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Since its founding, the web-based game engine Arcweave has rapidly grown both its name and userbase, quickly becoming a popular choice for indie game studios focusing on narrative-driven experiences. With free and seamless integration with Unity, Unreal, and Godot, as well as a powerful and intuitive interface, it’s easy to see why Arcweave stands where it does today.
So, to celebrate the evolution of Arcweave and its talented community, here is our 2024 roundup review of the top titles made using Arcweave.
Table of Contents
1. Star Trucker
2. Galacticare
3. BattleJuice Alchemist
4. Faeland
5. Été
6. The Foretold: Westmark Legacy
7. It's Grim Up North
Star Trucker
Do you remember falling asleep in the back seat of your parents' car? The feeling of the warm, rumbling engine against your skin, rocking you to sleep like a lullaby. For me, there's a fondness about Star Trucker that evokes this memory.
With the familiar nostalgia of Americana tunes playing from the banged-up radio and the flickering lights on the faded, 70s-looking dashboard, Star Trucker's combination of futuristic technology and retro aesthetic offers a refreshing take on the sci-fi/simulator genre.
Your time on the intergalactic road is not all smooth-sailing, however. From narrowly avoiding floating space junk to frantically charging up your batteries, the multitude of various stats and levels provide a comprehensive truck management experience that constantly demands your attention.
As a lover of narrative-driven games, one of the most fun parts of Star Trucker was tuning into the CB radio and getting to know the weird and wonderful characters floating around in space. Despite never getting to meet the other characters face-to-face, the combination of strong writing and lively voice acting creates a vivid illustration of their personalities. Featuring over 3000+ lines of dialogue, your time out in the nebula won't ever feel lonely.
So, to both the truck-simulator veterans and those that just want to try out something new, Star Trucker sits at the top of my list on games to recommend.
Here's what Dave and Dan, co-founders of Monster and Monster and developers of Star Trucker, had to say about using Arcweave in their development:
"Arcweave is super intuitive to use with a very clean layout. It enables the whole team to work on game dialogue simultaneously, exports to a variety of game engines, and allows us to quickly iterate and preview dialogue. A combination of Arcweave and custom scripting helps automate the implementation of over 3000 lines of dialogue."
Check out Star Trucker:
Galacticare
Ever wanted to clean up extra-terrestrial vomit while being mocked by an almost-violently-British supercomputer? No? Well, too bad! This bright and irreverent hospital management simulator will suck you in faster than you can say "I don't have health insurance".
Whether it's exploding moons, catastrophic raves, or boil-ridden colossals, the frantic energy of Galacticare keeps you on your toes throughout. Despite this fast pace, the clever level design does an amazing job at slowly introducing gameplay in a way that doesn't ever feel overwhelming or stressful.
Galacticare's gameplay has a flexibility that lends itself well to a variety of playstyles. If you're a casual player looking to spend a couple hours having fun, then you can easily jump into a level and start building your hospital without too much thought. Or, if you're someone who loves to plan and strategize, then you can try your hand at mastering each level by achieving a 5 star hospital rating - a task which is no easy feat!
Another strength of Galacticare was the amount of freedom the player is given in approaching each challenge. As each level involves a new hospital, the game encourages you to experiment with a variety of different layouts, styles, and approaches to see which works best for you.
With a myriad of alien ailments, hilarious dialogue, and an ever-expanding list of hospital features, Galacticare turned out to be one of the most fun and engaging games I've played in recent memory.
Lead writer of Galacticare, Dante De Glanvill, expressed his reasons for choosing Arcweave:
"Arcweave gave us an amazing toolset to simultaneously work with different character backstories, storyboards, level logic, and background lore concepts that we could very clearly connect to moments that occurred during the main story. It was a delight to use, and we'll be using Arcweave again to lay the foundations for our next narrative."
Check out Galacticare:
BattleJuice Alchemist
You know when you're playing D&D and there's that one person in your party who, whenever faced with any kind of obstacle, defaults to using dynamite as the solution? Well, BattleJuice Alchemist takes that mindset and dials it up to 100.
