A young woman called Aruku is the chieftain of the Hawk Tribe, native to the
Tetala Island. The passing of a comet brings bad omens, upsetting the balance
of the forces of nature and plunging the population into madness and chaos.
Aruku must guide her people to survive and prosper, building structures and
exploring the surrounding islands of the archipelago, to bring back
equilibrium to the planet.

_Totem Tribe_ is a real-time strategy game with simplified mechanics for the
casual market. As in most real-time strategy (RTS) titles, each level has a
series of objectives that must be completed to move to the next one. The main
game screen shows an overhead view of the island, with buttons at the bottom
for the building, exploring and army options. The hammer and bricks button
brings up a menu showing the available building types, where the player can
choose which structures to build on the terrain. The selected building appears
in a translucent version that can be moved over the land with the mouse,
turning from red to green when it’s possible to be erected on the selected
spot.

Most buildings produce useful units. They cannot be controlled directly,
acting automatically with the player setting way points to places on the
island. The huts create new workers, that are responsible for the construction
of all buildings. The barracks produce warriors, that attack any nearby enemy.
The lodges train scouts, that explore the black patches of unknown land. Some
buildings can only be built after another one is already complete, like the
archery range that requires the workshop. Laboratories and other structures
allow upgrades to the weapons and spells.

Besides the common tasks of building, exploring and fighting enemies, the
islands have side-quests that, once successfully completed, give new
construction types and other benefits to the tribe. Some require a certain
amount of a specified object, such as a number of crystals, that are found
scattered around the island and can be collected directly by clicking on them.