Help Lena find the tools for the task and Skylan’s whereabouts before the Pulse fires, and possibly more than she imagined.

Press the space bar and click through to engage with this atmospheric fairy tale.

Characters:

Main Character: Lena

The daughter of her hometown's wagon builder. She's a focused 30 year old with promising magic powers. Well-liked by her neighbors. She enjoys escaping village life by practicing tough magic powers in the Eastern Forest with Skylan, her good friend.

Skylan

A little younger than Lena, Skylan is a talented farmer and leather smith. He is her sparring partner when they venture into the woods. If they stayed in their village, they'd accidentally shoot holes again in Lena's parents' farmhouse.

Antagonist: The Enchantress

A known power in the surrounding area. She runs the decades old family business to local cities.  Resourceful, dangerous, and persuasive, The Enchantress creates potions and small metal works for adventuring, fighting, and healing. Yet, she has a soft spot for people when not in the dueling mood.

Features:

Original fairy tale story with relatable characters, and then some.

One set of branching options and one ending.

Atmospheric original score.

Short story that can be completed in less than forty minutes.

An immersive art style featuring earthen colors and textures

 

Credits:

Concept By: Luke “Toppop7” Linna, Matthew “HD Simplicityy” Birdzell (http://matthewbirdzell.com), Jonas Mor.

Contributors to Concept: Luke “Toppop7” Linna, Matthew “HD Simplicityy” Birdzell, Gideon “Gidz” Jones (https://www.deviantart.com/thegreeinator), Jonas Mor, Briar “Jackalopebriar” Wolf, Aman “Xlib” Agrawal, Harlan "HarsBars" McKay, and Allikat. Basically everyone.

Writer: Matthew “HD Simplicityy” Birdzell

Editors/ Co-Writers: Luke “Toppop7” Linna, Gideon “Gidz” Jones

Artists: Briar “JackalopeBriar” Wolf, Gideon “Gidz” Jones, Harlan "HarsBars" McKay.

Programmers: Luke “Toppop7” Linna, Aman “Xlib” Agrawal.

Original Score: Jonas Mor.

Contributing Artist: Allikat