explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2061: Tectonics Game

2026-02-21T22:05:48Z

2001:4C4E:1C15:5800:199:F329:A038:448F: A3V is 8600 K, coinciding with the high end of blue dwarfs

'''Please never move discussions to other sections; the chronological order has to be respected.''' --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:51, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

Wrote my first transcript. Hopefully it isn't terrible, haha. [[User:IYN|IYN]] ([[User talk:IYN|talk]]) 17:13, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Not bad, but please do not remove the incomplete tag too soon. Even my smaller changes don't convince me right now that it's complete. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:34, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:There's no explanation ''OR'' transcript for the Title-text, yet. Sooo...
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:41, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

I know very little about stars. Can anyone explain what the type in the title text is? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.70|162.158.63.70]] 18:23, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

The nice thing about this game is you could represent the Earth by a 1000-pixel wide map, and it would take over a decade before anyone could tell whether you'd actually implemented anything. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 20:53, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

In Panel 2, there is a box with the following information

<pre>
Single Multi
LT 80 GT 440 T
LM 15 GT 3 GT
LA 2 MT 0 T
LL 580 GT 0 T
</pre>

What does this mean? The measurements seem to be in gigatonnes, hence a measure of mass. CO2 releases are often measured in Gigatonnes. The geochemical carbon cycle is a significant long term negative feedback loop, so I guess these relate to CO2, but I can't guess the specifics. [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 15:00, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

:Just a guess, but I think it could be the amount of life, as a goal is to "keep your biosphere rich". Single and multi then mean single- and multicelled, and the terms on the left could be "Life-Terrestrial", "-Marine", "Aerial" and "Littoral" [[User:Emil|Emil]] ([[User talk:Emil|talk]]) 11:29, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

::And if you look at the [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tectonics_game_2x.png high-DPI image] you can see that the second row of achievements in the last panel, underneath the stages of mountain, is not "{{diff|164457|achievements in the formation of an atoll}}" but evolutionary stages of life: (1) non-cellular (or cellular but prokaryotic?), (2) cellular with a nucleus (eukaryotic), (3) multicellular, and (4) what looks like a side-view of a mammalian eye. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.158|162.158.155.158]] 17:22, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

'''An Actual Game'''

Here is a section for people who are looking into actually developing a game. (With time warp obviously.)

Seriously though, this could actually be a fun (and educational) simulator, similar to KSP. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.10|172.69.142.10]] 02:31, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

My wife is trying to physically restrain me from immediately starting to write this game...int main ( int arggggg...ow...get off [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:52, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:If the comment section of this comic is anything to go by, you could sell it for a buck a pop and get...I dunno...$12 at least? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 19:01, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Who wants to help me make this? [[User:Blacksilver|Blacksilver]] ([[User talk:Blacksilver|talk]]) 17:24, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

With a sufficiently large time warp, this actually sounds like it would be pretty fun. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:20, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Hey, guys reading your comments I can see several people, including myself, might be interested in making a game like this. Perhaps we should coordinate efforts to make one? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.100|162.158.246.100]] 23:15, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

I can’t make a game if I could I would. I really want to see some xkcd fan group release this as a game.

I came here specifically to see if this game existed and I'm irritated it doesn't yet. People with better coding and geological skills than me, you have an interested party. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.83}}

I'm fully on board. If and when this thing hypothetically gets popular, I'll be like, "Hey, I was there!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.5|172.68.46.5]] 04:12, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I have a feeling that making this game would be an awful like No Man's Sky, all the physics would be extremely difficult to manage and take years to iron out fully. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.88|162.158.246.88]] 15:03, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I would love to help. I'm thinking something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reus_(video_game). But just with planetary modification abilities. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.58}}

If anyone's interested I made a discord server where we can talk about making this: https://discord.gg/4MGZT7n [[User:MutedAjar|MutedAjar]] ([[User talk:MutedAjar|talk]]) 05:18, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

