Games for Change 2024 | Parsons

Vanishing Voices (Working Prototype)

Designing Core Experiences to Make Language Loss Tangible Through A Card Game
ROLE: Game UX Designer
TOOLS: Adobe Illustrator, Paper Prototyping
TEAM: Solo Project

Overview

"Vanishing Voices" is a legacy card game that transforms the abstract concept of language loss into tangible experiences.

During the course of the game, players create a language together and collaborate to save their language from extinction, experiencing struggle and losses that mirror real-world language loss.

ROLE:
UX Consultant, Data Analyst
TOOLS:
Figma, MS Excel
TEAM:
2 Editors, 1 Developer

Overview

"Vanishing Voices" transforms the abstract concept of language loss into tangible experiences through a narrative-driven legacy card game. Players become the last guardians of their language, making choices and experiencing losses that mirror real-world language extinction.

Motivated by my finding that my mother tongue, Manipuri, is a potentially vulnerable language according to UNESCO and inspired by Thorny Games' “Dialect”, I designed this game to engage players emotionally through carefully crafted game mechanics.

There are ~8324 documented languages in the world, out of which ~7000 are still in use. Of the ones that are still in use, only 65 languages (0.9%) fall under the “safe languages” category.

(Source: UNESCO World Atlas of Languages (WAL))

Game experience

The game starts with players creating the language cards deck
A greeting in your native language?
Or perhaps a word from your favorite book?

Talk about it ... share with each other
You are the last guardians of the language you have collectively created
What is your role in this fight against the spreading influence of the universal language Domi?
Pick an event card to move the game forward
Is it an event that allows you to save a part of your language?
Or is it an event that leads to destruction?
Strategise and collaborate to save your language
Pair role-specific unique skills with counter score to determine success or failure
Each time you fail, destroy a language card and
observe how your language is lost in spite of your struggle to protect it

Core Interactions & Design INtent

Players begin by creating Language Cards
Personal creation of language cards builds emotional investment and gives players a chance to create a fictional language or incorporate their own language
Players communicate and choose parts of their language to protect
Collaborative gameplay reflects how preservation requires community effort
Language cards that can't be saved must be physically destroyed
Physical destruction of cards creates an emotional impact about permanent loss
Tiles on the board gradually change color
Color-changing tiles makes the concept of language loss tangible and provides a visual map of language decline

Research & Design Challenges

UNESCO World Atlas of Languages (WAL), an interactive online tool that documents different statuses of languages around the world, there are ~8324 documented languages, out of which ~7000 are still in use. Of the ones that are still in use, only 65 languages (0.9%) fall under the “safe languages” category.

Key Challenges and Design Decisons

Abstractness

How do you make language loss feel real and immediate?

Make loss tangible

The mechanic of physically tearing up a card creates a tangible, irreversible moment that mirrors real language loss.

Emotional Distance

How do you create personal investment in language preservation?

Create cards

Players create their own language cards at the start, investing them personally in the preservation of these elements.

Game replayability

How do you use permanent destruction as a feature when it directly conflicts with traditional game replayability?

Focus on impact
  1. Designed mechanics where permanent loss enhances the emotional experience
  2. Compressed real-world language loss (which happens over generations) into a single play session, making the gradual process of language extinction immediately felt and understood
  3. Intentionally sacrificed replayability to strengthen impact

Design Evolution

Prototype 1
Simple two-player communication game testing emotional connection through narrative delivery
Prototype 2
Mapped language endangerment narrative onto LOTR Adventure Book's game structure. Playtest revealed the need for a more authentic game mechanics
Prototype 3
First true version of Vanishing Voices focusing on visualizing language shift and feeling the impact of loss

Key Achievement

Showcased game at Games for Change 2024

Takeaway

What began as workshop data analysis revealed a broader usability issue, reinforcing the importance of staying open to unexpected insights. This experience has transformed how I approach user research:

  1. I now dedicate time to analyzing secondary patterns in user data, not just the primary metrics
  1. I've incorporated "insight mining" sessions into my research process, where I specifically look for unexpected connections
If you'd like to get in touch, reach out to me!