#A Parable on choice

[chekovpavelandreievich]

the thing about el higgins is that terry pratchett would have loved her.

I’ve never encountered a character or a series that I could call a spiritual successor to tiffany aching but el is perhaps the closest possible thing. the way that tiffany’s righteous anger is her magic, born from a sense of deeply rooted love and identity with her home and blossoms into a tempered, powerful ability to see what is in front of her. the way el rages against the systems of oppression she can see and how she follows that rage to the very core and from that core she dismantle those systems. how in both doing the right thing is a choice, always a choice, and one that requires choosing again and again and again. “this far and no further.” “you’re already dead but stay anyway.”

[blacktabbygames]

I don't think we ever actually posted the trailer for this here! SOUND ON for that good good voice acting!

You’re on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess. (Nichole Goodnight)

You’re here to slay her. If you don’t, it will mean the end of the world.

At least, that’s what the Narrator (Jonathan Sims) tells you. But you don’t have to listen. Sure, you can do as he says, killing the entity in the basement, whether she’s a Princess or... something else. Or you can try to find some other way out of the eternity of choices and twisting paths you and the “Princess” have found yourselves in. You might find, however, that some decisions will reshape the world in ways that only make things worse...

Is the world that tasked you to save it even worth saving?

We've got a demo on Steam and itch that covers the first chapter of the game, and it should run pretty well on most Mac, Windows, and Linux machines! There's achievements in the Steam version too, and it usually takes a little over an hour to get them all!

If fully voice acted visual novels that sit between The Stanley Parable and cosmic horror sound your jam, please check it out, and if you'd like to be notified when it releases, you can wishlist it on Steam.

[squuote]

finalized my curator design FINALLY. she is here now :-)

(these arent actually her pajamas btw. i just thought the idea was funny hehe)

[braisedhoney]

since this line won the Vague Narry Line vote, it gets posted now! first of a couple unrelated lines i'm working on for a youtube video while I learn how tf animation works lol. more rambles under the cut.

anyway this. uh. this took a really long time. worked on it (and other projects) sporadically before and after my break, and this is the result. could definitely use more polish, but it’s a real improvement from my last attempt w/ a different program! having something that lets you use audio and normal layers makes a big difference. this is probably the most labor intensive one too, so i'm glad i got to share it.

[smoothriverrocksrock]

The average Narrator simp: "Oh the Staircase Ending is so sad because the Narrator just wants to be your friend and Stanley says he'd rather die than be his friend!!"

Me, the chad Stanley enthusiast: "The Staircase ending is the most victorious of them all because Stanley has been striped of his words so he needs to communicate with actions. He is telling the Narrator that no matter how much he tries to manipulate Stanley, Stanley will always be his own person and make his own choices"

[poopystain-moved]

First, you made Bugbo x TSP art. Then, you make Portal 2 x Bugbo art. WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS TO ME?! WHY HAVE YOU GOTTEN ME EVEN MORE ENTRENCHED INTO A FANDOM WITH ALMOST NO FANS??

i made this image just for u. GET ABSOLUTELY OWNED!

oh gradient joe u didnt just activate the controls did u.. they should call you gree-dient joe [sitcom laughtrack]

[salty-an-disco]

y’all. what if I made a Choose Your Own Adventure-type story with Slay the Princess, but the Stanley Parable Narrator is the one guiding you?

[chronicsheepdrawing]

The Narrator, Stanley, and 432 have equal amounts of power over the narrative, they just affect it in different ways.

[panleystarable]

The duality of man.

[whumpshaped]

i love. all powerful whumpers. i know i talk about this a lot but i just really absolutely love when a whumper controls every aspect of whumpee's life. not even as a human, but more as a god. a being so far above whumpee that they genuinely have no chance of fighting back.

maybe whumper literally created whumpee, and is now playing with them like a puppet. and whumpee is forced to bump into the invisible walls of their confined world over and over again, realising again and again that they can only ever go as far as whumper allows.

and maybe... sometimes... whumpee thinks they have outwitted whumper. they find a little loophole, a glitch in the matrix, a tear in the fabric of their artificial reality. they take the opportunity immediately, thinking they're about to be free... only to end up as a pawn in whumper's game yet again. the opening was put there on purpose, specifically for whumpee to find. and where it led was entirely controlled. and whumper enjoyed every second of this delightful little show of whumpee feeling some hope, only for it to be violently ripped away.

again.

[squuote]

okay on another related topic, the parable being this very much living thing that acts on its own accord very often in the game. there are characters that can directly control or alter the game/parable, but then the parable can do just as much itself when there's no one taking the reigns. and it will, it very much will do what it needs to do to keep the wheel turning. just something fun to interpret and stew on..

[leupagus]

So I'm sure there's different versions of this

But the one my cantor* told us when we were in Sunday School was this one:

Two rich men go to a cloth merchant's shop. This merchant is known for having beautiful silks, even though he has but a small humble store in the outskirts of town — so small that his infant son is sleeping on one of the chests!

These rich men want to buy these silks, so they demand to see them at once.

The merchant says, "I am sorry, they are not for sale today. Come back tomorrow and I would be happy to show them to you."

The rich men, knowing that this merchant is a Jew, think "ah-hah, he wants more money!" So they offer him a tremendous sum.

"I am sorry, they are not for sale today. Come back tomorrow, good sirs."

The rich men are puzzled, but they double their price. Quadruple it. Anything this merchant wants, they can give him.

"I am sorry, they are not for sale today. Come back tomorrow, if you please."

So, the rich men leave, annoyed, but they present themselves the very next day and sure enough, the merchant goes to a chest and pulls out the most beautiful silks that these rich men have ever seen. And when they offer to pay, he will only accept the price that he himself has deemed fair — many times less than even the first offer these rich men made.

"But why would you not give us these silks yesterday?" they ask, happy but baffled as they (or more probably their servants, but the cantor didn't get into that) pack up the silks to leave.

Just then, the merchant's wife comes in from the back, carrying their infant son. The merchant smiles and says, "Because my child was sleeping on that chest, and I did not wish to disturb his slumber. His peace is more precious to me than all the money you, good sirs, could ever provide."

[crowzzznest]

"OHhhhhh hiii Black." (Are... are they okay?)

here's my narrator (fiend) meeting @blackkatdraws's narrator (black)! specifically drawn because i found out that black was 5 inches taller than fiend (who's already 6'4) and i had to make a shitpost about how fiend is intimidated by people taller than him. i didn't need to put so much effort into the art but i did anyways

i hope i did black justice because drawing him was such an emotional rollercoaster /j

[bonpair]

Narrator meets the player (im Not drawing his hair) (full comic below cut)

[Image description:

Image 1: A digital drawing of the narrator from the stanley parable saying: "Im going to kill you." His eyes are wide and his teeth are barred.

Image 2: A digital drawing of Stanley sitting across from then narrator at a table. The top half of Stanleys face is holed open, a small computer monitor on a table sits in it.

Image 3: A close up of the last image, closer to his face.

Image 4: A close up of the last image, now even closer to his face.

Image 5: A digital drawing of the player sitting at the table with the computer monitor. The player is depicted as a simplified blank circle on a simplifed torso.

Image 6: A gif of the giant hand of the narrator punching the player, the player is thrown back with, face still blank. The computer is also thrown back and the table is split in half, debris flys everywhere. / .End ID.]

[queenburd]

He really is just a cutie