The ARPG follows the enigmatic alchemist in their quest to thwart the strange and surreal creatures roaming across the post-apocalyptic wilderness, a land once known as New England. With a darkly whimsical art style and a shadowy world full of secrets, this game is bizarre, bemusing, and entirely brilliant.
As is common in the ARPG genre, BattleJuice Alchemist employs a fairly complex combat and crafting system; however, the mechanics were still easy to learn due to a combination of intuitive design and helpful hints. So, while there is a lot to wrap your head around at first, the gameplay feels smooth and the combat is super fun to experiment with.
The world of BattleJuice Alchemist is dark and chaotic, with a moody soundtrack and distinctive art style that distinguishes itself from other games of its genre. Various characters are scattered across the land, each one offering a set of intriguing dialogue which provides insight into the larger narrative and lore.
BattleJuice Alchemist feels like a truly unique and entertaining entry into the ARPG space and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who loves strategy, combat, and spooky vibes. It's the perfect game to pick up in time for Halloween!
When asked about their choice to use Arcweave in the development of BattleJuice Alchemist, Alchemical Works stated this:
"Arcweave helped overcome the challenges in narrative design by offering an intuitive, easy-to-learn interface, especially for visual thinkers or those familiar with node-based workflows. The collaboration features were also a valuable bonus, enabling multiple team members to work together seamlessly, improving efficiency and teamwork throughout the design process."
Check out BattleJuice Alchemist:
Faeland
Lovers of 8-bit classics like Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest will find an instant sense of nostalgia in the vibrant pixels of this indie gem. Funded through Kickstarter, this delightful title is released in episodic chapters, allowing you to really take your time experiencing the enchanting world of this adventure RPG.
Alongside its beautiful art and music, one of Faeland's biggest strengths is its story. The worldbuilding pulls from classic RPG tropes, with all the wonderful whimsy of a D&D campaign. The main storyline pulls you into the world and carries the pace and energy of each level, urging you to venture forward.
Each chapter comes with its own unique boss encounters, puzzles, environments, and uncoverable secrets. With an extensive set of abilities and weapons, combat feels fun to learn and master. Using platforming as a way to navigate these vast set pieces allows each new environment to feel both familiar and expansive.
Faeland plays as a passionate love letter to the iconic titles of its genre, but sets itself apart through its use of clever level design, stunning pixel art, and a sensationally charming soundtrack.
Director of Faeland, Carlos Gonzalez, discussed how Arcweave supported the development of his game:
"From the moment we started using Arcweave, it immediately became a very useful and powerful tool - a must in our workflow. Faeland is a story-oriented RPG with multi-branched dialogues for each character. So, when working on a project like this, using Arcweave to flesh out the story is a no-brainer."
Check out Faeland:
Été
Amongst the chirping sparrows and bright blue skies of summer, Été paints a perfect picture of life in cosy Montreal. Lose yourself in this charming neighbourhood by taking a stroll through the bustling market, tasting the earthy flavour of freshly brewed coffee and placing the paintbrush in hand as you turn the world around you into watercolor.
While falling under the large umbrella of cosy indie games, Été places special focus on creative expression and finding beauty in the mundane. A moss-covered water tower glinting in the sunset, a crinkled coffee cup left discarded on the sidewalk; armed with your paintbrush and canvas, Été empowers you to transform these facets of everyday city life into your very own painting.
Été further emphasises these values by lovingly portraying the quiet narratives of day-to-day life. From the eccentric landlord/vintage furniture seller to the affable but constantly stressed-out barista, the dialogue writing feels grounded, warm and curiously nostalgic, as if you've met these people before or passed by them on the street.
Amongst a sea of "cosy-type" clones, Été feels like an refreshingly distinct entry that not only has a very strong and unique core gameplay mechanic but also includes exploration, collectibles, and extensive customisation. It's evident that a huge amount of passion, ambition, and soul went into every element of this game's development, and it's safe to say that it absolutely paid off.
