The Beginner's Guide (follow-up to The Stanley Parable)

I'm not sure though if I agree with the game's message that interpreting art through the author's life is wrong. Because it does happen; Creator Breakdown and Creator Recovery are tropes for a reason. I recall when George Lucas and Steven Spielberg admitted Temple of Doom was really dark because both of them were going through breakups. Rob Reiner wrote When Harry Met Sally... when going through a divorce then rewrote the ending after meeting his new wife Michelle Singer. And Wreden almost tempts us to ask if this game has something to do with his life by naming the narrator after himself, voicing him, and including his actual email address. Putting in all that effort to tie it then declaring "nothing to do with me!" seems counterproductive, really.

Maybe Davey in-game has it backwards. Maybe what he's doing wrong is using Coda's games to interpret about his life rather than using Coda's life to interpret about his games. That's the approach anti-Shakespeare authors use to insist Shakespeare couldn't have written his plays because they're all about elite nobles and whatnot. So maybe the problem is he's more concerned about trying to understand Coda and therefore harming his friend, rather than trying to just understand the games and hurt nobody in the process.

edited 30th Dec '15 1:09:27 PM by Tuckerscreator

This game seems to be all about projecting one's interpretations and how easily this can spiral. We're all looking at this game and coming up with our own interpretations on what Wreden is trying to say.

The game ends with the narrator admitting that he went too far trying to interpret what these games meant.

The f'ck.

edited 1st Jan '16 12:48:32 AM by Soble

I've decided to just take it as "interpreting stories is fine, interpreting them while harming people in the process with your theories is not cool". At least, that's the only way it makes sense to me that the game both asks us to interpret and yet condemns it. Real Wreden has had to deal with lots of trolls and well-intentioned naggers who either harass about his fame or read too much in The Stanley Parable about his mind; maybe that's where the idea for this came from. But that's just a guess.

edited 6th Jan '16 11:35:15 AM by Tuckerscreator

As to the lamp posts mentioned earlier here, I just think the little text about them was put in to hammer the point home that we have no idea what Coda made himself and what the narrator put in place. For all we know, the "space between the doors" and other stuff wasn't actually there in the original games. Somebody pointed out how polished many of the games looked and it would make sense if that was the work of the narrator. I think another text quite explicitedly urges the narrator to stop changing stuff in the games.

I have played this game for ten minutes and it's already one of my favorites. o_o

It won't be after the next hour.

Finished playing it myself. The interpretation I had was that "Coda" the character was indeed somewhat elitist yet vulnerable to criticism; the guy's admission in The Tower that Davey's suggestions and debates irked him and subtly influenced his works in a bad way indicates that. Because Davey's unacceptable actions near the end and his odd attempts at improving Coda's games aside, his criticism does carry value, and Coda's insistence upon esoteric, glitchy and difficult to understand design decisions would be frustrating to solve, even for players into mind-games and vague puzzles. Of course, Coda never meant for any of that stuff to be released to the public, so...

Coda Definitely doesn't exist in real life though. I'm thinking his character is supposed to represent the real-life Davey's subconscious doubts and fears, especially given how the average gamer would be repulsed by most of his design choices and quickly give up to play something more mainstream.

Also, is it possible that Coda is a woman? Because during a couple of points in the story Davey uses female pronouns in reference to Coda, or what the prisoner weeping in the prison cage looked like. Could just be a dude with long hair and a thin body though, I couldn't get close enough to see the person's facial features.

Do you recall which specific points where Coda was referred with female pronouns? I don't recall any, in my memory.

First I recall was during The Interrogation, where the media referred to Coda as a "she". Granted, they could've been talking about Coda being a machine and giving it a female name, similar to how we tend to name ships, cars, etc.

Davey himself does say "her" too at once or twice but I don't remember where; probably during The Tower or The Stage Act.

Aside from those few mentions it's all male references.

Come to think of it... Coda being called female only pops up after that crying woman in the prison cage appears. That could've been either Davey again making incorrect assumptions, or another instance of tampering with the game's script.

edited 11th Jan '16 12:49:32 AM by SgtRicko

Maybe everyone here is going too far in trying to interpret what the The Beginner's Guide is saying?

That's what makes this game so damned hard to discuss: it's clear Coda intended the games for his/her personal use and play only, with internal meanings he'd be privy to, but you just can't help but speculate, especially once Davey fills your mind with so many potential interpretations. Indeed, it's quite possible that Coda might just enjoy making brief, obtuse games for the sheer heck of it, but at the same time their whole design just begs for questions to be asked, and theories to be formed.

edited 12th Jan '16 6:48:41 AM by SgtRicko

That's... pretty much what I got.

This game is telling you to stop trying to overanalyze games.

edited 12th Jan '16 11:05:02 AM by Soble