WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:04.240 This time, we would take a look back  to one of the first Pony games 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:06.080 I ever played: Story of the Blanks! 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:08.880 I you haven't played this game before,   00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:11.777 then I recommend playing it first  before continueing watching. 00:00:17.360 --> 00:00:20.240 As you can see, it's an 8-bit, inspired fan game.  00:00:21.520 --> 00:00:26.880 It even has PAL and NTSC colour switches, so  you know it's serious with the autenticity. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:33.200 The game was developed and published by Donitz  on DeviantArt and Newgrounds in July 2, 2011.  00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:34.400 Links in the description. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:43.360 Alright so before we start actually  playing the game I have a question:  00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:48.240 What's that supposed to be on  the sky? or whatever that is. 00:00:51.040 --> 00:00:54.560 Is that some kind of like, orange cloud? or lake? 00:00:56.400 --> 00:00:59.600 This thing always bothered me ... 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:01.360 But anyways, it's just abstract background.  00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:07.840 Alright so we start. we use the arrow  keys to move and use Z to interact.  00:01:08.800 --> 00:01:14.000 Alright there's no much to interact here so we  just move around we just have to follow the path 00:01:18.720 --> 00:01:20.960 Oh yeah by the way, I'm not gonna do voices. 00:02:16.320 --> 00:02:21.840 And so up we go! We follow  Twilight into the Everfree Forest. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:31.440 Now I have to say first of all the  Everfree Forest here looks too pretty.   00:02:32.480 --> 00:02:39.920 Like, I know that this is kind of like  the outskirts of the Everfree Forest   00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:45.440 but still you would think that  maybe it should be a little darker? 00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:52.320 Anyway I'm already getting the the vibes of  like NES or Namco games by looking at this. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:03:03.840 Oh and of course there's nothing to explore. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:10.240 By the way this part right here?  There's something about it,   00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:17.840 I think it's supposed to be like an abyss? Also it looks like glitch graphics right there. 00:03:35.200 --> 00:03:36.320 And there she is! 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:13.840 And we go back. 00:04:14.640 --> 00:04:20.320 That's the whole adventure! We just go to  Zecora and we go back to Ponyville and ... 00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:20.820 sike! 00:04:56.080 --> 00:05:00.320 No we cannot use our strong Earth  Pony strength to move the logs. 00:05:08.320 --> 00:05:12.560 Oh and Twilight apparently is now stuck  looking at the opposite direction. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:23.840 Hey is that Derpy? 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:27.200 And just like that! 00:05:28.880 --> 00:05:30.400 We're lost in the forest now. 00:05:31.840 --> 00:05:35.600 Even though Twilight was  looking in our same direction! 00:05:37.840 --> 00:05:39.120 Yeah way to go, Twilight. 00:06:07.520 --> 00:06:10.000 Oh yeah by the way don't expect any   00:06:10.880 --> 00:06:19.840 cockatricers or manticores because that  would be too complex for the game to handle.  00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:28.320 And what is this supposed to be? Looks different   00:06:28.320 --> 00:06:33.840 I don't know I guess it's supposed  to be some kind of ledge, anyway. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:39.040 And here we are! 00:07:02.400 --> 00:07:08.120 So yeah we're in a new town  now, we can look around ... 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:12.858 Oh yeah we can also walk on the harvest soil. 00:07:18.640 --> 00:07:22.080 Don't worry Applebloom is an Earth  Pony so it's all under control. 00:08:00.960 --> 00:08:03.040 So can we enter this house? 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:11.840 Nope because it doesn't seem to have  any doors and oh by the way a gem! 00:08:37.760 --> 00:08:41.920 Oh and because this game is realistic you  cannot enter into other people's homes 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:08.840 Yeah because that's not suspicious at all ... 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:16.902 Hey you! Come back here. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:32.640 Well anything on the windows?  Nope, anything on the well? 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:50.800 So try to guess where could the crank be ... 00:09:50.800 --> 00:09:55.040 You know, maybe in a logical  place like another well?  00:09:55.040 --> 00:09:56.400 Like the one right here? 00:09:58.520 --> 00:10:03.840 ... Or somewhere else completely unrelated! 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:21.299 Hey! Don't push Applebloom. 00:10:38.640 --> 00:10:41.600 So yeah you guys get busy with your ... love.  00:10:45.680 --> 00:10:49.280 I'm sure you don't ... you guys  don't mind if I enter your house. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:02.400 Alright, first of all, who lives here? What kind of house is this.   00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:06.480 Like is this supposed to  be a workshop or something?  00:11:10.400 --> 00:11:15.920 Like it kind of reminds me of that  NES game, I forgot the name but   00:11:15.920 --> 00:11:21.787 you know, you push boxes  around, it's like a puzzle game. 00:11:34.800 --> 00:11:41.840 Uh I don't know Applebloom, I mean ...  why did you needed one in the first place? 