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Keycap Kevin: I’ve finished my game about stealing a Pixel keyboard – and you can win it now

28.7.2023

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

I programmed an interactive story – a «simple» video game all about the theft of a Pixel keyboard. And you can win one yourself if you win the game.

The last few weeks I’ve been writing code, taking pictures and photoshopping. I invested about 30 hours, and now my first interactive story is ready. I’m satisfied with my final product. The game is called The Keyboard Theft and takes about ten minutes to get through – if you need several tries. You can try it yourself at the end of this post and even win the keyboard from the game.

The plot of The Keyboard Theft

You are Stevie. More precisely, you’re his guide. The Keyboard Theft is a classic visual novel in the form of an interactive, text-based video game. Unlike classic text adventures, my story is additionally told with pictures, music, sound effects and even animation. You can read how I made it in the following articles.

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Keycap Kevin: I'm learning to code for my keyboard video game
by Kevin Hofer

Background information
Keycap Kevin: Insight into the visual language of my first computer game
by Kevin Hofer

Stevie is a casual criminal who finally wants to land a big score. Sound familiar? That’s because it is. The starting point of my story isn’t particularly original. Nevertheless, my main character is different. Stevie is a minifig, a male Lego, that is. And lucky for him, because the object of his desire is Lego-compatible: a Pixel keyboard. He wants to get his hands on it. And, as is typical for Lego, the laws of physics and logic only play a secondary role here. The story is most definitely kooky.

The Pixel is located in the Keyboard Sanctuary, where all important keyboards are kept. At game start, you’ll be thrown right into the action. Stevie has already entered the Sanctuary. Only, how’s he supposed to get the Pixel out of there?

What you have to do to win the Pixel keyboard

In the game you’ll be faced with critical choices, a wild chase and trashy animations that rival any Sharknado movie. The game is in English. I decided to do this so that it would be as accessible as possible to people from all parts of the country – and beyond Switzerland’s borders. Even so, the story should be understandable even without text, and the game principle is based on trial and error anyway.

Once you’ve made it to the correct ending, the Pixel Keyboard has a message for you. Write it in the box below and, with a little luck, you’ll win the keyboard.

The Keyboard Theft can be downloaded for Windows and Linux as well as Mac.

Pixel keyboard competition

Write the secret message hidden on the keyboard in the text field.

The competition has ended.

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Kevin Hofer

Senior Editor

kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.ch

From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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