Almighty Game Designer Chapter 273: The meaning of meta game

Zhao Lei began to explore different routes, tried different endings, and even deliberately chose the opposite route to the narration.

……

If Stanley did not choose to find the boss, but kept going downstairs, then he would fall into an endless loop. Stanley began to dream and eventually fell into madness.

……

At a desk by the window, Stanley crouched down and could get out of the window, then fell out of the window and entered a pure white space.

But this is not a BUG, ​​because the narration will remind you that this is part of the game, and some self-deprecating by the way.

[At first, Stanley thought he had destroyed the map, but he didn't realize it was part of the game until he heard this narration. He then praised the game's deep and humorous criticism of the video game architecture, as well as its attempt to metaphor the narrative structure. 】

……

If you exit before the office door is closed when entering the boss’s office, the narration will be “closed” in the boss’s office. The player will no longer hear the narration.

At this time, when the player returns to the original room 427, they will find that the door next to it has opened, and a place to guide the player to the rescue capsule appears.

In the process of going to the escape pod, Stanley will keep going upstairs. He will find that there is a room 427 on each floor, and each floor is the same structure. Eventually he will enter the escape pod and escape from this place (perhaps).

……

If you choose the door on the right hand side and use the elevator to come to the maintenance area, the narration will be completely confusing, and you will not even find the way Stanley should go next.

Stanley walked on a road that completely deviated from the narration, so that the entire script was spoiled, and the narrator had to restart the entire game.

But the game after restarting became more chaotic. After each restart, the game will fall into new problems.

For example, the door is missing.

For example, Stanley entered a scene with a completely different style of painting.

The narrator even had to draw a long yellow arrow on the ground, but this still did not save the game storyline that had been completely messed up.

In the end, Stanley will come to a room with "Chaotic Ending" written in it, and the whole process of the chaotic ending will be written on the screen.

Even the narrator was shocked. He refused to continue to restart the game following the on-screen process, but an unidentified existence forced the game to restart.

……

The deeper he played, the more Zhao Lei found out that there were too many things in the game that he didn't realize at all. No matter what choice he made, the narrator would have a set of rhetoric, as if he had guessed that he would do it. same.

Moreover, there are many interesting easter eggs in this game, and molesting and narration has become a very interesting thing.

If you keep typing the wrong password in your boss’s office, the narration will hint at the correct password over and over again, and even emphasize it with red fonts very angrily, and finally reluctantly opens the door by himself.

Sometimes, the narrator was shocked by what happened in the game, which caused the entire game to fall into multiple levels of confusion.

The existence of Stanley-player-narration-higher constitutes a huge mystery, which makes Zhao Lei want to constantly search for clues in the game and find the truth behind all this.

He has been deeply attracted by this game.

……

Unconsciously, more than two hours passed.

Zhao Lei looked at the time and realized that he had spent such a long time in this game.

But he has a vague feeling, as if there are still many endings in this game that he hasn't played, and there are still many easter eggs that he hasn't discovered.

This is the second time Chen Mo has come to check his progress.

"How is it, is it fun?" Chen Mo asked with a smile.

Zhao Lei rubbed his neck: "It's not fun, but... it feels very interesting. When will this game be released?"

Chen Mo said: "Maybe next week."

Zhao Lei nodded: "Okay, I will definitely buy a collection when the game is released."

He paused, and continued: "Moreover, I feel that this game seems to imply something. If you go deeper, it seems to imply a lot of implication..."

Chen Mo smiled and said nothing.

Zhao Lei asked: "Could you explain to me what this game really means? What does it mean?"

Chen Mo shook his head: "It can only be understood, not spoken."

Zhao Lei was a little speechless, and stood up: "It's late, I have to go back, get a good night's sleep, and continue to work tomorrow."

Chen Mo nodded: "Well, take a good rest."

The two walked to the door, and Zhao Lei looked at Chen Mo before leaving: "Thank you for your game. Although it is useless to understand some principles, it at least makes me feel better."

Chen Mo smiled: "Don't think too much, it's just a game. Life still has to go on, right?"

……

"Stanley's Fable" is not a simple puzzle game.

It is a very classic META game with deep philosophical implications. Its fun is not in solving puzzles, not in exploring different endings, but in experiencing and interpreting the countless fables contained in the entire game.

In this game, in fact, there are designs that are contrary to conventional games everywhere. It is more like a mockery of the meaning of the "game" itself, or the relationship between the designer and the player.

The game has no clear goals, no difficult challenges, and no rewards in the usual sense. Even when the player stays in the storage room for a long time, the narrator will taunt: "Oh my God, do you want to show off to your friends that you played the end of the storage room?"

Moreover, the game is full of all kinds of irony about "game fun". For example, Stanley's daily work is to press the keys, and he feels very happy. Isn't this alluding to those gamers?

The players opened the secret door step by step according to the narration prompts and turned on the switch~IndoMTL.com~ and finally reached a seemingly complete ending. Isn't this what normal games let players do?

These contents make players vaguely realize that they seem to be Stanley, seem to have freedom and happiness, but this feeling is very false.

Behind every ending, there is a kind of philosophical thinking.

For example, the deception ending is the deception of losing free will, the nuclear explosion ending is the consolidation of the creator's status, the homecoming ending is a kind of despair with no choice, the chaotic ending is thinking about the end, and the starlight ending is taking Stanley as I made an experimental mouse...

And the greatest significance of this game lies in this.

It is a reflection on the game itself and life. Players will reflect on their experiences in real life and think about how they should choose.

Of course, this game itself does not have a clear story background, it is more like a stream of consciousness work, one thousand readers have one thousand Hamlet, everyone playing this game can experience something different thing.

However, being able to bring this kind of experience to players is the biggest significance of this game.