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General discussionRelease: Pony Island(103 posts)(103 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 11, 2016
Prancing with the devil.



<span class="bold">Pony Island</span>, a devious puzzle game where you gamble your soul to escape a sinister arcade machine, is available now DRM-free on GOG.com for Windows, Mac, and Linux with a 10% launch discount and the game's soundtrack included as a bonus goodie.

The old Arcade is about to close for the night. You approach a colourful coin-op machine standing apart from the rest at the end of the hallway. "Pony Island". Hey, it's what that weird neighbour's kid was playing endlessly before the accident. You feed it a coin, press "Start" and it glitches on you. A slight push; no effect. Frustrated, you start pressing buttons, kick, yell, send the machine to hell. It backfires. Badly.

You are no longer in the Arcade, you are inside the arcade. You're trapped in the devil's digital playground and there is only one escape: to puzzle out how to fix it. But you are not alone. The souls of other unlucky gamers who fell for this cunningly attractive trap are in here too. Or maybe that's what the diabolical architect of this infernal game wants you to believe. Is the code really broken? Or is it your soul? You need to think outside the box, if you are to escape this devilish arcade box. Or just use this cheat code that we happened to have lying ar--[ERROR - UNKNOWN INPUT FORMAT]



Outwit a malfunctioning machine programmed by the devil and escape <span class="bold">Pony Island</span>, DRM-free on GOG.com. The 10% discount will last until February 18, 1:59 PM GMT.
Posted February 11, 2016
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MBiL_248: snip
I suspect GOG sees themselves as a sort of art museum, with three major wings - Antiquities (good old games), Modern (new mainstream stuff), and Outsider (the odd indie stuff). In order to keep things balanced they let stuff into the Outsider wing while turning away many Modern pieces, because there are more good ones of those (Modern) available and they would otherwise come to dominate.

Just a guess though.


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Dalthnock: I love Horror.
Love your post, and you've got it in one. Too many modern horror games are simply bad pastiches of previous horror works. They rely on jump scares or purple prose or shallow weirdness instead of genuine horror. The reason movies like Hellraiser or The Ring or It Follows become horror classics is because they scare us in a new, and thoughtful, way. I'd like to see more games do that.
Post edited February 11, 2016 by IAmSinistar
Posted February 11, 2016
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IAmSinistar: I suspect GOG sees themselves as a sort of art museum, with three major wings - Antiquities (good old games), Modern (new mainstream stuff), and Outsider (the odd indie stuff). In order to keep things balanced they let stuff into the Outsider wing while turning away many Modern pieces, because there are more good ones of those (Modern) available and they would otherwise come to dominate.
A (very solid) hypothesis based on an observation. Cut that out!
Posted February 11, 2016
Definitely one for the Outsider category. Not my kind of game (puzzles). Must be a certain mindset that likes these type of games....(im sure some are happy game is here).

Anyone else think the pony/unicorn/whateverit is looks more like a slimmed down triceratop with a single spike? :P
Posted February 11, 2016
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IAmSinistar: Just a guess though.
You forgot the workshops where artists can attempt to create their work, with tickets sold to spectators wanting to view the process.
Posted February 11, 2016
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JMich: You forgot the workshops where artists can attempt to create their work, with tickets sold to spectators wanting to view the process.
I've not visited that wing yet, it appears to still be under construction. Too much sawdust for my delicate lungs. :)
Posted February 11, 2016
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keeveek: So that's the game that is NOT "too niche" for our refined tastes?
Nice to see you:)
Posted February 11, 2016
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MBiL_248: Dear GOG, could you pretty please explain to me what exactly it is that makes ARCANIA* more "niche-wise" than this one? I mean, if you accept such ... stuff (and you did accept a lot of such stuff in the last weeks), I just can't understand why you're are so fussy about a very solid ARPG. :(

(or the other declined titles from Nordic Games)
Ignoring the whole overplayed "too niche" meme, wasn't ArcaniA widely considered to be an affront to the Gothic name (i.e., not very good)? If they declined to sell it, as ThomNG implied, that would probably be why. Same deal with some of those Painkiller spin-offs, and probably some others. Sure, Nordic probably could've forced GOG to accept some of those in "package deals" ("You want these games? Fine, but you've gotta sell this one, too!"), as seems to have been the case with some of the other cat turds that showed up in GOG's flower garden, but Nordic seems to prefer having a good relationship with their distributor.
That said, I'm sure the complaints of compulsive completionists (how's that for alliteration?) will bring at least some of those "missing" titles here sooner or later.
Posted February 11, 2016
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IAmSinistar: Love your post, and you've got it in one. Too many modern horror games are simply bad pastiches of previous horror works. They rely on jump scares or purple prose or shallow weirdness instead of genuine horror. The reason movies like Hellraiser or The Ring or It Follows become horror classics is because they scare us in a new, and thoughtful, way. I'd like to see more games do that.
+1 for Hellraiser, though I certainly don't mean to belittle the others you mentioned.

