Legendary computer game designer Guido Henkel is ready to bring you a re-imagined approach to fantasy computer RPGs

• Launched: Nov 19, 2012
• Funding ends: Dec 19, 2012
• Remind Me

If you are unable to make your pledge through Kickstarter, you can also back us through Paypal by visiting the official Thorvalla website

Thorvalla is a new fantasy computer RPG that pays homage to the classics, but also takes role-playing into new gameplay territory. Getting away from the veneer of bombastic linear storytelling that modern games have to offer, Thorvalla brings back many of the traits that made classic computer RPGs such memorable experiences. At the same time, it expands the experience and reinvents the way certain game mechanics are being handled.

The result is a game that will feel fresh and reinvigorated, as you tackle the mainstay of good role-playing games: adventure and exploration, character development, critical decision making, and… yes… combat!

There is nothing that frightens the sea-faring men of Thorvalla, not even the dragons, fearsome, fire-breathing beasts they harness like the horses they feed them.

Enter a world steeped in Norse mythology, tribal mysticism and sword-and-sorcery fantasy. Meet a people as rugged and fearless as the elements they weather, fueled by an indomitable spirit of adventure. Come face to face with monsters, beasts and denizens of the Underworld in a heroic tale of conquest. Come, enter Thorvalla!

Featuring single-player party-based play, Thorvalla allows you to take advantage of the traits and abilities of a variety of NPCs that you can add to your party as the story unfolds. Along with meaningful character interaction and a wealth of dialogue, these kinds of decisions influence not only how the story evolves but also the strategies you will have to apply in order to succeed and progress through the game. Unlike modern RPGs, in Thorvalla, there won’t be any babysitting the player, funneling you down a virtually linear path of no-defeat. This is going to be an RPG where you will have to save your game… often.

Oh, and did we tell you about the dragons? Yes, they will be there. Some friendly, others not so much. Mostly not so much. Nasty problem, that… but it’s all good. Some dragons are your friend. In fact, some will serve and fight for you. Harness a dragon and he is yours to command.

This is fantasy with a real air force, but don’t expect a first person dragon flight simulator. We are still talking about a hard core role-playing game that throws you into a world of adventure, filled with twisting plots and missions.

Thorvalla is a single-player, top-down role-playing game. We are currently evaluating technologies to determine exactly which approach we will take with the game. While we are set on using a top-down view, there are still many questions that will have to be answered, such as whether to use an isometric view, or a perspectively correct top-down view, or to forgo that kind of presentation for a mix consisting of pre-rendered 2D backgrounds that interact with 3D objects and characters, or a fully 3D environment with a fixed third-person viewpoint. Nothing has been decided yet on this, and the project’s pre-production phase will serve to allow us to evaluate, prototype and test different approaches to see which works best for our needs.

One thing we can tell you, however, is that the game will in part be inspired by trading card games. Don’t misunderstand, however. Thorwalla is not a card game! Instead, it functions much more like a traditional RPG with turn-based combat. The difference will be in that the cards represent, supplement and enhance the characters’ abilities, much in the way traditional character attributes do.

In addition, instead of providing a huge one-piece game world—which typically end up being mostly barren landscapes—the game hearkens back to more traditional computer role-playing games, by implementing a system that focuses on specific areas and connects them through a map.
As in the Realms of Arkania games, the travel map will be one of the most exciting features, actually, as countless events, missions and encounters are hidden in the map that will be unlocked as the story unfolds. Occasionally, you will find a hidden path, based on information you may have obtained elsewhere. At other times you may find yourself ambushed, while on other occasions yet, you may just have managed to avoid a trap as the result of one of your characters’ many skills. Camping, hunting, gathering, discovering, and healing are just a few of the exciting possibilities the map has to offer the daring adventurer.

But first things, first. Like all serious role playing games, Thorvalla begins with Character Creation. The game will allow you to personalize the look of your character along with certain traits and skills. Choose from eight different classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, then go ahead and balance out your skills. With a wealth of skills, ranging from the use of certain weapons to things such as sneaking and tracking, you will be able to customize your character to your needs.

Thorvalla is a world rich with magic, and so, naturally, magic is also a pivotal part of the game. If your character class is a spellcaster, you will find valuable attributes and skills to fine-tune your caster’s abilities. But even if your own character does not have magic abilities, you can acquire these by adding a spellcaster NPC to your party as you progress through the game.