Lazlo Bonin, otherwise known as the Creative Director at Impossible, the studio behind Été, talked about why Arcweave was the right pick for the team:
"Arcweave was the right pick for us because it was visual and intuitive. It didn’t require technical markup to create most branching dialogue. It was easy to follow the flow of conversation, and we were even able to use it more abstractly in the early phases to map out the flow of the story as a whole."
Check out Été:
The Foretold: Westmark Legacy
Hidden deep within the shadowy land of Burrmouth, lies a corrupted peninsula oozing with dark secrets and tenebrous foes. Building an ominous atmosphere of cosmic horror reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft, The Foretold: Westmark Legacy centres its choose-your-own-adventure format around a unique deck builder, blending the thriller-mystery genre with card game strategy.
While challenging, the core gameplay mechanics are extremely fun once you begin to learn the rules and interactions. The card game itself feels rather novel and only grows in complexity as you build and customise your deck. The transitions between card game combat and narrative-driven text adventuring feel smooth and inject a feeling of urgency throughout the game.
Despite being a fairly short experience, The Foretold: Westmark Legacy excels in its replayability; as the narrative diverges, each playthrough can follow a different pathway. This allows the player to achieve alternate endings, meet new characters, and discover various secrets and subplots hidden within this fog-ridden land.
Another fun element of this title are the cutscenes interspersed throughout the gameplay, complete with animation, voice acting, and music that fills the world with flavour. In fact, the art direction as a whole really carves out a distinct identity for this title which I'd love to see continued in a sequel entry.
Nodbrim, the team behind The Foretold: Westmark Legacy discussed why they chose Arcweave for the development of their game:
"Arcweave has been a great tool for our production pipeline as we wrote the branching dialogues. The Foretold: Westmark Legacy is a card game where the narrative was very important. Everything had to be voiced, so organizing this in Arcweave was really valuable to us."
Check out The Foretold: Westmark Legacy:
It's Grim Up North
Dripping with the typical snark and sarcasm of good old British comedy, It's Grim Up North follows the story of Terry, a Yorkshire detective with quick wit and dry humour. Navigate the quaint English village, investigate shape-shifting aliens, and stop the invasion of the southerners in this wacky point-and-click adventure.
Inspired by classic British comedies like Blackadder and Monty Python, It's Grim Up North excels in its hilarious writing and game design. Each and every character comes across as both outrageously silly and extremely accurate to British culture. From the ridiculously large, forever-unfixed pot holes to the insanely overpriced tuck shop, It's Grim Up North feels like a comedically absurd peek into life in a real Yorkshire town.
Adding a turn-based combat twist to the classic point-and-click adventure genre, this quaint indie game combines a mixture of gameplay styles for a truly fun and unique experience. The colourful pixel art perfectly captures the atmosphere of rural Britain as well as the personalities of those who inhabit it.
Whether you're a Brit yourself or just a fan of the funny accent and slang, It's Grim Up North is chock-full of challenging puzzles, amusing combat, and witty banter; it's truly the whole package.
Harun Ali, CEO of Bad Reaction Games and developer of It's Grim Up North, has been using Arcweave from the very start of his development. Harun commented:
"Arcweave has been an invaluable tool to help make our project a reality. Using Arcweave, we can visually design our game, allowing us to showcase the flow of various puzzles. It's also our primary source for writing the game script as it makes it easier to see the different dialogue options for our characters."
Check out It's Grim Up North:
Developing with Arcweave
Every game in this list was developed using Arcweave, the next-gen narrative platform for interactive experiences. Arcweave is the tool of choice for over 20,000 users across the globe, and is employed by people at Netflix, EA, Amazon, and Microsoft.
While this article covers a small handpicked selection of our favourite picks released in 2024, the Arcweave showcase features an even wider range of exciting upcoming titles, including the award-winning Glasshouse and the highly-anticipated Space Chef (both release dates to be announced). One of the best parts of developing a tool is seeing that tool be utilized in awesome projects; it is utterly thrilling to see such an impressive line-up of titles using Arcweave.
Loved by developers, designers, writers, and creatives alike, the talented Arcweave community only has room to grow.
Thank you to all the wonderful members of the Arcweave community who continue to deliver some of the most fun, creative, and highest-quality games on the market!