I HATE ORCS
I Hate Orcs by Leslie Apland is a quirky take on tower defense games with its level-based gameplay. In this game, you're on the move, dodging orc projectiles and using the environment to your advantage. There are no weapons to wield here — just your nimble maneuvers and the satisfaction of completing electrical circuits that zap those pesky orcs into oblivion.
Created during a game jam in 2023 with the theme "connections" and powered by Unreal Engine 5, I Hate Orcs started small but has grown as Leslie Apland has gone back to polish and expand the game.
The game's unconventional approach struck me right away — you're not fighting fire with fire; instead, you're outsmarting orcs with your wits and reflexes. It's all about finding ways to protect yourself while making your way to the crucial connection boxes in each level.
Leslie Apland is currently working solo on I Hate Orcs and is still early in development. I'm curious to see where Leslie takes this game next—it's definitely one to watch for anyone who enjoys inventive gameplay and a good challenge.
I Hate Orcs supports keyboard and controller and is currently free to download on itch.io for Windows.
Puppet: Hi, this is Puppet and I am here with Leslie from Quiet Rain Studios. Did I say that right?
Leslie: Yep.
Puppet: Perfect. Okay. And she is developing I Hate Orcs which is the game that I demoed a little bit earlier today. Very unique and very cool, actually. So I've come back and Leslie has agreed to answer some questions with me. First off, how is the convention going so far?
Leslie: I think it's going really well. It's so nice to be here. Everyone's been really great. It's been so great to have people come and test the game and help me out, and everyone else at Seattle Indies has been a lot of fun to work with here as well. I thought the convention, I know this is the first year, but it is really well organized. And everyone organizing it is very friendly and helpful.
Puppet: Yeah, I thought so too. It's their first year. And we just heard about it a couple of months ago and I’ve been so impressed by it. So it's cool to hear from your end that it's just as organized and friendly as we felt.
Leslie: Yeah.
Puppet: So, um, tell me about your game. What is it and what made you create this game?
Leslie: Well, it has been described as a reverse tower defense game. It’s 3D, you play as a third-person character running around the world avoiding the projectiles thrown by orcs. You go to the connection boxes and connect them, which electrocutes the orcs, and they die. And it's a level-based game. I started developing it for a game jam. The theme was “connections”, which is why it came out the way it did. And after the game jam, the game jam was just two days long, and after that, I fixed it up to be a portfolio piece and put it on LinkedIn and kind of forgot about it for a while. And then Seattle Indies put out the call for games for this GeekFest. I was curious how my game stacked up, so I submitted it.
Puppet: Oh!
Leslie: Yeah.
Puppet: Very cool. Okay, so is this your first game then?
Leslie: Yes and no.
Puppet: Okay.
Leslie: I have a series of games on itch.io
Puppet: Okay.
Leslie: They're in various states of finished-ness. This is definitely the first game that I've demoed.
Puppet: Cool. Yeah. How has that been? How is demoing? I know we're in the first day so there haven't been a whole lot of people coming by yet. But what has been your first reaction to this, like, your first experience?
Leslie: Yeah, well, I'm thrilled that most of the bugs got squashed. (laughs)
Puppet: (laughs)
Leslie: And people have been pretty complimentary about the game. Play times have been short. And people have been a little confused in places about the UI. So I have some stuff to go fix up there.
Puppet: Yeah. If you could go back in time and change one thing or give yourself some advice at the beginning of your development process, what would that be?
Leslie: That's a hard one. Because the game has fulfilled different needs at different stages. Initially, I think I did just fine making it for the game jam, because the goal is to make a complete game and have something done at the end of the jam, and it was, and then I went back and kind of tore the guts out and refactored a lot of the code. And that also came out pretty well.
Puppet: Yeah. Very cool. Yes. Yeah. And you said that you were going to be adding things and developing things. Can you talk a little bit more about, like, what's on the horizon for this game?
Leslie: So right now, one of the only things you can do…of the only things you have control over that you can do is dodge. And I think that adding the ability to dash and jump and possibly crouch in some way would be good. I was thinking of adding some points around the game that the player could run around and pick up in different areas, encouraging them to explore the map a little bit more. And then, between levels, they could spend those coins on additional dodges or jumps, etc.
Puppet: Yeah, very cool. I know I mentioned this when I was demoing the game with you, but I thought it was really unique that this is a game where you don't have any weapons. You have no way to fight back. You just dodge. Is there a reason why you set it up that way?
Leslie: It was faster to code.
Puppet: (laughs) Cool, yes.
Leslie: For the game jam.
Puppet: Well, I found it really interesting. I mean, I play a lot of indie horror games where that’s a lot of the horror aspect: it’s like you're, you're faced with a monster of some sort, and you have nothing with you, so how are you going to respond to that? If you could only run, you can't turn around and fight. And so yeah, I just thought that was really interesting. So it's funny, it was just happenstance for you, but you know, one of my favorite parts of your game so far actually. (laughs) That's really cool.
Leslie: Yeah, that's a special part of horror, isn't it? That you are defenseless and helpless and have to run away from the scary thing.
Puppet: Yep, yeah. And that's the draw for me. You know, the adrenaline gets running, because it's like, oh, my gosh, what are we gonna do? (laughs)
Leslie: (laughs)
Puppet: And that's, that's the definition of horror, you know? Yeah. Cool. Um, so, last question for you. What advice would you give to other women who are looking to become solo devs or working on a team or so on? Do you have any advice for them?
Leslie: Standard stuff. Even if you want to be solo, it's really useful to be part of a group. Like I'm part of Seattle Indies, I get to meet a lot of people and get their advice. So look out for local groups, wherever you are, and join and talk to people. And there are some great groups online. Um, I figure, one of the biggest challenges people have with Game Dev is usually just finishing. And even in the sense that you might not have any game dev skills at all, how do you learn them? Pick something. Figure out how you learn, figure out how to keep yourself motivated to finish things. For example, I like structure and courses so college was good for me, having that structure. And one of the ways I learned on Unreal Engine was taking an extended course that took me all the way from beginning — haven't touched to barely touched the engine before — to creating an entire RPG where your third-person character is running around and hitting people with your sword. So, figure out what works best for you and find a tool that meets your needs. And there's so much to learn in Game Dev just don't get discouraged.
Puppet: Yeah, I feel like that's a theme for me too. Just in the gaming industry in general, in anything you do in life. You know, you're gonna get knocked down; learn how to get up again. You know?
Leslie: Yeah.
Puppet: Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Leslie. Um, can you do me a favor and go ahead and tell us where can we find your game online? Where can we find more info if we're interested?
Leslie: Yeah, my game can be found at leslieapland.itch.io/i-hate-orcs
Puppet: Cool. Awesome. All right. Thank you so much, and have a great rest of your convention.
Leslie: Thank you. Lovely to talk to you.
