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The Stanley Parable

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Title Screen

The Stanley Parable

Developer: Galactic Cafe
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Released internationally: October 17, 2013 (Windows), December 19, 2013 (Mac), September 9, 2015 (Linux)


AnimationsIcon.png This game has unused animations.
AreasIcon.png This game has unused areas.
DevMessageIcon.png This game has a hidden developer message.
DevTextIcon.png This game has hidden development-related text.
GraphicsIcon.png This game has unused graphics.
ModelsIcon.png This game has unused models.
MusicIcon.png This game has unused music.
SoundIcon.png This game has unused sounds.
TextIcon.png This game has unused text.
Carts.png This game has revisional differences.


ProtoIcon.png This game has a prototype article

The Stanley Parable is a game about choice, a British narrator, and the lack of (or, alternatively, the inclusion of) free will in video games. It's...hard to explain, to say the least.

An expanded version, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, was released in 2022.

Hmmm...
To do:

Sub-Pages

Read about prototype versions of this game that have been released or dumped.
Prototype Info

Unused Graphics

This was not the correct way to the meeting room, and Loading Dock A knew it perfectly well.
With the exception of the words "LOADING DOCK ABCDE", this image is entirely unused. It features an early sign for the Mind Control Facility as well as an altered line of the opening text that replaces Stanley's name with "Loading Dock A".

yesdraw
A Minecraft version of the "Nodraw" Hammer tool. Stored with the Minecraft graphics.

Nothing except this text.
Likely a placeholder text referring to a scrapped part of the Not Stanley Ending. Oddly, this texture is located in the confusion folder.

:D
An unused (and very happy) screen for the monitor room.

It looks like you're still using Office 2003. Need help upgrading?
Although this screen is used (it appears above employee 001 in the monitor room), it's almost impossible to see Clippy or what he's saying, even when standing right below it in the Confusion Ending.

Wonder where this belongs.
A message from a developer taunting another developer.

There are also lots of leftover Portal 2 textures scattered around the materials folder, including chapter previews, co-op HUD icons, and GUI elements from the Robot Enrichment store.

Linux Screenshots

The Linux version of the game (Tea Edition) adds four screenshots to the game's directory - one 512×384 TGA, one 512×384 VTF, and two 1920×1080 JPEGs. While the TGA and VTF files appear to be normal screenshots of the game (albeit in... unusual formats for screenshots), the JPEGs are screenshots of The Raphael Parable, a fan-made mod for The Stanley Parable.

(Source: Original TCRF research, Level_70, GiovanH)

Hidden Developer Text

  • In an extremely interesting feat of programming, the developers left a peculiar little file in thestanleyparable/bin/README.txt, which contains the word "sup". In the demo, this contains "hi timmy!" instead.
    • client.dll which is also in the same directory contains a message:
PLEASE STOP LOOKING AT THE GAME BINARIES. THANK YOU.
  • In the game's default configuration file, one of the last lines includes a comment:
name "Gran PC" // that's me! <3 you all!
  • In the facepunch_brushbased.vmt material file, this message can be found:
// Hi FP!
  • In the dev/cabinets.vmt material file, another secret message was included:
"%keywords" "SECRETS SECRETS WILLIAM IS GOOD AT HIDING SECRETS"
  • In the overlays/coffee3.vmt material file, yet another secret message was included:
"%keywords" "IF YOU FIND THIS DONT SHOW THIS TO DAVEY OR ILL GET YOU - WILLIAM"
  • In the scripts/vscripts/keypad/keypad_control.nut script file, level designer Collin Eddings inserted a couple of messages, starting with a not-so-kind comment:
//Attaching buttons to their position on the model
//EntFire(ent_b0,"SetParentAttachment","b0",0);
//EntFire(ent_b1,"SetParentAttachment","b1",0);
//EntFire(ent_b2,"SetParentAttachment","b2",0);
//EntFire(ent_b3,"SetParentAttachment","b3",0);
//EntFire(ent_b4,"SetParentAttachment","b4",0);
//EntFire(ent_b5,"SetParentAttachment","b5",0);
//EntFire(ent_b6,"SetParentAttachment","b6",0);
//EntFire(ent_b7,"SetParentAttachment","b7",0);
//EntFire(ent_b8,"SetParentAttachment","b8",0);
//EntFire(ent_b9,"SetParentAttachment","b9",0);
//...wait...
//Just kidding. Thanks Valve. You broke func_button's so they don't work on model attachments. You totally ruined my weekend there. I'm leaving this
//script in here for the whole world to see! Or, rather, a very very small fraction of it who actually hunts around in VScript files. Why are you even
//looking at this anyway? Go play outside. I've never been, but I've heard most of the buttons out there actually work when they're attached to things.

