youshouldnthavedonethat.net
youshouldnthavedonethat.net as it originally appeared
| Site name | The Moon Children (original) Haunted Majora's Mask (after September 20, 2010) Within Hubris (February 20, 2011) |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Meeting place for the Moon Children Covert recruitment for the Eternity Project |
| Status | Active (archive) |
| Launched | September 16, 2010 (original) August 9, 2018 (archive) |
| Removed | February 20, 2011 (original) |
| Affiliation | Moon Children Eternity Project |
youshouldnthavedonethat.net, also abbreviated as YSHDT, was the home website of the Moon Children, a cult centered around a moon deity called Luna. Founded in 1998, they were led by a mysterious figure called The Father.
Due to the site's restructuring five days after its discovery, its contents have been divided into categories. Moon Children refers to the site as it appeared from September 17 to 20, 2010. Haunted Majora's Mask refers to the site as it appeared from September 20 to its retirement. The Glitch refers to the site as it appeared on October 6 during the event of the same name.
After the events of Moon Children, the site was retired and, ultimately, lost to time. It was reclaimed in 2016 and, after some time, it was converted into a complete archive on August 9, 2018.
Contents
- 1 Site-wide details
- 2 Moon Children pages
- 3 Haunted Majora's Mask pages
- 4 The Glitch pages
- 5 Notes
Site-wide details
Moon Children version
From September 17 to 20, 2010, the site appeared with the following layout:
For a brief period on September 18, the sitename changed to "One Hour Left".
Haunted Majora's Mask version
On September 20, the site's name and directory were changed semi-permanently. The full directory was not established until September 22. The changes are as follows:
- Sitename: Haunted Majora's Mask
- Directory (9/20):
- Directory (9/22):
The Search page was left up until September 22, when it was replaced by the ARG Timeline. The pre-existing Theories page was converted into the FAQ page.
The page title displayed in the tab as, "Haunted Majora's Mask Cartridge". The copyright information at the bottom of the page, which originally read "© 2010 The Moon Children", changed several times during this period, as did the favicon:
- September 20: Copyright changed to "© 2010 Haunted Majora's Mask Cartridge"
- October 10: Copyright changed to "© 2010 Haunted Majora's Mask"
- February 13: Favicon removed, set to default concrete5 icon
- February 20: Copyright changed to "© 2010 Within Hubris"
The final change coincided with the site name also changing to Within Hubris at around 10:35pm. Shortly afterward, the site began redirecting to Within Hubris.
The Glitch version
On October 6, the site's name was changed twice, with the copyright information changing to, "© 2010 This Will Hurt You". These changes coincided with an event called The Glitch, wherein a new home page led to the discovery of hidden files. The second site name change came just minutes after the first.
- Sitename change 1: Cry Cry Cry Cry
- Sitename change 2: This Will Hurt You
Soon afterward, the site reverted to its previous state.
Moon Children pages
Each of the indexed pages contained unique header text and banners, with the exception of The Truth. Several pages were hidden from view, discovered via URL manipulation and other covert means. Some of these pages contained their own music or sounds.
Home
- Page title: The Moon Children
- Page description: N/A
- Header text: "Welcome home"
- Banner: moon banner4 192.jpg
- Audio: Lost in My Thoughts (First Cycle) / Destroyed Vioiln Beat Dark Rap Instrumental (Second Cycle)
The Home page contained a description of the Moon Children, followed by moderator posts and, during the First Cycle, a guestbook. The music playing in the background was titled, "Lost in My Thoughts".
The introductory passage remained unchanged. It read:
- A Website For Those Who Believe
- We Are Luna's Chosen
This is a website for those who have formed a spiritual connection with the Moon and Him and recognize that we have been selected to preform miracles and bring enlightenment into this world. She has chosen us - and only us - to survive the upcoming apocolypse because we have honored Her and devoted ourselves to Her. As we work to enforce Her will, we grow together as a family and serve the greater good. We are the Moon's Children. If you have found your way here it is not by chance, you are at home here. You belong here with us. And while you may be caught off-guard, I think right now you can feel something inside you agreeing with me. Listen to your soul, get in touch with yourself, your soul knows this and we can show you how.
All Moon's Children have been gifted spiritually, and thus we are more astrally attuned to things normal humans may not be. A normal human's chi energy is typically so small that they may not notice it their entire life. Whereas we can preform miracles and ascend our fleshy prisons with ours. If you are visiting, you have come here for a reason, even if that reason may not be known to you. You have been chosen by Her. You have this amazing chi potential, this amazing spirit energy, locked within you. We can help you unlock it, we can help you become Enlightened. Please, take a look around our new website and get to know some of our members and contact us on the About page. We will set up a meeting that will change the rest of your life.
If you believe you have gotten here in error, then please back out and return to Google. Bare in mind that the website is still in its very rudamentary stages right now, many things are still incomplete and many links will lead you to dead ends. Please try and be understanding, brothers and sisters. There will be MANY more updates to come very soon!
- We Are Luna's Chosen
First Cycle
The First Cycle featured a News Posts section and a guestbook below it. Though the subtitle of the section reads, "Listed chronologically, from newest to oldest", they are listed here in chronological order:
Ifrit (mod)
Posted: 9/14/10 @ 11:35am
Subject: Welcome to the new site!
Luna shine, brothers and sisters. We now have a new home! It's going to be a busy couple of days trying to put everything together and while we're doing that the forums will most likely be down. Feel free to use the Guest Book below to talk to each other, if the Guest Book isn't your thing there's always the IRC chat if you know it. We're looking at maybe a week or so before we're all done with the website. But for now just sit back and relax and let us do all the hard work.
Nekko (mod)
Posted: 9/15/10 @ 1:34pm
Subject: we're back
Hey guys its Chris! So glad to finally back with my (true) family! I hope you're as eager as I am to finally have a new place to call our own. anyway, like Dusk said, we lost a lot of content that we had stored. The good news is that I've got saved some of our testimonials, so that page should be up by tomorrow., but a lot of this will be under construction (bleh). we've got a few new toys, this new host gives us a lot more room to play around, however with the new domain I wouldn't be surprised if we get more than our "usual" amount of visitors, some may have potential, others may "think" they are good enough to join us. we're not ready to open up yet - we want to at least have a few pages working before we welcome you guys back in, so by the time you read this this will be a few days ago. how's the future? Do we have flying cars yet (heh)? Also, If anyone asks the background music is entitled "Lost in My Thoughts", i really like it.
Unfortunately I'm not going to be a mod for much longer - my Ascencion date is coming up really soon :) :) He finally told me when it was going to be and it's..... TOMORROW!! haah it's all I can really think about now, my family can't understand why im so excited haha :D
Duskworld23 (mod)
Posted: 9/15/10 @ 8:24pm
Subject: Rebirth
DW here. You may notice the slight name change, figured it was symbolic. We're back for what looks like to be for good.
First of all, I'd like to say congratulations Chris! He sure has taken a huge interest in you lately (lucky), I'm not surprised it finally gave you an Ascension date, I'm happy for you man (can you tell I sound jealous?).
Anyway, about the move - I know its been a hectic past couple of days with the domain change and all, but I think that we've finally found our home (fingers crossed). This will no doubt attract more potential Children, all the more merrier I say.
