When you have a human in an alien city...
Apr. 16th, 2010 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carlfoxmartenYou need a way to translate the alien language into the human's native language, or at least a plausible explanation for why the alien wrote in a human language.
(especially when you have physical journals written in that alien language)
One option (aside from having everything written in a human language) is to have the player find some kind of communication device that the aliens use to communicate with other alien races and each other.
This communication device then can translate things as the user sees them.
(the only trick to explain is how the device knows what language to translate into, and that's easy enough to explain without too much trouble)
I have a couple of designs for this device that are easy enough to explain and integrate into the story.
The first is similar to Uru's "KI" (D'ni for 3. A round device that handles communication and navigation) and contains a very small but powerful hologram projector that could be used to project almost anything one wants.
The second option is a set of glasses with LCD-type lenses.
I'm not too fond of this option at present as it doesn't seem alien enough, and the aliens in my story might not be quite similar enough in form to humans, which would require further explanation I'm not prepared to make.
Once you have a device like this, other things become possible (it IS alien technology, after all, so it's supposed to be more advanced), such as displaying an object's combination lock pad (especially helpful for hidden doorways), acting as a controller for high-security machinery (if there's no physical control panel, you have to have one of these devices to use it), flashlight (poor example, but it works), digital journal (with translations), card reader (useful for the possible end-game I mentioned in my last journal), and many other things that I haven't mentioned yet.
(oh, and most of what I just mentioned may figure in my story in some way or another)
Again, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
Your imagination can set boundaries with the level of technology you weave into your story, and if you step outside of those boundaries with your design, your players will have a hard time understanding why it works the way it does.
(especially when you have physical journals written in that alien language)
One option (aside from having everything written in a human language) is to have the player find some kind of communication device that the aliens use to communicate with other alien races and each other.
This communication device then can translate things as the user sees them.
(the only trick to explain is how the device knows what language to translate into, and that's easy enough to explain without too much trouble)
I have a couple of designs for this device that are easy enough to explain and integrate into the story.
The first is similar to Uru's "KI" (D'ni for 3. A round device that handles communication and navigation) and contains a very small but powerful hologram projector that could be used to project almost anything one wants.
The second option is a set of glasses with LCD-type lenses.
I'm not too fond of this option at present as it doesn't seem alien enough, and the aliens in my story might not be quite similar enough in form to humans, which would require further explanation I'm not prepared to make.
Once you have a device like this, other things become possible (it IS alien technology, after all, so it's supposed to be more advanced), such as displaying an object's combination lock pad (especially helpful for hidden doorways), acting as a controller for high-security machinery (if there's no physical control panel, you have to have one of these devices to use it), flashlight (poor example, but it works), digital journal (with translations), card reader (useful for the possible end-game I mentioned in my last journal), and many other things that I haven't mentioned yet.
(oh, and most of what I just mentioned may figure in my story in some way or another)
Again, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
Your imagination can set boundaries with the level of technology you weave into your story, and if you step outside of those boundaries with your design, your players will have a hard time understanding why it works the way it does.
