a game about a game you're not supposed to be playing
It's 1:12 AM. You have school in five hours.
one more run.
Flat on your back in October 2006, hoodie sleeves at your wrists, a silver DS Lite glowing a foot from your face. You're trying to beat NO COMPLY before the 6:30 alarm. When the hall light clicks on, you get about two seconds to slam the lid, shove it under the pillow, and fake sleep.
get caught and it's gone. the night starts over.
the song goes thin when the earbuds come out, and muffled under the pillow. turn it up.
you can only watch one of them at a time.
the outer game
Seen only through your eyes. Read the house, hide the glow, fake sleep. There's no health bar: the clock is the red alarm clock on the nightstand, the battery is the DS power light, and danger is the color of the light under your door.
the game on the DS
A 3D skate game that plays like Skate 3, squeezed onto two screens at 256 by 192. Tricks are stylus flicks on the touch screen. Every level is an obstacle course with a puzzle line to crack, and two minutes a session to crack it.
Flip the DS open, drop in, and flick tricks with the stylus. Crack tonight's main line before the 6:30 alarm. Turn it down, keep the screen dim, keep going.
The house tells you when it's coming, if you're listening. The TV through the wall goes quiet. Slippers. A floorboard. Then the hall light clicks on under your door.
Lid shut. DS under the pillow. Eyes closed. On Monday you get four seconds from the first footstep to the door. By Sunday you get barely more than one.
Eyes down to a slit. Slow, even breaths. Someone's standing in the doorway, and they can tell when you're faking.
“JAKE. Hand it over.”
Get caught and the DS is gone. Game over: the night starts again from the moment you first opened the lid.
the hall light test. seven nights, the real warning times, from the first footstep to the door.
MON 10/09 · 4.0 s · 0 pts
Monday, 1:12 AM.
Skate until you hear them coming. Then hide it: press Space or hit Hide it. Hide too early and you just lose time.
one NO COMPLY level a night, and a new problem in the house.
seconds from the first sound in the hall to the door opening. it gets shorter every night.
MON 10/09
Drop a kicker by the trash cans, get up on the garage roof, gap the street.
in the house Mom checks. She gives you every cue in the book.
4.0 s
TUE 10/10
Grind the bike rack to knock the janitor's ladder into a ramp up to the gym roof.
in the house Bathroom trips. The light comes on and the steps pass your door. All false alarms, if you can tell.
3.6 s
WED 10/11
Shove the cart corral into a launch ramp. Grind the neon sign to kill the lights on the security guard.
in the house The battery's dying, and the charger cord only reaches so far.
3.2 s
THU 10/12
Grind the floodgate wheel to drain the channel, then ride the walls before it refills.
in the house Dad. Double checks. And the dog.
2.6 s
FRI 10/13
Wallride the PA stack, grind the bar onto the stage, and dive the pit while the band plays.
in the house They're up late with the TV on. It covers you, until the last check comes late.
2.2 s
SAT 10/14
Flip the breaker to start the escalators, then chain their handrails.
in the house Your brother sneaks in late and wants a sticker to keep quiet.
1.8 s
SUN 10/15
One long line across the rooftops to the NO COMPLY billboard.
in the house A thunderstorm. Dad walks in socks and skips the hall light.
1.2 s
EVERY NIGHT
Every night you beat unlocks a new DS Lite shell, and through Saturday a piece of bedroom gear.
gear Earbuds, a towel for under the door, an extension cord, a box fan, a blanket tent, a door wedge.
try the shells on ↓drag it around. tap it to slam it shut. try on the shells you win.
Tyler, across the cul-de-sac. A tip every night.
Every trick is a stroke of the stylus.
Goals pay stickers. Stick them on your DS.
Set up the DS with the stylus. That's who gets yelled at.
Nu-metal through the wall. Covers you, until it stops.
The house waits while you're in the DS menus.
Sunday ends with the credits on the DS, dawn in the window, and the door opening one last time. Then you can play any night again.
MONDAY NIGHT 1:12 AM
first launch: macOS will say it can't check the app. open System Settings, Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway. after that it just opens.