I'm surprised no one's brought up SimEarth, which you start out by terraforming a barren planet, making sure life forms, evolves to sentience, and watch it leave for the stars [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.140|172.69.22.140]] 00:30, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

<big>'''It's going to happen!'''</big> Working title is "Tectonica" (yeah - in the cartoon it's "Tectonics!" but you can't have a '!' in a URL and we liked "tectonica" better). Nothing to see YET but we have [https://tectonica.fun tectonica.fun] registered and active technical discussion and the promise of some minimal "getting started" code. Plan is to have it run in-browser for portability and to be written in C++/wasm and WebGL for speed. And, yes, we'll add an "accelerated realtime" button for those more impatient players <sight>. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 19:04, 28 October 2018 (UTC)
:This doesn't explain the comic, I've moved it to the trivia section. And if the provided link there will be not much more than a single picture it's even NOT valid for the trivia section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:42, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
:: Oh good god no! It shouldn't even be in the trivia section at all until something is actually running and looking somewhat like a playable game. I didn't intend this to be something to go into the "explain" at all. Just that anyone else who thinks this might make a pretty decent game MIGHT come here - see this in the Talk and head over to make it happen. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 01:53, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
:::Thanks for your reply, it's removed from the trivia section. You could have done this too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:27, 30 October 2018 (UTC)

<big>'''Unity version!'''</big>

A (currently) small splinter group has formed that would rather use Unity to create the game. While I respect the decision to build the game in C++/wasm, I feel that the barrier to entry is slightly too high for most people to begin contribution. In contrast, Unity is well-documented and there are many tutorials available online already for those who wish to contribute. We have a discord server available here: https://discord.gg/4QP6d6q [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.40|172.69.42.40]] 22:07, 15 November 2018 (UTC)

'''Other Real Time Games'''

This is for discussion of other real time games. (I.E. Desert Bus) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.10|172.69.142.10]] 02:34, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I have this horrible urge to find the Desert Bus source code and mod it to make "Desert Bus 2: Walt Disney Land to Walt Disney World" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.88|172.68.90.88]] 21:53, 19 October 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf
:From what I gather, part of the "magic" of Desert Bus is the whole lotta hours of repetitive nothing, and I seriously doubt the trip between Disneys is filled with nothing to see. :) Otheriwse I find this to be an awesome idea, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

It's like playing Desert Bus for the rest of your life... :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.154|162.158.63.154]] 18:23, 19 October 2018 (UTC) Scott
:As soon as I saw the headline that this was about other real time games, first and only thought was Desert Bus, LOL! Which I've only heard of (primarily from Angry Video Game Nerd). :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

:I thought it appropriate to add Desert Bus to the main description as a real world example of a tedious real-time game that goes to a ridiculous extreme... though much less extreme and ridiculous than the one in the comic. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:17, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone else remember the old DOS game: 688 Attack Sub? Where it felt like you were waiting forever for your torpedo to hit? I liked that they told you that, in the real world, it's much slower than it is in the game.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 18:46, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Back then I had a demo (I believe I recall it was on 1 disk and ran off the disk, so I could play on any computer I encountered). Been a while, but I believe it was one specific scenario with a bit of randomness thrown in (like the decisions other ships made), and I played it many, many times. Since it was the demo either the part about not-real-time torpedoes wasn't in there or I always jumped straight to the gameplay, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

Not really sure where to put this, so posting it here: Too bad the comic wasn't a bit longer. Could have had Ponytail respond to "It's real time" with "Of course not. It's a million times faster." "Whew." "Yeah, just 400 more years until your first mountain achievement." {{unsigned|Trlkly}}
: Actually, at 1 million times faster, it would only take 0.4 years, or about 5 months. {{unsigned ip|141.101.88.196}}

Are you sure the second row of achievements is about atolls? It looked more like evolution of life to me (single celled, multicellular, something, fish). -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]] 11:35, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

