Mateo San Miguel
•
Game Designer
Narrative & Progression
After crash-landing on a planet in sector 91-B, Arin Bowman contacts you to help them translate an alien language. Their universal translator broke during the crash, you are their only hope.
​
To get Arin out of the planet safely you'll have to pass a series of "comprehension challenges", where you'll be tested on your understanding of the language. New glyphs and words will be introduced during the game, giving you more work but also making it easier to decypher the glyphs and their meanings.
​
There are 4 "chapters" in the game, though these are not made explicit to the player. They were mainly used as a way to structure the progression during development. Chapter 1 functions as a tutorial and introduction to the narrative, 2 and 3 expand the world and gameplay, and Chapter 4 is the final test of the player's understanding of the alien language.
Gameplay Notes
The UI is divided into 3 windows: Communications, Output, and Cypher. Each has its own use, and the UI as a whole is made to be simple to understand and interact with. The player mainly interacts with the Output and Cypher windows, where they can choose their response to story events and take notes on found glyphs respectively.
​
Chapters 2 and 3 introduce more glyphs and words, expand the world, and present more challenges for players. In Chapter 2, players get their first hint. The computer displays possible meanings for some glyphs, giving players some pointers towards an accurate cypher.
​
I decided to add hints after playtesting showed that players are likely to convince themselves that a glyph has a specific meaning from a single event (instead of theorising and comparing possibilities). They then build assumptions from that, snowballing into a broken cypher.