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[TheAngryWaffle]

I've been toying with the idea of doing a small, light-weight RPG that includes no text. I've done a small game using this sort of idea before (called Questline), but for a possible follow up project I want to be able to express slightly more complicated ideas pictorially.

Real development is a ways off, but as a first experiment I wanted to ask if anyone here can interpret the dialog in this image:

(My pixel art skills are pretty touch-and-go, which is a concern, but even so, I'm curious to see what sort of ideas the image stirs up.)

I'll leave the image to speak for itself for a while in order to see what the initial reactions are, then I'll come back and let everyone know what meaning I had in mind and hopefully after that I can bother you all again for some feedback on how the image might have been improved.

Thanks! 

[mewse]

Red wizard sez:  "Oh no, the castle's lavatories have backed up again, and are spilling out and forming a dirty lake in the fields outside the castle walls!  And there are giant clams in that lake!  Save the kingdom from the giant clams, and I'll give you 1000 experience points, and your choice of either (a) a wide-brimmed hat (+10 to rakishness), or (b) a pocket pen protector (+7 to emergency numerology, -3 to social graces)"
 

[Hajo]

He says "Gnaw there" and points to the castle gate.

[easynam]

There's a monster in the castle and I want you to go and party with it.

[William Broom]

This is clearly an image of the Jigsaw Killer describing the fiendish bear traps in his latest dungeon.

[sergiocornaga]

The door is booby-trapped?

[moi]

clam monster

[AaronG]

"Lay siege to the castle with giant, metal teeth (which might be on wheels)."

[Squiggly_P]

I read it as "there are traps in the castle" as well, but when I saw it, I instantly thought of

[TobiasW]

"Traps in castle" was my first thought too, yup.

[kiwi]

I think he says "Break the door"

[ChevyRay]

"Bite the castle" was the first thing that came to mind. After studying it harder, I haven't been able to come up with much more than that.

[Cagey]

My first thought was a broken heart... but bitey monster looks more accurate.

[dspencer]

"watch out for bear traps"

[Rob Lach]

"There's a lock on the castle door."

On a relevant note, if you're doing image only dialogue you'll probably want to use a higher resolution for your art since you'll need to convey as much information as possible with each pixel.

[Pishtaco]

"The castle is thinking about... some kind of internal organ."

I like the idea of the little people nattering away in their own private language. Not using real words gives you lots of flexibility, so so long as the ambiguity doesn't matter too much and the player can get by without understanding it fully, I say go for it.

[noah!]

"The castle has a broken heart because you forgot to give it a Valentine's gift! Oh, no!"

Personally, what this "language" needs more than anything is grammatical context, and that can only be learned by playing the game. So don't sweat the misinterpretations. What I'm seeing is castle + bear trap, which could be interpreted in a number of ways: the castle has traps, the castle is a trap, the castle has nice trappings, etc. Implementing a simple set of grammar symbols and teaching the player beforehand (or even along with the game) will go a long way towards readability.

Also, like Pierog said, higher resolution images wouldn't hurt, too. Nothing against your artistic skills, but it's tough to cram very much into a 10x10 space. ;-)

[r.kachowski]

"Kevin Bacon crashed my castle and the monsters from tremors followed him"

[SirNiko]

First thought was a broken heart, and somebody he loves/ed is in the castle. I assumed the player was the wizard, and he's relaying the plot of the game to the player beyond the fourth wall.

Bitey monster in the castle was my second thought.

Is the idea for all the no-text dialogue to be easily understood by the player, or will part of the game be learning the gobbledygook language sort of like solving a puzzle? It might not be a bad idea to frame the game as the player is a foreigner, and you aren't supposed to understand. The images are just the result of animated gestures by the NPCs.

-SirNiko

[skado]

"Eat the castle." Was how I read it.