I was immediately reminded of Wobbler's (or Pratchett's, depending on which side of the 4th wall you look from) "Journey to Alpha Centauri" - and it turns out it was actually made into a "real" game too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.210.22|162.158.210.22]] 09:03, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

Didn't / doesn't have the MS Flight Simulator a real time mode? I think I somewhere read something about that some time ago. Dunno if true, wikipedia doesn't say anything about that. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:23, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
:@Elektrizikekswerk: yes, it did. I recall one of the challenges on Message Boards at the time was to complete Sydney-LAX in real time (~12 hours continuous flying) in poor weather. I'm searching for evidence of this and will update once I can link it together. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.88|162.158.63.88]] 14:03, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
::Some facts: MS Flight Simulator (MSFS) is dead since 2009, MS closed it and they sold something to someone but not much happened since than. AND it wasn't really a game, it was a realistic simulator you couldn't use it without some general knowledge about aviation. Fifteen years ago I've flown many legs about two up to four hours, in real-time. Besides the starting and landing phase it was boring, just because the autopilot does nearly everything - the only important thing was interacting with ATC (Air Traffic Control) and following their instructions along your flight path. Four hours monitoring the radio, adjusting your flight level slightly, drinking coffee or getting a meal - just as the real thing is for a professional pilot (assisted by the autopilot). --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:37, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

I think it's important to note that the 10k final achievement requires the player to "Out do" Everest (8,848m) which might not be possible under Earths gravity. Unless the achievement for mountains isn't measured from Sea-Level (in which case, Hawaii's Mauna Kea would've JUST made this achievemnt at 10,203M) or if it doesn't take place on Earth. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.238|108.162.237.238]] 18:05, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

Other than the aforementioned Desert Bus, the only real-time thing I can think of is part of the The Simpsons Freemium game Tapped Out. Cletus has a farm that can grow various crops which are generally silly and many related to the show, but one is titled "Corn. Actual corn", which takes 90 days to complete (most of the longest things are 24 hours, with only a handful of items being longer), the gag being that in real life corn apparently takes 90 days to grow. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

== It already exists as software!!! ==

This kind of program already (sort of) exists and is used by professional geologists. In general it's called section balancing (Wikipedia calls it [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_restoration section restoration]). The objective of the programs is normally to move backwards through time to see how the earth looked in the distant past, but they can either animate starting from the past up to the present day or could move into the future. Some examples are [https://www.mve.com/software/3d-kinematic 3D Kinematic] from Midland Valley, [http://www.beicip.com/2d-kinematics-basin-modeling KronosFlow] from Beicip-FranLab or their older product LOCACE, [http://www.pdgm.com/products/kine3d Kine3D] from Paradigm, and [https://www.software.slb.com/products/igeoss Dynel3D] from iGeoss (now Schlumberger). [[User:Jlhollin|Jlhollin]] ([[User talk:Jlhollin|talk]]) 17:24, 28 November 2018 (UTC)
:I wondered about this! I'm a geologist, and as far as I know our modeling software for the mantle is not that fantastic, but it would be a place to start for anyone looking to make the game irl. I love my field but it constantly astounds me how much we still don't know. I remember my Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology profs getting into a heated debate over what mechanism drives plate tectonics: slab-pull or ridge-push, with no resolution either way. And LiDAR, so important for the surveying we do, wasn't available until the 80s or later. Even our foundational theory of plate tectonics has only been accepted since the 50s. Anyway this is my favorite xkcd comic because if this was a real game geologists would probably be using it for research, and I would play it nonstop even though petrology isn't my specialty. [[User:Curiouscat|Curiouscat]] ([[User talk:Curiouscat|talk]]) 05:02, 9 August 2021 (UTC)
==A3V==
The temperature of A3V stars is c. 8600 K. According to several studies, this temperature can be the high end of blue dwarfs' peak temperatures (Scholz, Matthias (2025): ''Evolution of the Stars''. In: ''The Physics of Stars''. Springer, 2025). However, many blue dwarfs would never reach past F or G. With that being said, I would never move to a planet around an A type star owing to their shorter life. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C15:5800:199:F329:A038:448F|2001:4C4E:1C15:5800:199:F329:A038:448F]] 22:05, 21 February 2026 (UTC)

