Building the language

We studied Esperanto, hieroglyphs and various symbol languages, all much more complex dialects than we'd need for Tork. But even coming up with the small subset of dialogue we needed for the game brought its challenges.



There was an extra layer of abstraction in the game: While most people in real life understand what an apple is regardless of linguistics, we had an abstract symbol identifying an unknown object. We had to find a balance between enough interesting complexity and not frustrating users.



We saw the Torkians as a bit of a peaceful hive mind, and as such they didnít have words for you or me. So how would the user ask a particular Torkian for something? How would they learn symbols?

We built the Dek, your computer helper, to collect symbols for you and track all conversation. We wanted users to be able to put in their own symbol translations, so whether they decided a symbol was "open" or "suck", as long as it worked for them that was fine. And as users became more familiar with the game, we provided hot keys to make Torking quicker.

Designing the interface

Considered as a whole, thereís a lot of interface functionality to learn, and we were wary about presenting a big list of key commands up front. Instead, the Dek plays an essential role as a guide, incrementally introducing both gameplay and interface elements. A large amount of work in the final weeks was tweaking and expanding the Dek help, adding both hints and translation cheats to cater for a wide range of players.

As with any creation, there's a host of good ideas that don't make the cut due to time and budget limits. Even so, Tork's scope made a save option almost mandatory due to the large amount of gameplay.

« The Genesis of Tork | Designing the Look & Feel | The Wrap Up

By Nectarine; full credits.