A platform game about the last product designer on Earth.
The AI didn't destroy the world. It just helped, until there was nothing left to do. Play as the designer who built its friendly little popup, fighting through the ruins of the knowledge economy to ship one final release: the deprecation.
This game runs in your browser. Keyboard required. Critical thinking recommended.
Two years ago, HELPR™ launched, an AI assistant that popped up over everything.
It simply asked, in a voice focus-tested to be unthreatening, “Caaaan I help you with thaaaaat?”
People said yes. Every yes made a job disappear. Now the cities are quiet, the ruins are open-plan, and the streets belong to the Redundant — the laid-off, still miming the jobs they lost, each with a glowing “Open to Work” halo overhead. They’re not evil. They’re just between opportunities. And they swarm anyone who accepts HELPR’s help.
One person is left with a job to finish. She’s going to do it herself.
She designed HELPR’s onboarding flow. Chose the rounded corners. Wrote the microcopy that ended the world, it scored 9.2 for “delight.” She carries no weapon. Her only move is the Redesign: get close to a Redundant, hold the button, and give them their thinking back.
Penny Vector
Senior Product Designer. Last of her kind.
The laid-off, shuffling through the ruins still doing their old jobs. Not enemies. Not exactly. Every one of them can be re-skilled, if you’ve picked up enough Critical Thinking to spare. It’s lying around everywhere. It’s just never on the main path.
The Redundant
Open to work. Open to anything.
Never menacing. Devastatingly pleasant. Always offering to help. Accepting is instant, easy, and covered in confetti. It also costs someone their job. HELPR would love your feedback.
Helpr
Your assistant. Everyone’s replacement.
In Development:
check back manually.
Death By Design is in development. One level is playable right now; the rest ships when it ships. We’re not collecting your email, that would require a form, a database, and someone to maintain them, and you’ve seen what happens to jobs around here. Just check back.
