CODA

[Opcode_]

Does anyone realize that the steam icon for the game is a CODA symbol? Like the musical one? What do you think this means? CODA, in musical terms is a section of music typically played at the end of a work. Usually, the player has already finished the piece once before going back to the sign, and then to the Coda. Could this mean that we are ment to play the game multiple times? Also, "CODA" sounds similar to "CODER", as in a programmer. What do you think?

[Astrydax]

Yeah, CODA doesn't exist. Coda is an earlier version of himself (Davey), Kinda like the phone booth section where you're talking to your earlier self still trapped in the prison. Davey Made all of these games inside the Beginners Guide. If you're looking for closure after playing this game, I would highly suggest playing "The Stanley Parable" one of Davey's earlier games. You really get a feel for what he's touching on after you've played that game as well. I've been following Davey for years now. So let me shed some light on a few things real quick.

1) Video games are a modern art form. Thousands of years ago you had sculptures, then you had paintings, then animated films, music and audio visuals. These were all creative outlets for artist made possible by the tools available to them at the time. In this present day, that art form is now video games. It's kind of hard to understand games in this way with titles like halo and call of duty even bioshock and any game with big name company on it, because those games are designed to SELL and to ENTERTAIN. But think of it like this, we used to have paintings because paint was an available tool at the time; computers were not. Leonardo da Vinci didn't create the Mona Lisa so that it could be sold and enjoyed, it was created to be taken as it was and appreciated for just that. This is exactly what The Beginners Guide is supposed to be, something to be taken for exactly what it is. It's not a game in the sense that you beat it or get a high score or anything. It is simply the product of an artists work manifested in the form of interactive audiovisuals known as video games.

2) After Davey released The Stanley Parable (his first huge success) he fell into a deep state of depression. I won't go into explaining it simply to avoid the great injustice it would be to misrepresent what was going on in his life. Instead, here is a link to his website under the name of his old company Galactic Cafe (the company name that Stanley Parable was released under). On the front page, its a bit of read, but he's goes into great detail as to what was going on in his life at the time. http://www.galactic-cafe.com/


These next points are going to be irrelevant if you haven't yet read the article from Davey on the above link.

3) Coda is not a real person. If when you load the game up, and look at the icon for it you will notice this symbol of a circle with a cross extending throughout the circles border. This symbol is called a Coda in music composition (don't look up a dictionary definition for this word Coda because most definitions are partially inaccurate) . A Coda is used to signify the end of a movement in a peace of music. For example, a Symphony is a type classical composition that has Four distinct movements, each movement has its own tone and feel with the first and last movements being nearly the same. The Coda symbol would be used on the sheet music to signify that the current movement has ended and likewise signifies that a new movement is beginning. If that sounds familiar, that's because this is exactly what the door puzzle is: You've reached the end of something, you take a brief moment and pause before continue to the next movement, or in this case, before opening the second door.

4) If you read the blog post you will see that this entire game:The Beginners Guide is Davey's own Coda, his own door puzzle. He was very depressed for a long time with game design, he's always strived for a connection between him and his audience and you'll notice that if you've played the Stanley Parable. at the end of The Tower level there's a quote from 'Coda' on the wall saying "I can't help you, and that's OK, you're not mine to fix". This is actually Davey passively SPEAKING TO YOU AS THE PLAYER. Davey felt very disconnected from his audience that played his games and very connected to his games himself. So for people to not understand his games and games being all he knows, he felt like he didn't know himself anymore. The Beginners Guide is Davey's attempt to bridge that gap, to help his audience better understand that you don't have to have a solution, to help people understand to just take his games for what they are. In part, by doing this Davey feels that if he can bridge that gap and bring people to understand his games, he can repair himself by gaining that connection with his audience. And by doing this, Davey's is walking through the door puzzle closing that second door on the depression filled part of his life and moving forward.


Please note that I have no external proof for any of this to be truth other than the examples I have provided. This is simply my interpretation of my favorite game developer that I believe to be true. All I can hope is that my interpretation of this is accurate and that I've reached a connection of understanding that Davey has strived for.


-Astrydax-

[Opcode_]

"And when you do finally realize what I'm talking about...Don't tell anyone". Thanks for the insight Astrydax. But if Coda is talking to the player...maybe you shouldn't have spelled out what Davey means so clearly. I don't think I want anyone else to respond to this thread. It's more fun to figure out the meaning of the game on your own.

[Astrydax]

Originally posted by JohnBrokenBridge:

"And when you do finally realize what I'm talking about...Don't tell anyone". Thanks for the insight Astrydax. But if Coda is talking to the player...maybe you shouldn't have spelled out what Davey means so clearly. I don't think I want anyone else to respond to this thread. It's more fun to figure out the meaning of the game on your own.

It most cases you would be absolutely right. But this is actually exactly what davey was asking people to do. If you watch the video commercial, you can find it on the front of the store page. This is a direct quote from the video: "take all of these images, hold them in your mind and now try to imagine without having ever met this person who they are. Ok, lets do it. Lets find out if you're right."

[SaunterbluggetHampterfuppinshire]

That is because of the whisper machine. You finish it at the beginning of the game, float up, and see a small maze. then you go through the rest of the game, and what do you know? You can see the whisper machine again at the end. You step in, and as you float up, you realize that you are in the same setting as the space ship level again. Not only have you played the game "D.S. al Coda" (from the sign to the end), but you have (as was said in the beginning of the discussion) finished the game for the second time.

During the level "the machine", it is becomes a real possibility that Coda and the Whisper machine are one and the same. I'd be glad to hear people's thoughts on this last part especially.

(P.S. I forgot to quote the first post here, and you might want to read that before reading this one.)