... ... No... No, it was stupid, sorry. Never mind. Hey, these dishes need to be washed, why don't you come do that.

And it kind of makes you wonder: What was going through his head as he was building this?

I think I need to go. And...I'm sorry, because I know that I said I would be here and I would walk you through this, but. I'm starting to feel like I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot that I need to make up for.

Hm... I want to try something. Try stepping back from the stage. Okay, yes! Now this is working! This is what it was like! That's perfect, wonderful, this is really wonderful. You're doing great.

To get out, all you have to do is be sincere.

Yeah we're ALL here now

STOP. TURN BACK. PROCEEDING FURTHER WILL ONLY RESULT IN MISERY.

If the last game featured Coda talking explicitly about his creative frustrations, this one turns it up to eleven.

This place makes me sad.

Not like he's having trouble iterating on ideas, but he just can't think of new ideas anymore. And in person he was being a lot more distant than usual, you know how sometimes a person will just deflect anything that you say in order to keep themselves disconnected all the time?

I can assure you guaranteed that there is an acorn somewhere, in this place, and the sailors are looking for it.

If the last game featured Coda talking explicitly about his creative frustrations, this one turns it up to eleven.

how is there wood and grass and concrete here wtf

Just something to think about while you smooth out the rug in the bedroom.

When they told me how much they enjoyed his games it was the best feeling, the absolute best feeling, it made me feel so happy. So beautifully, beautifully happy.

I get it, that's a weird thing to say to someone you just met.

There's a bigger picture that all of his games are meant to play a role in, some larger meaning that we won't be able to grasp until we've seen all of them, and once we have we can step back and start to understand what exactly that bigger picture is.

cabbage shapes our nation

brrrrfstno(()))(()

Everyone read this!!

Oh no, that's awful! That's the worst thing I can imagine!

A key in one game unlocks a door in a completely separate game.

And this is where I have trouble saying anything meaningful about Coda's work, because more than anything else The Tower just feels distant, it feels like it's trying to distance itself from the world. It's a very cold game.

And of course, it's the machine.

My name is Davey Wreden, I wrote The Stanley Parable, and while that game tells a pretty absurd story, today I'm going to tell you about a series of events that happened between 2008 and 2011.

That's the story, little one. Oh don't you worry now, we'll be through this mess in no time! I promise you'll wish there was more. Why don't I finish up here, in the mean time could you please clear the table?

Feel free to skip over any of these notes if they're not doing anything for you, nothing extra will happen if you read all of them.

recognize me please

Do you hear the chimes? They keep you going, don't they?

Woah, holy shit

omg i have been here for literally an hour wtf do I do

Alright! The performance is beginning! Places please! In this scene, you will be playing as me. We are at a gathering of professionals. First, you'll start out leaning against this wall.

A stranger appears.

This one is called the Tower, and to my knowledge it's the last game that Coda ever made. So... let's take a look.

So it's 2008, Coda starts making these games, and he never releases any of them.

And that's why I've taken this opportunity to gather all of his work together, is because I find his games powerful and interesting, and I'd like this collection to reach him to maybe encourage him to start creating again.

So I started showing Coda's work to people. I took this one, the islands which you just played, the theater, the notes, the housecleaning game, and some of the prison escape games.

This prison, funny enough, in Coda's original design the door stayed shut for a full hour before letting you go. If you don't mind I think we're gonna skip that.

A game of only posters and concept art showing what the game is intended to be.

There's nothing here. Go back.

Press U to surrender

Are you there? Please, say something. It can be anything, I just need you to say something! Talk to me! Please! Why are you having so much difficulty talking? Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak! Speak!

A key in one game unlocks a door in a completely separate game.

Would you stop changing my games? Stop adding lampposts to them? Would you simply let them be what they are?

Reasonable.

And so we just got into heated arguments over it, and there was one time that after one of these conversations he went home and a day or two later he sent me a zip file entitled 'Playable Games,' that was full of hundreds of individual games.

... ... No... No, it was stupid, sorry. Never mind. Hey, these dishes need to be washed, why don't you come do that.

Darling, let me tell you something. In your lifetime, you are going to clean a lot of houses. And among all those, a few of them will stick out as truly wonderful, beautiful experiences. And none of them will be the ones that were easy.

buttassbutt

What are you doing?? You're deflecting, you're not saying what's actually on your mind. Stop dancing around it and have a conversation with this person. Do it again.