Game of Deviance

First seconds of Eye of Eve.

Game of Deviance, or GOD for short, is simply Joseph Lormand's (TheGrandestine's) facebook page. It can be accessed here. The goal is to find the true meaning of the game. The atmosphere of the game is similar to another game by the same creator, Eye of Eve.

Pre-release

Pre-release, nobody knew if the profile was actually that of Lormand himself, as it could always just be a joke account or impersonator. There was also a substantial lack of any Chess Evolved or balance information on the account. Discovered about a month before the dreaded Phoenix-Beacon update, many were referring to his posts as still being affected by the psych ward.

"Yea my name's Jo, yea I went to Jo Byrns, burning alive at the hand of judgement, Yea I'm usually Jo.king, yea my birthday 12/01/88 says beginning of the end, 12 years old Y2K, 24 years old the apocalypse, yea my surname's Lord, man. . . yea I'm crazy, yea I'm insane, yea I got a vendetta, I've been through hell for holding my pride, and I break out knowing that I am a better designer than the ones that made this system, yea you're at the top losing this new game \some\\//how/, a mystery you can't solve, no you can't play again if you lose to me, so you better join me alongside my grand destiny. . . so called Gods and Governments, you're playing my game now, so unite yourselves against my unbreakable pride and condemn me to hell again if you must, I won't forget it this time, only my brother stands a chance against me, so don't be his enemy, or you will face my entropy."

Of course, nobody knew at the time that these were randomly generated (like The Grandest Scheme), so this was normal. While the community was slowly draining and fighting over itself due to the Phoenix-Beacon update, Lormand was content posting these for a month before returning in the v0.42 update. In fact, this was part of The Grandest Scheme all along, considering the plan was for it to work some magic in the forum, which it certainly did. It had a great effect on the game where everyone who was still left rejoiced in v0.42.

Analysis (9/9/16 Gate)

There were a lot of posts prior to October 13th, so a lengthy analysis must be done for every single one of them. Note that this section is reserved for posts after September 9th, because apparently there is a "gate" there. This is a missed opportunity to reference 999, and should have been done seven years prior.

September 14 (added October 3)

Simple symbols hold sacred secrets of the saviors.

Obviously, this means that even though something looks simple it is not. User Delila Hale solved this riddle by noticing that Chess Evolved was the ChaosPortal.

September 16

Only half of the posts shown in this image.

Post #1 - Thanks Jamie Lormand

This post specifically is the first mention of a Knightcore track. These tracks are simply other people's music, copied, sped up and reuploaded. This symbolizes that Lormand's clock runs faster than everyone else's. In the comments, he also mentions two videos from RWBY, "Its Over When Its Over". Notice the typo in the title; evoking feelings of month-old reminiscence. RWBY is obviously RUBY misspelled. Another easter egg is how this leads into CONTRIBWTION.

Here are two examples of Nightcore tracks.

Post #2 - Post #10

Apparently, on this date Lormand went ham on the posts and made 10 of them. These are impossible to analyze on a single page, as they take up so much room that zooming the page to the minimum size available on a browser, it's still impossible to read all of them. They will be here, but without the flavor images.

• No way out but victory now that I've fought the enemy

Careful of coincidence, it can be good or bad

Has he already fought the enemy this early? It can be deduced Lormand is a time traveler.

• Shield of Chaos and a Ruby Weapon

This must be a future prediction to the BlingBlaster fake piece, in which a user shows a weapon that can be fired using rubies.

• read between the lines to find the infinite

Supposedly, this text is the infinite now.

• Don't count your blessings, it takes too long

There are three, you must be wrong.

• Can you handle the truth?

Think Again

Just a taunting message, here. This is just conforming to the 'filler law'.

• I always said you had a Key, and here you are trying to find it again years later coming back to say you're sorry. Too late.

