From mechanics to story

Trollskogen was originally pitched as “a calm exploration in the woods” because in the beginning, I was basing the game entirely on the mechanics alone. There was no story, no real cohesion between several of the levels, and no text. Each level was a small puzzle that players solved using a newly introduced mechanic each time. It didn’t feel as rewarding as it did frustrating, because more time was spent figuring out how to solve it rather than enjoying the feeling of completing it. Each level was also over very quickly, with minimal amount of cutscenes, camera zooms or sounds. Players wondered if there was a story or underlying meaning to the game, so I had to work on improving the story-telling through mechanics. It was a very fun challenge, and I also ended up adding written story texts in between each level to tie it all together. The story is loosely based on “The Changeling”, so I was able to adapt it to my own story which turned out to be pretty personal.

Today I describe it as an interactive fairy tale, because it just does that: tells a short story through interaction. It’s meant as a way for a child and their parent or older sibling to collaborate and enjoy a calm moment together, as they would with a written fairy tale. It’s inspired by the moments I myself had as a child, when my mother would read me fairy tales about the Nordic woods or sing me lullabies about the trolls that lived there.

Trollskogen has gone from a paper concept I sketched soon five years ago, to a small tech demo I created two years ago, to a complete game today. I’m excited for it to be up for pre-order now on the iOS Appstore, and within a few days it will be available for the world. I’m super proud of myself, it’s such an achievement for me to have created this personal project that has been part of my own journey in finding myself again. Thank you all that have supported me throughout this process, it’s been intense emotionally, but oh so rewarding ❤

If you have an iOS device and want to pre-order Trollskogen, you can find it on the AppStore 🙂