The Beginner's Guide

The Beginner's Guide

53 ratings
The Theory Guide
By drybones
Who is Coda? The question in the story is unanswered. But I will give you my thoughts on who Coda really is in this guide.




   
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The Beginning
In the Beginning Davey shows and explains these games that Coda created he states that Coda created these games from 2008 up to 2011. Also the same date The Stanley Parable was released on steam in July 27, 2011. The last game Coda released was in June of 2011 which shows as first proof why Coda is Davey. Because after The Stanley Parable Davey did not release a game after it being a huge success.
What is Coda?
Coda is a character inside of Davey's head. Coda is the part of Davey that creates the games and creates the ideas for the games. Davey says he has heated arguments between Coda to make his games Have a playable ending to it. While Coda disagrees and likes his games without an ending to them. That is where the internal conflict happens between the part of davey that wants to make the games and the part of Davey that wants the games to never have an ending. in The Stanley Parable, when you start playing the game it seems like it never has an ending to it when you first start playing. But the truth is, the game has multiple endings to it. Which referes back to Coda and Davey arguing about games having an ending or not.
Davey's Lampposts
Davey says that Coda added the lamp posts after a couple of games to show that they ment the ending of the level. Later on in the games the text on the wall says "would you stop changing my games? stop adding lampposts to them?" meaning that Davey lied and He went agenst Coda's will to add an ending to all his games. Coda's games didn't have an ending to them Davey was the one to add the endings. Since Davey have not heard from Coda in a long time after he created a few games Coda still had access to the game to modify the level and write the text there. Telling Davey that he did not want endings to his games. Coda's games only got more dark and horrifing once you progress through the levels with davey's lampposts. When Coda made the games repeating themselves they were the happy thoughts of Coda. He did not like endings. That is why Davey hated himself because Coda is the second part of him.
The Speech Bubbles
The speech bubbles in that one game showes how much Davey/Coda was isolating himself from the outside world to create games. He talked to himself throughout the whole level to not feel lonely. He put in jokes and comments that real people would put in to think that a lot of people like his game and talk to the creator. Davey craves peoples love to his game while Coda likes to keep them to himself with his own creative mind and an endless game that is why he wouldn't release them. Davey created The Stanley Parable with an ending because that is what people ask for that is what makes people happy when they play Video Games. Proper endings.
The Ending
The ending of The Beginner's Guide was the Silent Machine. The beam that you put your body through it to help others. Instead a glitch in the game occurs and the player floats up. When floating you see a Massive labyrinth. What is that labyrinth? if Coda knew the glitch was in his game already why did he not have the game end with the player dying on the beam? Because he wanted to show what was outside the picture. Like when Davey removes the walls in one of Coda's games to show there are hundreds of puzzles outside the simple level you completed. As the player is flying higher and higher the labyrinth extends out to a point where it is not visible to the eye. It describes the thoughts of Davey and Coda when he creates Video Games. His complex minds always has conflicts when creating games. That is why the ending was neither proper or unproper. It had enough to explain what was happening in Coda's and Davey's mind. But there are still things unanswered. For example. What are the three dots? Why did the player destroy all of Coda's maps? and why did Davey leave before the ending of the game?
REMEMBER
This whole guide has been my thoughts of the game. All of what I said could be either, partially true, all true, or none of it true. Either way we might find out in the future or we may not. I wanted to share what i thought with the people that played the game because the game to me really relates to me a little and to my friend a lot. The game is very deep and has meaning to it. Overall the game was worth every little bit of time I spent playing and creating this guide for. I hope this guide helped you understand what I think of Coda and Davey.
19 Comments
TheSowut 25 Sep, 2016 @ 5:27am 
Great job and thanks for the explanation !
kkh3049 17 Sep, 2016 @ 3:31pm 
@Killer Memestar Actually, Coda is a musical term used to signify the end of a piece. NOT a transition to another piece. It doesn't require another play through the piece (though not uncommon in many pieces) and is translated as tail.
Margot 30 Apr, 2016 @ 9:09pm 
I wanted to point out another point that not many people would realize. Coda is actually a musical term used to signify moving from one piece of the music to another, on the second playthrough
vintprox 7 Apr, 2016 @ 3:43pm 
Woo, woo, so many comments from one mind :D
drybones  [author] 5 Apr, 2016 @ 5:03pm 
@5ilvara, lol you're fine man. I love the novels you wrote :8bitheart:
Colluplino 5 Apr, 2016 @ 4:47pm 
...And managing to pull that while saying all of these other stuff, makes the author outstanding. Not exactly as a person, but rather as a mind. The game, this house of his doesn't feel like the construct of a NT mind. It's probably not.

PS: If my comments are too long and you'd like me to remove them, let me know. I just don't know where else to write them. Seriously. It's your fault anyway, your post inspired me and suddenly I had the urge to spout tons of text. ._.
Colluplino 5 Apr, 2016 @ 4:42pm 
The second thing that I find impressive is not about what he express, but how he does so : during some parts of the game, even through we are different players, seeking ou own lamppost through the journey, Davey/Coda manages to convey his feeling through the setting, the atmosphere, the situation: there is what the narrator says and what the game...feels. Sometimes, even without understanding Coda's feelings, the two sides of the author's personality, we can already feel that some things that are being said are lies; I'm referring to the Starship Whisperer where the player/Coda is forced by Danvey to "tell the truth", and that is, to say that the player/Coda has no more motivation to do games, feels lonely, depressed, etc. while in fact these are only Danvey's feelings, never Coda's. There are some other moments as such that let the player "feels" the truth before it is revealed.
Colluplino 5 Apr, 2016 @ 4:41pm 
But what I find most impressive in this Davey simulation—sorry—in that 'game', is that during all that time, in a way, Davey is both talk to himself, about himself, building something for many people to talk about him, and yet, manages to do so without giving off a blatant sense of superiority. I also have to tip my hat to his courage. Because baring his soul to so many people...it's incredibly daring. An incredibly daring yandere megalomaniac. (Just teasing, now ;)
Colluplino 5 Apr, 2016 @ 4:40pm 
Most of The Beginner's Game is about Davey's peace in isolation, vs Davey's loneliness in isolation.
Two of the conflicting reasons that make him make games : the first being that he seems to be best able to communicate, even commune, with other people through them, and the second being because he doesn't want others to give their opinions on them, may they be appreciations or interpretation. We could say that each of Davey's unplayable games are homes or prisons for his soul to roam in, to explore, to find peace and at so point, a a way, a great deal of happiness.
And around of these two strong and conflicting feelings a tiny universes of meanings is built, all true, all creative, all coming full-circle back to him, to keep him company. :)
Colluplino 5 Apr, 2016 @ 4:39pm 
What seems to remain unexplained, is why does Coda despise endings? What does an ending means to him? If it's a door to close, as a way out of the prison that his Coda loves, then Davey doesn't want his games to escape his control anymore than he wants the player to be able to escape his games. All of the feelings, needs, wishes and fears that are offered to the player's experience here was already in the Stanley Parable, albeit a lot more subtly, but centered on the player instead of Davey. In TSP, there is no ending in the sense that there is no "true ending". There are a lots of endings, some with credits, some without, but all makes a perfectly valid and complete story. In TSP, reaching an ending doesn't means ending the game. And I think that that way of thinking may be one of the keys to ease Davey/Coda's complexe dilemma.