The site's going to be under construction for a while due to me and Rem having to transfer all of the data over here - unfortunately not everything ended up saved and we lost of stuff so we're going to have to try and rebuild. We've done it before, we can do it again. If you guys know of any of "our guys", feel free to link them to this site, but try and keep it somewhat exclusive. Some of our old siblings (and you know who) were not meant to be part of our group.
And please guys, don't make Mr. D upset.
- DW
DROWNED (admin)
Posted: 9/15/10 @ 11:04pm
Subject:
You shouldn't be reading this.
Nekko (mod)
Posted: 9/16/10 @ 2:11pm
Subject: :)
I finished updating the testimonials page and I'm going to be handing my modship over. bahhh enough with the updates, i just wanted to say thanks for everything you guys have done for me, i feel like before i found this i was so lost and without a purpose, just wandering aimlessly. being with you guys over the past year has made my so happy and ive mad a lot of friends here and gotten to know some really nice guys. i never really believed in destiny before, but now im realizing that... yea this is what i was made to do. im counting down the minutes until hahah, i still feel like im gonna pinch myself and wake up at any moment. i already have everything i need to go there, its like all my life ive been waiting for this moment, when i can finally achieve what i was meant to do!!
keep this site running strong for me while i'm gone, i'll be back to come get you guys soon :)
Duskworld23 (mod)
Posted: 9/16/10 @ 4:23pm
Subject: Ascension
DW here. I just wanted to say that Chris (Nekko) had his successful Ascension earlier today and there were no complications. Even though I'm sooo envious of him *cough cough* :-P, it really warmed my heart when I heard the news and I'm sure it will for you guys too. Actually - I don't exactly have our logs out here in front of me - but I think Chris was the youngest person we've ever had do a successful Ascension (which makes sense, Chris always was mature for his age). We're all really happy for you Chris and hopefully we'll be seeing you soon (now if only He would start talking to me... :P ).
- DW
PS has anyone felt an increase in spiritual presence lately? It's making my neck hairs stand up on end.
Ifrit (mod)
Posted: 9/17/10 @ 10:26am
Subject: Updates
Finished adding the Contact, About, and Theories sections. Contact page has been acting weird. Hm. Fixed up the Creed, Dusk you had a few typos there. Watch that. And this layout, especially for the news posts is pretty disgusting. You guys'll have to bare with us until we get everything set up before we change it.
Anyway, TGIF, anyone want to have a vigil Sunday night? Drop me an email. And congratulations to Chris, we all knew he had it in him! That's the first successful one we've had in a while!
The guestbook section, titled "Comments", contained the following messages:
Posted by David on Sep 17th, 2010
Alright, the site's back up. Finally, I was getting so sick of IRC...
Posted by Dark_Rider404 on Sep 17th, 2010
gotta say I like the new site, the layout needs work, but it'll do
the important thing is that most of us survived the blackout
anyone know what happened to Alex? I havent heard from him
Posted by David on Sep 17th, 2010
NO idea. Haven't heard ANYTHING on his end.
Posted by sidicus9 on Sep 17th, 2010
Bout time we can post. Have Luna or Mr D been speaking to anyone lately?
Posted by Paradoxicle on Sep 17th, 2010
Hm. At least the guest book is up. Had another miserable day at school today. I'm done puting up with it. I literally have no more excuses. I'm going to get fucking shitfaced tonight and then on Monday I'm going to come back to my school with my dad's 9mm and just squeeze and squeeze and squeeze the trigger until I fucking die.
Posted by Dark_Rider404 on Sep 17th, 2010
@Paradoxicle
sound rough, just remember that human emotions are only in this life. i've had half a mind to do the same myself - just kill them all in Her name. seriously, its the same shit. boring 9 to 4, wife always is on my case and i'm almost positive shes fucking someone else. you know, if you're serious I'll come drive down to you this weekkend, if we team up we can probably kill a lot more and i've got another nine you can have. lets do your school, whats it matter, we're all innocent in this fucked up world. we're the liberators, these kids are too stupid to know that we're doing them a favor. once we've all transcended this doomed reality, we'll all be with Her anyway, follower or not.
Posted by 13fliptime on Sep 17th, 2010
rofl, looks like we're going to lose 2 more soldiers earlier before the end. you get my seal of approval, the less this world slips comfortably in complacency the better imo.
you guys haven't been talking to Luna have you?
Posted by David on Sep 17th, 2010
Careful guys. We're on a new domain on a .net now, take it to PM.
Posted by Paradoxicle on Sep 17th, 2010
David: No PM's yet
13fliptime: No, this is of my own free will, I'm just tired of this shit and want to make a difference in the world.
Dark: Give me your number on IRC, we'll take it there
Posted by CB on Sep 17th, 2010
on a lighter note, i almost lost my mask, i was freaking out rofl. seriously, sometimes i just get so used to it on my face that i forget to pick it up if i put it down.
Posted by BoogeymanHere on Sep 17th, 2010
I don't know, I think the fact that we've only been operational for a day and already DR and Paradoxicle are going to shoot up some place is pretty funny. If you guys go through with it, see you on the other side, I think my Ascension's coming up soon - I've been feeling a surge of something spiritual over the past two days.
Posted by Duskworld23 on Sep 17th, 2010
I think I'm hearing Luna, I'm not sure thought, my mind could just be playing tricks on me. But I could've sworn I heard her just now. Not sure what she said though.
And remember - we're continuing with the whiteout - that means no using these names or posting outside of here. No facebooks/youtubes/twitters/whatnot. Mr D has been EXTREMELY strict on this rule.
...Could've sworn I just heard her again. Maybe. Idont know.
Posted by Sable on Sep 17th, 2010
Ifrit you might want to take a look at the contact page, somethings not right with it
The next day, Ifrit made a new post:
Ifrit (mod)
Posted: 9/18/10 @ 4:32pm
Subject: Updates #2
Add info to the Contacts page, noticed that we have a huge influx of trolls, no doubt because of the fact that we're a bit more "maintstream" now. We've been going down every so often because of bandwidth overload, and we've gotten an insane amout of "requests" to join us, most of them are trolls. I'm having some of the other moderators go through them carefully and we'll contact those who seem legitiment in the coming days, but we don't want to make a jump to do anything rash.
One hour before the countdown to the Fourth Day was set to end, DROWNED's post disappeared from the page and the music changed to a sped-up and reversed Happy Mask Salesman theme, titled "Matt's Final Hour.mp3". Shortly after the countdown finished, the site went dark.
Second Cycle
The Second Cycle featured a News Posts section with posts that differed from the First Cycle's. Due to the cycle's premature reset, only the first day's posts are present. The guestbook is not present. The music changed from "Lost in My Thoughts" to a new track, titled "Destroyed Vioiln Beat Dark Rap Instrumental" [sic].
Insidiae (mod)
Posted: 9/19/10 @ 11:35am
Subject: New site
Hey everyone, welcome to the new site. While we can finally get away from that IRC chat, there's going to be a lot of heavy construction going on here. I'll try and keep you guys updated but I'm literally dealing with a dozen things right now. If you guys can get ahold of anyone make sure to refer them to the website. Also, we need one more moderator so if anyone wants to step up feel free to send me a message.
Best wishes.