I forgot Clive Barker!

The original Japanese The Ring was quite unsettling. The origin of the girl was pure genius, even if I suspect that the subtlety of the whole thing would go right over most people's heads, since they rely so much in loud noises & flashing lights.

On the bright side, pretty soon we'll be able to scare teenagers away just by displaying static on a screen.

Making teenagers run far, far away, especially screaming, is always a good thing.
Posted February 11, 2016
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MBiL_248: Dear GOG, could you pretty please explain to me what exactly it is that makes ARCANIA* more "niche-wise" than this one? I mean, if you accept such ... stuff (and you did accept a lot of such stuff in the last weeks), I just can't understand why you're are so fussy about a very solid ARPG. :(

(or the other declined titles from Nordic Games)
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HunchBluntley: Ignoring the whole overplayed "too niche" meme, wasn't ArcaniA widely considered to be an affront to the Gothic name (i.e., not very good)? If they declined to sell it, as ThomNG implied, that would probably be why. Same deal with some of those Painkiller spin-offs, and probably some others. Sure, Nordic probably could've forced GOG to accept some of those in "package deals" ("You want these games? Fine, but you've gotta sell this one, too!"), as seems to have been the case with some of the other cat turds that showed up in GOG's flower garden, but Nordic seems to prefer having a good relationship with their distributor.
That said, I'm sure the complaints of compulsive completionists (how's that for alliteration?) will bring at least some of those "missing" titles here sooner or later.
Arcania was a lousy Gothic 4, but a decent ARPG. I think you're right and that's a part of the problem, but I wonder why they released Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods.
Posted February 11, 2016
O_o

What the hell is that?
Bought! Twice!
Posted February 11, 2016
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HunchBluntley: Ignoring the whole overplayed "too niche" meme, wasn't ArcaniA widely considered to be an affront to the Gothic name (i.e., not very good)? If they declined to sell it, as ThomNG implied, that would probably be why. Same deal with some of those Painkiller spin-offs, and probably some others. Sure, Nordic probably could've forced GOG to accept some of those in "package deals" ("You want these games? Fine, but you've gotta sell this one, too!"), as seems to have been the case with some of the other cat turds that showed up in GOG's flower garden, but Nordic seems to prefer having a good relationship with their distributor.
That said, I'm sure the complaints of compulsive completionists (how's that for alliteration?) will bring at least some of those "missing" titles here sooner or later.
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MBiL_248: Arcania was a lousy Gothic 4, but a decent ARPG. I think you're right and that's a part of the problem, but I wonder why they released Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods.
Who knows. :)
...Come to think of it, was that one even published by Nordic back when it was released here?
Posted February 11, 2016
#FreeSatan


(While I'm very excited to see Pony Island here, this release really highlights the inexplicable absence of Undertale from GOG's catalogue. :/ I wonder what the reason for this absence may be, I really do - because I can't really think of one good enough to justify it.)
Posted February 11, 2016
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Pica-Ludica: #FreeSatan

(While I'm very excited to see Pony Island here, this release really highlights the inexplicable absence of Undertale from GOG's catalogue. :/ I wonder what the reason for this absence may be, I really do - because I can't really think of one good enough to justify it.)
I can think of one. The dev doesn't want it here. It blew up so long ago that there's not a lot of doubt GOG would be happy to sell it.

EDIT: Not a lot of doubt in my mind. I'm sure others doubt it.
Post edited February 11, 2016 by budejovice
Posted February 11, 2016
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MBiL_248: Arcania was a lousy Gothic 4, but a decent ARPG. I think you're right and that's a part of the problem, but I wonder why they released Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods.
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HunchBluntley: Who knows. :)
...Come to think of it, was that one even published by Nordic back when it was released here?
So far I know: yes.
Posted February 11, 2016
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Pica-Ludica: #FreeSatan

(While I'm very excited to see Pony Island here, this release really highlights the inexplicable absence of Undertale from GOG's catalogue. :/ I wonder what the reason for this absence may be, I really do - because I can't really think of one good enough to justify it.)
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budejovice: I can think of one. The dev doesn't want it here. It blew up so long ago that there's not a lot of doubt GOG would be happy to sell it.

EDIT: Not a lot of doubt in my mind. I'm sure others doubt it.
I honestly can't think of a reason why Toby Fox wouldn't want it on GOG. There's already a DRM-free version available via Humble Bundle, so it can't be that. I understand there being difficulties to find a mutually satisfactory arrangement when dealing with a difficult case like Lucasarts, but a one-man band indie developer?
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRelease: Pony Island(103 posts)(103 posts)
(103 posts)