A Beginner’s Guide to The Beginner’s Guide

Recently I played a game called The Beginner’s Guide. It was made by Davey Wreden, the guy who made The Stanley Parable. And basically throughout the game, Davey himself narrates and gives commentary about a few games that his friend Coda made as we play through the games themselves. If anyone has played The Stanley Parable, they will know that Davey has very unique perspective about gaming, or rather, what it can accomplish. He focuses much more on narrative rather than gameplay. A narrative that involves the player as well, incorporating them into the story. So I was excited to see what Davey had done with The Beginner’s Guide. And it left me…speechless.

As we progress through each game Davey gives his thoughts and opinions on why the game was made or what could have inspired Coda to make the game as it was. Sometimes Davey would intentionally change lines of code in order to show us things that Coda didn’t want us to see in order to get a better understanding of the game. For example, one level we are climbing up a long stairway but we progressively get slower until halfway where we reach an almost complete stop. However, the door at the top of the stairway opens. So, what was the purpose of that? Because in the original game that’s it. The player is left with a burning curiosity about what is in the room at the top of the staircase. And once Davey changes the code we find out. It’s a small, warm cozy room filled with a bunch of ideas for games that Coda wants to make in the future. It’s nice. But more importantly, we were not meant to see it. Then why make it? Why would Coda spend so much time in designing a space that no one but himself was going to see?

Another example of this is in the next game he made. A simple puzzle consisting of two doors where you had to flip the switch to open the door and then flip it again to close it. As it is closing you go in. Now you are trapped between the two doors. But if you look back at the door you have just gone through there is another switch which will open the door in front of you. I’m describing this in detail because this puzzle is a recurring feature in all of Coda’s games. And then you progress through the level and then you reach a dead-end. That’s it. But once Davey removes the walls we see so much more. An intricate setup of stairs going up and down, left and right fill the view. It seems like it goes on forever. It was so complex. So beautifully structured, and yet, it was hidden from the player. So were we meant to see it? And if not, why would Coda spend hours making it? For his own self-gratification? Who knows?

Davey is very interested in Coda and his method of game development. He keeps asking him if he can show his games to other people and get their feedback but Coda always refuses. And each game afterwards Davey sees it as an introspection of Coda’s personal feelings and beliefs. And at the end of each game is a lamp-post which Davey says is a way for Coda to physically manifest an ending. Something familiar he can always come back to. It’s during these times that Davey secretly starts showing these games to other people. And they love it. They appreciate and enjoy their quirky nature. However all good things cannot last. Coda goes into a rut. He doesn’t get any new ideas and it’s clearly showing in his work. It takes him longer to release a game. And he begins to personify his mind as a machine, berating it for not producing new ideas. His games have become much darker in tone. And Davey couldn’t do anything about it. He was watching his friend tear himself apart over something he clearly did not enjoy anymore. His games started to become allegories for depression and mental illness, until one day stops making them. He made one last game, and quit. He hasn’t made one since.

The last game was called The Tower. It was grueling. No. It was impossible. The first part consisted of an invisible maze which would flash red if you hit the wall and restart back at the beginning of the maze. It was literally impossible to solve. So Davey pushes us past it. The next part is a six digit combination lock. You have to brute force your way through this one and once again, impossible to solve. No hint was given. So Davey once again alters the code to let the player progress. It was the first time Coda was being unfriendly to the player. It continues like this until we reach the top. And then the truth is revealed.

Coda stopped making games because of Davey.

Coda did it for the love of it. He did not need any external validation to know that he was a good artist. But once he found out that Davey had shown others his work, he was burdened with their expectations. Expectations he did not want. And the lamp posts at the end of each game were added by Davey, hoping to somehow be part of this creative process. Because Coda’s work excited him in a way that his work didn’t. He felt happy when he was able to show Coda’s work to other people. They used to have long discussions about game development. About the symbolic imagery of games. But when Davey began to see Coda’s game as a physical manifestation of his mind, Coda was unable to enjoy his work. It brought him no satisfaction to please others. Because the game had nothing to do with Coda’s mind. He just wanted to make that game. Davey would often try to bring meaning into the game even if there was none. It’s like omitting loopholes in a theory in order to explain it better, which is what is literally done here. Davey makes changes to the game that Coda clearly does not want. So has Davey tarnished the gaming experience? Or enhanced it? Are we understanding things about the game that we are not supposed to know and so we come to an incorrect conclusion of what the game is actually about? There are three dots are continuously show up through out the game but Davey never comments about it because he could never understand what it stood for. In Davey’s mind, if there is no reason for the dots to be there, then they shouldn’t be there. His mind does not allow for a possibility that maybe the dots mean nothing. Because that would not fit into his analysis of Coda as a person. He thought he was helping Coda by putting his work out because that’s what Davey would want. He wanted validation that his games were good. But for Coda, that was what ruined it for him. We are so quick to put meaning into every useless irrelevant detail. Trying to figure out the pieces to the bigger picture. But what if there is no bigger picture. Which is why we sometimes value things more than what they are.

For example, this analysis. I’ve been rambling on for some time now about what I think the game is trying to convey. And the fact that I’m doing so means I’ll come to conclusions that the developer may or may not have intended. So does this process of over analyzing depreciate the value of the game? Am I, by analyzing this game proving the point that the game was trying to prove?

Which brings me to my next point. Why do we spend so much time analyzing things? At the end of the day are they not the same products they were to begin with. Are we trying to find more value in things when there isn’t any? We do not need to know the background of the author to fully appreciate his work because I’m sure that was not his intention. It goes back to a question someone once asked me: What is the soul of art? The creator or the creation? It will always be the creation. And I think this was the purpose of the Beginner’s Guide. There are so many opinions about this game. About what it was trying to convey. Mine being just one of them. So do these opinions enhance the experience of the game, when we are clearly doing something that the creator does not want us to do? And the answer is: I don’t know. How could I? I’m not the one who made the game. I have no idea what the developer was thinking when he made this. Davey continuously tries to explain various aspects of Coda’s work. The puzzle that is such a recurring feature is seen as a space for Coda to be reflective upon. He is alone in this space and he may find piece of mind here. But however, you have to move on. You cannot stay in the darkness forever. But all this is just conjecture. Maybe for Coda, it was just a puzzle. Simple as that. Who knows? I could be speaking incoherent hogwash for all I know. In the end, we are all trying to solve that one question. Why did he/she make this? And it’s to that end that we analyse and hypothesize about various aspects of the creation. But despite all I said I still believe.

That you should take whatever you want from it. A work of art will always be interpreted. That’s just the nature of art. And it’s why art exists. For Coda, game development was a love meant only for himself. He did not need anything else. Which is odd in modern society. Davey said it best when he said he could not imagine a world where people did not look for self validation. Which hit me hard. Here I am, typing away at my laptop, getting ready to post this. And why do I do that? Because I am driven by self validation. I need to know whether my work is good. That’s just how society works. There’s no point being talented in your bedroom. You have to get your work out there. Which is why it hit me hard. A world where people do not chase after self validation. I literally cannot imagine it. Because humanity runs on the validation of each other.

Was this the point of the game? I don’t know. And that’s the beauty of it.

It was a cool game.Let’s just leave it at that.

#Coda #Narrative #gaming #DaveyWreden #analysis