Nekko (mod)
Posted: 9/19/10 @ 12:34pm
Subject: we're back
Hey guys its Chris! So glad to finally back with my (true) family! I hope you're as eager as I am to finally have a new place to call our own. anyway, we lost a lot of content that we had stored. The good news is that I've got saved some of our testimonials, so that page should be up by tomorrow., but a lot of this will be under construction (bleh). we've got a few new toys, this new host gives us a lot more room to play around, however with the new domain I wouldn't be surprised if we get more than our "usual" amount of visitors, some may have potential, others may "think" they are good enough to join us. we're not ready to open up yet - we want to at least have a few pages working before we welcome you guys back in, so by the time you read this this will be a few days ago. how's the future? Do we have flying cars yet (heh)? Also, If anyone asks the background music is entitled "Lost in My Thoughts", i really like it.
Unfortunately I'm not going to be a mod for much longer - my Ascencion date is coming up really soon :) :) He finally told me when it was going to be and it's..... TOMORROW!! haah it's all I can really think about now, my family can't understand why im so excited haha :D
Duskworld23 (mod)
Posted: 9/19/10 @ 1:00pm
Subject: Rebirth
DW here. You may notice the slight name change, figured it was symbolic. We're back for what looks like to be for good.
First of all, I'd like to say congratulations Chris! He sure has taken a huge interest in you lately (lucky), I'm not surprised it finally gave you an Ascension date, I'm happy for you man (can you tell I sound jealous?).
Anyway, about the move - I know its been a hectic past couple of days with the domain change and all, but I think that we've finally found our home (fingers crossed). This will no doubt attract more potential Children, all the more merrier I say.
The site's going to be under construction for a while due to me and Rem having to transfer all of the data over here - unfortunately not everything ended up saved and we lost of stuff so we're going to have to try and rebuild. We've done it before, we can do it again. If you guys know of any of "our guys", feel free to link them to this site, but try and keep it somewhat exclusive. Some of our old siblings (and you know who) were not meant to be part of our group.
And please guys, don't make Mr. D upset.
- DW
Later that day, however, users discovered the ability to play songs in response to videos to trigger events, as in fj6rt. One of the responses, the Song of Healing, caused the appearance of a new message in the News Posts section (among other things):
WHO DO YOU THINK I AM
Posted: 9/19/10 @ 6:66pm
Subject: MISTAKE
I AM KNOCKING AT YOUR DOOR NEXT. LET ME IN. I WANT TO SPEAK.
As a result of the Song of Time played soon afterward, the site went offline again.
Contact Us
- Page title: Joining Us
- Page description: N/A
- Header text: "Join us on an incredible journey"
- Banner: moon banner 192.jpg
The Contact Us page contained a short passage addressing the desire to find fulfillment with the cult, followed by a form allowing one to submit their contact information.
- Contacting us:
- So you've taken the first step into the inward journey of discovering yourself and decided to contact us. Or perhaps you are on the fence about becoming something greater than you can possibly imagine, and if so, let us present the reasoning that has drawn so many of us to conversion to Luna: Do you ever feel like life is just a dream? That you're sleeping this whole time, waiting for something great to happen? Do you ever feel like you cannot relate to these human beings - that in this day and age of lewdness and vanity it is simply disgusting to try and lower yourself to "fit in"? You do try to fit in, but it never really feels genuine, does it? Believe it or not, you have a purpose in life, and that purpose is not to sit idlely by while your talents and abilities are wasting away. Just by discovering us, Luna has guided you with Her gentle hand and touched you. You are about to become apart of something grander than you could imagine.
We are so glad that you are going to listen to your spiritual energy crying out for release and satisfy it. You are about to embark on a wonderful quest of self-discovery and growth, and you will come to realize all of the glorious gifts that She can provide us. If you have additional questions do not hesitate to submit them and we will share with you the knowledge that the Goddess has bestowed upon us.
- So you've taken the first step into the inward journey of discovering yourself and decided to contact us. Or perhaps you are on the fence about becoming something greater than you can possibly imagine, and if so, let us present the reasoning that has drawn so many of us to conversion to Luna: Do you ever feel like life is just a dream? That you're sleeping this whole time, waiting for something great to happen? Do you ever feel like you cannot relate to these human beings - that in this day and age of lewdness and vanity it is simply disgusting to try and lower yourself to "fit in"? You do try to fit in, but it never really feels genuine, does it? Believe it or not, you have a purpose in life, and that purpose is not to sit idlely by while your talents and abilities are wasting away. Just by discovering us, Luna has guided you with Her gentle hand and touched you. You are about to become apart of something grander than you could imagine.
The contact form asked for the following:
- Name
- Phone
- Ask your questions here
Soon after the site's discovery, hidden contact pages for certain characters were found by adding names to the end of this page's URL.
ben
- Page title: How did you get here?
- Page description: You shouldn't be here.
- Audio: Creeeep Sales.mp3
Ben's contact page was the first to be found, discovered on September 17. It simply contained the text, "You have to warn them", followed by a countdown to an event called The Fourth Day. Hovering over it displayed the text, "19 Sept 2010 is the Fourth Day". Upon its discovery, it was set to end the next night.
This page disappeared after the First Cycle, but its contents were later discovered at another URL. The countdown, having ended, now displayed time counting forward from its ending point. The page's title now read, "What are you doing?"
drowned
- Page title: EQ WQWK... LZWQ LGGC... EQ WQWK...
- Page description: EQ WQWK... LZWQ LGGC... EQ WQWK...
- Audio: Majoras Mask Music Ikana Valley Reversed 0.0.mp3
DROWNED's contact page was the second to be found, discovered shortly after Ben's. It contained the image of a large, disfigured man, titled Kelbris.jpg. Below it was the text, "Dead End. Go back." The title and description of the page contain a Caesar cipher, which translates to, "MY EYES... THEY TOOK... MY EYES" with a shift of 8.
After September 20, this page's URL would redirect to the Chapters page.
ifrit
- Page title: fj6rt (First Cycle) / The Moon Children :: ifrit (Second Cycle)
- Page description: N/A
- Audio: N/A (First Cycle) / Get it yet..mp3 (Second Cycle)
Ifrit's contact page was the third to be found, discovered two hours before the end of the countdown on September 18. It contained the visible text, "Should you know what question to ask, the gate to truth will be opened:". By highlighting the text, a hidden second part was found, reading, "ifritmoon@gmail.com".
For a brief time before the site went down after the Song of Time, the page's title changed to this URL.
During the Second Cycle, this page's contents were replaced by three images of the Elegy of Emptiness statue and the text, "Expecting to find someone else?" The Skull Kid's laugh, titled Get it yet..mp3, played upon opening the page.
alex
Alex's contact page was the fourth and final to be found, discovered on September 19 after his name was found on the YouTube channel responsible for uploading the Song of Time. It simply contained text reading:
- "another who knows of them, chooses.... mask.... sends aid.... fallen.... vehement.....diety.... he is alone against them".
The portion beginning with "diety" [sic] was hidden and required the user to highlight the text.
This page remained in its initial state until February 11, 2011, when it was found completely empty.
Search
- Page title: The Moon Children :: Search
- Page description: N/A
- Header text: "Together, we can reach eternity"
- Banner: moon banner2 192.jpg
The Search page contained a simple search bar. However, the banner's alternate text contained the phrase, "Do you honestly think you can escape me?" Clicking the banner would lead to the Press Room page.
