Language

The starting point for my research was mind map I made in class during a brainstorming session with my coursemate Izzy. I chose this area of study because I find it fascinating how the human need for communication lead to creation of up to 31,000 different unique linguistic systems throughout human history with over 7,000 still in-use today.

Circled and underlined terms are the ones that drew my attention the most. I found them interesting in terms of both theme for the game and its mechanics.

Sketch of how decoding a non-verbal, made-up language mechanic could work in game. It can also contain survival element. The player has the ability to note down what they think the signs mean. For example, a sign on the club could mean “weapon” or be someone’s signature.

Second sketch representing the mechanic of patterns, structures or rules. The sign from the first sketch is repeated in the second sketch. If it’s the second time the player encounters this sign, they can note down what they think it means, with the ability to access and change their notes at any time. For example, this sign could be guiding the player in certain direction, or it could simply mean “tree”.

This kind of mechanic has already been used in games and a great example is “Homicipher”, a dark romance visual novel. In order to survive (and establish relationships with monsters present in there), the player needs to deduce the meaning behind their words. The notebook with all the recorded terms is accessible at all times and can be edited in case the player finds their initial translation to be inaccurate.

Another popular example of this mechanic are cryptograms where each number or a letter corresponds to a different letter. The player wins when they manage to decode the phrase hidden with the cryptogram.

Screenshot of a mobile game Cryptogram: Word Brain Puzzle

When doing a research in library, I’ve stumbled upon a book titled After Babel: aspects of language and translation by George Steiner. It was the connection between language and time that later led me to research time further.

Steiner, G. (1992) *After Babel: aspects of language and translation*. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The definition of ‘interior time’ was also something that sparked my interest. It seemed like it might be useful when generating ideas for mechanics associated with time, so I decided to look into it further.

Mind map about mechanics. Initially started off with language-related mechanics but it quickly connected to time.

History and Language

When researching I also became interested in how language looked like throughout all historical eras. I started off with looking at what historical periods were there in total.

From there, I decided that rather than looking at language in each historical era separately, it might be a better idea to look at history in general. Notes from my reserach are presented below.

Link to the 4 Themes Research Presentation I gave in class: https://sites.wsagames.com/ms22g23/week-3-3/

Time →