0808-2018-a

Artifact #: 0808-2018-a

Description: Artifact #0808-2018-a appears to be a visual novel titled The Tower developed by Dr. [REDACTED]. It was found in Dr. [REDACTED]'s quarters, where Dr. [REDACTED] was last reported to have been seen on 07/08/2018.

Interviews with family and friends suggest that Artifact #0808-2018-a was inspired by Dr. [REDACTED]'s travel in [REDACTED] Desert. Agent [REDACTED] has noted similarities between Event #0808-2018's site and the [REDACTED] Desert area that Dr. [REDACTED] used as inspiration for Artifact #0808-2018-a. As such, we have reasons to believe that Artifact #0808-2018-a is linked to Event #0808-2018.

Artifact #0808-2018's content is a multi-ending story centered around a protagonist waking up in a fictional world, near a tower said to grant wishes. The protagonist must navigate the world to find out the reason for their presence there.

Artifact #0808-2018-a combines Dr. [REDACTED]'s surreal dreamscapes, interest in game mechanics, and various art styles to convey personal reflections on the cyclical nature of life and various social issues.

Addendum #1:

To illustrate the nature of Artifact #0808-2018-a, our team has compiled some example screenshots and video(s) of how visuals, sounds, game mechanics, and other literary elements have been leveraged for storytelling.

Sharper versus softer visuals/sounds to contrast how different social groups are seen

Spatial arrangement (reminiscent of stairs), color change (day-night cycle), and clock ticking sounds (not shown here) to represent the passage of time during stair climbing

Game mechanics to complement story symbolism

1. Input and choices

2. Choices, dialogues, and endings unlocked based on prior plays' endings AND the current play's choices so far

3. Other symbolism/metaphors/literary devices: numbers, player name (changing across plays), characters (e.g., the vulture), text font, etc.

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ACTUAL CREATOR'S NOTE

Thank you for playing! 

This is the second work in the 0808 series (set in the same universe). YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE PLAYED OTHER WORK(S) IN THE SERIES TO PLAY THIS ONE.

This is still a DEMO, but it already has 6 endings. It's a bit of a puzzle game as choices, dialogues, and endings are unlocked based on prior plays' endings AND the current play's choices so far.

It is also a part of school projects (yes, hence the Addendum #1) to leverage GenAI for storytelling. The story text and interface/cinematic design are entirely human-made. Only the visuals and some sounds are from AI (Stable Diffusion mainly). Though the visuals have usually been heavily edited after generation (e.g., for coherence). This also means that I DO NOT OWN THE VISUALS/SOUNDS entirely, but I do consider myself owning the story (e.g., writing, game logic, and cinematic design).

The game/story does contain violence (physical and emotional), but the creator wants to clarify that this work DOES NOT AIM TO PROMOTE SUCH VIOLENCE. Rather, it leverages violence to illustrate some social issues. Violence always comes around. When you hurt others, you're hurting yourself and those you love. So, please be kind to others when you can.

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CLARIFICATION: yes, the 0808 Society is a pen name I (Button Cupcake) am using for this series.

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For best experience, feel free to turn on the audio!

Visuals AND sounds might take some time to LOAD depending on your Internet. If the visuals appear pixelated or there is no sound, they are LOADING. You can wait for a bit.

If you delete data ("Reset progress and quit") in preferences, you will need to refresh the browser to play again.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESET TO GET DIFFERENT ENDINGS. Actually, you NEED your progress to get new endings. So, DO NOT RESET in that case!!!

For fullscreen experience, you can use the itch.io platform button at the bottom right:

The sound effect at every new dialogue (e.g., the static sound) is there to reflect the character's role/personality in the story, but if you want to turn it off, you can turn off "Voice Volume" in preferences (move the bar to the left).

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Update: Just included a post about the deeper meanings to the endings with a walkthrough. Feel free to check it out (SPOILER ALERT).