You ignored my power when I told you it could save you, you said it was just some weird little puzzle, that you were feeling defeated and asked me for the answer to cheat my riddles, persuade my heart into helping you find the solution, I gave you the word 'Push' it was only another clue disguised as the answer, so you thought you solved it and cheated my game, you did not, because your psychology mastery was my idea, to help my power grow but you hit my ego instead, remember?

Like I said for your birthday: beware the butterfly effect.
You ignored that warning and thought me crazy, just by chance someone close to you had a terrible accident and you got a glimpse of the truth, a truth you always seem to deny. The effect is pro/con, it looks like nothing but it is everything. I told you I have a lot of secrets, secrets of a black blade, red hair, and a lucky charm. Secrets of the universe and a keyring you can't see.

That key is now lost into eternity buried by the sands of time, never again can you find how I have taken this destiny empowered by entropy, you, fallen angel that looked down on me. I'm unsolvably crazy, so get a PhD, you dare not challenge this mind, I got a new kind of key

Now you're going to understand the word "Majesty"

This long post, hidden behind the wall of posts, is half understandable and half unreadable. Here is a sentence fragment analysis. Statements that are understandable will be underlined.

Sentence Fragment	Meaning
I always said you had a Key	Supposedly, our key is in our heart.
and here you are trying to find it again	Does this imply we're all heartless?
years later	Impossible. GOD was only announced in October.
coming back to say you're sorry.	Sorry for what? You taught us not to be ashamed of our keys.
Too late.	This may not be referring to the solvers, but to Lormand himself.
You ignored my power when I told you it could save you,	Lormand actually only said that it would bring us into a higher dimension. The jump from 2D to 3D is not that remarkable. In fact, logic is done in 2D.
you said it was just some weird little puzzle,	This has even been an understatement. Lormand has reportedly been attacked in Kongregate and in real life over this.
that you were feeling defeated and asked me for the answer to cheat my riddles,	This prediction seems to have gone faulty. In the critical reception section of this page, you can see people are more confused than anything.
persuade my heart into helping you find the solution,	In the "Game legitimacy" section of this page, you may see proof that everything he mentioned about GOD was a lie.
I gave you the word 'Push' it was only another clue disguised as the answer,	We have only gotten clues, not answers, from his responses to GOD.
so you thought you solved it and cheated my game,	Note that a game is as complete as you feel it is. Technically, a Super Mario World speedrunner who glitches to the ending still beat the game.
you did not, because your psychology mastery was my idea,	Lormand proposes that the real meaning of GOD is to learn to be a psychologist.
to help my power grow but you hit my ego instead, remember?	This is the part where it seems confusing. How would giving a fake clue damage his ego?
Like I said for your birthday: beware the butterfly effect.	Lormand's birthday is supposedly 12/01, "beginning of the end". It is still unclear whether the date is actually 12/01 or 01/12.
You ignored that warning and thought me crazy,	To be fair, if the only statement said was "beware the butterfly effect", it wouldn't be a warning to the listener at that time.
just by chance someone close to you had a terrible accident and you got a glimpse of the truth,	Death is a normal part of human life.
a truth you always seem to deny.	Death is a normal part of human life.
The effect is pro/con, it looks like nothing but it is everything.	If it looks like nothing, feels like nothing, and nothings like nothing, it is certainly everything.
I told you I have a lot of secrets, secrets of a black blade, red hair, and a lucky charm. Secrets of the universe and a keyring you can't see.	Everyone keeps secrets.
That key is now lost into eternity buried by the sands of time,	We're all heartless (as noted previously).
never again can you find how I have taken this destiny empowered by entropy,	Oh! This must be the true purpose! Well, it's spoiled now. Lormand went to the path of divergence at age 7.
you, fallen angel that looked down on me.	Persuading people out of "blind hate". Also our first rhyme.
I'm unsolvably crazy, so get a PhD, you dare not challenge this mind,	Would a PhD really help? Surely one critic will have one. This implies a PhD doesn't even help anyway.
I got a new kind of key	The old one is no longer necessary.
Now you're going to understand the word "Majesty"	Lormand is to be a King... he's only a Wizard at the moment.

