The upcoming narrative adventure gameHarmonium: The Musicalis developed by a team dedicated to embracing and portraying Deaf culture and creating an accessible experience for all players. Its story and puzzles revolve heavily around sign language, primarily the unique “Harmonium Sign Language,” which was created specifically for the game.Harmonium: The Musical’s puzzles are designed to be accessible to an audience of all ages and gaming abilities, and focus on providing visual clues and encouraging players to look at and analyze the surrounding environment thoroughly.
While attendingSummer Game Fest, Game Rant spoke toHarmoniumcreative director Matt Korba and co-writer Matt Daigle (via ASL translation). Game Rant also had the opportunity to play ademo featuring some of theHarmonium’s early puzzles, including protagonist Melody’s introduction to Harmonium Sign Language when she meets Harper, a denizen of the titular music-themed realm. Korba and Daigle discussed the inspiration behind the game’s puzzles, which include real-life communication barriers Daigle experiences as a Deaf creator, and howHarmonium’spuzzles can be enjoyed both by total sign language newcomers and those already fluent in one or more of the world’s many recognized sign languages.
The Puzzles Focus On Visual Reasoning And Establishing Communication
When Melody and Harper first meet, they struggle to communicate because Melody uses American Sign Language while Harper speaksHarmonium Sign Language, which Daigle created for the game. Daigle explained that his decision to include a new type of sign language was inspired by his own communications with a Danish Sign Language-speaking animator, and how the two of them worked together to create new symbols and hand gestures to understand each other.
Puzzles inHarmoniumare visual in nature and are designed to be enjoyed by both Deaf and hearing players. While Korba and Daigle do not considerHarmoniumto be aneducational game, the puzzles do teach players some of the signs and gestures used in Harmonium Sign Language. For example, when Melody first meets Harper, Harper makes signs indicating various musical instruments in order to teach Melody how to rescue her from a tree. Those instrument-based signs later return when Harper and Melody need to describe the types of mythical creatures living in Harmonium to one another.
“It’s very visually based. You are going to be guessing, maybe, some of the hand shapes that are drawn in the air for you to figure out as the key to the puzzle. As the game plays, you begin to stack these learnings, and you understand visually how the game goes.”
Harmonium’s Puzzle Design is Extremely Unique
Korba describedHarmonium’spuzzles as a bit “like anescape roompuzzle” because of the heavy focus on visual analysis. However, he does feel that the game’s approach to puzzles is fairly unique and not really like anything that has been seen before. He explained that the key to the puzzles' uniqueness was designing them in a way that allowed both people new to and familiar with ASL to complete and enjoy them.
“They use ASL to describe things visually that you can understand even if you don’t know sign language. That’s kind of the key to how we bring people into it; the puzzles are actually all that mechanic…Not only accessibility features and narrative but the actual puzzles themselves have been very much inspired by Deaf culture and American Sign Language.”
In addition to its puzzles,Harmonium: The Musicalwill also feature rich animated visuals, musical sequences with both signed and sung elements, and a humorous and emotional narrative written by the team responsible for 2015’s episodic re-imagining ofKing’s Quest.Players will be able to enjoy this beautifully crafted tribute to Deaf culture and Deaf creativity when it is released later in 2024.
