80 Days Dev Is Buying Up User-Submitted Short Fiction For Next Game

Inkle, the developers behind 80 Days and Heaven’s Vault, are currently developing a new medieval strategy game called Pendragon. As a part of the game’s development, Inkle has been inviting their community to submit stories that will appear in-game.

Pendragon is a turn-based combat game focusing around strategy and story, with each game having a different experience thanks to the board being randomized each time. The story takes place during the year 673 AD, with Camelot on the verge of destruction and the Round Table falling apart. Players must lead a band of knights and heroes across Britain and reach King Arthur in time.

The stories that are submitted need to be “500-word, lightly-interactive ‘campfire tales'”, as they would be acting as the folklore in-game. Characters will settle down for the night and tell each other ghost stories, fairy tales, legends, and general folk stories to keep morale up in between events. The developers have released an example text, which is just a few lines of dialogue between characters that adds a piece of flavor to the story and setting.

Stories will need to be submitted by May 5 with the Ink tool, and for every story Inkle uses in-game they will pay $50 to the submitter. Outside of the usage in Pendragon, the story will remain the property of the writer to reuse however they wish.

Pendragon is scheduled to release on Steam later this Summer.