Press Room
- Page title: The Moon Children :: Press Room
- Page description: N/A
- Header text: N/A
- Banner: inneroptics_dot_net_canyonlands.jpg
The Press Room page contained a generic "under construction" message and a link to another page. The contents read:
- Area Under Construction - Please check back later
- Launch!
Neeto speedo! We can easily change EVERYTHING!
- Launch!
However, hidden between the first two lines in black text, is a phrase reading:
- "Like little lambs. The man is smiling."
Blastoff!
- Page title: Blastoff!
- Page description: Neeto speedo! We can easily change EVERYTHING.
- Header text: N/A
- Banner: inneroptics_dot_net_portland.jpg
The Blastoff! page contained the lorem ipsum text, a standard default passage used to test the appearance of text on a page. In full, it reads:
- Vestibulum a tristique tellus. Morbi nunc orci, ornare sit amet accumsan nec, sagittis eu nisi. Sed elementum fringilla ipsum a interdum. Nulla egestas turpis at dui interdum faucibus. Proin consectetur nibh eros, eget sodales felis. Nam volutpat bibendum augue ut lacinia. Nam volutpat fringilla odio, vitae feugiat dui sagittis sed. Aenean interdum accumsan luctus. Suspendisse congue sagittis tortor ut porta. Etiam justo augue, auctor posuere iaculis ac, aliquet vitae purus. In malesuada, ipsum non vulputate semper, felis purus condimentum augue, a mollis metus nisi a diam. Nulla eu scelerisque lacus. Morbi congue massa vitae nulla auctor suscipit. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Vivamus ut mauris quis nunc rhoncus lobortis. Aliquam sit amet dui et felis sodales volutpat nec eget nisl.
Nulla elit dui, pharetra eget elementum eu, varius sed nisi. Morbi semper interdum nisl, eget rutrum ante venenatis nec. Vivamus dignissim, justo quis semper ultricies, quam elit elementum eros, rutrum volutpat urna nulla quis dui. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Sed et orci ligula. In est dui, porta at posuere a, ullamcorper ut nisi. Maecenas nibh eros, suscipit et pulvinar non, tempus varius dui. Quisque nec tortor sed erat rhoncus laoreet. Sed pulvinar est eu quam adipiscing tincidunt. Donec auctor arcu et ante venenatis sagittis."
Below it was a section labeled "About Us", reading:
- "For the fold, number 3, for the fold, number 3, for the fold, number 3".
The Truth
- Page title: The Moon Children :: The Truth
- Page description: It's what THEY don't want you know
- Header text: N/A
- Banner: N/A
The contents of The Truth during the First Cycle are unknown. The page was password protected and the password was not received in time to access it. During the Second Cycle, the page was unprotected for a short time before the cycle was reset. Had the cycle run its course, the page would likely have been protected again, allowing access to the hidden material.
Upon entry during the Second Cycle, the page contained only the following text:
- Still in the progress of moving everything over, sorry for the delay. But it is imperative we find him and silence him before he can reveal our intentions.
Also, I can't figure out how to make this private, we've got about two days or so before we open up this website to the world so I figure it'll be okay for now, not like anyone can stumble upon this, but can someone help out with that?
- DW
Creed
- Page title: The Moon Children :: Creed
- Page description: N/A
- Header text: "Men must become angels"
- Banner: moon banner3 192.jpg
The Creed page contained two short passages, labeled "The Creed" and "The Initiation Creed".
- The Creed
- [Participants must be wearing their Mask]
O father, I pledge to youa
O mother, I give myself a hundred times
May the Moon illuminate our path
We bare our souls to you
To that which will Bring the end
Empower us with your infinite grace
May we recieve the greatest glory of all
May we ascend to the heavens themselves
We are the Moon's Children
We are mortal angels
- [Participants must be wearing their Mask]
- The Initiation Creed
- By my blood, as I draw it here
I dedicate myself to service
I severe all ties of my old life
Those who birthed me are meaningless
Those who raised me are hopeless
Those who loved me are worthless
I now wear this mask to symbolize my transformation
As a child learns to walk so too will I learn to fly
[Pause as for the mask ceremony]
With these words I pledge myself to my new family
That even though this mask may leave my face
The scars that symbolize my devotion will never fade
Now I am truly born
- By my blood, as I draw it here
About
- Page title: The Moon Children :: About
- Page description: N/A
- Header text: Unknown
- Banner: moon banner5 192.jpg
The About page contained short blurbs about the four active moderators. Of the four, the information in Nekko's section has been lost. At the bottom is a special thanks message. This content only existed during the First Cycle, as the page had been password protected during the Second Cycle. It's likely that, like The Truth, it would have changed in the coming days.
(INSERT BIOS HERE)
Theories
- Page title: Theories
- Page description: Theories on The End
- Header text: "We will see the end together"
- Banner: moon banner6 192.jpg
The Theories page contained various theories regarding the end of the world and how it will happen. The first three, labeled "Mayan Calendar Prophecy", "Hindu Prophecy", and "NASA Predictions", are based on well-known concepts one would expect to encounter elsewhere. The final one, labeled "Luna Prophecy" in a different font, originates from within the cult.
- Mayan Calendar Prophecy
- This is the most popular of the 2012 apocalypse stories, and the one most often referenced in the media and popular culture. The Mayan calendar is quite complex, and is broken up into units called “Kin”, “Tun”, and “Baktun”. The much hyped “13-baktun cycle” is scheduled to be completed 1,872,000 days (or 13 baktuns) after the beginning of their calendar. This period of time is the well knwon Mayan “Great Cycle” of their Long Count calendar and is equal to 5125.36 of our standard years. This is where the date of December 12, 2012 comes from, as the Mayan calendar purportedly began August 11th, 3114 BCE — do the math, and you’ll come to the same conclusion as other Mayan scholars. The “end” of the Mayan calendar is 12/12/2012. Hence the 2012 apocalypse scare.
One reason people put so much stock in the Mayan Long Count calendar is that the Mayans were extremely sophisticated mathematicians and stargazers. It is well known that Mayans understood mathematical concepts hundreds of even thousands of years before the rest of the world. The Mayans worked out the seemingly simple concept of zero by around 36 BCE. Inscriptions discovered by archaeologists show the Mayans working with complex sums up to the hundreds of millions. The Mayans also produced extremely accurate astronomical maps and notes — their charts of the movements of the moon and planets are far superior to the maps and charts of any other civilization that was working strictly from observations by the naked eye.
Because the Mayans are known to have worked out a complex and accurate calendar well before “Western civilization”, people put great faith in their 2012 apocalypse theory.
- This is the most popular of the 2012 apocalypse stories, and the one most often referenced in the media and popular culture. The Mayan calendar is quite complex, and is broken up into units called “Kin”, “Tun”, and “Baktun”. The much hyped “13-baktun cycle” is scheduled to be completed 1,872,000 days (or 13 baktuns) after the beginning of their calendar. This period of time is the well knwon Mayan “Great Cycle” of their Long Count calendar and is equal to 5125.36 of our standard years. This is where the date of December 12, 2012 comes from, as the Mayan calendar purportedly began August 11th, 3114 BCE — do the math, and you’ll come to the same conclusion as other Mayan scholars. The “end” of the Mayan calendar is 12/12/2012. Hence the 2012 apocalypse scare.