We're not done with September 16's posts.

• My magic has been here all along
• Welcome to the Plausibility Spectrum

Another revelation of the magic done. Supposedly, the "plausibility spectrum" refers to how plausible this plan is. Currently, we are on the spectrum.

• So someone's found me and has me all figured out...
• Not likely, my riddle goes deeper -> -\\\///- -> ~ ~ ~ ?!!!

It always goes deeper.

• Beware the { (GAME OF KINGS) }

• Truth strikes like lightning to your eyes, breaking through the lies

September 17

Post #1

The first post is a profile image change of a person with yellow hair (at least it seems that way from the lighting). What is less important than the post is the rap Lormand made:

"Yea my name's Jo, yea I went to Jo Byrns, burning alive at the hand of judgement, Yea I'm usually Jo.king, yea my birthday 12/01/88 says beginning of the end, 12 years old Y2K, 24 years old the apocalypse, yea my surname's Lord, man. . . yea I'm crazy, yea I'm insane, yea I got a vendetta, I've been through hell for holding my pride, and I break out knowing that I am a better designer than the ones that made this system, yea you're at the top losing this new game \some\\//how/, a mystery you can't solve, no you can't play again if you lose to me, so you better join me alongside my grand destiny. . . so called Gods and Governments, you're playing my game now, so unite yourselves against my unbreakable pride and condemn me to hell again if you must, I won't forget it this time, only my brother stands a chance against me, so don't be his enemy, or you will face my entropy."

This rap is best performed with an 84 BPM drum loop, provided here.

As you can see, he gives away his own information. Once again, statements that are understandable will be underlined.

Sentence Fragment	Meaning
Yea my name's Jo,	He says his name is "Jo" but that's not quite right. His name is Joseph Lormand.
yea I went to Jo Byrns,	Interestingly, Jo Byrns is really short for a Joseph as well.
burning alive at the hand of judgement,	Phoenix and Pyromancer do have a relationship.
Yea I'm usually Jo.king,	This is supposedly an admission GOD is a joke, but it isn't.
yea my birthday 12/01/88 says beginning of the end,	It is unclear what date this actually is. Perhaps if it is actually 01/12/88 the symbolism is gone. He also misses the significant of 88, which is double 8 balls.
12 years old Y2K,	We all know that didn't work.
24 years old the apocalypse,	36 years old what? It doesn't line up with 14. Also, he missed both an opportunity to reference Eye of Eve and a way to advertise duodecimal.
yea my surname's Lord, man	He's not quite as fortunate as he would like to believe, since there are a few families with an actual name of Lordman or even Lord.
yea I'm crazy, yea I'm insane, yea I got a vendetta, I've been through hell for holding my pride,	(analysis in progress)
and I break out knowing that I am a better designer than the ones that made this system	Well, a system that has PhoenixBeacon, GravityMage, MoonFox LifeStone, PortalValkyrie, HauntedArmor LifeStone, is probably really broken. The system "made" must have been really bad.
yea you're at the top losing this new game \some\\//how/	Many Chess Evolved grandmasters do not even contact Lormand.
a mystery you can't solve, no you can't play again if you lose to me	Ranked would be full of high ranked players if everyone you lost to was away from the queue.
so you better join me alongside my grand destiny	(analysis in progress)
so called Gods and Governments, you're playing my game now,
so unite yourselves against my unbreakable pride and condemn me to hell again if you must,
I won't forget it this time,	Did he forget everything?
only my brother stands a chance against me,	His brother, the Alchemist, could only "stand a chance" versus him (the Wizard) if it was a +++, but he would always lose as any poisoned unit can then attack the Alchemist.
so don't be his enemy, or you will face my entropy.	This might be too big of a boast. Alchemist is now rarely seen in the high rankings and only gets worse the longer the game progresses.

