Ode To Pixel Days Extras!

Thank you for playing Ode To Pixel Days!

If you've enjoyed your experience, you probably want more!

Extras include:
The Meaning of The Story And Narration
Wallpapers
Free Soundtrack
Credits

Hope you enjoy these:

The Meaning of The Story and Narration:
(!!!SPOILERS!!!)

I'll try to explain what I've tried to do with this game. I always had this low self-esteem thing going, and through teen years, social interactions got very uncomfortable for me. I wasn't a very social person. I lived through things in my mind, and not by actually living; like I never told a girl I liked her, I never felt confident enough to try my chances on things and people, I just lived through my life since now, expecting something to happen by itself.

I think I pretty much changed that behaviour now, because now I work for my dreams, like making the games in my dreams, and telling stories that I was never able to tell the other way. Because I know that, playing a game is very different from watching a movie or reading a story. The difference is beyond "interactivity". Games have the chance to actually let the players live through something, experience something on their own and learn through the game. For example, in Cultivation, Jason Rohrer's old game, you experience a very difficult trade-off between neighbours, and you actually get to learn through the experience, not like you try to understand the message of a movie, but you actually experience something and learn.

I tried to create this "learning experience" throughout this game. I don't think I was able to fully do it, but I'm sure my games will get better with time.

In the game, Hans builds a machine that makes everyone look just the same. The reason of that is, a young person would always try to change the world first, instead of changing himself. He doesn't know that the world is not easy to change. He changes the world, but only his mind.

He eventually succeeds to get to cheerleader. They become lovers, but not for long. Cheerleader leaves him, tries to get out of this utopia. Because the cheerleader is so obsessed with looking beautiful, a relationship is only meaningful if she looks great.

The relationship, like almost everything of the game, is in Hans' mind. The question that should be asked here is, since Hans' utopia was in his mind, he must have chosen to collapse it, he must have made cheerleader leave him. Why? The answer is... Hans is a very imaginative boy, but that doesn't mean he has the full control of his dreams. He is a traveler, in his own mind. He doesn't really know where he is going. Hans lives through bad dreams in his mind the same way all people see bad dreams while they're sleeping. So, Hans' relationship with cheerleader didn't work out in his mind. There's a strong clue to all this happening in Hans' mind. Just before the credits, there's this black and white level, where cheerleader chats with two girls. Hans walks to her. She looks at him, but she doesn't know him, so she immidiately gets back to chatting with the girls. This scene is a confusing one, but I think some players will be able to understand what's going on here. All the time spent in the colorful castle represented Hans' dreams. And now the black and white level represents the real world. What player knows is that Hans experienced a relationship with the cheerleader. But here, the game shows that the cheerleader doesn't even know who he is. She ignores him completely. He is invisible to her. That way, we know that Hans experienced all this in his mind.

The castle that the game is mostly played in represents Hans' storage of hopes and dreams. Through the game, the castle misses bricks, one by one. There are holes through walls where you can see clouds and birds. The inevitable end of the castle, the collapse gets nearer. That of course, is the death of Hans' dream, the utopia, where everyone looks just the same. But as he runs out of  his castle, he finds some kind of peace. The fall from the castle symbolizes that peace.

He succeeded to find some peace when the utopia collased. But actually, as I just explained, the black and white real world is still full of suffering. Hans learned how to be himself, without letting the others criticize him so unforgivingly, without even knowing him.

I put my heart and months into this game. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading.

Wallpapers:

(1366 x 768 resolution)

Soundtrack: (Free Download and Online Streaming)

CLICKCLICKCLICK

Credits:

Sponsored by MaxGames.

Everything on the game is done by me, Talha Kaya. I have designed, programmed, drawn, animated the game, recorded and mixed the soundtrack, generated the sound effects. But who I am without these wonderful free tools?

FlashDevelop

Flixel Framework

Paint.Net

Audacity

sfxr

And who am I without these wonderful people?

Tarik Kaya

Nazire Aslan

My Family

Nowhere Studios

Without your help, support and motivation, this game wouldn't be able to come to life.

Very Special Thanks To:

Orcun Nisli

Burak Tezateser

Refik Toksoy

And the whole Nowhere Studios team. This project has started with your help while I was an intern in Nowhere Studios. Thank you for everything.

Playtesters:

Tarik Kaya, Nazire Aslan, Cem Evin, Orcun Nisli, Burak Tezateser, Ali Bati, Umut Dervis, Emrah Ozer, Ozan Komurcu, Refik Toksoy, Gokhan Yildiz, Caglar Sahin, Murat Kalkavan, Hande Basar, Oguzhan Tocan, Melis Colak, Burak Kadron, Efe Alacamli, Ozan Yildiz, Durmus Ali Collu, Ahmet Erdem, Yunus Emre Tekin, Cagatay Yildiz, Emre Erdogan, Melih Saglam, Oguz Demir, Muhammed Cicek, Kutay Ata Sen, Bugrahan Memis, Hakan Yilmaz

Hans will grow up
Be a random guy on a street
But the pain in his throat
It's going to stay for a while.

Thank you :)