- Hindu Prophecy
- According to Hindu scripture, the “Golden Age of Krishna” is likely to start in 2012. In the “Brahma-Vaivarta Purana”, Lord Krishna tells a devotee named Ganga Devi that a Golden Age will come in the Kali Yuga – one of the four stages of development that the world goes through as part of the earth’s time cycle — a cycle described in Hindu scriptures. Lord Krishna predicted that this Golden Age will start 5,000 years after the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and will last for 10,000 years.
That may sound like sometime in the distant future, but according to some Hindu researches, the Kali Yuga began on February 18, 3102 BCE. That means there is only a difference of 12 years between the Hindu’s beginning of the Kali Yuga and the Mayan’s beginning of their “Fifth Great Cycle”. Its important to know that the ancient Hindus mainly used a lunar calendar but also used solar calendars — this throws off those of us in the West, as the ancient Hindu time system is vastly different from our own. By either solar or lunar years, we are over 5,000 years into the Kali Yuga and it is time for Lord Krishna’s prophecy to happen according to the ancient Hindu scriptures. This may not be a direct reference to 2012, but is so closely aligned to the Mayan and other prophecies, that people lump it in with other “2012 apocalypse” theories.
- According to Hindu scripture, the “Golden Age of Krishna” is likely to start in 2012. In the “Brahma-Vaivarta Purana”, Lord Krishna tells a devotee named Ganga Devi that a Golden Age will come in the Kali Yuga – one of the four stages of development that the world goes through as part of the earth’s time cycle — a cycle described in Hindu scriptures. Lord Krishna predicted that this Golden Age will start 5,000 years after the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and will last for 10,000 years.
- NASA predictions
- You may be surprised to learn that many 2012 apocalypse believers point to some NASA studies as evidence of the coming endtimes. NASA has released a study of the sun that includes predictions about solar flares, sunspots, and other solar interference that could have a catastrophic effect on life here on Earth. According to the report:
“Many forecasters believe Solar Cycle 24 will be big and intense. Peaking in 2011 or 2012, the cycle to come could have significant impacts on telecommunications, air traffic, power grids and GPS systems. In this age of satellites and cell phones, the next solar cycle could make itself felt as never before.”
Some see the fact that this new solar outburst will arrive in 2012 as more than a coincidence — maybe it is further evidence of a catastrophic event in 2012, something that ushers in the 2012 apocalypse.
- You may be surprised to learn that many 2012 apocalypse believers point to some NASA studies as evidence of the coming endtimes. NASA has released a study of the sun that includes predictions about solar flares, sunspots, and other solar interference that could have a catastrophic effect on life here on Earth. According to the report:
- Luna Prophecy
- Dating back to 1998, a Moonchild named Kelbris recieved several whispers from Luna herself. The Order was still young then and Kelbris was the first member to have been talked to by Her. Rather than Ascending him, however, these whispers informed him of how The End will come about. The whispers were brief and vague, detailed below:
"They (unintelligible) break free of the prison"
"Engulf the world"
"Man will be betrayed by its minions and I will be brought down from the sky, consuming everything"
It's worth noting that the number three is reported by Kelbris to have been said numerous times, sometimes in between words, sometimes even between letters so it's assumed that there is some kind of significance there. Kelbris was later found electrocuted - whether it was foul play or an Ascension was never determined. Although transcended, Kelbris' discovery has made him a legendary figure within the Moon Children and much of the Order today is based off of that prophecy.
- Dating back to 1998, a Moonchild named Kelbris recieved several whispers from Luna herself. The Order was still young then and Kelbris was the first member to have been talked to by Her. Rather than Ascending him, however, these whispers informed him of how The End will come about. The whispers were brief and vague, detailed below:
Haunted Majora's Mask pages
On September 20, the site was restructured. The site name was changed to "Haunted Majora's Mask" and most of the content containing information about the Moon Children was removed, replaced by text framing the events of the past five days as a game, which was now on hiatus.
Home
- Page title: Haunted Majora's Mask
- Banner: moon banner4 192.jpg
- Audio: Lost in My Thoughts / Destroyed Vioiln Beat Dark Rap Instrumental / Hard Epic Instrumental / Epic Orchestra Rap Instrumental
The Home page was given a new header labeled, "Latest News". Its contents changed several times over the next few months. The music playing in the background was reverted to its original state with "Lost in My Thoughts".
September 20, 2010
Shortly after the Song of Time reset the cycle for the final time, the following text appeared under "Latest News":
- Hey, Jadusable here,
Consider this the 'real' TheTruth.txt
A lot of you may hate me for this, but I've decided that I can no longer continue the Majora's Mask story the way I originally wanted to. Even as I'm typing this I can feel the disappointment and the "OH MY GOD YOU ASSHOLE" cries as you guys read this, and really, it kills me. A lot of people have initially surmised that this must be some kind of viral marketing effort from Nintendo, or some kind of marketing ploy, and while I can't tell you how flattering that is I can assure you that it is neither. I'm just a sophomore in college who came up with this elaborate idea and as it stands I simply don't have the manpower or the funds to continue this in the direction that I wanted it to go (now I realize why it took a team of talented individuals to do Marble Hornets as opposed to just a one-man-army).
Perhaps too ambitious, I purchased the cheapest webhosting service I could find given my budget (aka nonexistant), and with all of the people attempting to access the site (since the website opened two days ago, I've gotten over 300,000 visits and I've spent probably half that time in maintence) - it was almost consistently down. If you're going to involve a website this closely in your interactive story, then you can't have your website crashing or unavailable for the majority of your users; you would need a service that could handle that many viewers. Unfortunately this was something I simply could not afford being a broke college student. I paid for the site out of my own pocket (in retrospect probably not the most sound finanical decision), and with the insane amount of traffic I was getting the server host wasn't cutting it and I didn't want to "break character" by putting Google ads in to generate revenue. I didn't have the money to upgrade and I knew that I wouldn't be doing this story justice if I continued on as things were. Even if the money issue was solved, there's still the matter of the updates taking too long - I simply did not have the time to devote enough attention into the project for speedy updates. So I was presented with two options - either wrap up this game in a lackluster ending that would feel contrived, or stop here and resume it later.
A bit of backstory: Writing/story-telling has always been a hobby of mine - I actually have a TV show that I'm currently finding an agent for - and being a closet dork, videogames have always interested me as a kid with Majora's Mask ranking among my favorite. I've never attempted writing anything remotely scary before, but MM aways had that "creepy" vibe to it and so on a whim I decided to try my hand at it. Maybe it wasn't everyone's forte, maybe a little cliched to some, but the concept of a videogame - a device that only reacts to what the user tells it - suddenly going outside its coding was something I wanted to explore and something that could engage the reader and have it relatable on more than one level. I wanted to make the story creepy not because of severed heads or morbid descriptions, but on a more psychological level with a fair amount of mindfuckery, for both the poor bastard protagonist and the reader.
