• [10.07.06] Knot writing in casual games

          Knot writing (knotted strings) is recording information by means of strings and deciphering of it is possible by the use of different knots, interlaces and their combinations. Knot writing appeared in the ancient cultures of Peru, East Asia and Oceania Islands.
          Knot writing in Peru was called quipu, or khipu, and writers who used it were called Quipu-Camayok. Quipu, which originated before the Inca Empire, were arranged as knotted strings hanging from horizontal cords with knots tied in a clever way.

"quipu" writing

          The occurence of knot writing in Asia proves, among others, one of the comments about trigrams to the Chinese Book of Changes and Daodejing from the mid-first millennium BC Zheng Xuan, a scholar of the second century AD who wrote that in the past knots were used to record information about important events. In Chinese culture a tradition of tying decorative knots has survived until today. Lydia Chen in her book "Chinese Knotting" writes about the tradition of this extraordinary art performance:

In China, knotting was not only
a fine art, but also a form of
communication whereby people
could express blessing, best,
wishes, and amorous sentiments.

          A.Eckardt points at the similarity of knot writing to Sanskrit language (Sanskrit is a literary language of ancient, medieval and modern era of India; still used in liturgical ceremonies of Hinduism). Sanskrit language resembles a drawing of a string with pendants.

an example of Sanskrit language [1]

          The use of Sanskrit language in games with multiple locations is not exactly the best idea but as an inspiration for new methods of presenting information in casual games is very accurate. For example, we can simulate the existence of a main cord which will hold letters of any alphabet and get a pseudo-realistic effect of knot writing.

an example of inspiration with knot writing

          A ready-made application presenting the effect of knot writing with a slight motion blur effect can be downloaded here.

     Chen L.: Chinese Knotting. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing, 1989
[1] Zajdler L.: Atlantis. Warsaw: WP, 1972.

< previous article

back to list

next article >