//Alright, alright, you came here for the vscript. There's no stopping you, is there? WELL JUST GO AHEAD THEN. SEE IF I CARE.
function TurnOn()
{	
//	EntFire(ent_b0,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b1,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b2,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b3,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b4,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b5,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b6,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b7,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b8,"Unlock","",0);
//	EntFire(ent_b9,"Unlock","",0);
//	Oh yeah, and heaven forbid I try to lock a button while it's pressed down! That was a fun one to work around, too.
  • The script file concludes with a final comment apologizing to the reader.
//Sorry for getting all fussy up there. I love you Valve.

Console Easter Eggs

Certain commands entered into the developer console will result in Easter eggs instead of actual development things:

  • _430_disable - Presumably would disable the Click on door 430 five times achievement, but just outputs "heck no!" into the console.
  • _u - Based on its name, it would seem to give you the Unachievable achievement, but it instead outputs "Hey don't you even try" to the console. Despite this, there are ways to get this command working.
  • bark - Barks whenever you click on anything. The bottom-right corner of the whiteboard in the Whiteboard Ending mentions this Easter egg.
  • hideous - Opens a Steam Overlay web browser window pointing to the Official Team Fortress 2 Wiki, opened to a random hat that Hideous (one of the 3D artists who worked on The Stanley Parable) contributed to.
  • imabird - Enables the "flight" effect from the downstairs path/Mariella Ending during normal play.
  • raphael - After entering this, every line of narration will be replaced with "Stanley.", in reference to a gleefully caustic teaser trailer wherein the Narrator responded to an email from a chap named Raphael.
  • sv_cheats 1 - When entered into the full version, instead of enabling cheats, it will whisk you away to a secret map to get a stern talking-to from the Narrator, about why the player has forcibly entered the command, reasoning that the player will break the game. Repeat two more times for additional dialogue. In the demo, however, it simply outputs "Why?", meaning that the command was unfinished.

Old-School Cheats

There are a couple of secret commands that can be entered during gameplay, instead of in a console, that enable Easter eggs:

  • Typing facepunch during gameplay will replace most of the game's textures with a hand-drawn sketch of the Facepunch Studios logo. This is a shoutout to the Facepunch forums, where a lot of the development team originated.
  • Typing secret on the title screen, then clicking the "Credits" button will play a very silly kazoo song over the credits.
  • Typing vinh during the Credits makes Kevin Macleod's Who Likes to Party play, along with pictures of the Employee of the Year to scroll across the screen.

Unused Commands

  • tsp_enablemenunarrator - Judging by the Museum Ending and the different iterations of the Zending, this command would have been activated upon getting to that specific ending. Its sound file narrator/zen_final_escape.wav is missing, but there is a closed caption saying "No please- Stanley, don't quit- I'm asking you, please- don't take this away from me!", in which the Narrator would plead with Stanley not to quit the game and take his happiness away when pausing the game. Surprisingly, this console command also exists in the Demo.
  • ent_create_portal_/paint_bomb_* - Portal 2 "ent_create" Developer commands. Sadly, the Gels were removed from The Stanley Parable's source code.
  • +coop_ping - The ping tool which is also unused in Portal 2, this one sprays a red X on the wall temporarily and brings up no menu when used in the game which the mod used the engine from.
  • portal_(insert argument here): Portal commands.
  • mp_usehwmmodels/vcds - Team Fortress 2 console commands for Hardware Morph.
  • tf_(Arena Mode and Escort) - Team Fortress 2 Arena Mode commands. Mentions Escort commands as well.