I view this whole story as two separate stories - the original "Haunted Zelda Cartridge" - which ended with TheTruth.rtf - that is my original work and story. The second story - involving the website - would pick up where "Haunted Zelda Cartridge" left off. However, it obviously isn't completed and may seem too "out of place" for people to really get the whole picture, thus subject to a lot of "jumping the shark" claims. I know that there were some of the original fans who weren't happy with the direction it went in after the website came out and that it seemed like two different concepts entirely - they were, but I feel had this thing run its course the way I intended those same people may see the "second part" of the story in a new light. This explaination will not do it justice, but perhaps clears things up as to what my overall goal was:
The story was just as much of an experiment to me as it was an adventure for you guys. Being new at this genre, I wanted to try and bring a new kind of feel to the standard "creepy" stories; one that had to do with shattering the fourth wall and that sense of security. When you read a scary story, there's no doubt that it can be creepy, but in the back of your mind you know you're safe behind your computer screen on the internet connected to millions of other people. You've used the internet for years and you know how it works inside and out - and as a result you have this built up sense of security because of how familiar it is. I attempted to shatter that "fourth wall" with BEN. I wanted to write a story that involved the reader so they would feel more connected to the story. The biggest example of this is the big reveal at the end of TheTruth.rtf where the reader suddenly realizes that BEN has not only tricked the protagonist, but the reader as well, making them personally feel betrayed and uneasy at the same time. Obviously Cleverbot isn't haunted, but the way it works is that if a bunch of people start chatting with it saying specific words, the program will notice a pattern and start to associate them together, making it a perfect choice for leaving that lingering doubt of "what if?", especially now that BEN has leaked out into the internet and could theoretically control exactly what you're reading now. Maybe he just wants you to think this was all fake so you stop worrying about it and continue on with your normal lives. Probably not.
As I played with the concept of having the reader become more and more involved, the story sort of evolved into an Alternate Reality Game. I had always admired the unique sense of impending disaster and the three day concept in the videogame, and I wanted to take Majora's Mask and incorporate it into reality without copy/pasting it, which would make it lose all sense of believability. Instead, I opted for a more "modern" take, on how Majora's Mask would be if it happened in real life - there would be no goofy giant moon with a nasty face on it, there would be no floating mask that can possess said moon, etc. Instead there was a cult worshipping a moon that is destined to fall, a hero from another world, an evil entity that has crossed over into another dimension (Majora into Termina, similiar to BEN's entrance into the real world), a three day time cycle, as well as other parallels that would have become available further in the story. I wanted to capture and recreate the same feelings that we all got when we were playing Majora's Mask for the first time as kids. That feeling when you first went back in time, realizing that everyone else was oblivious, that was something that I wanted to try and bring to life. After that, with new knowledge of the events that will unfold, you then set out to change what was about to transpire.
I eventually introduced a "Link" to the viewers, with a second Youtube account, and my idea was to have him decide what kind of actions he'd take based on reponse videos. These response videos would require the user to boot up their own copy of Zelda and preform an action, not only making them feel more apart of the story, but directly in control of it. The viewers now served as Link's guide - or Navi as it was in the game. The main example of this is how Link is killed because of a bad video response on Youtube to a video put up by Jadusable (an incorrect song played). Link then posts a video on his account of the game over screen and nothing more. Yet not even 30 minutes later another user records a video - without any hints from me whatsoever - of him playing HIS Zelda game and releasing a fairy (which revives the player if killed) - which prompted me to revive Link and continue as him. This was only the beginning of what I originally had in mind - Link was the only person who could save our reality despite him being in a completely different dimension, but the players could dictate his actions. So in a sense, they were the guide, yet they were also the actual "player" controlling Link. I'm not going to reveal entirely what would have happened to the main characters or the plot, because I do intend to pick it up again some day and continue this.
I'm still experimenting, but I feel like the genre of "ARGs" is something that should be explored more often; the level of interactivity between the viewers and the creators gives the story a much more "personal" feel. I really hope that we see a rise of them in the coming years - if one single busy college student like me got this far - with an actual team the sky's the limit. The one major issue that I've noticed though, is fraud - no matter how many times I'd subtly try and remind my viewers "in character" that the only people they should be taking information as canon are accounts/websites linked to the original Jadusable Youtube account, every time some new guy claiming to either be a player in the story or be in contact with someone who is came to light, immediately people would swarm them and they'd end up throwing everyone else off because of bad information. I suppose I can't blame them, some of them were pretty damn convincing with their explainations of how they got into the story.
I expect that some of you are pissed now, and I can completely understand why - I can't tell you how much it kills me to have to cut it short like this because I know I'm letting you guys down, but hopefully you can see it from my perspective. I would like to thank my fans - it's because of your support that has motivated me to get this far. If I had it my way, it wouldn't end like this, believe me. But I'm still amazed at how big this has all gotten - its really surreal browsing the internet and seeing an article about something you've written up on Digg, Kotaku, and what-have-you, or overhearing a conversation in class and doing a double-take when you realize what they're talking about.
I would also like to extend an apology to a certain message board who has literally been taken over by people analyzing, exchanging theories, and discussing all aspects of what all this could mean or what the next move is. Haha, I'm sure there are quite a few people who can't wait until this is all over so things can go back to their regularly scheduled programming. Not too much longer.
I am going to leave the website up, but modify it so that it now serves as an archive of the story, and include a timeline of events (I know a few members have been keeping a record, if you could forward that to me at the address below when it's done that'd be much appreciated). Unfortunately being as broke as I am, I don't have the funds to maintain the website for very long, and donations would be appreciated just for the sake of keeping the website up as an archive for future viewers, otherwise the website will probably have to be taken down by the end of the month. If you are legitmently interested in making a donation to help host, there is a donate link at the top of this page. Don't feel obligated at all - knowing that I've kept you guys entertained all this time and provided something fun is reward enough, as lame as that sounds.
As I said before, this has been an experiment, and I've learned a lot of lessons from this for the future, and this is something that I would very much love to do again if given the resources. But, just know that this isn't the end.
If you need to get in contact with me or write me a nasty letter, my email is jadusable@youshouldnthavedonethat.net
Thanks again guys, it's been a wild ride. Loved every single second of it.
Jadusable
inb4 obligatory "FAKE AND GAY" response
The guestbook was brought back and renamed from "Comments" to "Thoughts/Comments/Hate".
September 21, 2010
Three changes took place on September 21, each happening in separate instances:
- The header text reading "Latest News" was replaced by text reading:
- I have a ridiculous amount of mail right now, but rest assured I will get to each and every one of your letters. Thank you for your interest in this story and thank you for supporting it.
Just so everyone is clear - the story is not over yet, but it is paused for now. Check the menu bar for new links being put up of the Archive/Stories/Q&A, these are all coming tomorrow.
- I have a ridiculous amount of mail right now, but rest assured I will get to each and every one of your letters. Thank you for your interest in this story and thank you for supporting it.
- The "Latest News" header was re-inserted, with the previous text moved below it. Above the text, the following was added in normal-sized font:
- September 21, 2010 - Because of the sheer volume of requests, I am currently working on making a few t-shirt designs for you guys should you feel the need to have them. Stay tuned for updates on that end. Also, I am updating the site to include the full history of the story so far, I'll let you know when the "Chapters" section is completed. Also, I am needing new banners to post up here, whether it be a custom image or a collage or what have you. I have seen a LOT of amazing artwork from you guys, so if you are artistically talented feel free to submit a 800x192 JPG or PNG to my email. Title your email something along the lines of "Banner image submission", I'll be sure to credit you accordingly if I use it. Thanks again guys!
