So earlier I linked to the game at the Donnie Darko website. I first thought it was just the three obvious levels there, and a frankly pretty simple game which didn’t do much beyond testing whether you could remember certain words— the “passwords” sparrow, smurf, breathe, and rose. As far as I can tell via Google, this is what everyone else thought: the point is just to give you a little bit of background on the movie.
But I don’t know… when you begin the game, the words “Pay close attention. You might miss something.” Fade in and out. And on a second look, there are a lot of extra things in there. For example, in the part on the golf course, at one point, when you move the cursor around, the letters PLANETFALL are hovering (not in that order, of course) and swarming around. Why? Then there’s the fact that when you get to the part where you can read The Philosophy of Time Travel it says you should do so if you want “clues for level 3.” But as far as I’ve gotten, level three just consists of the splash screen and the phone conversation, though the book does help make sense of that as it connects to the story of the movie.
Most curious, though, is level 3 itself. The phone conversation doesn’t just launch. First a little text box describing it comes up, and you can click to continue to the phone conversation. But if you highlight the text in that box, it doesn’t highlight normally, it blacks out over it. And if you type in the box, the letters B, F, K, P, Q, Y, and Z capitalize themselves. I’ve tried anagrams of the uncaptalized letters without coming up with anything obvious. If you do continue on to the phone conversation, you can highlight and type over that text as well. These are the only two places in the game where you can do this with the text… but what are you supposed to type? When the conversation ends, the words “Time’s up, Donnie” appear. So clearly you’re supposed to do something in the time you’ve got there, and the end of the conversation seems like filler tagged on to give you a bit more. Anyone have any bright ideas?
29 responses so far ↓
1 JZoSoPP // Sep 10, 2005 at 11:59 pm
well you didn’t put in all the capitalized words in it…here is all of them QYUPFJKZB, and I believe that when you get to the phone conversation, you are supposed to add in the things that are censored…the capitalized words at the 747 code and than I have reasons to believe that Bob Garland is the investigator caller 2, and caller 1 is what i need to find…?
2 donnie fan // Nov 25, 2005 at 3:53 pm
ok. this is me going off in my own explanation of the last page. when you type in “time is up donnie.” it comes out looking like: time is UP donnie. which might be making a point that the time portals opened up in the sky? i cant really explain past that. just putting it out there.
3 donnie fan // Nov 25, 2005 at 4:03 pm
yeah i actually just noticed something else. you can erase the stuff on the phone call. you probably need to erase [name withheld] and replace it with the persons name which could probably be found in the notes section of the philosophy of time travel book.if anyone has gotten past the phone call, please, help.
4 donnie fan // Nov 25, 2005 at 4:34 pm
ok….yet another discovery. so when you click on the box to listen to the phone call another box comes up that is a middlesex times article on the jet engine crash and everything. but…at the bottom of the article it says Related articles: Fell’s View on Engine X or something like that. so here is the opinion article on “engine x”:
“Taken from the Middlesex Times-Dispatch (Fell’s Opinion Section ) October 2, 1991
Article ID 853287,1991,10,02,F076
THE MYSTERY OF ENGINE X
by Daniel Fell
(MIDDLESEX)
Today is the three year anniversary of the events that occured on October 2, 1988
Engine X came falling from the sky, killing a young man. His name, Darko, now part of our local legend, continues to be the subject of endless speculation.
His family has moved west to California. They did not return this reporter’s calls. This I understand, as the mystery of that night must weigh so much more in their hearts and minds than it does in ours.
Attempts to retrieve information from the Federal Aviation Administration have become futile, as their spokesperson simply releases the same statement.
“The investigation is ongoing,” he says.
Rumors that President Bush has visited the secret wherehouse in Washington that stores the engine have been the latest to surface, and once again nothing can be confirmed.
We are told of a vast conspiracy, of a plane that they know exists. We are told of flight trajectories, serial numbers, and low impact velocity. The technical jargon is endless and fascinating. Yet there is no evidence. There is nothing but Engine X, an artifact from that night.
A bomb that fell upon our quiet community has left behind so many questions that we must now accept that there will never be answers. ”
there are a few things that stand out to me. The first and most obvious is that when they are talking about the wearhouse used to store the engine, they spell it wherehouse.the second is that he referrs to the engine as an artifact. Lastly is that it keeps saying what happened “that night” the engine landed on his house in the morning. what happened that night (to donnie) was that he went to give mrs sparrow her letter and went in her cellar door and got mugged by theives and then donnies sisters boyfriend drove up and swerved from hitting mrs. sparrow and ended up hitting donnies girlfriend and donnie shoots frank (his sisters boyfriend) in the eye killing him. he then takes his girlfriend to the top of the mountain in the morning where he sees time portals opening UP in the sky. he then rips off te jet engine with his fourth dimensional powers which he has due to him being the living reciever. and then wakes up in his bed back on the second of october in the morning. thats all for now.
5 Anonymous // Nov 29, 2005 at 1:16 pm
Funny how it took two years to get a response after the original comment was posted?
6 Kassondra // Dec 25, 2005 at 1:42 am
This game is really confusing me. Did anyone figure out what to do ever?
7 Anonymous // Jan 10, 2006 at 2:09 pm
i think when it says time is up,donnie after the phone call i think thats the end of the game…
and if it is the end…what a bad ending!
8 Brandon Bohn // Jan 31, 2006 at 12:06 am
I have been obsessively trying to figure this out for a few hours now. I’ve taken notice to something interesting: On the page where you click on the address of Donnie’s house, you are able to highlight (in flash-mode, remember…so this was NO accident) the date and time of the incident with Engine X. The date/time are important elements in the movie, as the movie is apprently about Tangential Universes and the space/time continuem. I’m watching the movie backwards now, and I think I’m getting closer…or more insane, whichever.
