Archive of Our Own ^beta

AP: So—

13S: Yes. It's real. It's not an ARG [alternate reality game]. It happened. I can show you the raw footage. I'd testify under oath for it. I'm not joking, this isn't a prank. I don't know what else to say. You can read his obituary. He was shot in his home.

(pause)

Do you want me to rope in his parents? I'd hate that. They don't deserve to be strapped to my catharsis. They've already lost two children. That reminds me: Hey, paparazzi scumbags who are definitely reading this, leave them alone, you nihilistic vultures. Mrs. Hobbes, too. If I'd known you freaks would treat them like this, I'd … No, I can't blur the names—that muddies the point. I'll leave it at "I wish you all the worst."

(pause)

So. Questions? Waiting.

AP: Let's talk about the game.

13S: Gladly.

AP: In the game's narrative, there is footage of Luke Carder unearthing a geocache with an Inscryption-branded floppy disk. It has been alleged that your own publication's expedited release was due to the decompilation of the disk's program.

13S: No one believes me when I say I programmed the thing myself. I don't know what to say that isn't blindingly obvious. All the assets that aren't mine, made by me or entrusted to me are Creative Commons. There's a Git repository. You can track my progress from the beginning. Why would a program on a floppy disk use Unity? Why would the code be compatible with Unity?

(pause)

It was recreated from the footage. Luke recorded his playthrough. Besides, the original Inscryption has some proprietary data that's central to the codebase, data that I don't want online.

AP: Right. In the game's story, P03 attempts to upload the video game Inscryption to the internet but is shut down by his three companions.

13S: He's totally scrapped by them. No need to sanitize it. "Companions" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. I'd call them rivals. Anyway, yes, according to both the Scrybes and the footage I chose to redact and corrupt, there is a safety and security threat in Inscryption's data. If it had been uploaded as-is, it'd have been a very different news day.

AP: Are you worried that the publication of your recreation 'Inscryption.exe' could lead people to seek out that data?

13S: Honestly? A little. If it wasn't so bad, I'd say it's GameFuna's problem. After I get what I need for my own closure out of them with the disk, I think we should shoot it into the sun. Send it into a black hole. Toss a nuke at it. It shouldn't exist. The only reason I hesitate is that I think there's a chance I can get the Scrybes out of there cleanly. I'd like that.

AP: At the end of the narrative, Grimora—one of the Scrybes—deletes all of the data on the floppy disk.

13S: Yeah, yeah, I've heard it a hundred times at this point. Whoever is putting this online, link the Wikipedia page for data remanence on my text. Basically, deleted data isn't necessarily overwritten data.

AP: The last tape is from the perspective of the computer.

13S: Yeah. He set up a tripod to film the call, but then took his camera with him to the door. I think Amanda [Odas] confiscated it when she left. For some reason, his webcam was also recording. I'm lucky that he swapped SDs beforehand. I wouldn't have had access to any of the Act III footage otherwise.

(pause)

Even if I had it, I wouldn't use it in the game. It's snuff footage.

AP: You mentioned Odas—

13S: I saw. She's in the brig, she's facing first-degree. Here's my commentary: rot.

(pause)

Feel free to send that her way. I'd love a pen anti-pal … pen foe … I'm workshopping it.

AP: Do you believe she was acting on behalf of GameFuna?

13S: I'm going to wisely let people come to their own conclusions about that and ultimately throw my lot in with whatever the Carders want to—

Penemy! There we go. Penemy. Yeah. Anyway, whatever the Carders decide to do, I'm game. I've done my bit.

AP: Is there anything you'd like to talk about that we didn't cover?

13S: You mind if I monologue here?

AP: Go ahead.

13S: Cool.

I was a bit of a jerk to Luke, to be honest. Despite that, I got his footage before he passed. I thought he was annoying, but in retrospect, I think he was just excited to play a video game adaptation of something he remembered from his childhood. I think he was just excited in general. He seemed like he really cherished the small joys in life. I bet it was something he had to teach himself. He was better for it. I think he was just trying to have fun and got caught up in something bigger than him. I don't think it's a story of hubris. It's not arrogance. It's not him reaping what was sowed. I think it's a story of a guy who got screwed for a bit of naïveté. I wish I could've played a few more games with him.

(pause)

I said I wouldn't eulogize. No, I said I wouldn't air out Ms. Carder's eulogy. This is mine. Thanks.

AP: Thank you as well for your time.