- Another update was added to the above, reading:
- (site is still being worked on, if you are new to the story head on over to the "Chapters" tab)
September 21, 2010 - Due to the donations of several extremely generous people, the website is no longer in danger of going offline. Not only that, but it looks like I'll be able to continue working on the story in the near future. I can't tell you guys how excited this makes me, expect to hear some new developments soon. Thank you again for being so supportive, I couldn't have done this without you all. I'm not going to discourage continued donations, but just know that your donations are not going to keeping the site up, but rather, your donations will be going towards hiring assistance and purchasing a bigger website and other goodies I've got in store for you guys.
- (site is still being worked on, if you are new to the story head on over to the "Chapters" tab)
It is likely, however unconfirmed, that these messages were removed from the Latest News section the next day.
October 5, 2010
The music changed from "Lost in My Thoughts" to "Destroyed Vioiln Beat Dark Rap Instrumental". The phrase "Probably not." was italicized and struck through.
October 6, 2010
An event called The Glitch occurred on October 6, lasting for around an hour and a half. Soon afterward, the site was restored to how it appeared initially on September 20, with the "Probably not." text untouched and "Lost in My Thoughts" playing.
Soon afterward, the page underwent three changes in rapid succession:
- The music changed to "Destroyed Vioiln Beat Dark Rap Instrumental" once again, with the "Probably not." text italicized, struck through, and for the first time underlined.
- A few minutes later, the music disappeared and all text except for the guestbook was removed. The banner was replaced by three images of the Elegy of Emptiness statue.
- Moments later, the site was restored to how it appeared just beforehand.
- Afterward, during the search for the password to the 59th file discovered during the Glitch, text reading, "Its been in front of you the whole time. Think." was added to the top of the page. It is unknown whether this change was reverted the same day.
October 10, 2010
The music changed to "Hard Epic Instrumental", the guestbook was retitled to "Feedback/Thoughts", and all text under "Latest News" was changed to the following:
- The second phase of the story has concluded. Kayd Hendricks' role in the story has finished. You are now equipped with all of the information you need to tackle the final phase of this story. Over the past several weeks I have been forming a team to finish the final installment of this story for your enjoyment - think of the events that have occurred in the past several days as a prelude to what comes next. The link has been shattered and BEN is now turning his attention to you. There are several key events that have happened recently that have armed you (whether you realize it or not) with information to not only combat BEN but to finally vanquish him.
And now for just what exactly is next - I'm proud to announce that we will be releasing an interactive videogame for download in tandem with the final phase of the story. It is not a videogame in the traditional sense - it's another perspective into the story and more importantly another resource that you will need to utilize. You have watched Ifrit and Ryukaki go through being tormented by BEN, and now you will experience it first-hand.
You will have to use the three main resources - Jadusable's Youtube Channel, this website, and the game itself to solve the final installment in this story. A clue on the website may lead you to do something that would allow you to progress further within the game and vice versa. The game will be updated in real-time (an Internet connection will be required to play) as the story unfolds and players progress further in this twisted world, the environment changing right before your eyes as you start to go through the same motions as your predecessors. Remember, BEN is completely in control of the Internet now - but does his presence extend beyond that as others have claimed?
While you may be the only one physically in the game, you are not alone in this impossible endeavour - over the past month you have been conversing with each other and deciphering clues, allying yourselves with complete strangers to overcome insurmountable odds. Those relationships you have formed will be strained and your ability to work together as a team will be tested. You will have to stand as a community if you want to have any hope of success. Those who have a keen eye for detail and deduction skills will be your greatest assets. This is an interactive mystery on the grandest of scales, and only by uniting the entire Internet as one driving force do you have any chance of snuffing BEN out of existence.
This will revolutionize what it means to be an ARG and provide you guys with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of something that will go down as the first project of its kind. We are over here working hard on this and you can expect this to release around holiday season. Be sure to check back here for various updates concerning the game itself and for a more definitive release date as Halloween draws closer.
Until then, I feel it necessary to say that you should only take what is posted by me on this website and on my Youtube channel as canon. I have had a few individuals involved in the story as minor characters (there have been two), and their roles are no longer in play (I don't foresee them trying to involve themselves further without my consent, I believe they are good people, but just in case I'd like to cover all my bases).
I'm sure you have a lot of questions and I will put up a Q&A about the project itself, but keep in mind that I can't divulge much at this point, if you would like to submit your question for the Q&A, send a message to the corresponding email below.
Good luck.
For questions concerning the game - whatisben@youshouldnthavedonethat.net
For fanmail - fanmail@youshouldnthavedonethat.net
For other inquiries - continue to use jadusable@youshouldnthavedonethat.net
Hidden in black text under the email addresses was the following text:
- You might want to compare notes with each other, you seem to have missed a very important detail. It would be in your best interest to get that sorted out before the game releases. Good luck.
November 8, 2010
The site underwent two changes in succession. The first simply consisted of the removal of music and all text prior to the email addresses being replaced with "Updating...". Soon afterward, the guestbook was renamed "Comments", a new track called "Epic Orchestra Rap Instrumental" was added, and all text above the email addresses was replaced by the following:
- Hey guys, first of all I know that it's been a long while since I've updated and I apologize, but we've been pretty busy over here trying to make things work. I originally meant to have this Q&A come out around Halloween but we've been working out various issues on how this final installment will operate and function (seeing as though this is the final part of the story that will tie everything together, I'm wanting to make sure its done right instead of trying to churn out a half-assed verison). Rest assured that I've still been lurking around reading your guys' comments and thoughts and I've been keeping up-to-date with the community.
I know some of you are probably frustrated with the lack of updates in a timely manner, but bare in mind that this final phase is more expansive than the first and second combined. Hours and hours of planning and work have gone into this and there's still much left to be done. I appreciate your guys' patience and I'm extremely excited about the experience that you guys will have once this is released.
As promised, here is the Q&A that will hopefully give you guys a little more insight into the project:
Q: Can you please verify (or warn me if not) that the game isn't going to have virus-like effects on the computer as a whole?
No, there won't be any viruses attached to the game - I can assure you that you won't get anything malicious from downloading this.
Q: Do you, or will you, have some kind of way to "subscribe" to the game? What I mean is, for those of us not visiting the site every single day, will there be some way to recieve emails notifying us that you are starting the final phase (or the next phase) of the game?
I've thought about that, and decied that when there is a big announcement (such as announcing the release date), the easiest way to inform the most amount of people would be through the Youtube account. The best way to stay up to date would be to subscribe to Jadusable's channel, and I will announce the release date in advance so it doesn't just get sprung on you guys.
Q: When can we expect the game to be released?
I don't want to come right out there and say exactly when because it could be delayed, but like I said earlier, I will announce the release date in advance to give you guys ample time to get prepared.
Q: Will the game cost anything to download?
That was one of the factors that has hindered the development time, because I am paying my staff myself I've been constrained a little bit in terms of what I want to do/what I can afford. I definitely want to address this as soon as possible, though. At this point, I can honestly say that I am not sure if this will "cost" anything, it really depends on several financial/work factors. I may be able to work it out (ideally) that it would be just a free download, and I will let you guys know in advance what the final decision is.
