AI Builds
is a series of fictional development logs detailing the builds for the upcoming game Animal Investigator, alongside commentary by the developer Nicholas. As the videos go on, Nicholas begins to encounter strange things in his game that he can't quite remember putting there. The first video, build 0.0.2, was released on November 29, 2019. The last video, build 0.0.8 follow the leader, was released on March 30, 2020.
AI Builds takes a number of explicit inspirations from Petscop, although as it goes on, it becomes less about discovering any kind of dark, sinister mystery and more about the developer's declining mental state.
AI Builds shows examples of the following tropes:
- Big Bad: Mr. Eye. Given the nature of the series, he's all but stated to be an externalization of Nicholas' trauma and self-loathing.
- Caustic Critic: Nighttime Seminar, an Affectionate Parody of real-life YouTuber Nightmare Masterclass who actually makes a cameo to voice him.
- Cope by Creating: It's implied that part of what convinced Nicholas to make a game in the first place was that he thought it would help him cope with all the shit had gone through up until that point. But due to feeling that his game wasn't original enough, he felt pressure to relive his own trauma which, sadly enough, completely killed any enjoyment he got out of the process.
- Creator Breakdown: In-universe example. The videos gradually become less about documenting the development of a fictional videogame and more about Nicholas' trauma and neuroses.
- Domestic Abuse: While Mr. Eye's status as an actual buing is questionable, his behavior towards Nicholas throughout the series is clearly reflective of Nicholas' own abusive upbringing.
- Driven to Suicide: Mountain Face is all but stated to be the face of Nicholas' father after he committed suicide. For his part, Nicholas repeatedly exhibits suicidal ideation.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: One way to interpret the ending. Despite the abrupt way the final video ends, the last scene depicts Nicholas resisting Mr. Eye's gaslighting, before laughing as he runs off. Given that even uploading the videos was clearly making him miserable, it's possible that he made the healthy decision to stop posting altogether.
- Gas Lighting: Mr. Eye constantly does this to Nicholas throughout the series. It's implied that this behavior is reflective of Nicholas' interactions with his father when he was alive.
- Imaginary Friend: Mr. Eye, for a debatable defintion of "friend."
- Metafiction: AI Builds is actually a Stealth Sequel to the short webseries Animal Police which was made by the same creator as an Affectionate Parody of Petscop. In-universe, this webseries was allegedly made by Nicholas' brother to screw with his development of Nicholas' game Animal Investigator, which itself was inspired by the in-universe game Animal Police, which Nicholas' brother's webseries was allegedly spoofing. Likewise, AI Builds explicitly drawing inspiration from Petscop reflects Nicholas' feelings of perceived inadequacy towards his game, with Mr. Eye telling him that it's not really "his" game if he draws inspiration from outside sources.
- Mind Screw: By build 0.0.7, the series completely drops any pretense of even being a series of development logs in the first place, shifting entirely into Nicholas' hallucinations. That said, it's still clear what the series is about.
- Rage Breaking Point: After taking his shit for the entire series, Nicholas completely explodes at Mr. Eye at the end of build 0.0.8 introvert island, rightfully calling him out on how horribly toxic he is.
- Shout-Out: The name "Animal Police," and by extension the name "Animal Investigator," has more or less the same meaning as "Pets Cop."
- Subverted Kids' Show: Perfect Child Programming in build 0.0.8 pcp.
- Suicide is Shameful: Mr. Eye is constantly abusive towards Nicholas, but he does discourage his suicidal tendencies in build 0.0.8 pcp, implicitly telling him that he'll be just like his father if he chooses to act on his thoughts of suicide. Given that Mr. Eye is implied to be an externatlization of Nicholas' self-hatred, the implication is that Nicholas feels a lot of guilt for his suicidal tendencies. In
a bit of realism, this does not help Nicholas' mental state whatsoever, with his fear that he's just like his father for wanting to take his own life only worsening his self-hatred and already low self-esteem. So while Mr. Eye shaming Nicholas for his suicidal tendencies may make him less likely to act on them in the short-term, the fact that he tries to make Nicholas see himself as a bad person for feeling the way he does only contributes to the problems that got him to that point in the first place. - They Copied It, Now It Sucks: In-universe example and deconstructed. Nicholas is constantly plagued by insecurities that his work isn't original enough, and as a result is constantly pressured by Mr. Eye and online critics to put more of himself and his own experiences into his work. Given that the entire reason he made the game to begin with was to cope with his traumatic childhood, he ends up reliving his own trauma in his efforts to be more original.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: The later videos are all but stated to be Nicholas' trauma-induced psychosis instead of an actual videogame.
- Unreliable Narrator: Nicholas isn't exactly the most mentally stable person out there, to say the least.