Analysis (prior to 9/9/16)

(to be added)

Reveal

On October 13th, Lormand revealed to all the skeptics that this was, indeed, his facebook page, and as user k218 puts it, "retconned" all the previous posts into a game in this Kongregate thread.

"This little guy...
(main_gi) 33
is a genius, can you tell me why?"

In this post, Lormand describes the purpose of his Facebook profile.

Randomly Generated Explanation

"Here is a randomly generated explanation:

There exists a set of preprogrammed and predictable linear behaviors you all follow, to put it simply you are all very sane people and that fact alone makes you pawns in a game of false kings. Your fellow CEO GM main_gi has gone insane trying to understand something many of you ignored, it is a game unlike any other where the only thing you have to do is figure out what it's really all about. So I am here to tell you I have a new game, and it's called my Facebook account, the one he has been telling you isn't exactly normal, and he was right. If you win this game through your understanding of the final gate, you will find yourself in a world unlike anything you have imagined possible, yet if you lose this game you will find yourself trying to understand why you have lost, if you have even lost, if it does anything and how any solution is possible, endlessly spiralling into defeat or insanity unable to escape the effects of giving up, unable to escape denial of it's power and thus you will never find the solution. This is no ordinary challenge as I am no ordinary game designer, it is a challenge of your deepest understanding of reality, that you must take your mastery of Order found in CEO into the abyss of Chaos and come out a King."

Summary

The symbolism basically shortens to not being randomly generated, and more like lengthening the words of short sentences. Lormand talks about subconscious actions, being controlled by the government, some Chess Evolved GravityMage being insane, announcing his game, and by winning you get access to a better world, but if you lose you will never find the solution (the definition of losing).

Goals

1. Figure out what it's all about.

Speculation and Theories

As Lormand mentions in several posts later down in the topic, it would be insane to assume you could gather anything or find a cipher in a facebook profile. Pretending a skim through every bit info noticing delusional lines not 5/10 beginning... quite disturbing, eh? Yet this is exactly the behavior to promote, as invisibility is invincibility (but not really, seeing as Phantasm, Ghost, Banshee, and Ghast are still attackable even though they are transparent).

A Game Unlike Any Other

The rest of the post:

"This is a game unlike any other, a simple game to play in search for a solution of hyperbolic complexity, a game that marks your sanity as your greatest weakness and demands perfection from your insanity, a new view of reality that sets you free into a realms of a genius mind that you all have locked inside.

This is my challenge to you:
solve my riddle by the 5th of November, or find yourself in a world of unsolvable Chaos.
-The only equipment you need is a FB account and adblockplus or equivalent.
-If you do not use adblock you're playing on hardmode as the ads are just more diversion and Chaos.
-If you think all posts are part of the solution you are stepping on several landmines.
-Good is not always good, bad is not always bad, if you fail you'll end up really sad.
-Godspeed is broken Lightspeed, this is the hardest game ever made, good luck.
Yes indeed main_gi has been playing my ({[Game Of Deviance]}) - hiddin in plain sight.
https://www.facebook.com/joseph.lormand.5

GAME ON"

Aftermath

After the Game of Deviance, Lormand made several posts, none of which explained whether the community collectively won or lost. However, the update not arriving anywhere near November 5th caused the community to hemorrhage to levels unseen even from the Phoenix-Beacon update, dropping below 50 active players, with several players popping in every hour to see if the update was released yet. While Lormand has said absolutely nothing to his community, he has instead just given rubies to a tournament winner and stopped after that.

Update Schedule

Though this will never impact Lormand's game from being completed, he has still been falling behind on his update schedules. A strong theory for this is that he accidentally misplaced his broken watches and broken clocks that were being used for The Grandest Scheme and his updates have been up to a month late ever since. This has also been rumored to cause significant sleep deprivation and is why Lormand is in the chat all the time - the computer stays on as he is sleeping. Stronger evidence for this is the only time Lormand left chat - the Phoenix Beacon update.

