Viddi Blog
2022 May | Game Pattern Language

A game that builds up a vocabulary in a pattern language. Along the lines of The Talos Principle, The Witness, or Portal in that it slowly builds up in complexity.

Pattern language here means that if "AAB" is established to mean "a new set of puzzles starts here" then any visible elements in the pattern "AAB" will have that meaning.
> The text "AAB"
> The text "BBA"
> A row of three vases ordered green, green, red
> A row of three vases ordered small, small, large

This mechanic would support building up phrases and sentences, such as seeing a row of books on a shelf and being able to interpret them as a line of five individual words.

This mechanic would support nested visual elements, such as a row of portraits where the frames form one word, and details in each picture form more words.

This mechanic would support overlapping patterns, such as a row of vases where the color pattern translates to one word and the size pattern translates to another.

The game would be language agnostic. The meaning of the codes is built up gradually through examples, not by explanation.

You could see meaning everywhere, in a series of pillars, in a row of flowers, by type, by color, by size, by texture, by pictogram.

Puzzles to identify the patterns in front of you, such as finding "start".
Puzzles to rearrange the patterns, such as writing "open" on a door.