Cities, dungeons, strongholds and other places of interest will be playable in the game using a detailed top-down view. As you walk through these large areas, you will be able to interact with the structures, the people, the objects and more, using a simple point and click interface that is streamlined for easy play.

You are one of the hardy. One of the people who brave the cold of the North, driven by an indomitable sense of adventure, a calling to explore the world and see what lies beyond the icy spray of the ocean. On this day, like numerous times before, you find yourself leading an expedition into the unknown, when your ship is caught in a rogue storm.

Arriving from the far ends of the world, banks of pregnant, black clouds roll in, swallowing the day in a cloak of cold, dark gray. Whipthorn, your enormous combat dragon, settles restlessly against his restraints that prevent him from sliding over the side and into the roiling sea. He lets out a throaty rumble as he tries to steady himself, but the heave and roll of the ship, makes it hard for the majestic animal to find proper foothold.

The giant wave appears without warning. It simply keeps building in front of you. Higher and higher, it quickly turns into a terrifying wall of water that rolls mercilessly towards the ship. At first, the vessel tries to brave the waters, climbing slowly, but as soon as the wave crests, a deluge of water begins to push and unbalance the ship. It is tossed around on colossal waves, pounded restlessly until the timbers can take it no more. The groan of the dying ship and the splintering of wood fills the air. In a maelstrom of freezing water, accompanied by a deafening roar, the vessel rapidly disappears beneath the surface of the ocean. All hands are lost. All, except you…

With sand in your mouth and the rhythmic rocking of waves lapping at your body, you finally come to. Swept from the seas onto shores unknown, your body is too numb to move. When, at last, thin slivers of sun break through the dark cloud clusters, they help fuel your limbs with life-giving warmth. It takes a few moments for you to clear your head, sit up and pull yourself further up the beach, away from the angry surf that crashes into jagged rocks around you.

I remember! The storm… the wave… the sea devouring us…

You feel your strength returning to your body. Slowly, but as it gathers, your mind begins to wrap itself around your situation, and one thought kicks you into action. Survivors! Maybe there are others.

On unsteady feet you are slogging along the shoreline, heading south in the hope that others might have escaped the icy embrace of the Frozen Strait. There are none. Not for miles.

A strong easterly wind drives the clouds out to sea, allowing the sun to heat up the black rocks around you. Just before you, the ground rises sharply and the beach gives way to high cliffs. Tired and exhausted you limp along the high shoreline. Then, finally, a first sign!
From your vantage viewpoint you recognize pieces of broken wood, driftwood, for sure, from the wreck. But there’s more. Your eyes make out deep ridges on the beach. Something large had been struggling to get ashore, enormous limbs dragging through the sand.

Whipthorn! He’s safe…

The thought instantly kindles a spark of hope inside of you. With the dragon by your side, being stranded in unknown territory would be only half as bad. At least you could take to the air, cross large distances, be away.
But there is more. Your eyes return to the deep marks in the distance. There is blood!

Feverishly, and as quickly as your battered body allows, you descent to the beach, ignoring cuts and bruises as you skit awkwardly down the jagged rocks. You run but stop cold in front of a puddle of blood in the sand. With the sun beating down, you are forced to shield your eyes from the glare as you scan your surroundings for other signs.

The dragon is gone, and you already know, why. The traces are unmistakable. Wheel tracks, horse shoes, human feet… dead human bodies. You are standing at the center of a battle field. Whipthorn may have survived the wreck, but when the wounded animal came ashore here, it had been overpowered and taken by force!

Quickly, you remove yourself from sight, finding refuge in a grove of shrubs. Whoever has the power to overpower a dragon, even a wounded one, was dangerous.

The many years of friendship and companionship with your combat dragon, leave no room for hesitation. I’m coming for you, my friend. I will free you…

Legendary computer RPG designer Guido Henkel is the driving force behind Thorvalla. With almost 30 years of experience in the computer games industry, he has designed and worked on landmark titles, such as Planescape: Torment, Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny,  Realms of Arkania: Star Trail, Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva, Fallout 2, Neverwinter Nights and many others. Virtually all of these games have been decorated with awards across the globe as some of the best computer role-playing games, cementing his reputation as one of the industry’s premier computer RPG designers.