Absolutely Nothing Happening

The very later post after that was a post on a tier list, again with no mention of the Game of Deviance. It appears the Game has been put on permanent hiatus, which is to say cancelled. This is a real shame, as neither will we fully know if it is infinitive chaos, diminutive peace, or parallel infinitums.

The unbelievable amount of pretending leads most of the community to believe that zero people took the Game of Deviance seriously, still an improvement over the negative infinity (plus one) that it was before.

D. Flower was a very prolific/infamous player in the game, mostly because not only was he an original Facebook player who was there before Kong, but a known spender.rbase increase. The effects of the diminishing playerbase have still taken effect - one of them is the "negative infinity" explosion, the other is the "positive infinity" explosion.

Let's take a look at the few people who still were involved in the Game of Deviance.

Where Are They Now? - main_gi

main_gi was the catalyst for the reason the Game of Deviance was revealed. It pretty much turns out that he was trolling the entire time, never actually commenting on the Facebook posts and only memeing on wikis.

Where Are They Now? - Dharma Flower

Dharma Flower, or D. Flower as most people on Kongregate saw him, was a prolific and infamous player who played on Facebook even before the Kongregate release. Previous posts show him also to be a heavy spender as well. Hilariously enough, he might have been the biggest cause for the game's first miniature death. Why? Well, as expected, he played the horrible Phoenix-Beacon combo with multiple upgraded phoenixes and an upgraded Beacon. Most players did not have the one-hundred dollar payment, and therefore left. What didn't help was Lormand's earlier statement about liking Phoenix-Beacon being in the game and letting it kill it.

His interest in the Game of Deviance was somewhat surface-level, liking his posts and throwing in some heiroglyphic holographic hufflepuff harrypotter magic or something. We haven't seen him since 2016, besides as joke punchlines.

Where Are They Now? - Yibalen Sissel Padawan

Yibalen was a somewhat frequent user of the Facebook page. He mostly posted troll posts, as well as got another user, Delila Hale, believing in the time travel. This is probably a Kongregate user, but disconnected from the main playerbase. Since we don't know, though, it's assumed he was also a troll.

Where Are They Now? - MortalityMyth

MortalityMyth or VictorYenX perhaps, was a Kongregate user and posted in the Game of Deviance forum thread. He posted at suspiciously close intervals to TheGrandestine and never frequently commented before it. You could never even find him in Kong chat. He also lost interest in Chess Evolved.

Where Are They Now? - Delila Hale

Delila Hale was a Facebook user that again never frequently posted. It was one of the most interested users, posting even more frequently than the Strat ShPlyr account. The account also included the amazing time travel spotted in the Game of Deviance. Interestingly, if you search "anime girl" in Google Images, her avatar is the first result.

Where Are They Now? - Overview

So in all, 6 users including Grand were interested in the Game of Deviance. Only 2, Grand and main_gi, remain today, and were both trolling. In addition, the last 3 users all disappeared near the same time, so it was likely everything about them were staged. This is an astonishing rate of conversion: 6 users in the game coming in, -2 users coming out. This is even better than the Chess Evolved online player rate.

Pretending it Never Happened

At September 15 of 2017, JoLo decided it would be great to start editing the posts made in the Game of Deviance and mostly pretend the whole thing never happened. This might have been encouragement by a user that repeatedly commented on it, "Strat ShPlyr". One interesting post goes as such:

You're all locked in a cage of your own design, you call it your mind, your habits, your life, your friends and family, your culture religion and education, your goals and dreams, your past and future. Chaos is the key that sets you free, listen to me to redefine destiny.

My name is eVe, and you've all been fooled.

Now this wiki needs to take a neutral tone, so it will objectively state that for a majority of the players in the game, based on capybara42's survey about TheGrandestine2, most people either do not care or want him to stop with chaos rants. Unfortunately, just like Half-Life 3, each request just makes it happen more. However, at least this gives players an out - they can believe he is playing a character. Even though they all tend to talk the same or are copied from anime quotes in which their writers can actually pretend to be someone else properly.

