E.B.O.N.Y. - The Weirdest Riddle Game On The Internet

[mellifluous]

Pretty sure I know the password for X65 part 2 but small hints for the username would be greatly appreciated!

[bloody]

It shouldn't be too difficult to make out the rest of the terms in this standard notation. And if you don't recognize it, I'm sure you can quickly discover it.

[warownia1]

Huh, I came back to EBONY after 3 years and I finally solved X59
Now I'm struggling with X60. When I enter s************e it tells me

Good work - but, you need to continue it!

Am I expected to know the answer from somewhere outside the EBONY?

[bloody]

Huh, I came back to EBONY after 3 years and I finally solved X59
Now I'm struggling with X60. When I enter s************e it tells me

Good work - but, you need to continue it!

Am I expected to know the answer from somewhere outside the EBONY?

It's a very well-known ... uhh ... sequence. If you have to "continue" it, what use could the existing part have for you, if you want to continue this sequence?

[BeyPokéDig]

Let's make E.B.O.N.Y. e-sports ready

When we were talking on the Discord about what cool features E.B.O.N.Y. could have in the future (2018-10-23 for those who weren't present), I almost jokingly said "you should make E.B.O.N.Y. e-sports ready". But then I realised, wait a second, didn't I see the term used earnestly in relation to a puzzle game recently? Oh, that's right, I did, in a YouTube comment for this video - a video of a team of people solving a massive, player-made puzzle for the game Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes. "This for real could be some Esports competition", says the comment, currently sitting at 3115 upvotes. So I started thinking more about it.

I ended up saying something about "porting E.B.O.N.Y. to Steam", but that, too, soon got integrated into my ideas for real. E.B.O.N.Y. might be a browser game that requires searching the Internet, but that doesn't have to be an obstacle - besides the Steam overlay having a browser, from what I can find, in the game Welcome To The Game 2, which is about browsing the Deep Web, the in-game browser is capable of displaying (some?) real websites, including YouTube and Twitter, and it's functional enough that someone just watched YouTube there until he got a game over (lol). That makes me think that even other tools required for some of the puzzles could be integrated to make E.B.O.N.Y. self-contained (if that's even necessary?). Functional browser alone could take care of most ungoogleable tasks with view-source: for sound file tags and Photopea and this metadata viewer for pictures and their tags. But I think it could be really nice to have an in-game desktop with a browser, an image editor, a media player and a text editor for note making, like the one I can see in Welcome To The Game. Those would probably be somewhat basic, but IMO one of the nice features of riddle games is getting/using skills with those programs, so the procedures should be kept realistic, rather than "drag picture to program icon, edited picture pops out" or something. One nice immersion-enhancing thing I can think of that's related to this: instead of the browser being a window on the desktop, the desktop with the tools would be a window on top of E.B.O.N.Y.

Making E.B.O.N.Y. not confined to browsers would solve many small annoying things for both the developers and the players. Worried about not enough browser support for APNG format? You can use any format you want! Having to bloat error 404 pages for Internet Explorer? Not anymore! Mobile compatibility code cluttering the source code for us players? It can be gone! (And mobile port is another thing that could be done!) Releasing what is almost a new version of the game also allows for the "restart" of some features (if agreed upon). Want to go to a new UN/PW system without confusing players who don't interact with the community much? A fresh release is the ideal occasion! That chat via chatbots idea? Maybe! Slight retcon adding tulpas to the story (as I've seen mentioned on E.B.O.N.Y.'s FaceBook)? Well, if ever, then then!