*References the cubes. **The game used Portal 2 as the base engine and source code. Maybe the devs spotted the Gels and removed them from the game's source code.

Hidden/Unused Inputs

forcebackwardswalking and allownormalwalking: These inputs for the player entity configure whether or not to only allow backwards movement. Why they're in The Stanley Parable is because two months before release, the development team was also working on Davey's next game called The Beginner's Guide, using the former as a base by running the maps in The Stanley Parable.[1]

Player Model

The player model used for "Stanley" is not actually the model for him, but instead is the model for the unused Portal-like Chell found in Portal 2, without proper textures and no functional animations other than the reference pose. This is because she was not properly set up for use with the animations, as they were made for Chell's Portal 2 model.

TheStanleyParable-Playermodel.png

Unused Animations

Picture Frame

The picture frame model, located in thestanleyparable/models/apartment/picture_frame.mdl, holds 8 animations, with one of them, BindPose, being the only used. The unused ones are folddown, spin01, spin01idle, spin02, spin02idle, spin03, and spin03idle. Each animation performs uniquely except for spin03idle since it is a duplicate of BindPose.

folddown snaps the picture frame below its origin. This is leftover animation from another unused picture frame model from Portal 2.

spin01 transitions the picture to another like a prismatic, three-message display. The displayed picture is an unused gray texture.

spin02 transitions from a gray texture to the unused picture of the mind control facility based on the Half-Life 2 mod.

spin03 transitions back to the picture of the boss's office.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Mariella

Mariella has an unused animation, depicting her covering her mouth while being frightened.

Unused Used

Leftover Entities from Portal 2 and Half-Life 2

  • npc_personality_core: Hey, at least the personality cores are still here, including Wheatley! Materials and models required.
  • npc_security_camera: Aperture Science's security cameras are also here, and they too still need their model and textures!
  • prop_testchamber_door: Test chamber doors from Portal 2 are also here, and they too still need their model and textures!
  • prop_linked_portal_door: Linked test chamber doors from Portal 2 that were used during development of Portal 2 are also here, and they too still need their model and textures!
  • prop_wall_projector: Hard Light Bridges from Portal 2 are also here, and they too still need their model and textures!
  • prop_tractor_beam: Excursion Funnels from Portal 2 are also here, and they too still need their model and textures!
  • npc_turret_floor: The Combine Turret (no, not the Portal one) works perfectly in this game, save for missing sounds including model and textures. It also lacks the AR2 tracer effect however, since it isn't precached, resulting in red Xs being emitted where the gunfire should be.
  • npc_wheatley_boss: "WheatDOS", another variation of Wheatley, this time in GLaDOS' Central Core. Same with the original Wheatley. When spawned, he creates rendering errors since a model isn't specified from spawning him in-game.
  • prop_button: The Aperture Science Switch is in here too. It still has programming for instructor hints, but it is missing in the localization files for The Stanley Parable.
  • prop_floor_button, prop_floor_cube_button, and prop_floor_ball_button: The Super-Colliding Super Button, Cube Button, and the Ball Button all exist in The Stanley Parable's code.
  • prop_weighted_cube: The Weighted Storage Cube from Portal 2. Its programming still has the instructor hint for picking it up, though that is missing from the localization files for The Stanley Parable. A related file thestanleyparable/models/props/metal_box_fx_fizzler.mdl was also left over and unused. While the Games Ending does include a cube, it's implemented using a prop_physics like in the original Portal, leaving this entity unused. The Weighted Companion Cube and its other variants also exist, but they require their own models and textures.
  • prop_portal: The portals. Gosh, the devs really need some learning on how to remove Portal 2-esque entities.
  • weapon_smg1: The SMG1 from Half-Life 2. Does not have the ammo entities. Like the player input for only allowing backwards movement, this weapon was intended for use in The Beginner's Guide. Same as the Paint Gun, but without gels, and references Half-Life 2 sound listings. Usable both in the demo and full game, as the code was accidentally included in the "bin" directory's DLLs.
  • npc_hover_turret: The original Hover Turret from Portal 2's development! It functions like the one in Portal 2 with no model or texture. Fan-made fixes also work. The Stanley Parable has a lot of removed effect textures and sounds so this iteration of the Hover Turret is slightly less functional, but more or less the same.
  • prop_glados_core: The core NPC from Portal that was leftover in Portal 2 and now seen in The Stanley Parable, you will need Wheatley's model and textures for this to work but like in Portal 2; it spawns a Portal 2 core that cannot be picked up but does have physics. This was how it acted in Portal but in there it had the correct model, if you put the Portal model in The Stanley Parable or Portal 2 it will still have the Portal 2 design. To pick it up you'll need to make a map with it in or play a map with it in. And then you'll see that the lines are missing in both games.
  • item_suit: The HEV Suit from Half-Life 2. Like the one in Portal 2 it's missing the model and textures and you can walk into it and "equip" it. There is no Half-Life 2 HUD or anything similar.

