My role in Nuclear Norse

Narrative Designer.

HIGHLIGHTS OF WHAT I WORKED IN

Character Design, Narrative, Worldbuilding.

The game

• Vertical Slice
• PC
• Unreal 4
• A dystopian Sweden 100 years after a nuclear explosion that mutated forgotten folklore creatures.
• Player Character Kim Jönsson travels to Trollhöja to find answers about their great grandfathers shameful past

PROJECT TIME

June 7 2021 – June 24 2021

The story

Nuclear Norse is inspired by Swedish folklore and the history of the first Power Plant in Sweden. Everything is not historically accurate. 

In Sweden, folklore creatures and humans had lived alongside each other since the beginning of time. After centuries of coexistence humans eventually turned to Christianity and God. In 1952, in a town called Trollhöja, the priest Jan Jönsson said that the folklore creatures were an offence towards God and those who believed in them would go to hell. Soon enough they faded away from human consciousness. Folklore creatures were not visible for many years even though they still existed. 

In 1977 the creatures took revenge after years of humans harvesting their homes and threw stones at a newly built power plant. The building exploded and mutated the creatures into demons. When trying to stop the curse of the demons Jan Jönsson crucified and sacrificed children leaving them to their death. Nothing worked. The only one who escaped was Jan Jönsson and his children who left everyone else behind to die. 

100 years later Kim Jönsson, the great grandchild of Trollhöjas priest, comes back to find the answers of what really happened.

DO YOU WANT TO READ THE DOCUMENTS YOURSELF?

Character design pdf

Worldbuilding pdf

Narrative world pdf (the file may take a few seconds to download)

Character Design

• Half human, half forest troll (skogstroll).
• Born Intersexual (common for trolls).
• Identity as gender neutral.
• Kim always felt left out, motivation to find answers.

Kim Jönsson is half human and half forest troll (Skogstroll). In Swedish folklore, forest trolls look a lot like humans. Many in Trollhöja had relationships with forest trolls since Jan Jönsson had claimed that God accepted those creatures. He himself even married one.

Kim was born intersexual, like many forest trolls, and identify as gender neutral. It was never accepted in the family so Kim was raised as a girl. Kim was the only one left in the family with troll blood. They always felt different and left out. That’s what motivated them to dive into an adventure that could kill them- hoping to find answers about who they really are. 

I described Kim’s mind, desires, clothes, looks, personality, relationships, the reason they’re in the environment, temperament, family relationships and how or if it’s hinted in the environment for the player to interpret. 

I made sketches to make Kim come to life when designing the character. 

Sketch of Kim Jönsson

Wordbuilding

THE STORY SEGMENTS

1. Trollhöja

2. Industrialize
Humans harvested all the creatures homes and built a Power Plant.

3. Revenge
After years of extinction, giants threw rocks at the Power Plant making it explode.

4. Crucifixion and sacrifices
The remaining graves and crucifixion crosses are for the children who lost their lives because of Jan Jönsson.

5. The aftermath
Only Jan Jönsson survived and escapes with his family.

The story of Trollhöja had to be thorough and be contained in a vertical slice. The goal was to make everything easy to understand and make room for the player to use their imagination. The players experience all the different story segments in order through the environment, therefore I focused on delivering the main story very straightforward and then added depth so that the player could dig deeper if they wanted to, but they wouldn’t miss an important information if they didn’t.

I studied Swedish history and how small villages in Småland/Sweden looked during the 1900s, how their churches were located, and what folklore sagas meant to our society.

I read up on Christianity to make accurate points when speaking of the antichrist, the sacrifice of Isaac and Abraham and to get inspired by the crucifixion.

I read a lot about Chernobyl and how a city can be affected by a power plant explosion and what the environment around it would look and act like.

I wrote descriptions of the remains of flora and fauna, human life and the folklore creatures life before and after the power plant explosion.

A picture moodboard of the different story segments the player will walk through.

The Narrative World

• I wrote about all assets in detail 
• For more information read The Narrative World Of Nuclear Norse

I wrote in detail about the player route and what they would experience when walking there. I explained all the assets that I created for narrative depth.

Sacrificing cross, town sign, Work at Power Plant poster.

Close up on poster.

Town sign, Power Plant remains in the background.

Pathway to the church.

The abandoned village.

Jan Jönsson estate, his barn and children’s graves.

Children’s graves and the church.

”Keep Out” sign in forest.

Sacrificing crosses in forest. 

NPC’s

In the vertical slice you can find remains of three characters. Eva-Maria Jönsson, Näcken and Jan Jönsson.

EVA-MARIA JÖNSSON

She was Jan Jönssons daughter that died in the explosion when she was riding her bike. You can find the remains of her bike in the forest and her memorial photo on the church board.

Memorial photo (right) put up by Jan Jönsson.

The remainings of Eva-Maria’s bike.

NÄCKEN

Näcken was a mutades folklore creature that had grown into a big giant. In Swedish folklore Näcken lured children in the water with his hypnotizing violin so they would drown. The player faces Näcken through dialog and footstep.

I wanted to make the player feel that Näcken was always present. After getting lured to the water by his violin, the giant says his final words and acknowledges the existence of the forest troll Kim Jönsson.

JAN JÖNSSON

He is our Player Character, Kim Jönssons, great grandfather. In the game Jan Jönsson is encountered through the church board (name, services, memorial photo of daughter), the Jönsson estate, Barnamördare (Child murderer) graffiti.

Jönsson estate and Barnamördare (Child Murderer) which was written after he left town.

(left) Church board with Jan Jönssons services and his school for young children.