Guido Henkel is also the creator and writer of the award-winning supernatural mystery series Jason Dark: Ghost Hunter. Over the past three years he has published eleven individual mysteries in the series, harkening back at the days of traditional pulp fiction dime novels.

Guido has also been on the Board of Advisors for the Game Developers Conference for many years and served as the Chairman of GDC’s Mobile Summit. To bring Thorvalla to life, Guido is teaming up with some of his collaborators from past projects, in addition to including new talent with their own experience and set of skills. The plan is to have the right people for the job available in order to obtain the best possible results.

Among them is Art Director, Thu-Lieu Pham, whose credits include games such as Heroes of Might & Magic 2, and others.

In addition, acclaimed game designer Neal Hallford brings his talents to the team, a man who is known for his love of complex story lines and engaging characters. It is that passion that fueled his work on games such as Betrayal at Krondor, Might & Magic III: Isles of Terra, Planet’s Edge, Champions of Norrath, Lords of Everquest, and Dungeon Siege.

“Thorvalla is a game I’ve wanted to make for some time,” explains Guido Henkel, “because the concept of exploring new gameplay possibilities within the RPG genre have struck a chord with me. At the same time, I have been an independent spirit all my life, never one to go along with current trends and industry fads. The frenetic greed that has turned good game publishers into number-crunching, soulless corporations, looking only as far as their next fiscal quarter, has changed the industry entirely. It is the key reason I have not made a larger game in quite a while. I have been cheated and second-guessed way too many times to put up with it, so the only way for me to really go back into games and make Thorvalla is through channels that keep traditional publishers out of the equation.”

With countless fans asking over the years for a new game by Guido Henkel, fortunately for all of us, Kickstarter offers such a way. It allows you, the fans, to show your support and allow us to make a game incorporating gameplay elements that are a radical departure from traditional RPGs. No publisher would ever go there. Their market analysis would not support such a move. Well, here’s your chance to prove them wrong, and to have a hand in the making of another epic. By supporting Thorvalla, you show us that you are interested in seeing imaginative people go to work and bang out something that has not been done a million times before. This is your chance to help bring to life, perhaps, a completely new generation of RPGs.

Instead of being hidden behind corporate walls of a publisher, you will be able to see exactly what we are doing. With blog posts, screenshots and other info, we will keep all our backers updated regularly to keep you informed abut the progress we make. In such an environment, naturally, we will also seek your feedback, so this kind of communication will go both ways. You will ave the chance to give us feedback, and thus help shape Thorvalla all the way. And, perhaps, best of all, you can get early access to the game and can become part of the beta testing team once we reach that stage. At that point your feedback will be invaluable and help us craft the best product possible.

We put the power in your hands!

Developing full scale games is an expensive proposition and the money we are asking for will allow us to properly staff and fund the project. We understand that $1 million is a lot of money, but there is just no way to make a game of this scope for less. After all, Shadows over Riva cost $1 million to make—and that was 16 years ago!

The idea is to make a good, solid game, and we don’t want to do this half-assed. We are convinced of the potential this game has and will therefore make sure to build a team that brings along only the right talent and skills necessary to the vision.

The planned development time for Thorvalla will be 18 months. We know, we could tell you we will make this happen in 12 months, but Guido’s 30 years of experience have taught us that it is simply not possible to create a top quality game in that amount of time. Building it is one thing, but testing and fine-tuning it is another entirely, taking a lot more time than people typically associate with it.

The project starts with a small team of core members who do the pre-production and prototyping of the game, making sure the concepts are sound and workable. Then, after about 4 months, we will ramp up the team to lay the bricks and put this game together for good.

To show that you are a supporter of Thorvalla, and to help us spread the word far and wide, here are also some buttons for you that you can include on your blog or website. Simply right-click and save the image you like best.

Additional funding will, of course, open up additional possibilities for us, such as the inclusion of new story lines to give the game more breadth, the addition of character classes and more NPCs, and it will allow us to make the overall world bigger.

In addition, additional funding will allow us release the game on other platforms also, such as Apple OSX and Linux.

Risks and challenges Learn about accountability on Kickstarter

As with every large game project, there are risks inherent in the technology to be used. With all the experience we have accumulated, however, we feel confident that we can manage our technology needs carefully.

At this time no decisions have been made as to what core engine we will use for the game, but during the initial research phase of the project we will make sure to lock down details such as this so that we can focus all of our energies onto getting the most out of the engine and building a robust framework around it.