Unused Audio

Unused Narration

There is an unused narration that's meant to play in the Playtest Ending after dropping into the hole. However, these lines (with the exception of the third) and their soundscripts are called PlaytestFinale_1_00 and PlaytestFinale_2_00 respectively, whereas the actual map is looking for PlaytestFinale_1 and PlaytestFinale_2. Because these quotes are played from ambient_generic entities and the third quote has no inputs or outputs to ensure it too plays, it goes completely unused.

"No, wait."
"Stanley? Where are you? Don't go anywhere, I c- I can't follow you there, I can't help you!"
"You need to come back! You need to- no, ju- just stay there! I'll find a way to get you out!"

In turn, this unused dialog from the Museum Ending hints at it originally being more similar to the mod. The standalone game instead has Stanley fall into the machine.

"And so he entered the chamber and stepped into the machine."

In the Playtest Ending, there's an unused alternative dialog that would have been played after the player solves the "critical thinking" puzzle.

"Hahahahaha! *clapping* Genius!"

Truncated Narration

Although they are technically used, these voice lines get cut off by the game due to specific events.

Confusion Ending

"Well, in the meantime, if you do happen to have a-"
What the narrator is meant to say in full.
"Well, in the meanti-" (LOUD BUZZER)
What the player can hear in-game.

Incorrect Ending

"Speak! Say something to me! Explain yourself! You coward!! You-"
What the narrator is meant to say in full.
"Speak! Say something to me! Explain yourself! You coward!!"
What the player can hear in-game.
"It would have been so perfect. I worked so hard on it. I tried so hard to make-"
What the narrator is meant to say in full.
"It would have been so perfect. I worked so hard on it. I tried so hard-"
What the player can hear in-game.

Apartment Ending

"And I tried again. And Stanley pushed a button. And I tried again. And Stanley pushed a button. And I tried again. And Stanley pushed a button."
What the narrator is meant to say in full.
"And I tried again. And Stanley pushed a button. And I tried again. And Stanley pushed a button. And I t-"
What the player can hear in-game.

Museum Narration

In the Museum Ending, there is a large room dedicated to unused narration takes that are not otherwise heard in the game. The narration can be found in the "echoroom" folder in the game's files.