3054: Scream Cipher

2026-02-21T15:11:13Z

2001:4C4E:1C15:5800:199:F329:A038:448F: /* Full cipher guide */ plural

{{comic
| number = 3054
| date = February 21, 2025
| title = Scream Cipher
| image = scream_cipher_2x.png
| imagesize = 287x416px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = AAAAAA A ÃA̧AȂA̦ ǍÅÂÃĀÁȂ AAAAAAA!
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|Cipher}} is a method of encryption, where characters, or sometimes words, are substituted for other characters in a set pattern, allowing for arbitrary strings to be enciphered using it. The complexity and strength of ciphers varies, from {{w|one-time pads}} and (historically) {{w|enigma machine|Enigma}} as stronger and more complex, to {{w|substitution ciphers}} as some of the weakest and least complex, where each character is simply given a set different symbol to represent it in the cipher.

This comic uses a substitution cipher, where all the letters of the English Alphabet are represented using the letter "A", with different {{w|diacritical marks}} to define the differences. See details about the 25 marks in the [[#Trivia|Trivia section]] below. This kind of cipher is often used on a recreational basis by children or casual enthusiasts, the similarity of the letters increasing the obscurity of the content and the skill or technology required for use, but there is also significant impracticality, as not only are substitution ciphers the easiest to break, but also the similarities in the letters do make the cipher hard to read and easy to misread, and the detail in the diacritical marks makes it easy to draw the "A"s incorrectly or ambiguously, potentially leading to [[3003: Sandwich Helix|part of the message being lost]]. This was our experience in the comments section of this very article, where one person implemented translator functions alongside another person crafting a message that failed to translate. However, the logic behind the code is mostly visual similarity, and if attentive to connecting concepts between the Latin and scream cipher alphabet, it could be quickly learned and translated in a glance.

It's named "Scream Cipher" (as a pun on {{w|stream cipher}}s, commonly used in computing) because the written form of a scream is often a long string of As, possibly with some other characters at the beginning or the end (and often an exclamation point for emphasis), such as "Yyaaaaaww!” or “Aaaaaah!" or "Aaaaaaagh!". The name may or may not be a reference to IBM's {{w|Scream_(cipher)|Scream cipher}} published in 2002.

In the comic, [[Cueball]] texts the ciphered version for the plaintext "HELLO", and [[Megan]] responds with that for "HI". The title text deciphers to "AAAAAA A SCARY MONSTER AAAAAAA!", which would be a logical reason to actually scream. Another comic featuring all "A"s was [[2957: A Crossword Puzzle]]. Diacritics was also the main theme in [[1647: Diacritics]], was previously also mentioned in [[1209: Encoding]] and in [[1857: Emoji Movie]], where they have an important part of the pun, and is mentioned in one point of the list in [[1957: 2018 CVE List]].

===Worked example===
Say we want to encode "Scream" in the Scream Cipher. First we would need to split out word into the letters, so S, C, R, E, A, M. The first letter is S, so if we go to S in the table S is shown to become to Ã, C similarly becomes A̧, R becomes Ȃ, E corresponds to Á, A is the main letter so A is unchanged to A, and M becomes Ǎ. If we then write them again in order, we find SCREAM becomes ÃA̧ȂÁAǍ. To turn cipher text back into normal text, the process is repeated in reverse. To translate A̧ẢA̯A̰ÁȂ, we go to A̧ in the table and find A̧ becomes C. Ả similarly becomes I, A̯ becomes P, A̰ becomes H, Á becomes E, and Ȃ becomes R. If we write the letters in order, we see that A̧ẢA̯A̰ÁȂ becomes CIPHER.

