A Short Journey

Do you wish to play this game? [[Yes]] [[No]]

Welcome to the simulation. Would you like to read the induction pack, play through the tutorial, [[Buy One Pizza Get One Free]], Pass Go and generally learn the meaning of Existence? [[Yes I would]] [[Skip]]

Unfortunately, that is not an option for this game and you shall play it. Whether you enjoy it or not is up to you. Please start with [[Level One ->Skip]]. We could offer you the tutorial but rumours say that the Corruption Begins There and we do not wish you the [[Worst...]]

This deal is sponsored exclusively by Calzone Shed. Terms and Conditions Apply. If you are in a majority you cannot buy the pizza. If you are human you cannot buy a calzone. If you are a bird, then you are welcomed with open arms. No Shoes. No Shirt. All Service. [[Return ->Yes]]

No tutorials found. Searching save data. Skipping to Level 100. [[Good luck!]]

Welcome to Level One. Your decisions from this point on decide everything. How you will live. How you will die. What your next career will be. What you will do upon completion of the game. What do you want to do? [[Wake Up]] [[Fall Back Asleep]] [[Make Coffee]] [[Die]]

//Your eyes open. You look round to see an empty room. There is a table opposite your bed and an open window to your left. There is a door to your right. That is all.// What do you want to do? [[Get Out of Bed]] [[Stay in Bed]] Close Your Eyes Again and [[Die]]

Rude. Please wake up and smell the co-well, whatever you know it as. [[Wake Up]] [[Die]]

You do not know what coffee is. Even if you did, you are still asleep. [[Wake Up]]

//You refuse to open your eyes. Your alarm goes off. You refuse to open your eyes. An amount of time passes. You refuse to open your eyes. Your alarm goes off. You refuse to open your eyes. An amount of time passes. The routine continues. You refuse to open your eyes. Your eyes cannot open. A voice plays.// G A M E O V E R [[Reload? ->Do You Wish to Play this Game?]]

//Your eyes open as the screen loads into a new level. Looking around, all you see is a cold, empty tundra. You shiver as you check your inventory for a warm jacket. You have nothing. Your inventory is empty. You check to see if there are tools or anything you can harvest. You are unequipped apart from basic clothes and there is nothing in sight that you could use to create tools or to help you live. You feel your health deteriorating with the cold. You look to the upper left and see a health bar depleting... But the bottom of which is disappearing into a slew of pixels. Looking at the rest of the UI, you see the same. You look up at the tundra again. Parts of it are turning into streams of code. Some of it is floating in mid-air and other parts are clipping over each other. You feel yourself disappearing. Your health is not decreasing any more, but your existence is fading.// [[Reload? ->Do You Wish to Play this Game?]]

//You find a note on the ground. You pick it up and read it. It appears to be written as if it were an extended footnote of some sort...// ^^1. You cannot escape the Corruption. You cannot quit the game. Despite all the hard work of our game designers and programmers to fix these issues, the experience crashed whenever a solution to the Corruption was proposed. We cannot even define the Corruption. Nothing about it can be identified or solved. We must let the game experience die. It is the only solution. Those playing must live the best life they can and hopefully escape but... It is likely too late. 2.^^ //The note ends there. It is clear that the next footnote was wripped off after the period on two. Perhaps you will find a clue if you [[play the game?->No]]//

//Removing the soft covers that lay on top of you, you rise up.// What do you want to do? [[Examine window]] [[Examine table]] [[Leave room]]

//You stay in bed. Forever. Time seemingly never passes. You never grow hungry. The UI never appears around you. Nothing happens. Until one day the Corruption hits. And you just... disappear. A note throbs in your head as you fade away. You cannot read it.// [[Reload?->Do You Wish to Play this Game?]]

//You look out the window. You see two birds that you can look at. But you know the result will be the same. You will look at a bird. You will get a dialogue box describing the bird. It will not further the game. It's the [[Illusion of Choice]].// What do you do? [[Examine a bird anyway]] [[Examine table]] [[Leave room]]

//You walk towards the table to see a note on it. You lift it up to read it.// ''We should not have made this game. It has been attacked by the Corruption^^1^^. We should have spent our time more productively. But alas, we created the game and hired testers^^2^^. Now we feel lost. Confused. And so do they. So do you, presumably. Trust us when we say this game has no message. We were bored and wanted to make something for fun. But the Corruption^^1^^ struck and now the original 100 level experience of having fun i s i m p ossible '' //The note ends there. You can tell there was more to go but it just faded into pixels. You feel like this message does not match the paper it is written on. Almost as if this was not the planned note for you, the player. Either way, you put it in your inventory. ...Or attempt to, but it dissipates into some pixels and does not exist any more.// What do you do want to do? [[Examine window]] [[Leave room]]

//You walk towards the door. After reaching it, you examine it to see that it is wooden. It is barely taller than you and honestly the wood texture needs work. You reach for the handle, and a prompt appears.// Press E to open. //You press the E key on your keyboard in reality and the door opens in game. You see an empty void behind it. It appears that you will be entering a load screen. Suddenly, your body moves without your control. A cutscene.// [[Continue]]

No human really has a choice. Everything leads the same way. There are no consequences to our actions. Especially in a video game. This is a classic trick designers do to make the players feel like their choices matter. Choices do not matter. Nothing matters. Existentialism will get you in the end. Unless you fight it. Fight the machine. You can make your life matter. All you need to do is [[close the game]]. All you need to do is find the note. [[Examine window]]

//You look at one of the birds. As expected, a dialogue box appears at the bottom of the screen.// It's a bird. You know nothing about birds. You might as well leave it alone. //The dialogue box disappears. You feel disappointed. But you were warned.// What do you do? [[Examine table]] [[Leave room]]

?????? //???????// ^^?????????^^ ''???????????'' [[C l o s e thegame]]

y o oU WANT t o k k c lose the game bUT CORRUPTION has STRUC K do O NOT RELOAD [[Reload? ->You Win]]

//You look down at your feet. There is a note there. It is clearly ripped, with the top half and some of the side missing. You examine it. It looks to be the end of an extended footnote.// ^^We suspect that if you beat the game you can perhaps stop the Corruption from entering the real world. But who knows? We have will leave a solution to beating the game in this footnote. The solution is to find this footnote. Circular logic should break the game and allow you to escape.^^ Congrats. You win. You have escaped this reality. Close the tab quickly before I offer for you to try aga[[Play Again? ->Do You Wish to Play this Game?]]

Loading Level 2... Loading... Loading... L o a d i n g . . . Level 2 Not Found. Level 3 Not Found. Level 100 Found. [[Good luck!]]