Confusion Ending

"Now then, this elevator for sure would get him right back on track to where he was supposed to be in the story."
"Where were all of his co-workers? Oh, I don't know, how about... they're throwing a surprise party for him for all his button-pushing. Does that sound plausible to you?"
"Oh, for crying- is this that other building?"
"Hmm, let's see. Stanley walked through the green door."
"Nothing there? Shoot. Well, try the other one, then."
"Still nothing? Hmm. I don't know. Well in that case, tell you what, you win. Congratulations. You did it. I know you put in a lot of hard work, and it really paid off. So, good job. [pause] Hmm, what do we do now? I don't- Stanley, where are you, right now? Wh-Where am I? I'm- I'm trying to figure out, but I- I can't- Stanley? Who am I? Can you speak to me? Please talk! Have we done this before? Have we been in this room before? How many times have we done this? How many times have I said these exact words? Say something, anything! Help me Stanley, I don't know who I- what I- I- Stan- Stan- help- don't-"

Monitor Room

"When Stanley came to the lift, he traveled upward to the power source at the top of the facility to end this injustice forever."

Games Ending

"Now look closely, Stanley. See how it's impossible for the player to do anything in this room? Perfect example of poor level design. Textbook mistake. It's the kind of thing you pick up on intuitively if you had even the most fundamental understanding of good and bad game design. But of course, you being you, you'll probably spend the next hour trying to solve it. Here, I'm just going to make this easy on you."

Zending

"Stanley pushed the number six."
"Then he pushed the number four."
"Then he pushed the number eight."
"And finally, he pushed the number six."
"And finally, he pushed the number nine."
"Stanley walked over the bridge."
"Stanley pushed the big red button."
"Stanley pushed the orange lever."
"Stanley jumped in the river."
"Stanley stood on the roof."
"Stanley stood on the snow."

Unused Sound Effects

Located in the thestanleyparable/sound/ambient/levels/canals directory are some unused sound files labeled headcrab_canister_ambient. These sounds were supposed to play randomly from the Weighted Storage Cube similar to the original Portal. During the Games Ending in The Stanley Parable, however, they fail to play due to the sounds not being precached upon loading the map.

Unused Music

One piece of music (officially called Anticipating Stanley) goes unused in The Stanley Parable, though it is used in the demo.

Unseen Model Detail

Hidden inside Stanley's head are his teeth with broken textures. Since Stanley never opens his mouth, this detail goes unseen.

TSP-stanley-teeth.png

Unused Map Element

In thestanleyparable/maps/map1.bsp, a leftover logic_relay, internally named clock_relay, exists in the phone room which sets up an input/output routine equivalent to the timed phone exhibited in the museum. The game never triggers this entity; Its inputs point to nonexistent entities. The only difference between this routine and the one seen in the museum is that when the timer hits zero, warzonetrigger is enabled. This tells that the player would have been taken to the scrapped Warzone Ending in place of the Not Stanley Ending if they refused to pick up the phone. The museum in fact does not mention this!

TSP-clock-relay.png

Inaccessible Platform

  • There is a normally inaccessible platform above the Countdown Room of the Mind Control Facility that can be reached with the console command "ent_teleport player" (sv_cheats not needed). It has catwalks that lead to three locked doors that lead nowhere (as they are really just walls) and a computer that does nothing. This was likely a remnant from an earlier version that had the power control located above the main room rather than in a separate room, as is the case in the original mod. In fact, an early version of the room seen in the Museum Ending shows an elevator.

Unused Baby Game Ending

The map for the Baby Game includes entities to implement an unused, simpler version of the ending obtained after playing the Baby Game for four hours. There is an env_fade entity that fades to white and a series of game_text entities that display text in the game's default font:

Unused Used
TSP-babygameending-unused.png TSP-babygameending-patched.png
Unused Used
TSP-babygameending-unused2.png TSP-babygameending-patched2.png
Unused Used
TSP-babygameending-unused3.png TSP-babygameending-patched3.png
Unused Used
[game restarts]
TSP-babygameending-patched4.png

These entities are present in the map file, but they have no inputs or outputs, so the game never actually triggers them. The entity names are similar to the ones in the used ending: whitefade and finaltext[1-3] in the unused ending, whitecamera and finaltextb[1-7] in the used one.