But there would be much greater new possibilities than that. Game modes. Maps. Player-made levels. Let's first go to game modes. That gets us back to the e-sports part, and that's where my fantasy ran wild.
Besides the main story mode, there could be random mode, time attack, and team mode and versus mode for both of those.
-In random mode, you could choose the number of levels and types of puzzle included, and a small segment of E.B.O.N.Y. would be randomly generated for you to solve. The chatbot idea could shine here, as there could be some small talking characters (think a tree) with hints (possibly even ones mandatory for solving) in their dialogues, despite it being randomly generated. A toggleable timer could be present for scoring and leaderboards.
-In finite time attack, you have to solve an amount of randomly generated levels before time runs out. In infinite time attack, you have to solve as many levels as possible in allotted time, with them being generated infinitely. You can still choose some parameters like types of puzzle and amount of time. The finite one could share highscores with random mode if the timer is the only difficulty change with the same settings. Also, I guess for the purpose of highscore tables, there would be some preset parameter settings to choose from when starting a game.
-Team mode: the modes above, but now the hints and important info are split into two (or three, maybe even four?) and you have to tell each other what you see, what you found, and what the other one has to do! Maybe you have a table of things, but the other player has the coordinates to what is important in it! Or an important code is only displayed if you're both in the same subscreen! A message could be torn in half! A dialogue could be torn in half! One player's action could open/close a subscreen for the other! So many new level possibilities. (I'm not really suggesting it, but there could be co-op story as well.)
-Versus mode: oh boy, here's the e-sport. Duels. Tournaments. Team battles. Like the time attacks, but instead of trying to be the best of all time, you just have to beat the current opponent(s). And of course, here everyone gets the same (but still randomly generated) set of levels, which makes things fairer. I'm imagining a standard online game lobby where you create a game room, set how many players you want (2-100 maybe?), team size (1-4), battle style (everyone vs everyone? a series of 1v1 battles tournament? musical chairs with crucial hints for chairs? red players vs blue players? "I've heard that E.B.O.N.Y. 2 will have battle royale mode" :^) ) and more game details like length/finiteness and difficulty and used types of puzzles.
-Story mode could also have live highscores. Besides completion and amount of visited levels, perhaps also categories for number of visited egg and talk pages for that egg and talk hunt. (Maybe both overall and split by folder?)
-Perhaps also a party-game-like hint co-op, where one player has all the info and must hint the other one(s) towards solving the level? That might be fun for those of us who love giving hints about levels we solved. I could see this also having a slightly competitive mode like one of those games where players take turns drawing concepts like skribbl.io, but with giving hints instead of (or via?) drawing, getting points for hinting well/getting the hinted solution.
-I could also see something like the Submachine Network Exploration Experience meets No Man's Sky with randomly generated, very interconnected, huge but perhaps not infinite area that would allow players to make graffiti with hints for others - perhaps some of those levels would only display 25% of hints to 25% of players each or something, so graffiti would be necessary to gather them all. Great interconnection of levels could allow to place hints to a level some distance away (the randomness would have to be taken into account though to prevent locked areas). Self-updating map would shine here.
When you look at the popularity of Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (680,000 views on that 1 hour long video from the beginning of this post, game sold over 200,000 copies in the first 9 months), the /r/riddles and /r/puzzles subreddits (72k and 34k subscribers, respectively), Cicada3301 and others, combined with there apparently not being any riddle games on Steam (correct me if I'm wrong) and the genre just plain not being done in the way I'm suggesting before (AFAIK), and a bunch of other factors, I'd say there's a gap in the market that will reward whoever fills it. It might not sound as spectator friendly as Keep Talking (though you could have a similar format available with a central, watchable person), so it might not spread through YouTube/Twitch that much, but 1) that shouldn't hinder the success 2) you never know... Welcome To The Game also doesn't sound very watchable, plus there's definitely a possibility of viewer interaction/cooperation with streamer.

