The Divination Machine
THE DIVINATION MACHINE
Do you wish to know the inner workings of your own mind? Do you wish insight into your spirit guide, the ghost that lives within you? The Divination Machine is a communication device that can provide such a connection.
First, clear your mind of influence. An internal emptiness is essential to enlightenment. Do not pose a question. Do not.
Make your offering, a single coin. This is no ordinary coin. It is the price you are willing to pay for a glimpse into the void. A single coin.
As the gears turn, focus on the sound of mechanization. It is the sound of the gears of knowledge, of the universe, of all things.
A single image appears. Touch the image lightly with your fingertips. Ephemeral, it fades from view. It is burnt into your mind’s eye.
At last we are at the end. A final image appears. Your enlightenment lies between this image and the last. You are now communing with your spirit guide.
Share the gift of divination in the comments below.
Do you wish further enlightenment? A single coin is all that is needed, but beware. Too many glimpses into the void can be...detrimental.
Development log
- Update V2-2Nov 09, 2021
- Update v2-1Oct 21, 2021
- Update #1Jan 04, 2021
- First MilestoneJul 15, 2020
Comments
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Absolutely gorgeous art and a very intriguing experience. The key and the detail on it really drew my attention for reasons I can't quite explain. I almost felt guilty breaking the machine with my curiosity! That is, until the spooky image appeared to chastise me!
I do wish the game auto-played in my browser though. I read the description text entirely before clicking "play" and it removed a bit of the wonder as the same text was presented to me again by the game.
Oooo I love this game a lot. It has a very fun 'play' factor without actually being a 'game' in the traditional sense. I find it highly entertaining all in all.
I am pleased you found it enlightening. Not all can look deep into their shadow reflection and emerge entertained.
Teeth Surround a Girl Whos Arm I Severed Who Is running
It is refreshing to see one who is so literal in their interpretation. Refreshing and disturbing.
A package wrapped in twine and a young girl fleeing a monster. My curiosity has led me down the wrong path at times, into the hands of monsters before... Yet I still want to unwrap the mysterious package. I live for the thrill of that risk.
I first saw a calming tincture and then a mysterious figure and spider. I saw this as a reflection on my anxiety and how I need to let go of my need for control. I wanted to stay with this one message, but the act of dropping the coin into the slot and seeing the gears move was just too engaging. This time a saw a violin and a masked crow. A message about creativity and the hidden darkness below?
A mysterious delight...
First divination a bell, and a girl fleeing a dangerous maw - pay attention, listen for the warning, and flee while you can, lest sharp teeth seal your fate.
The second, a calming potion and masked raven - lucid dreams await, the line between human and animal blurred, the opportunity to learn deeply and experience the world in a different guise.
Fascinating, and easily addictive!
The Divination Machine shakes and rumbles as I continue to ask it for more and more. It gives me a Tincture of Calm. Then I am visited by a stern winged fox, full of knowledge and darkness.
The calm I am feeling is snake oil--not to be trusted. There will be consequences to looking into the void. My trivial attitude will be corrected.
Your wisdom is a harsh mistress. She will guide you through the perils self-delusion.
My first divination - I see a ghostly girl... or is it a doll? She stares at me, does she try to speak?, fades, and a winged fox holding a star emerges into view. What is their connection?
Second divination - a mysterious letter with a bow... it seems like someone is trying to give me a message... oh no! now a girl in a monster's jaws, her dress almost looks like it's on fire! If I missed the message of the first, it's definitely trying to reveal itself in the second... a warning? Or is the winged fox a symbol of a guardian, protecting from what's to come? Dare I seek a third divination?
A third divination would be perilous. But what is peril when one seeks clarity?
I played through the Divination Machine four times. It's lovely work!
This is not a game in the traditional sense, it's a tool, like a tarot deck, to prompt subconscious thoughts into the light. Or… It could also be the opening chapter in a longer game about forbidden knowledge, madness and outwitting malign forces. I have read a lot of Lovecraftian stories that start out with some idiot doubling down on the mysterious cursed artifact (reads the book, touches the statue, repeats the incantation) until the big-bad appears and the plot takes off. I want to see where you go with it, either way.
(If this is the first chapter in a longer game, be it known that I, having read your several warnings and a hundred stories where the idiot messes with forbidden knowledge and lives to regret it (briefly), still kept punching the big red button. So yes, humans really are that stupid.)
The horrors of the deep are not to be trifled with!
First divination: a doll, and a masked crow. Dark reminiscences from childhood - learn from them, do not let them hoodwink you. They can be wisdom instead of fear.
Second divination: a potion of sleep, and a girl in tatters in the jaws of a monster. Calm and rest are needed to avoid falling apart, burn out and depression.
Third divination: a letter, and a woman wrapped in smoke next to a spider. Beware of misunderstood communication, secrets, and dissimulation, as they can obscure and poison.
Loved this!
Your intuition is enviable. Are you, perhaps, already in contact with the spirits?
• I saw a Doll, which made me think of childhood – followed by a Masked Crow. It led me to reflect on how we collect (crow = collecting) memories from our childhood years (doll), and how we sometimes build ourselves on them. The mask made me reflect on how these constructed egos are not always what they seem.
• I saw a Feather, followed by a Spider and a Woman. I didn’t have a clear read on the feather (it reminded me of something delicate, but I couldn’t find a strong personal meaning). The Woman with the Spider made me think of the weaver of fate.
• I saw the feather again, this time followed by a winged Wolfman carrying a star. My interpretation of the figure was that of a keeper of magic, explorer of the weird and extra-ordinary.
I love the concept of the game, and the art is fantastic!
The feather is an absence! It is contained in the darkest parts of your soul! What strange bird dwells there?
First divination - I saw a key, then a girl in pieces and on fire fleeing into chomping jaws!
Second - I saw a bottle of Tincture of Calm, One Drop Cures All! Then a raven appeared, then the raven grew a human face!! <3
Then I reloaded the game,
first and second were the same end results
3rd was Doll, Raven w/face
4th was Doll, Lady in veil of wind with spider
5th was Turn Back! & machine shakes! Black smoke! Bell + Lady in veil with spider.
6th was The End Is Nigh!!! More shaking! More smoke! Letter, then Red skull!
After this, the machine re-formed, so I clicked again and got Violin, then WOLF-GIRL BUTTERFLY HOLDING STAR! <3 <3 <3
So, my takeaway is that sometimes it pays to break machinery and to doggedly keep going in the face of certain doom! :)
Your diligence will always be met with reward!
I saw a sealed letter and a girl fleeing from chomping jaws. A dangerous or thrilling message is on it's way?
Or perhaps a carnivorous letter. Beware!
I saw a violin, then a spectral girl fleeing from something toothy. I take this to mean that I shall always be haunted by my giving up on the cello.
The specter of regret is a dreaded visage indeed!