Helvengard #006
How Helvengard Was Born

After finishing my second game, I knew the next step had to be different.

I didn’t want to build just another project.
I wanted to finally create the game I had been thinking about for a long time.

And this time, I made a conscious decision:

I didn’t start right away.

Instead of going directly into development, I took a step back.

I spent months thinking.

Exploring ideas.
Comparing different approaches.
And deliberately rejecting many of them.

I asked myself fundamental questions.

Should it be 2D or 3D?
Top-down or something else?
Singleplayer or multiplayer?
Small and focused, or something deeper?

Every option had its advantages.
But also clear trade-offs.

And for the first time, I made these decisions consciously.

Out of all these ideas, one stayed.

The idea of a brotherhood.

Not in a romantic or abstract sense,
but as a system of people working together.

I come from Switzerland, and if you look at its origins, you see something very clear:

People came together.
Not to serve a ruler.
But to decide together what is best for everyone.

That idea stayed with me.

And it became the foundation of Helvengard.

This was never about recreating history.

It was about translating a principle into a game.

A group instead of a single hero.
Cooperation instead of individual action.
Structure instead of chaos.

From that point on, many decisions became easier.

If cooperation is at the center, it has to be experienced.

That made one decision clear:

Helvengard has to be multiplayer.

Not because it’s easier.
But because it fits the idea.

At the same time, I didn’t want a chaotic multiplayer game.

The goal was not to control a single character directly,
but to build and manage systems.

You give commands.
You define tasks.
You create structures.

For example, you don’t simply move a unit.

You recruit it.
Assign it a role.
And integrate it into a larger system.

That’s how the game grows.

At its core, Helvengard is about defending a community.

A group of people who chose to stand together.

The city is located in the Alps, in a strong and strategic position. It has resources, it has value — and because of that, it attracts attention.

The enemies are not monsters.

They are other groups of people who want control over what Helvengard has.

That creates a different kind of conflict.

Not a simple good-versus-evil story,
but a clash of interests.

One of the most important parts of this phase was defining what the game should not be.

It should not be a pure action game.
It should not be chaotic.
It should not be focused on a single hero.

Everything had to fit together.

The idea.
The mechanics.
The structure.

At the end of this phase, I didn’t have a finished game.

No code.
No graphics.

But something much more important:

A clear direction.

Looking back, this was one of the most important steps in my entire journey.

Not building something,
but understanding what I want to build.

And that’s where Helvengard begins.