A Dark Room was recently released for the Nintendo Switch this month by developer Amir Rajan and publisher Circle Entertainment, but the game has since been removed from the eShop after Rajan revealed that a code editor was secretly placed into the game, called Ruby.
"Last week I released A Dark Room to the Nintendo Switch. Within the game, I also shipped a Ruby interpreter and a code editor as an Easter Egg," Rajan announced. "This Easter Egg effectively turns every consumer spec-ed Nintendo Switch into a Ruby Machine."
"ADR presents a product that's accessible. It isn't 3D, it's barely 2D, but the player still has a wonderful time playing. This shows kids that even the simplest of presentations can lead to compelling experiences. It gives them hope that they too can build something even if they can't draw or know linear algebra," he said in another post.
"I deeply regret how this has blown up," Rajan said in a later interview after the game had been pulled. "A simple toy sandboxed environment has been framed as this massive exploit. And of course it's the community that exploits these things that pushed it up to that level. I'm partly to blame with my sensationalised media posts."
"Having Circle deal with some of this cannon fire is not something I'd ever want. These past three days have been the worst days of my life. And I don't know what to say except I'm sorry, and all I wanted to do was allow kids (and coding adults that have forgotten the joy) to discover what I discovered 25 years ago."
As for what the code can do, Rajan explains that Ruby just lets people do small things like drawing lines and playing sounds. "You can't even render an image with the damn thing," he explained. "So yes, if your app is composed completely of labels, squares, and lines (like A Dark Room), then it lets you build an app without having to perform any hacks."
As for Circle Entertainment, here's what they had to say on the matter, via the same report:
"We're liaising with Nintendo to clarify on the next steps and will deal with the matter accordingly; they are regretful circumstances and we apologise for the issue. We have always worked hard to carefully follow Nintendo's processes and terms throughout our history of publishing on DSiWare, 3DS eShop, Wii U eShop and Nintendo Switch eShop, and we're sorry that there has evidently been an issue with this title."
Had you tried A Dark Room?