The Wandering Village: Creating Onbu, The Giant, Walking Ecosystem

We spent three years making an odd game where you build a town on top of Onbu, a gigantic wandering beast. Our game was called Onbu. Wandering Village, and decided that the relationship between the little villagers and the giant animal should be the focus point of the game’s experience. As the leader of the village, the player is responsible for maintaining both the happiness and health of their human inhabitants and giant mount. This often becomes a balancing act as the two entities’ wants and needs don’t always align.

One of our main inspirations for the game is the 1984 anime ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ by Hayao Miyazaki. The world is based on Wandering Village is heavily inspired by the anime’s setting, a post-apocalyptic world where poisonous plants are spreading and gradually making life on the ground impossible. The game gains a new survival element. Onbu is dependent on the villager, and they need to work together in order to escape this situation.

With Onbu – which means piggy-back ride in Japanese – being such a central part of the game, our team tried its best to come up with a creature design that is both monumental and cute at the same time, while also fitting into world and making sense from a biological perspective.

Onbu, in its original design state was an animal made from flesh and blood. The player was meant to be like a flea on the giant dog’s back. Players would harvest hair and skin scales while planting their crops into the animal’s hide. Onbu was originally made out of plants and earth, but we realized that some might find this a little off-putting.

We wanted the player to feel like tiny fleas on the back of a gigantic dog… however we realized that this might be a bit off-putting…

The challenge of finding a general shape that would work for the animal was also a big one. We explored all possible directions, starting with the turtle and moving to an elk. A six-legged, maned, six-legged, armadillo. While many of these designs looked cool, we always had one major problem with them – how do we shape the back so the player can freely place their city on it? It would be ideal if it was completely flat. This is in line with the style of art that we chose. Here, the ‘earth and plant’ decision played into our hands again since it made much more sense for an earth creature to be shaped this way.

We are happy about the progress of the development and look forward to working with the community on this game. There are many exciting plans in store for you over the next few months.

Wandering VillageXbox exclusive, it is now available on Game Pass.

The Wandering Village: Game Preview

Stray Fawn Studio

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★★★★★

$24.99

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It is an ongoing project. This game may change or not over time. It could also be released as a finished product. Only purchase if you’re comfortable with how the game is currently.

On the back of the giant creature called ‘Onbu’, which is a wandering, mysterious, plant, that emits toxic spores, a group of small survivors searches for shelter.
You must become their leader and build their settlement. Form a relationship of symbiosis with this creature in order to both survive the hostile yet beautiful world surrounding you.

Build your village
The foundation of your existence is a well-functioning village. Expand your settlement over the creature’s back. Plan your production chain and optimize it to use the limited space efficiently. Make a world that is capable of facing any problem.

The creature that lives on its back
The challenges of living on another organism’s back are many. Will you bond with your creature, and survive by mutual trust? You can either become a parasite that only wants to make life better for the villagers. You have a choice.

Discover different biomes
Explore a variety of biomes, and customize your village according to the unique threats and opportunities they present. Send out missions foraging to collect rare artifacts and resources.

New technologies are being developed.
The villagers of your village can uncover knowledge long lost. Research and find these technologies. But use them with caution, because progress is a two-edged blade.

Survive in the Wastelands
The odds of survival are against you, but there is still hope.

Full details on the latest status of the game, how you can give feedback and report issues can be found at www.thewanderingvillage.com.