That s the Ancient word for writer , says Jon Ingold, pointing to some indecipherable symbols on his business card. What it breaks down to is Person-who-speaks-without-speaking.
Ingold is the writer for Heaven s Vault, an upcoming sci-fi adventure from Inkle (the folks behind 80 Days and Sorcery!) You play an archaeologist investigating the remains of an ancient civilisation in an otherworldly Nebula . He and some others from Inkle Studios have been watching me waddle around a garden of strange monuments, trying to discern meaning from the faded words I find carved into trees, walls, rocks and reliefs. In creating this game, they’ve constructed a fictional language of over 1000 words. They re so proud of this new language, they ve even used it on their business cards.
Ingold examines a card from Joseph Humfrey, the studio s co-founder and programmer who is sitting nearby. He thumbs over the pseudo-ancient script.
Joe s means: Person-who-controls-robots . (more…)