Worlds Upon The Wind is a friend and former coworker’s passion project, set in a fantasy world inspired by Heian(-ish) Japan (794–1185). After a disaster shatters the world into thousands of floating islands (“shards”), the surviving remnants of humanity must rebuild and find a way to restore the land to the way it was before.
The game revolves around exploring different shards to collect resources. After each expedition, you return to a central hub called Haven. I wrote barks—short, one-off lines of dialogue that reveal something about the world, the lore, or the speaker themselves—for the NPCs that visit Haven. These barks made Haven feel more alive—think of all the chatter you overhear as you go about your own day!
I started with several general lines that anyone could say, then branched out into dialogue that required more specialized knowledge. For these, I read up on traditional Japanese occupations and crafts. We don’t have a lot of firsthand sources for the lives of commoners in the Heian period, and what we do know reveals little more than the existence of massive economic and social inequality, so I often encountered gaps I couldn’t fill. Fortunately, I had some freedom when it came to both the time period and the social structure:
“WutW is a more utopian take that mixes history from all across Heian to Edo [1600–1868]. . . . you can assume that the fancier customs (40-layer robes, etc.) are not practiced while ones that are interesting but don't have a material barrier (like flower arrangement) are accessible to the average person.”
-Max Shawabkeh
-Max Shawabkeh
The biggest challenge was making the NPCs feel distinct. I had to make sure I varied the cadence and phrasing so that the barks didn’t all sound like they came from the same person.
I wrote more than three hundred barks over the course of four months, and most of what I learned during the process is primarily applicable to trivia nights—for example, that winter is the best time of year to make paper, that it was socially acceptable to wear green year-round, or that Heian herbalists used cinnamon to help with circulation in accordance with the Chinese kampo system. However, I also learned how to weave historical facts into a fantasy world, enhancing the imaginary while keeping it grounded in reality. The extra layer of verisimilitude adds weight to the worldbuilding, and digging into so many tiny details gave me a better understanding of the time, effort, and diverse skills needed to support a functioning society.