The game gives the player one of these discs, with the lore indicating that people with less-than-upstanding motives would use one to covertly tell their partners where goods were stored. It’s a metal disc with symbols around the outside and a hole in the middle. The idea being that you receive a message saying something like “Kendal eye” which means nothing to someone without a disc. But if you have the disc and appropriate map you can put the town of Kendal in the middle of the hole, see where the eye symbol on the disc points, and use that to determine where to go.
I feel like I’ve seen similar tools used in movies before. Is there any historical basis to this? Did smugglers/pirates use these types of covert means of direction? Image of the disc from the game is linked.
https://www.naguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Strange-Horticulture-Walkthrough-68.jpeg
Hi, I'm the developer of the game and came across this and couldn't help responding :D
I can confirm that we made it up for the game. Very pleased that it prompted this question though! I do have a book on codes/cryptography that I reference for inspiration from time to time so while it's not inspired by any one specific item, it's likely there is some real-world influence in there.