– KillerBB (@aol.com)
9 Brandon Bohn // Jan 31, 2006 at 12:22 am
I’ve noticed something else about the date/time. When you highlight and copy/paste the date/time before it rolls back to 10-02-1988 | 23:47:54, you get 08-07-1991 | 23:42:52, the date/time of the phone call. These are the only two date/times that you can copy/paste, even though the rollback-dates inbetween show up…they cannot be copied. This is intentional as well. I’m getting closer…
Donnie Darko
Brandon Bohn
10 fatalbeauty // Jun 27, 2006 at 1:37 am
well i do know for a fact that there IS a 4th level because in a forum that i was in someone posted that they had gotten to a 4th level and my friend said that she had been to a 4th and 5th level but doesnt remeber how because it has been so long. i just really wish someone would figure out how to get past “time is up donnie” because as much as ive contemplated,i sure dont know. help please!!
11 Anonymous // Jul 9, 2006 at 10:18 am
there is no level 4
12 Brian // Jul 13, 2006 at 9:07 pm
in level three, when the box with the movie of the chandelier swinging if you click to “x” it out it creates a text boxto the left of it. I don’t know what it means tho
13 WiredEyesOfHorse // Jul 13, 2006 at 10:53 pm
I have noticed the text box by the chandelier, too. the letters B, F, J, K, P, Q, U, Y, and Z automatically capitalize.
Notice that when it says, “Time is UP Donnie,” that U and P are among the aforementioned letters. I am going to plug these letters into an anagram program and see what I get.
14 WiredEyesOfHorse // Jul 13, 2006 at 11:19 pm
No anagrams. There aren’t enough vowels to make a word. However, they could be airport abbreviations (like JFK), but the other six letters might come up to be some pretty obscure codes. If Samantha and her mom had a layover in JFK, it might make sense.
Also, the phone conversation disappears when “Time is up, Donnie” appears, as if you have only a certain amount of time to do something, like replace the names.
This is going to bother me for the next several days now…
15 Jess // Jul 14, 2006 at 3:56 am
wow thank god im not the only one stuck. now i just need the same answers as all u guys! good luck.
16 amber // Jul 25, 2006 at 2:46 pm
just putting this out there, but if yu try to go anywhere else on the websites of the middlesex online paper, a page will come up saying that yu can’t and to contact your webmaster or something rather. if yu click the WEBMASTER link, an im image of frank in symbols will appear, along with the words “why are you wearing that stupid man suit?” if yu try to highlight that part, only the “that stupid man suit” will highlight, leaving the rest plainly. i dont know if it means anything, but just in case i thought id post it
17 bunnyboy // Jul 25, 2006 at 4:09 pm
There is a level 4. i got to it. its creepy.you don’t want to go to it
18 RJ // Aug 2, 2006 at 7:36 am
You’re full of it…If you really knew, then you would tell it…this is just a way of holding power above people so they’ll beg you for an answer…you’re a sic fucker..
19 Will // Aug 6, 2006 at 4:26 pm
in level one after you click breathe you can choose to go to level 2 or to look for more clues on level 3. if you choose to stay you can read the philosophy of time travel. Maybe this has to do with the key to the fourth level? if you find any connection or if you have another idea or if you find an answer please email me at itynotz@gmail.com
20 Will // Aug 6, 2006 at 4:36 pm
In the third level after you close the pop up with the chandelier the text box that capitalizes letters could mean that the answers to the transcript can be typed without causing the letters to capitalize. possibly? again if you find anyconnection, have another idea, or find an answer please email me at itynotz@gmail.com
21 Anonymous // Aug 17, 2006 at 5:12 pm
its creepy…thats all that needs to be said…
22 josh // Aug 24, 2006 at 11:49 am
did any of you discover the word OWL on the golf course?
23 josh // Aug 24, 2006 at 11:49 am
did any of you discover the word OWL on the golf course?
24 josh // Aug 24, 2006 at 11:51 am
did any of you discover the word OWL on the golf course?…when you move your cursor over the flag…the letter O moves far away from all of the other letters, after you finish the first part, when u move the cursor over the two men the letter W moves far away that time, then later when u move the cursor over donnie…the letter L moves far away…then they stop moving away from each other then start gravitating towards one another…i hope u understand what i am saying…i do not know quite how to describe it
25 Anonymous // Aug 24, 2006 at 11:58 am
I am prolly looking too much into the letters…
oh and also u do NOT put the cursor over the people just keep putting it over the flag each time…lol…
26 Anonymous // Aug 24, 2006 at 12:00 pm
I am prolly looking too much into the letters…
oh and also u do NOT put the cursor over the people just keep putting it over the flag each time…lol…
27 Amber // Sep 10, 2006 at 1:09 am
has anyone noticed that when you get to the level one screen where you can read The Philosophy of Time Travel, there is a little scroll bar in the lower right-hand corner of the screen? i dont really think this has anything to do with anything… it just kind of interested me.
28 Amber // Sep 10, 2006 at 1:11 am
has anyone noticed that when you get to the level one screen where you can read The Philosophy of Time Travel, there is a little scroll bar in the lower right-hand corner of the screen? i dont really think this has anything to do with anything… it just kind of interested me.
29 Amber // Sep 10, 2006 at 1:12 am
has anyone noticed that when you get to the level one screen where you can read The Philosophy of Time Travel, there is a little scroll bar in the lower right-hand corner of the screen? i dont really think this has anything to do with anything… it just kind of interested me.