Oh and 3) this monstrous post isn't done yet.
Player-made levels!
Turns out that when playing riddle games, people get some ideas for riddles of their own, but in 99,99% of cases not enough to warrant making their own riddle game. Well, all of this unused potential, perhaps bottled for years in some cases, could be unleashed. Simply give players the tools to create their own levels, and voilà, infinite content of infinite fun, better than any random generator could make, but most importantly a feedback loop making the community strengthen itself, and in a way a very fun game of its own. Look at the popularity of Super Mario Maker. And the creativity, the level making contests, the popularity of puzzle levels (see CarlSagan42 with his 272,000 subscribers) - and people actually get hooked on creating and want more, with many looking into ROM hacking. Honestly, this is the feature I want the most, as I have some ideas of my own, but am definitely in the category of "not enough for my own whole game". But I could do a short "fork". Then get feedback from the community. And probably get inspired by that to make more. I suspect that if you make this reality, we might see a resurgence of the entire riddle game genre by making people aware that they find riddle+level making fun. Maybe we could even get more story-based (or at least story-having) riddle games if it's E.B.O.N.Y. that inspires them. As someone who plays games mainly for their stories (which is how E.B.O.N.Y. hooked me while others didn't), I would love that.
Of course, there would have to be some slight moderation, for example to prevent trolls posting story spoilers/level solutions. Or even accidental spoilers. There could be a system of tags that the level creator could apply, like what kind of puzzles are included (googling? music? jigsaw puzzle? math? language? dare I say, stereoscopic image?) or which story mode rewards work, that would be mostly searchable and filterable, with some tags intended for avoiding spoiling. For example, character names and concepts could have tags that would be mandatory to use if those characters and concepts are mentioned, and level sets with those tags would be invisible until the player searching through the levels unlocked those tags by learning about the concepts in story mode. This would allow for player-made levels that require certain knowledge of the story mode, perhaps down to details like "how many lvl 50s are there" or "name three Mystic Marvels". Players with moderating abilities could go through the levels, looking for missing tags and content breaking Steam rules, and add the tags/report to someone higher. Unchecked levels would be separated from checked ones, with massive warnings if accessible normally at all. I think anyone with all temp ends, rewards, Mystic Marvels etc. could automatically get moderating powers in the name of letting the community moderate itself, including the ability to view all subpages and eggpages of a player-made level set in case they missed something/don't want to play through at all. (Actually... that power might not have to be restricted at all, just like you can download and tinker with a level in Mario Maker without beating it) If things get to a point where a person must be hired and paid to moderate, I'd say by that point the game will have made enough money to cover that. (If the vast randomly generated area with graffities gets made, that's another thing to let community moderate.)
Since player-made levels wouldn't actually be pages of a website, there shouldn't be a problem with name conflicts and accidentally hopping to a different level set. Though it might be fun to allow players to link their sets together on purpose - perhaps entire teams of creators could collaborate and make the transitions seamless for the player! Or perhaps some player-made Mystic Marvels would involve hunting pieces of information across several level sets... to be input in yet another!
I haven't yet thought that deeply about what tools would be required to be made for the level creation to be versatile, but perhaps a few .mp3s of various moods (spooky, reward page, calm, ...) unique to player-made levels (story mode music might serve as a hint in levels where story knowledge is required)(hearing a music somewhere before hearing it in story mode probably doesn't count as a spoiler though?), some stock 404s (though that could be made by players more easily than a level, having stock 404s might make it easier to figure out if someone were to stuff actually important hints in there), some pre-made javascripts (e.g. for random picture levels with refresh button), some of the new functions that can't even be done in browser (I think) like levers/"pressure pads" (having to visit at least X of Y subpages for something to show up on a display elsewhere) and whatever new stuff comes up, the tagging system (puzzle categorisation would be figured out anyway for the non-story modes) and a way to add metadata to music and pictures and otherwise edit them (another argument for including those tools in-game!).

One popular suggestion that has been talked about is a map that would fill itself as you enter new levels. The main problem with this was players' aversion to having an account system, with the current compromise proposal being making it a Discord bot, so it's tied to Discord account and operates via PMs. Obviously, that problem would go away with Steam E.B.O.N.Y. - the map is simply tied to your savefile. And you don't have to do a thing - every visited page is simply added to it immediately. It would also function as level select with all added pages being clickable links. A map like that will be especially needed in the vast random world, if that gets made. There it would actually be easier to program (I think?), since the generating algorithm would presumably pretty much create the map first and fill it with riddles second. Story mode map programming would be more manual, with the unconnected egg screens etc., but building on already made maps should simplify things.
Other ideas like achievements, live leaderboard, more story personalisation and story-specific integrated chatroom would similarly become very doable in this version of E.B.O.N.Y.. Achievements are pretty much expected from Steam games, too. Some more ideas and observations to quickly address:
Music Room for unlocked music, especially from Mystic Marvels? Could be an automated note on where you have heard which file, though to look through tags I imagine you'd still have to manually go to the page and either view-source: or download it to the in-game desktop/a folder you made there.
Currently, error 403 can be used to detect valid usernames/first solutions of multianswers. I'd keep that to be honest, just don't teach it in the tutorial. (Only applies to multianswers if usernames get revamped.)
If there's some fork hop prevention, don't 404 a page that's valid from the other fork! Perhaps just have a pop-up that asks for the html name of the level that leads there, in case someone actually figures something out while having a different level displayed. It could happen if someone had both forks unlocked, gave up on solving one, clicked to the other, and as that page loaded, he realised the solution of the one he left.
If you decide to work on this project and also change the UN/PW system of browser E.B.O.N.Y., make sure to have some sort of announcement about the project right in the UN/PW change announcement, because that event might make people load the main page for the first and last time in a long time if they're usually going directly to the level they're at (like I do)!
Mobile port would be pretty cool at some time. Whether before or after Steam port I don't know, but many of the issues solved in one apply to the other. Actually... might the new Steam functions also be available on mobile!? Playing player-made levels could definitely work (probably no need to split computer and mobile level availability either?), not too sure about level creating and anything timed. But hey, if RuneScape can be ported to mobile...