Game legitimacy

One of the comments by Lormand calls the whole game into question.

"trusting DNA is not a bad idea, until it has been modified, broken, and sealed.
it's also a mistake to assume I'm here to help you win, quite the opposite."

The last statement, talking about how it is a mistake to assume he is there to help us win. This means that potentially, the whole introduction to the post was a scam, and we should be looking for another game instead. Here are some potential choices for games this is truly referring to.

Godus

Godus was a god-styled video game that, though raising almost a million dollars on Kickstarter, turned into a disaster thanks to delays and miscommunication. However, it is possible that this is the true game all along. With the Game of Deviance, you potentially don't have to lose anything to learn what happens. However, the collective total of money given is even bigger clause for learning a lesson. It also is not really lasting a month, but it lasted years, just like the 14-year plan.

Minecraft Pocket Edition

While not a game with GOD in the title, it is at least seemingly a "better" GOD game than Godus. Many people spend years and years playing the game just to get a nice world. This could also have as many lessons as it.

Gang of Dreamer

Gang Of Dreamer-แก็งค์ตะลุยฝัน มาดูการ สุ่มฮีโร่ เดธลอร์ด จากกิจกรรม

This is the most thematically appropriate yet. This was found when Lormand hid a small image made up of 9 other images in the Chess Evolved file, one of which being GOD. This image led directly to this game. It is a card game (which Lormand likes), spells GOD, and even has gems and coins. The only problem is that this is probably a high-level part of the solution, because it is in an obscure uncracked language. It must be important, because the framerate in the video is worse than The Grandest Scheme, meaning it is more complex than anything else.

Relation to Chess Evolved

As you know, even though this game was revealed in the Chess Evolved forums, it seems to have absolutely no relation to Chess Evolved whatsoever. However, this picture showing one of Lormand's posts a year ago might show otherwise.

"It's true! Sentient life has formulated itself into a Chess game against all odds! I program all day to try preventing this, but in the end it is in vain! I have since tried reasoning with this 'Chess Evolved' and not only have failed to thwart it's[sic] plans of galactic calamity but am now possessed by it's[sic] almighty brainwacky powers! I cannot sleep for thinking of the infinite possibilities contained within this unnatural being! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS YOU SAY? https://apps.facebook.com/chess-evolved/

MASS HYSTERIA! EVERYONE PANIC! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Speculation and Theories

This is one of the most clear posts Lormand has made yet. It first describes that Chess Evolved was a freak accident, potentially explaining all of his games. Furthermore, they have actually given them mind control. This is perhaps the way Lormand will go about world domination - just mind control the people at the top. Then it says that there are infinite possibilities, but this is incorrect. All you have is the amount of armies squared, which is nowhere near infinite. (However, it is to be noted that The Grandest Scheme is also "almost infinite".)

Self-aware critical reception

The post was reviewed one time on Reddit. Engineerwolf describes the concept as "love", but is annoyed that it is somehow an "epitome of spam", or a facebook game. A fair point, considering Lormand considers Facebook a developer scam.

Aggregate score		Review scores
Aggregator	Score	Publication	Score
Reddit	0 upvotes (0%)	Engineer Wolf	1/2 (50%)

Development

Interviews

Often, Lormand gets interviewed about GOD. This is an excerpt from an interview from DuvLuver. (link)

Question (paraphrased)	Answer (minorly paraphrased)
"Grandestine, just for the record, you actually are thinking this all out, not tripping balls on prescription meds?"	"How droll! There is no record of what I'm doing ;)"
"Grand, im pretty interested in this kinda internet mind puzzle thing, but too often people Doeo! this **** and theres no pot of gold at the end, its all just to **** with you and waste your time"	"Indeed it is to mess with you in a way, in general it's better to not play, small things cause big storms."
"Grand, I like all the mystical talk but is there an ACTUAL puzzle or is it just a mind****?"	"If I tell the truth how will you know it's the truth? You will have to believe me, but half the game is a lie."
"It IS just a blatant waste of time then?"

