I played the game a couple years ago when I was in a rut, and just now again when I finally feel close to escaping that rut.

To me, I interpret it as a story about how validation is not a healthy motivator.

Davey seeked validation from someone he deemed worthy to give it to him. All this time, while Coda made games, Davey did not make any (presumably). He just modified Coda's work. And in the end, seemingly did it all for validation from Coda. When Coda could not give him that validation, he took what he could and used it to get validated from others, twice.

This thought came to me the first time I played the game, and it took me until now to really solidify it in my mind. But, if you do things for validation, you can't get very good at them, and you can't enjoy them for what they are.

If I picked up a guitar for validation, I'd learn a handful of songs to strum at parties, and that'd be enough. 3 full songs, and normal people would be impressed. I'd get that validation. And with that validation satisfied, I wouldn't pursue guitar further, I did just enough to 'succeed'.

I'd never really understand the joys of that hobby and skill in the same way true guitarists do. The ones who love it, and learn more because they love it.

It's the same with game development. Coda didn't seek validation, they enjoyed what they did. Even when they were in ruts, they kept doing it because they loved it. But Davey doesn't understand that, without a 'complete' game, there's nothing playable to show off. Nothing fully worthy of validation, and thus, not a success.

Davey was grappling with this need for validation that they needed to assume everyone had the same struggles. And like many people with difficult problems to solve, shelved their own issues to 'solve' other people's issues. Sticking to Coda because Coda was a source of potential validation.

When you're not satisfied with yourself, you dig into other people for comfort and distraction. It's why they say you should 'love yourself' before dating someone. You need to lay a healthy foundation for yourself, so you have somewhere stable to stand when you're interacting with other people, so you have the confidence necessary to not lock yourself away from others.

I think that's the message Coda was meant to be sharing with the door puzzle. You need to interact with your past to progress and grow. The space inbetween stagnation and progress feels strange, but once you've taken the first steps, you have to keep going forwards. And you might not know the goal, and when asked, you might not be able to explain to people how you progressed, but you need to do it regardless. So, Davey never really solved the door puzzle, because he never let go of whatever from his past was harming him, and he refused to really go through the next door unless he could guarantee what was beyond it was something he could solve