Unused Escape Pod Area

During the Not Stanley Ending (A.K.A the Incorrect Ending or the Real Person Ending), when the player reappears in a tumbledown two-door room, there is a dark, unfinished area behind the room that cannot be seen nor accessed without using the console command "mat_fullbright 1" and noclipping. This unfinished area shows rubbles and debris featuring destroyed remains of other structures in the background, like the warehouse and the boss's office. There is also a hole that does nothing when fallen through since no trigger-based entities exist in this area. The developers decided to just block access to the area rather than bothering to remove it entirely. Some unused entities are present, albeit disabled and without inputs/outputs:

Interestingly, the last three entities have an internal name that begins with escapepodreveal, which implies that there should be an escape pod in this area. The env_projectedtexture entity is pointed directly toward the hole, suggesting that the escape pod should likely emerge from it. The ambient_generic entity plays a sound file vfx/light_flicker/light_flicker_06.wav that does not exist in the game's directory.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Not Stanley Ending

The map for the Not Stanley Ending includes two unused env_message entities, labeled sntimer_wehavenothing and sntimer_num, and one unused logic_script entity, labeled sntimer_script. These entities indicate that the player reappears above the two-door room, and instead of rolling credits, the game displays a message on the screen telling that the game has nothing left to show the player, starts the one-minute countdown, and restarts.

Unused Used
TSP-notstanleyending-unused.png TSP-notstanleyending-used.png
Unused Used
TSP-notstanleyending-unused2.png TSP-notstanleyending-used2.png
Unused Used
TSP-notstanleyending-unused3.png TSP-notstanleyending-used3.png

Oddities

  • Using the Sub-Machine Gun (Half-Life 2) or Paint Gun (scrapped Portal 2 entity), the E key and MOUSE1 button are both forced to fire and use. This results in very strange actions, taking over the game.

Map Oddities

In thestanleyparable/maps/map1.bsp, the inaccessible room in the warehouse has some crates with one of them, labeled 432, full of pencil sharpeners. In thestanleyparable/maps/incorrect.bsp, however, they are simple cardboard boxes instead.

map1.bsp incorrect.bsp
TSP-pencilsharpeners-map1.png TSP-pencilsharpeners-incorrect.png

The three dots are located on the wall in map1.bsp, but absent in incorrect.bsp.

map1.bsp incorrect.bsp
TSP-threedots-map1.png TSP-threedots-incorrect.png

Revisional Differences

dump0.tmp

To prevent secrets from being discovered too quickly, many of the game's files were initially stored in an encrypted archive at platform/dump0.tmp. After a decryption tool was released by a third party, an update removed the archive and placed all the files into the game's content directory.

"Choice" Video

Original Revised
TSP-helpimpoverished-original.png TSP-helpimpoverished-patched.png

After a schoolteacher complained, the "Choice" video was changed to show more wholesome values.

Original Revised
TSP-burnorphans-original.png TSP-burnorphans-patched.png

The next slide was similarly edited to show Steven considering setting fire to orphans rather than actually doing it.

Baby Game Ending Monolith

Original December 27, 2016 Patch
TSP-babygameending-original.png TSP-babygameending-patched.png

The original version of the Baby Game ending has what the developers call a "weird black monolith" obstructing the text. This is caused by the door for the puppy not closing and has since been fixed.

References

  1. GranPC. (2018-04-01) "[…] we began working on the game around 2 months before shipping Stanley Parable, and in the beginning we just ran the maps inside Stanley. There's a chance there's a small amount of code from Beginner's Guide in Stanley too. Cheers"