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:06.717 Alright so we're good to go, we have everything   00:12:06.717 --> 00:12:07.717 we need. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.840 Alright finally a key! 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:44.480 Now, let's unvellish the mysteries of this town. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:51.840 And another seemingly empty house. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:02.720 Oh yeah if you can't tell by the graphics,   00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:06.320 uh, that's supposed to be a  skeleton ... a pony skeleton. 00:13:21.680 --> 00:13:26.080 So yeah let's just pretend that didn't happen,  like yeah let's, let's go back to the village. 00:13:32.560 --> 00:13:36.480 Yeah on second thought let's get out  of Sunny Town, it's a silly place. 00:14:07.040 --> 00:14:11.400 So yeah I see the party is over so I'm just gonna ... leave. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:20.502 Yeah come on come on come on come  on 00:14:20.502 --> 00:14:22.740 Oh! hold the brakes speed racer! 00:14:37.040 --> 00:14:37.924 No you don't! 00:15:05.513 --> 00:15:07.634 Yeah we're done here. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:11.018 Oh shit! Everything's red! 00:15:11.403 --> 00:15:12.484 ... the evil color. 00:15:15.680 --> 00:15:19.667 Yeah avoiding these are, uh, it's  pretty tricky. But also very easy 00:15:23.040 --> 00:15:25.321 Yeah just a filly passing by! 00:15:29.483 --> 00:15:30.630 And that's it! 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.258 Uh yeah what's your plan? 00:17:03.280 --> 00:17:06.960 Aaand with that perfect ending,  I'll explain why i love this game.   00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:12.470 The game is laid back with it's presentation at first, and it doesn't pull the bait and switch right away, 00:17:12.550 --> 00:17:16.640 unlike other spooky games such as  Luna Game which at times feels like a shitpost. 00:17:17.280 --> 00:17:21.920 Story of the Blanks has that sense of wonder at  first putting you in the hooves of Applebloom.   00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:26.526 Since the game is pretty straight forward  it's hard to talk much about gameplay.   00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:32.960 However did you know there's a map editor here in  the game? By pressing Home and End at the same time   00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:39.840 the game takes you back to the title screen and  then by, get this, resizing the screen vertically   00:17:39.840 --> 00:17:45.067 when viewing the .SWF file you will find a hidden  menu at the bottom. 00:17:45.067 --> 00:17:48.763 This menu can be used to mess around with the game's maps and characters, 00:17:48.763 --> 00:17:51.986 as we  can see the zombie ponies are called "Nightmares". 00:17:52.410 --> 00:17:57.834 This menu is a mess though I don't think it was  ever meant to be used since it's pretty confusing at first. 00:17:58.239 --> 00:18:00.301 ... and I think I just fucked everything up ... 00:18:00.750 --> 00:18:06.034 What makes this game special for me though, it's how it plays out just like an episode of the show.  00:18:06.201 --> 00:18:08.320 Minus the burning skeleton of course, that would 00:18:08.320 --> 00:18:11.667 raise the audience target rating by at least two  levels. 00:18:11.667 --> 00:18:13.920 As you were able to see by using 15ai and 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:19.440 dubbing the dialog boxes, you can see how much this  could work as an actual episode of Friendship is Magic. 00:18:20.560 --> 00:18:24.251 There is so much potential in a story like Story  of the Blanks, 00:18:24.251 --> 00:18:27.700 specially by how mysteriously portrays the Everfree Forest. 00:18:28.394 --> 00:18:31.304 Keep in mind  this was back during the days of season 1. 00:18:31.304 --> 00:18:35.067 The whole Everfree Forest was a blank slate for writers to speculate about. 00:18:35.067 --> 00:18:38.372 During season 1 and 2, there was no official Equestria map. 00:18:38.372 --> 00:18:41.481 So no one knew exactly how big the Everfree Forest was. 00:18:42.560 --> 00:18:46.901 It could be a tiny forest or it could be  about the same size of the whole Amazon.   00:18:47.280 --> 00:18:53.280 The mysteries regarding the Everfree were so many,  like, why did ponies believe the flora and weather   00:18:53.280 --> 00:18:54.950 in there controled on its own? 00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:55.924 What happened there? 00:18:56.034 --> 00:18:58.606 Then after season 2, the first official map was 00:18:58.606 --> 00:19:04.387 published by hasbro and, well ... turned out to be  a tiny weirdly placed rainforest in the middle of Equestria! 00:19:04.580 --> 00:19:05.793 What a joke! 00:19:06.198 --> 00:19:11.470 Story of the blanks  went on to win the Equestria Gaming creepypasta game contest in july 2011 00:19:11.894 --> 00:19:16.471 And the site's owner at  the time, Strawberry Spice, gave it an 8 out of 10, 00:19:16.471 --> 00:19:19.481 the first game to have that rating on the site  back then. 00:19:19.481 --> 00:19:26.694 I recommend to play the game by yourself, although if you watched up to this point then you  pretty much have seen everything the game has to offer. 00:19:27.067 --> 00:19:33.731 An artist by the name of Template93 made a  comic based on the game, I also recommend reading it.  00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:36.692 So what about the developer: Donitz? 00:19:36.692 --> 00:19:43.092 he stopped  developing pony games around 2013 and not much else is known about him nowadays. 00:19:43.092 --> 00:19:45.750 What about Applebloom's blank flank? 00:19:45.750 --> 00:19:49.522 Well she went on to obtain an ugly cutie mark in season 5. 00:19:49.750 --> 00:19:54.041 And whatever  happened to Applebloom's new made friend, Ruby? 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:59.068 Well, she's still somewhere ... in the Everfree Forest ... 00:19:59.068 --> 00:20:00.574 Forgotten and alone ... 00:20:00.574 --> 00:20:10.017 Awaiting her recognition.