Finally, one concern that might arise when reading this: "Hey, E.B.O.N.Y. is supposed to be free forever! It says so on the donation page - 'E.B.O.N.Y. - The Weirdest Riddle Game On The Internet is free and will always be free.'!" Well, I sure hope it will stay free myself! The website version, that is. Considering the amount of work and resources to make the above happen and keep it happening, I'd say that the port could pretty much be considered E.B.O.N.Y. 1.5, an almost-sequel. The price would be for the stuff that's not currently in the game - the new game modes, the cost of keeping player levels (or would that be decentralised using p2p? I don't know enough about this ».«), potentially a mod, etc. The entirety of story mode (well, besides new 1337 functions like the map) would stay online and free - and, in fact, when new levels would be released, they would first be released only on the website! This might theoretically not be an exclusive reward for loyalty, but practically only the loyal and original players would get there as it wouldn't be announced on Steam/anywhere outside of the site. This would also allow for the version of the fresh batch of levels to be raised to a nice high level before getting to the port, also benefiting newer players, while giving the old ones a chance to make it to the credits by spotting shortcuts, bugs and other errors.

I think I'm going to end this post here. If I made anyone's head abuzz with ideas, please share them! Also post any comments, improvements, or changes you can think of - if this suggestion ends up being liked by the devs enough to morph into an actual plan, community input is going to be invaluable!
Thank You for reading!

[mellifluous]

Stuck on S67,

my notes on past levels are not good enough

Any tips?

[bloody]

Stuck on S67,

my notes on past levels are not good enough

Any tips?

Sorry, there isn't much I can say besides "try to remember", or go through everything again. The second option sounds tedious, but would be a great opportunity to take good notes.

One of the things refers to something very early on, and it was said that "you might need it later".

[ImHereForHelp]

I'm stuck on M48 (the second one). I've noticed the swap but nothing lead from that. I've also tried searching the title with the comment to no avail.

[bloody]

If you're able to complete the phrases, do so. Otherwise, since you noticed the swap, something else about it must have changed, mustn't it?

[ImHereForHelp]

I've noticed the change (can't believe I didn't see that before). Searching it with the title and/or comment yields the same results as searching without it. Also, I don't know what you mean by "the phrases".

[bloody]

I meant the title phrases. If you noticed the change, then I imagine you've solved this level.

[PotatoMaster04]

Hey, i'm stuck at X65, i know that i have to use the letters and the pictures, but i've no idea what to do. i've tried sorting the images in many ways, but none seem to work, i understand this level has something to do with an earlier level, but i don't see any mention of it except in the title (or of it's mechanic). can someone can give some direction on where i should go?? i've got no idea



edit: Solved, thanks!

[bloody]

If "Identical is off.", what would be "on"? As for having to do with an earlier level, it doesn't, not really.

[PotatoMaster04]

Hey, i'm stuck at U70-74, i've got all the pieces so i have the UN/PW, but no matter how i put it in the URL it doesn't seem to work. I don't know if my UN/PW is wrong or if i'm supposed to put it in a different way in the Url.

[bloody]

Hey, i'm stuck at U70-74, i've got all the pieces so i have the UN/PW, but no matter how i put it in the URL it doesn't seem to work. I don't know if my UN/PW is wrong or if i'm supposed to put it in a different way in the Url.

Did you find the p***** yet?