What I playtested for:

Concept

Materiality

Puzzle difficulty / language as a mechanic

Amount of Text.

Things I used:

First version of the handbook in the form of a short excavation report, ledger, and newspaper article and the grammar from the previous playtest.

ExcReportPlaytest101322.pdf

Ledger combined_playtest101322.pdf

Faberbaum Island Unveiled_News Article Intro.pdf

Prototype language system 1..pdf

Evie

Liked physicality, the idea from moving from puzzle through puzzle while going through the pages.

Translating is engaging, she felt very invested.

Suggestion: combine digital and physical aspects, e.g 3D walking sim aided with documents.

Phil

Confused about where to begin.

He interpreted the horizontal dash as a neutral determinative —> be careful with symbols.