ni li kiwen
Role
Puzzle Designer,
Programmer
Engine
Unity
Genre
Point and Click Adventure
Platform
Itch.io
Year
2024
Design Pillars
Immersion,
Deduction,
Minimalist,
Wholesome
As a creative person, I have always been fascinated by different languages and means of communication, and the unique ideas that they can communicate. Willow Flame's "Not My Lang" Game Jam gave me an opportunity to bring my two interests of Linguistics and Puzzle Design together.
Ni li kiwen is a game with no English, with instructions written entirely in the constructed language Toki Pona. The player must interpret the symbols based on their context within the level, starting with basic sentences, and gradually learning to complete more complex tasks.
The symbols in this game are used for tutorials, puzzles, and narrative world building, all of which encourages (and rewards) curiosity from players.
My skills in linguistics, puzzle design, and story telling very much make this a project a special one that is unique to me.
The Core Game Loop of ni li kiwen involves observing a sentence or puzzle, hypothesising what the symbols might mean, and then attempting the puzzle. The loop repeats as the results of that attempt add to the player's observations, inform further hypothesis, and give the player understanding that will help solve other puzzles.
If you're particularly clever you'll notice that the loop is essentially a rephrasing of the Scientific Method (shown here) - This is no coincidence!
I didn’t want this experience to feel like learning a language from a textbook. Rather, the lack of English translation, and the variety of contexts in which symbols are used, give the player a sense of investigating a foreign language through nothing but context and their own deduction.