First release for Wordbug. A lot of backstory was done with some help from tooling. Game is also available at https://wordbug.io/

Wordbug

The game of Wordbug

The game is a simple game where players try to search for words from a grid of letters. The letters are chosen randomly. The player may change the proportions of the grid to adjust the alignment of characters in the grid. The game takes place in the world of Gubdrow.

The world of Gubdrow

The world of Gubdrow is populated by humanoid animals that can talk, and they have some supernatural powers and abilities. This means that they can speak, use machines and do tasks of high intelligence. They also live in their natural habitat, hunt for food and raise their young just like normal animals would do. The inhabitants of Gubdrow rely on knowledge and wisdom to overcome perils and conflict.

History

The world of Gubdrow was a peaceful and harmonious place. Different races, species and nations co-existed happily. Everyone was free to do what they wanted. The land flourished and was a pleasant environment for its inhabitats. Air was clean. This lasted for thousands of years until one day, a bug was found. It affected the central repository of knowledge but the bug was fixed and things seemingly returned to normal.

It took months for the inhabitants of Gubdrow to notice that suddenly, the bug had replicated itself and started mutating. The bugs started taking over other systems too. It did not take many days after the first impact for the whole central repository of knowledge to be taken over and corrupted. Everything started to corrupt.

After the bugs invaded, it took two full years for the infection to having spread to rest of the mirroring repositories. This resulted in quick degradation of general level of knowledge. The population of Gubdrow started arguing over what they meant and what they had thought the other meant. Words lost their meaning, resulting in misunderstandings, conflicts and ultimately, hatred. Nations turned against nations as the words started crumbling. Charaters shifted around until no single reasonable word was left. Ultimately, the characters themselves were destroyed.

Some characters managed to survive. A few words managed to escape from the main repository of knowledge and found refuge in the peripheral repositories. There, they slowly evolved and multiplied. They combined and restructured. They started with single characters, but eventually they evolved into full words. Soon, full grammars were in use again. Jargon, slang and dialects started to pour out and the world started to fill with verbal constructs and to synthesize new ones.

There were other survivors of the fall of Gubdrow too: The humanoid animals. As their world crumbled, they managed to escape certain death by using the same skill where the others failed: combination of words. In a moment of clarity, they managed to escape from the evil aura of corrupted datasets and found themselves in their own world where they had to find a way to survive.

Characters

Saash

History

Saash is a humongous wolf who loves getting intoxicated and playing musical instruments. He claims to be from Northern Wilds but actually he has no home - he is not able to return to the place his forgotten memories used to call his own. He was outcast after the great wars for the deeds he had done. Altough much of his atrocities were only to protect the innocent, there is no settlement to the past despair. Now, he believes that all sentient beings deserve respect and dignity - especially the weak.

All his life he wanted to be a warrior, but instead he turned out to be a slave of his enemies. After the war he was put under a spell and kept as a pet for his new master. After several years of being a slave, Saash began to have vivid dreams about his past and what had really happened. Ultimately he broke out and set his opressors to their place.

After a long years of sowing more terror and despair, he found peace when he had to intervene in a pillage of a city. The invading army was under the same flag as his former vile masters. He saved the innocent of the city who he saw being ushered into same conditions he once was forcewd into. Ever since that night he has been fighting on the side of the weak, even if this caused the amount of his enemies to increase.

Rugo

History

Rugo is a wolf. He comes from the Northern Land of agile hunters who are known for their honesty. His parents were the rulers of the nation before the invasion of the bugs and the great corruption. Rugo had to go through a lot to survive. He wants to provide a safe future for everyone.

Rugo was taught to hunt by his father. As he was growing up, he realized that something was wrong with the world. The flowers began to wither, the bugs began to multiply and the balance of nature was disrupted. Rugo decided to find out what was happening. He went to explore the world.

The inhabitants of Gubdrow were losing their natural power and ability to feel joy. They were becoming cynical and full of hatred. Rugo didn't know what to do. Then he came to the conclusion that he should do something to save the world. He took his weapons and started to hunt down the bugs. One by one, he eliminated all the threats. His travels took him through the whole continent. He wanted to be a legend for his people. Rugo wanted to bring back the balance of nature.

Aerith

History

Aerith is an old squirrel lady who used to be a sorceress, but now she is retired and spends her time as a bookshop owner. She comes from the Mystic Nation which is known for their knowledge of the worlds of beyond. She is one of the oldest inhabitants of Gubdrow, she is respected and feared by everyone.

Having gathered an unimaginable wealth, she greatly helped in rebuilding the capital city and the surrounding areas of the kingdom. But all her treasures can't make her happy - she is searching for something she has lost long ago... Her only purpose in life is to find the thing that would bring joy back to her heart. Will she find it? And if she does, will she know what to do with it?

Aerith's bookshop sells books that are old, rare and have powers. All of them are handmade. She can transform the world to her will. Instead of wreaking havok - like she used to massively do in the history - she now provides spells, potions and other magical things to ones she finds worthy.

Celso

History

Celso is a squirrel. He comes from the Mystic Nation which is known for their knowledge of the worlds of beyond. He lost his parents when he was young. His brother was responsible for his upbringing and he brought him to the nation of his ancestors. They had to part ways when his brother was needed to defend the nation. He always felt guilty for not being able to help his brother in time, but he knew he was doing what was best for him. Celso was lucky that there were many wise scholars there who took him in.

After having mastered his studies, Celso decided to bring peace to his nation. He used his psychic powers to help all the families who were suffering from the loss of proper words for their loved ones. He started using the forgotten old knowledge to reduce the confusion. The nation was shocked at first, but once they found out that they could use this new method to bring back understanding between each other. This new method worked and restored happiness to all of them.

Theodorus

History

Theodorus is a lizard. He comes from the Nation of Traders who are sociable and well-networked. He was not treated well when he grew up. He had to learn to cope from early on. His technical skills are beyond comprehensible. He was cast out from his society. After the thought he had lost everything, the bugs started their invasion and he decided to make peace with his surroundings.

One day when Theodorus was a child, he found a nice place to make a camp. He was looking for firewood to start a fire. Suddenly, a very strong wind came, and he lost his balance. He fell down the cliff. After the fall, he fainted. A couple of days later, when he awoke, he noticed that he has been hurt badly. He had many broken bones. His right hand was completely crushed. Theodorus, however, had a very strong will. He took his crushed hand and got it replaced by a mechanical device he had been building. Initially recovery was slow and rebuilding the surroundings cumbersome but slowly Theodorus got back on his feet.

Theodorus had to learn to cope with his physical conditions. He went through many hardships but overcame them with technical solutions. The people in his home town were not accepting him at first, since he was not able to do networking anymore, having lost his mobility and charisma. As his physical abilities were damaged, he developed his brain instead. He learnt fast and soon became smarter than his peers. His perseverance and technical brilliance earned him the respect of his fellow citizens. Unfortunately he may never attend the Great Feast of the Winning ever again.

Mira

History

Mira is a lizard. He comes from the Nation of Traders who are sociable and well-networked. He was raised well and had a happy youth. He has become the pinnacle of his society. His loyal subjects see him as a god-like being because of his heroic acts. He has been able to save his people from many dangers.

His biggest quest was abolishing the Spirit of Malice from the nearby lands, as was foreseen by the elders. One day, Mira rescued a lost princess of the nation of Lanberk who was stranded outside of his city and he brought him back to the city. Mira's intelligence, determination and willingness to sacrifice himself in order to save the princess impressed them very much. So they gave him anything and everything he ever wished - the hand of the princess.