ⓘ OVERVIEW

This game's currently in development. Wishlist/play the demo on Steam and join the Discord for dev updates!


Gata Guressi is a sci-fi translation puzzle adventure where you learn to communicate with the people of Hierre, a fictional star system. Translate the world's 11 languages and understand the cultures of its peoples, then put your knowledge to use to solve the mysterious disappearance of your brother and sell a rare resource to the rich patrons of Kallay Tirridor.

Dialogue options

You are Quuvol, a low-class gatherer from the troubled planet of Guressen. After the mysterious disappearance of your brother Satol, you follow his tracks to upscale bar-turned-trade-port Kallay Tirridor. You've also brought a shipment of a valuable resource called ielsek with you, but to make sales and find Satol, you'll need to understand how Kallay Tirridor's various demographics speak and think. Your background as a Guressi (someone from Guressen) may lead to unsavory interactions.

Translation gameplay

Characters speak one or more of 11 languages which you must translate to sell ielsek and find Satol. Dialogue takes you through the steps of learning these languages. As you build your understanding of the languages, you can read between the lines to discern hidden meanings and hints at a dark scheme surrounding Kallay. Investigate by making the right friends, learning new definitions and slang phrases, and catching what people really mean by their words.

👁 RECEPTION

Gata Guressi is currently in preparation for an official Steam launch in 2026 - wishlist here!
I've presented it at:

The initial university project prototype earned a 1st mark (BSc Interactive Media, University of York).

⌨ DEVELOPMENT

Gata Guressi started out as a 3rd year university project for a 3D modeling module. I wanted to simulate a slice of a larger sci-fi RPG that used language translation to get the player to understand the way different cultures from around the system think and understand the world, and then use that system to learn about the cultures, planets, history, etc. I also wanted an excuse to loredump all the Hierre worldbuilding I'd been accumulating over recent projects. Since university, I've continued work on the project and now intend to release it as my first Steam release.

The language mechanics are most heavily influenced by Chants of Sennaar, Heaven's Vault, Sethian, and Duolingo. My main visual inspirations for Kallay Tirridor were Prey's Talos I, Cyberpunk 2077's Heavy Hearts Club, Star Wars' Cantina, No Man's Sky's spaceships, and rotation sushi restaurants.

Translation gameplay

Each language has its own grammar/conventions and auditory identity. Lunsca is spoken very quickly with a limited set of syllables, making it very tricky for non-native speakers to understand. Sorpri uses long, flowery words and names instead of pronouns. Hiesca uses consistent prefixes, suffixes, and sounds to build its identity (e.g. the sound “ie”, two-syllable words, locations of importance ending with -enne, -erre, or -ette).

Irsca

You can learn more about each of the cultures over on the Hierre system page.

I wrote fictional languages and heavily built on the Hierre universe for this project. Each nation has its own history, culture, aesthetic identity, and language which you can learn about in-game; understanding the stances and worldviews of different cultures will often help you later on.

Character creator in Unity

I developed a random character creator that generates all of Gata Guressi's characters in-editor randomly with a button click. Using gradients, I created an easily modifiable set of textures and colors which characters would source for their skin tone, eye color, clothing color, etc.

Characters at Kallay Tirridor

Characters' bodies are made up of a collection of meshes for each body part. The parts a character is made up of (including their clothing and technical implants) represents their culture, status, and political/religious alignments. Traders use eye-catching hats and jackets to attract customers, asymmetric collars and sleeves are popular with the upper class, and metal/LED ornamentation is generic system-wide fashion.

If you're interested, you can find all up-to-date information about the system on the Hierre system page, including info about languages, history, culture, and basically any other concrete detail about Hierre.

🏔 SETTING

Exploration gameplay

Gata Guressi takes place at Kallay Tirridor ("The Pinnacle Trade Port"), an upscale bar on the planet of Voenn in the Hierre system. Kallay Tirridor was originally just a local bar, but expanded to become one of Voenn's biggest pit stops after its signature drink Bolet Voenni gained international popularity.

Voenn is a low-population stoney/mossy planet in the Hierre Sor region. The population is made up of small communities united under Jan Kilen, Voenn's lax leader. Life on Voenn is slow, local, and centered around arts such as music and sculpting. Voenn's fauna and geology have made it an international wonder, drawing tourism and trade from across the system.

Hierre Sor is the remote "southern" region of Hierre including planets Guressen, Voenn, Lunscu, and Lunscu's moon Dorbis. It has a lower population than the other half of the system, but thrives on tourism and trade for its rich cultures and exotic fauna/flora/geology.

Gata Guressi

Hierre is a paradise system where every planet is habitable. The Hierri colony occupied the system 485 years before the events of Gata Guressi, spreading to almost every planet in the system and quickly building cities, trade routes, alliances, cultures, and languages.