The Deal with Davil Corp

I set out to create a simple web story where the line between the story's character and the reader/player is blurred. Using the game's code as a story telling device that is also presented to the reader was a fun challenge. I really like works that wholly embrace their own medium in ways that make it unique to that art form. With this piece, presenting the code that delivers the story to the reader adds a depth to the meaning of the story itself, but also adds a meta layer to the reader's position in the story. Because I was writing the code to also be read in the story, I could wrap the gameplay loop into a recursive function which will hopefully add flavor to the reader's interpretation of the story.

I really grappled with whether I should add a puzzle mechanic to make the piece more "gamey." I considered adding an exit sequence that could be learned by reading the game's code, and then the player could type the exit sequence to break out of the recursive loop. In the end I decided not to do this, because I felt it detracted from the primary theme of the story. It could have been a fun challenge on its own, but I'm glad I decided to keep it simple.