Is death everywhere?

graalcool
My new game I just released. It was a really quick game I made by myself without my friend. It's finished took me 10-20 minutes.
You just dodge death as you walk to work! It's really simple!! It's short and can be finished in under 10 minutes.
The game is:
Simple
Easy
Quick

jaynabonne
First, let me say I'm happy that you are finding Quest so easy to use, such that you're able to crank out these games with so little effort. I think it's a testament to Quest, how easy it is to get started with!

Now about the game. At first, I was a bit put off. At each step, you are presented with two (sometimes three) choices, and you have to pick one. The first few screens seemed somewhat logical, but then it got surreal and a bit arbitrary. I found myself dying inexplicably and without any explanation why. I ended up walking away without finishing it, since I felt like a monkey trying to figure out which lever to pull to get the banana.

Then I had a raspberry-filled doughnut (well, half - when you're married, you have to share), and I tried it again, determined to at least see the end, and now I have a new appreciation for the minimalist approach you have taken. My frustration at not knowing *why* I died caused me to seek answers within myself, and suddenly it all began to make sense.

For example, when you drop your briefcase and are given the two choices of "Pick it up" or "Leave it", the fact that you die when picking it up points to the need for all of us, as proscribed in Zen Buddhism, to put aside our attachments to physical things. A briefcase is just a possession, just a *thing*, and as such only weighs us down on our path to true enlightenment.

Similarly, when faced with the ninjas, the choices of fighting or giving $5 seemed inexplicable at first. What could it all mean? Why money? And then it hit me - this is a profound statement, pointing out how in our modern society, it's the people with money who have real power, and the ancient worship of physical prowess and skill has fallen by the wayside. It is the triumph of capitalism over more traditional power paradigms.

The hamburger - a strong indictment of the fast food industry and how we as a people are willing to put anything in our mouths, though it may be killing us.

The choice of how to get into the building (the only one with three choices - I haven't worked out the significance of that) - we all spend our lives taking elevators or the stairs. The fact that the way to avoid death is by flying is a metaphor for how, going through our typical daily routines, we are all dead inside. We must learn to rise above, to transcend our mere existence. Only then are we truly living.

And the final conflict with the boss... again, a brilliant statement about how struggling against the inevitable is futile. We must all know when it's time to let go and move on, that carrying grudges and animosity around inside us is only preventing us from truly living as we should.

Finally, the overall theme of death at every turn can only be pointing out how death could happen to us at any time. Though we may win in the short term, it will triumph in the end.

All in all, a thought-provoking game, and I look forward to more from you.

Hmmm... time for some pizza.

davidw
Jaynabonne, can I just say how impressed I am with the time and effort you put into your commentary of this game. First rate, top notch stuff. A thrilling read from start to finish. It makes the game - if, indeed, it could be classed as such - sound almost worth playing; however, after playing said game - which, I'm sure, doesn't deserve to be classed as such - I'm left with the opinion that while your commentary was excellent, the game was anything but.

I heartily look forward to your next effort.

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