As you can see, DuvLuver explains that the game's ultimate purpose is to mess with it(')s players. This is consistent with how this game is not even solvable.

Involvement with Chess Evolved

Potential bad ending to the delay?

In this thread, it is revealed the Greed update, v0.44, was corrupted, and some shop features were removed. While it was planned to be released before the end of October, it turns out that it didn't come anywhere near October. This means that Game of Deviance has stalled the Chess update.

Criticism

As the game is happening in a "meta" standpoint (in that it is on Facebook), everything must be questioned. It would be immersion-breaking for internal logic faults to be found in the game, and they have been listed here.

Internal logic

Lormand and his brother are referred to as the Wizard and the Alchemist respectively, but also the Phoenix and the Beacon. Lormand also wants to be the a King. Since you cannot have two kings in an army, it is a big spoiler warning that he either does not want his brother to be a King or that he wants to fight against him as the other King. There is a table to analyze each person's role and logic.

Joseph Lormand			Jamie Lormand
Wizard	Phoenix	King	Alchemist	Beacon	King
The Wizard is a low-quality piece in general. It is an overpriced Warrior++, which in itself is overpriced. It is a good piece for new players because it's the only thing it is (and therefore, the best of the worst is the best). However, the issues don't extend there. The Wizard has no magic at all (!!!) and cannot even turn into a King, which is the Prince's special ability. In no way is this a perfect good job.	The Phoenix is not a bad piece. Strangely, the impromptu suggestion of Joseph being the Phoenix makes slightly more sense than the Wizard because there is a penalty if he dies, he can be reborn (entropy!) and he looks fabulous. However, it still has the problem of having no Magic, and cannot turn into a King.	The King itself is the backbone of an army. This makes it all the stranger that you would still want such a close-ranged piece as yourself. If invisibility is invincibility, as he says, why pick the King, which is absolutely not invisible, and are a player's first target? It has no Magic, but at least it's a King.	The Alchemist is also a low-quality piece. While it has slightly better forking power than the PoisonMage, it has equal uncontrollably in its movement. This makes the Ranger, who does not even need to wait for a delay, so much more appealing. Its ability to cure status effects may seem strong at first, but status effects are not seen in the current meta because they are weak, and playing versus an army without status effects makes this piece a complete waste. It also can't turn into a King.	The Beacon is simply not seen in any armies anymore. While it was used to bring Advanced players up to Grandmaster and the top 50's, its inclusion made all players using it drop like a rock. However, the biggest problem is that this piece cannot move and is forced to be lugged around. If Joseph was the Phoenix or the King he would have a very tough time moving him. It can't turn into a King. Again.	The prospect of Jamie being a King is simply selfish. With the invisibility and invincibility problems brought up in Joseph's King section, the only reason Jamie would want to be a King is to divert attention from Joseph and make him the target. This would make him a false King, which Joseph detests. It is simply not logical to be a King here.

Furthermore, there is a table to analyze each person's role compared to their brother, and the things that will follow. Good synergies are listed in bold.