Text can be automatically translated using any of the following community implimentations:
* The first known translator hosted on [https://github.com/Reginald-Gillespie/ScreamCipher GitHub Pages].
* A more bare-bones [https://github.com/matthewpwatkins/scream-cipher/ implementation] hosted on netlify.
* A terminal [https://github.com/klanderfri/ScreamCipher/ implementation].

===Full cipher guide===
The {{w|Unicode}} names of the characters in the cipher are as follows:

{|class="wikitable"
! colspan=2 | Input !! colspan=3 | Substitution
|-
! Plain !! Unicode description !! Cipher !! Unicode description(s) !! Notes
|-
| A || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A || {{w|A}} || '''U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A || Unadorned base character
|-
| B || U+0042 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B || {{w|Ȧ}} || '''U+0226 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH {{w|Dot (diacritic)|DOT}} ABOVE || A with one dot over it, which can indicate a single change in math and science. Phonetic symbol for low central vowel.
|-
| C || U+0043 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C || A̧ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+0327 {{w|Combining Diacritical Marks|COMBINING}} {{w|Cedilla|CEDILLA}}''' || Cedilla is often attached to a 'c', as in "français", as well as starting with 'c' itself. Appears similar to Ą (U+0104, A with ogonek) used in many languages to denote a nasal a sound and in Polish to denote a nasal o sound; however, the two can be distinguished by the direction of the diacritic.
|-
| D || U+0044 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D || A̱ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+0331 COMBINING MACRON BELOW''' || Some see the lower bar as similar to the lower edge of the D.
|-
| E || U+0045 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E || {{w|Á}} || '''U+00C1 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH ACUTE || Many words have an acute e, as in "fiancé".
|-
| F || U+0046 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER F || A̮ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+032E COMBINING BREVE BELOW''' || The breve adds a second line to the A, much like how an F has two lines.
|-
| G || U+0047 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G || A̋ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+030B COMBINING {{w|Double acute accent|DOUBLE ACUTE}} ACCENT''' || Adds two acutes to a letter.
|-
| H || U+0048 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H || A̰ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+0330 COMBINING TILDE BELOW''' || The low tilde has horizontal ink in the middle that moves vertical toward the sides, like an H.
|-
| I || U+0049 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I || {{w|Ả}} || '''U+1EA2 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH HOOK ABOVE || The hook almost looks like half of a circle, and the lowercase letter I (i) has a circular shape (known as a tittle) above it.
|-
| J || U+004A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J || A̓ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+0313 COMBINING COMMA ABOVE''' || The comma symbol looks like a small letter 'J' in some fonts
|-
| K || U+004B LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K || Ạ || '''U+1EA0 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DOT BELOW || 
|-
| L || U+004C LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L || {{w|Ă}} || '''U+0102 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH {{w|Breve|BREVE}} ||
|-
| M || U+004D LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M || Ǎ || '''U+01CD LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH {{w|caron|CARON}} || The top-centered caron is the same shape as the top center of the M.
|-
| N || U+004E LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N || {{w|Â}} || '''U+00C2 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH CIRCUMFLEX || The lowercase letter 'n' also looks like a circumflex in some scripts. The circumflex peak mirrors the peak at the top left of the N.
|-
| O || U+004F LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O || {{w|Å}} || '''U+00C5 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE || The symbol contains the letter 'O'. In Scandinavian languages like Swedish, this combination of 'O' and 'A' is a letter unto itself, mostly used in words where a long 'a' sound has acquired a more 'o'-like sound.
|-
| P || U+0050 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P || A̯ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+032F COMBINING INVERTED BREVE BELOW''' || Refer to R: P also has a curve at the top center, but is encoded with one below.
|-
| Q || U+0051 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q || A̤ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+0324 COMBINING DIAERESIS BELOW''' || The two dots below the baseline reflect the two times Randall's Q touch the baseline. In the Orthographies of Spanish, Catalan, French and Galician, the grapheme 'qu' normally represents a single sound, before vowels 'e' and 'i'. In the few exceptions where the 'u' is pronounced, a diaeresis is added to it.
|-
| R || U+0052 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R || Ȃ || '''U+0202 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH {{w|Inverted breve|INVERTED BREVE}} ||
The inverted centered top curve mirrors the curve at the top center of an R.
|-
| S || U+0053 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S || {{w|Ã}} || '''U+00C3 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH TILDE || Tilde looks like a sideways 'S'.
|-
| T || U+0054 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T || {{w|Ā}} || '''U+0100 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH {{w|Macron (diacritic)|MACRON}} || The macron looks like the top horizontal line in the letter 'T'
|-
| U || U+0055 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U || {{w|Ä}} || '''U+00C4 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS || The {{wiktionary|trema#Noun|two dot mark}} is used in many words in languages like German, Finnish and Swedish, with 'Ä' used as in "{{w|Die_Ärzte|Ärzte}}". As a true {{wiktionary|diaeresis#Usage notes|diaresis}}, it often indicates a vowel that is distinct from neighbouring vowels, rather than part of a {{w|Digraph (orthography)|digraph}} or longer phoneme. As a modifier of the vowel itself, as with the germanic/nordic languages, it is more properly called an 'umlaut' and may change a back vowel into a front vowel, though the two terms are often used interchangably.
|-
| V || U+0056 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V || {{w|À}} || '''U+00C0 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH GRAVE || Grave has the letter 'V' in it, as well as being half of its shape.
|-
| W || U+0057 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W || Ȁ || '''U+0200 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH {{w|Double grave accent|DOUBLE GRAVE}} || The letter 'W' is visually two copies of the letter 'V'
|-
| X || U+0058 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X || A̽ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+033D COMBINING X ABOVE''' || The symbol contains the letter 'X'.
|-
| Y || U+0059 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y || A̦ || U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, '''U+0326 COMBINING COMMA BELOW''' || The comma mimics the vertical "tail" of the Y.
|-
| Z || U+005A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z || {{w|Saanich_dialect#Writing_system|Ⱥ}} || '''U+023A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH STROKE || The stroke through the letter A resembles the diagonal stroke of a capital "Z"
|}

