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A Juggler’s Tale

Development
By Rob from the Shack
“A Juggler’s Tale” is an atmospheric 3D sidescroller set in a medieval puppet theatre play.

The string puppet Abby flees from her captors into freedom and adventure: a world of beauty and wonder – but also danger! She finds herself in a war-torn, medieval fairytale, surrounded by ravaged, starving citizens and hunted by the relentless cut-throat, Tonda. Who can she trust? Can she avoid the traps and betrayal? Despite dangling from her threads, Abby learns that she can still influence her destiny – if only by winning over the audience.

Help Abby navigate a traumatized, yet hauntingly beautiful world. Lead her forward through riddles and around traps, evade her pursuers and find – perhaps – freedom!

Description

The storyteller and puppeteer Jack shows his audience the theater play of Abby, an imprisoned circus artiste. She escapes the circus and gets to explore a fairytale world, but after a brief moment of freedom finds herself dragged into the dangers this world has to offer: She crosses raging rivers, bandit camps and traps, always accompanied by the lyrical rhymes of Jack’s story.
He talks about Abby’s fears and helps her in difficult situations – while holding the strings of his puppet firmly in his ever-helpful hands.

A Juggler’s Tale offers fascinating riddles and intense story moments all around the mystical puppet theatre setting. The strings are not only a visual representation of the strong connection between storyteller and puppet, they are also our main game mechanic, creating lots of unique puzzle moments.

While still in development, “A Juggler’s Tale” won the BEST NEWCOMER Award at the German Videogame Award 2019 and won six out of twelve awards at Game Connection Europe 2019, which never happened before.

We want to link modern digital gaming culture with traditional, established theatre and poetry culture. Germany, our home country, can look back on centuries of fairy tales, poetry and drama. We grew up between these tales, legends and worlds – and combining these narratives with our love for story-driven games was our motivation to develop “A Juggler’s Tale”.
Therefore, our game is for everyone who wants to dive into a wonderful story – regardless of age, gender or gaming experience.

  • for fans of Little Nightmares, INSIDE or LIMBO
  • a short but compelling story with a surprising turn (around 2 hours of gameplay)
  • beautiful artstyle and an atmospheric soundtrack
  • a unique game setting all around string puppets