		Joseph Lormand
		Wizard	Phoenix	King
Jamie Lormand	Alchemist	No synergy. Wizard and Alchemist unfortunately lack synergy in many armies. Alchemist is usually used in freeze or petrify builds as a cheap way to poison, although there are better pieces for that goal. Wizard might have some synergy with Alchemist's awkward movement pattern, but because it already moves fast enough it is usually sufficient to just have empty spaces in the champion line. Both pieces are currently overcosted, with the Pay 1 being a significant detractor for the Alchemist. This means that an army using them must have synergy between their pieces, and that is simply unavailable. It also poorly synergizes with Lifestone to get a little bit of an advantage, as Wizard+ is 14 but Alchemist cannot be similarly revived with a Lifestone+++ with such efficiency (10 or 15). Wizard is also a poor defender against Alchemist's poor close range because it cannot cover all their squares, especially with the jumping around. It also has poor overlap in builds; if a piece is frozen or petrified, both Alchemist AND Wizard can attempt to fix it (with a swap or with a cure). It is better to have just one piece for this, as then you are not wasting points spread across two units if the army you are playing against does not use it (in this example, it is status-effects). Alchemist itself is of little use because of the lack of status effects used in the current meta; while it may be good versus the FrostMage, its movement still inhibits its possibility to get to its curing location in time. The Wizard itself is also highly overcosted, as while it may be good for beginners, its swap is colorbound, has poor mobility because of its colorboundness, and even at higher levels, the ability to kill armor just makes your opponent wait for the endgame for easier trading opportunities. Its high cost also makes it a poor defender on the corners, easily traded for a rushing Bishop. Two overcosted pieces in an army make it very easy to kick around with lower value pieces.	Decent synergy. While it may be considered that the Alchemist can cure the Phoenix, there is a big lack of status effects in the current meta. The more important part is being annoying with Poison status effects and jumping around, however because of the movement the Alchemist may not even have time to get to the PhoenixEgg in time. The big anti-synergy part is that the Alchemist is not a swapping unit and therefore cannot help the Phoenix under attack. It is also extremely inefficient if you want to use Lifestones to revive the Phoenix.	Little synergy. While it is true that the Alchemist can quickly cure the King's illnesses, the Alchemist serves almost no defense for the King as Poison cannot stop checkmates. In fact, it is more likely to compromise the King's safety than anything else, because poisoned units can potentially take the King without a Minotaur or Prince defense. It has no swapping power and therefore cannot even bring the King out of danger, and is often blocking its path.
	Beacon	Terrible synergy. The Beacon can already properly reposition units and all the Wizard can do is bring it out, which is not good, because the Wizard is a support piece that should not be taking the Beacon's spot.	This combo was patched out long ago so it has no more synergy. However if it was Joseph's choice, this would work wonders.	Logical failure, if Joseph becomes a King the Beacon can no longer teleport Joseph to him.
	King	Little synergy. The Wizard is meant to be used as a supportive piece, so if it is not beside the King it is not doing much. The only thing it can do is block armor, but most armor pieces have the same value, making it still weaker than other pieces that break armor as easily. The more it is upgraded the more expensive it gets. There may be some value in the Wizard being able to swap it slightly out of danger, but because of the average price of most units the Wizard may still be as in as much trouble as the King was. Overall, a Paladin of the same price is much better for the purpose of saving the King.	Very good synergy. The Phoenix can work together with the King to provide incredible defense, with the Egg safe. There is significant material advantage as well if your opponent tries to take 2 champions for the Phoenix and the Egg. However, the one big logical problem is that at this point, Jamie, Joseph's brother, is the King, and not Joseph. This might cause a side flip, in which the Phoenix Joseph will be able to checkmate the King. If this happens he is overthrowing his brother yet again.	Logical failure, cannot have two kings or they are fighting.

Post-release

Only a few users on Facebook ended up commenting. User Delila Hale made the most contribution, confirming time travel existed and solving many of the riddles, although Lormand insists it has only just begun. Still, time travel existing is a huge spoiler for the game.

Solution

Apparently, just when the game was about to end with very few people playing, Delila Hale came back with the answer: the answer is used to break the enemy. Only a few minutes later, Lormand replied back with "Bullseye", as well as, "We don't own the pic nor song.".

Critical reception

Game of Deviance was reviewed several times on Kongregate. Early pre-release criticism surrounded the short trial time and the fact that it was named Deviance and not Defiance. Overall reception was generally mixed, with the mode of people being utterly confused.

Aggregate score		Review scores
Aggregator	Score	Publication	Score
Kongregate	N/A	NobodyMoo	Disappointed
		Grape Fruit Killers	Anticipated
		Kerdon Mike	Confused
		RETRO Starrider	Confused
		qwertyuiopazs	Overwhelmed