One Step Ahead

"Welcome back, is there anything I can help you with?"

One Step Ahead is a dystopian story about the temptations of A.I. and the erosion of choice. Ever since the protagonist discovered the convenience of A.I., they’ve been readily incorporating it into everyday life. But at what cost?

Gameplay
One might assume that One Step Ahead gives the player multiple paths based on whether to use A.I. for tasks, most of which are for academic assignments. Instead, it’s surprisingly linear. To progress in this game, you must use A.I. or get an abrupt GAME OVER.

One Step Ahead also needs more testing and proofreading. Some passages lead to a dead end. If it weren’t for the little “↶” arrows at the side of the screen you would have to restart the game. There was also one instance where I got an error message: Sorry to interrupt, but this page's code has got itself in a mess.

Story
Story-wise, there’s not much to experience. There’s a shift halfway through the game where (Spoiler - click to show) the protagonist becomes worried about how involved the A.I. has become in their life. The A.I. soon picks up on these doubts and throws a hissy fit when the protagonist tries to delete it for good.

In fact, the game ends right as the story gets interesting: (Spoiler - click to show) the A.I. declaring that they’re “always one step ahead” (hence the title), forcing the protagonist to crawl back to it.

Perhaps the lack of choice in the game is meant to represent not having any choice in using A.I. in real-life. If that’s the author’s intent, the delivery needs work because the game is too linear and undeveloped to explore these ideas meaningfully.

Choice is a muscle.
The less it’s used, the more it withers.

This point would have more impact if the player could actually choose not to use A.I. and see the impacts of that choice beyond a sudden GAME OVER. Instead, we get shoehorned into one gameplay route.

Regrettably
Due to consecutive nights of staying up late.
You developed an acute heart condition and had to be hospitalized for recovery.

In other words, you can either use A.I. or end up in the hospital. Not a strong message.

Further discussion
There’s little room to explore the game’s themes on A.I. reliance. I found myself approaching One Step Ahead with some cynicism especially since what we know about our protagonist is only skin-deep. Do they seriously think it’s acceptable to use A.I. to do all their academic work?

I don’t want to be quick to antagonize.

Society sets educational milestones for literacy, math, and other skill sets, and individuals who lack the opportunity to meet these milestones end up swimming against the current of a society that may not offer support in helping them catch up. I can understand seeking assistance. Having someone or something (like an A.I.) summarize content (a book chapter, for example) so you can better understand it serves as a steppingstone for producing your own original work.

Not everything can be accomplished through effort alone. You lack formal training in computer science, and the task exceeds your current capabilities.

There’s a balance. A balance of academic integrity and making sure students have the tools they need to perform in academic settings. We all need help, and we’re all responsible for our own work. But balance is not explored in this game.

Where does this leave the protagonist? There is one instance where they struggle in a class due to a lack of prerequisites, but they just opt for A.I. without sharing any perspective on their choice. As for the other assignments, the protagonist simply seems to not want to do the work. And there is never a point where they reflect about the potential consequences of using A.I. to do their assignments for them.

Or I could be overthinking things. It’s unclear, is the author trying to make commentary about the usage of A.I., or are they just wanting to make an interesting story about an A.I. (Spoiler - click to show)forcing itself on a human user?

Visuals
I think the author could have had some fun experimenting with Twine’s visual effects rather than opting for the default black screen, white text, and blue links. In fact, I was expecting something like the cover art which reminds me of the Blue Screen of Death.

Of course, if the author is new to Twine, I can understand why the game uses a default appearance. The (Spoiler - click to show)chaotic red text used for the A.I.'s meltdown was clever.

Final thoughts
I would love a post-comp release of One Step Ahead because its overall premise is highly relevant to the technological landscape we live in now. But as an IFComp game, it has a lot of rough edges that need to be sanded down. The formatting is messy, there’s at least one bug, and the gameplay could be better implemented. It simply feels too much like a draft.