The Epilogue.
(one last DISCLAIMER: this is askblog for TBG Davey, not the actual Davey Wreden.)
I assume you have many questions - and after my response, you'll come up with even more. But I never planned to answer any of them.
I'm only telling a story.
Once TSPUD got announced, people have asked me if I'd remaster The Beginner's Guide. That question kept showing up, and I kept saying - 'Whats the point? The story is already finished.'
And then, I was asked again. And then, again.
And then - again.
At some point, I stopped responding. It was not due to being tired of repeating myself, but because I wasn't sure if the answer was still true. I felt there was nothing more to add, and enhancing the graphics would only take away from the experience. And yet, I knew there was so much more to the story.
I looked at all the game reviews, emails, and messages I could, realizing that this was it.
Feedback or The Cookie9 Phenomenon, if you want to call it that.
In a way, I suppose, I've always been my audience's Coda. The only thing that was different was no direct contact. After the enormous, very overwhelming response from the original TSP, I've been sparingly responding to any private feedback I've been receiving.
But the emails kept not changing. I do find the mails where I'm getting 'destroyed' or 'owned' very funny but that wasn't the case from the start.
So, I've wondered - how would these people react if they could see an effect of their own words? That it's not just something they spout into the ether but there's an actual person on the other side?
I wondered how could I bring this up without making a Skip Button Ultra Deluxe Edition. While games are interactive, you still have a barrier between you and the creator of the games.
Inspiration came randomly, during one panel I was listening to. Typically, a person would have a big speech followed by questions but that one particular instance was like 70% QnA. And at the end - I felt great! Maybe I couldn't give my own feedback in the sea of hands but there was something so charming about this being such a collaborative work. At the start, the performer said "you shape how the show will go" and even if it was obvious in that circumstance, to this day I remember it.
So, I've decided to make this askblog. But as I stated in it, in hidden clues - I'm fine at the moment! I'm happy where I stand as a creator and I had moved on from the past. That, however, wasn't always the case.
I'm lucky that I was mad enough to have many diaries throughout my life. I've written down so many of my reactions, thought processes and feelings, reading through My Files wasn't that much of an issue. And since I've already played as my past self once - I could do it again.
I will leave this askblog open but I won't respond to every message left for it as I've used to. I'll spare your time and write down some of the questions that you'll probably not get answers to:
"Was Coda ever real?", "Where the Twitter screenshot real and if so, what were Coda's thoughts and reaction to all of this?" "Were Coda's answer actually his?" or any other Coda-related questions like that,
"What are you working on now?", "Are you really fine?",
"What exactly inspired you in your life to do this now?", "Had a similar situation happened before?", "How did you deal with other Fake Codas?", "Will you one day answer our questions again?"
or anything TSP/TSPUD related,
because you're not entitled to someone's work or life.
And I won't light up your lampposts anymore.
Davey, out!
===
(Hi, it's me, @shinakazami1, the creator of this story. I'd like to thank everybody who spent their time to support this. I adore interacting with my own audience so this way of storytelling felt great thanks to you! My plan was to have something in the spirit of the original The Beginner's Guide in a form of an ask blog - small questions connected with themselves, telling a bigger yet short story that had already 'happened'. As Davey had said - you shape the way this could have gone. While the ending was predetermined from the start, Act 2 aka 'Coda's Askblog' was entirely up to you! For every post that you've asked Coda about something, I've already prepared a draft for the other blog. There were different versions of Coda and Davey planned. You've chosen Anxious Yet Assertive Davey and Angry but Weirdly Supportive Coda. I might talk about these more either in an edit of this post or on my Tumblr Blog, as I'd like to show a bit of a cut content :] While askblog Davey said he might not answer the questions mentioned - I might, so feel free to come and say your thoughts on this, your feedback, anything! I've myself been once again feeling stuck with creating, especially with drawing. But this project made me feel great, and it's all thanks to you. So thank you, Player. May we see each other another time. Toodle-pip!)