==Transcript==
:[The top of the panel has the 26 letters of the alphabet written, each followed by a hyphen and the letter "A" with a unique diacritical mark for each. "A - A" is the only letter in the top row, and the only one where that A on the right side doesn't have a diacritic. The next 25 is sorted in a 5 by 5 grid, with the first five letters after A in the first column, then the next 5 in the second column and so on:]
:{|
|A - A
|-
|B - Ȧ
|G - A̋
|L - Ă
|Q - A̤
|V - À
|-
|C - A̧
|H - A̰
|M - Ǎ
|R - Ȃ
|W - Ȁ
|-
|D - A̱
|I - Ả
|N - Â
|S - Ã
|X - A̽
|-
|E - Á
|J - A̓
|O - Å
|T - Ā
|Y - A̦
|-
|F - A̮
|K - Ạ
|P - A̯
|U - Ä
|Z - Ⱥ
|}
:[Beneath these letters we see Cueball and Megan typing on their phones, Cueball with two hands and Megan with one hand, small lines indicating the movement of their hands. Cueball and Megan is turned towards each other but with more separation than if they were engaged in normal discussion. They both look down at their phones not towards each other. The text they type is shown above their phone with a line starting in a starburst at the top of their phones going up the to the text.]
:Cueball's phone: A̰ÁĂĂÅ
:Megan's phone: A̰Ả

:[Caption below the panel:]
:In the '''''Scream Cipher''''', messages consist of all As, with different letters distinguished using diacritics.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Unicode]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]