It's really disheartening to entertain the possibility that the game itself may actually have a pricetag, because I know there will be fans of mine who immediately assume I've "sold out" or I'm trying to get rich or something, and I realize that its a perfectly understandable knee-jerk reaction, but I hope that I can try and clear a few things up:
1. If (and that's a huge if) this game ends up costing anything to download, based on development costs thus far, it would be around the $1.99 price range.
2. I am extremely passionate about this story and making sure the finale is done right is my biggest priority. Those of you who know people in the videogame business might have a better understanding that creating a game - even a relatively small project like this isn't exactly cheap. Essentially I'm paying my staff out of my own pocket and the price tag would be to pay for them and try and break even with this project. I want to get this experience out there as best as I can make it for you guys.
3. I have been and always will be extremely thankful of your guys' support, without you guys this whole thing would not have been as successful as it has been. As much as I am passionate about the story, I am just as if not more so passionate about understanding the concerns of my fans. This is why I would never, ever make the game the only way to participate in phase 3. Even if you do not buy the game (and the buy is still completely hypothetical), you will still be able to work together with the people that do.
If you choose not to purchase the game if it ends up having a price tag, I understand, but we have put a lot of work into it and I'm extremely proud of how it's shaping up. If you really want to get immersed into the final phase - take the fourth wall breaking aspect from the first phase and ramp it up times twenty - then the game will be a powerful experience for you. Like I said, I may be able to work it out where we can release it for free, but I wanted to just give you all a heads-up so it doesn't seem like I'm trying to pull a fast one over you guys if we do have to charge a small fee for it.
Q: What program you are going to be using to develop the game?
The game will be developed using Unity (http://unity3d.com/).
Q: Is this a well known company or just a small one that produces flash games that is helping you make this? I guess where I'm going with that question would be is it going to be an all out video game or just a web-based game?
Well, actually there's no company behind this. I've hired a small staff to help me craft the game. This won't be an all-out videogame, in fact, it's difficult to adequately describe it - you'll have to see it for yourself. It's not a flash game and it isn't browser based - it will be a downloadable game.
Q: Will this game run for Windows or for Mac?
Windows confirmed, but most likely Mac as well. I'll keep you guys updated.
Q: What will the game be rated?
Haha, well I'm not an ESRB representative, but I would say that the content you've seen on the website is about par for the content in the game. There are some intense psychological fourth-wall breaking scenes that will blow your mind and make you shit bricks. The atmosphere and the "you're actually here" feeling is indescribable (doubly so if you've been following since the beginning). I can't let on too much, but I can tell you that the genre cliches for "horror" games (such as an abundance of cheap jumpscares and overuse of violence/gore) will be absent. Think more along the lines of Silent Hill 2, except this is much more personal for you.
Q: How will the game itself work? As in, will it be 2d, 3d, topdown, first person, second person, third person?
The game itself will be first person, but you can rest easy - it's not an FPS, there will be no regenerating health and bald space marines here.
Q: What weapons will we have?
Your only weapons will be your abillity to communicate with each other and your deductive skills.
Q: What is the purpose of the game? What exactly will you be doing?
You will be investigating a location mentioned previously in the story while simultaneously trying to uncover the truth about BEN. You'll be interacting with some familiar faces and a lot of things will start all coming together... and for better or for worse the unanswered questions will be resolved.
Q: Who will you be playing as?
Yourself.
Q: If someone progresses further into the game, will everyone progress or is it individual?
There will be checkpoints - when the majority of the playerbase progresses far enough in the game to unlock the next phase of the game - a new version of the game will be released for download. Inititally not all areas are accessible, but by progressing in the story (similiar to how you guys "unlocked" areas of this website previously), it's through this that you will start to see the game world change based on your actions.
Q: How many verisons will there be? How long will this final phase last?
I can't ruin that, now can I? There will be a fair amount of checkpoints. It depends on how well you work together and how smart you are, but its fair to say more than a week.
Q: If this game ends up costing money, will I have to pay for each new verison of the game as we progress through the story?
No way, this game won't suffer from "DLC Syndrome", haha. If (and still a big if) it does cost money, you will only have to pay for it once - every new verison will be free.
Q: How will you update the game with each verison? Will it be patched?
Not exactly, for the sake of having an archive for you to go back and revisit if you wish, you will be able to download a new .exe with the updated game.
That's all for now, if you have any more questions that weren't answered feel free to send them to the address below. I'll keep you guys updated in the upcoming weeks about the progress of the game, and try not to get suckered into mock-websites (Again, only trust updates on this site - the guestbook doesn't count :P).
The hidden text under the email addresses was removed.
January 1, 2011
The music was removed from the page and the previous update was moved to a new section below the email addresses, titled "Older News". Above them, the following was posted:
- January 1, 2011
It's the dawn of a new day and the beginning of a new year so I figured I'd take this opportunity to reach out to the community and give a brief update.
The game is still in development. I know that may illicit a teeth-grinding response from some of you (in all fairness I was too ambitious by saying that it would be out by the holiday season), and I feel like I've beat this point to death but just keep in mind that I am working on this and financing this by myself. I have no big company backing me, I don't have six figures to be throwing into the production of this - I am working with a small staff of various programmers/modelers/what-have-you that I've hired out of my own pocket. Learning how to make a game, especially one of this kind of calibur, is both difficult and time consuming. Money is tight and when it becomes too tight work progress can slow down. This is not me asking for donations: this is me conveying the reality of the situation for those who want to know. Donating will not speed up the development process (if you want to donate, obviously that's great and as always I appreciate your support, but it will not make the game come out any faster) - we've more of less got all of our ducks in a row for the financial aspect now.
I hope you all can understand how tackling this along with work, school, and the holidays is extremely - for lack of a better word - complicated. If this was my job, that'd be a much different story, but for now I have to ask that you bare with me. I will give you guys a heads up at least a week or two in advance when we're getting ready to release this so you guys can plan accordingly, and there will be a build-up event to the release of the game as well. Don't worry about missing when the ARG starts back up - you'll know, internet access or not.
I just want to thank you guys for your patience and understanding towards this entire process. Yes, I know it's hard. And yes, I know it can be frustrating to have to wait - but I can assure you the experience will be worth it. I've probably made some of my fans lose interest and while its unfortunate - so be it. I would rather release a well-polished game and satisfyingly conclude this saga - because it's what all of you guys deserve - than churn out something that feels rushed and incomplete. Being able to get my story out and to have you all enjoy it as I intended is worth losing a few fans to me - as hard as that is to say.
A user that goes by the name of Sheik made a well thought-out and informative post in the guestbook that gives a brief perspective on what I'm working on here (thanks again, Sheik):
I'm going to put my realistic hat on. I've been waiting as eagerly for updates as anyone else because I don't know, maybe Jadusable was some kind of wizard or else someone with an incredible gameplan who had started working on Arc 3 before the first creepypasta post was even made. But the longer we go with no word the more it confirms to me that Jad didn't realise what a big project he was getting into and that he has no idea when it'll actually be ready.
I'm going to go by a few assumptions here based on the answers to this Q&A above. (So everything after this is conjecture). Firstly, Jad is going to have to make AT LEAST two different versions of this game available for download at various points. Second, it's in first-person and features a location "previously mentioned", so we can assume we're using the unity engine for a 3D environment. As to what the environment is?
First option: something Majora's Mask-ish. I think this is the least likely, but: they'd have to rip a bunch of assets out of the game (since I don't know of any website so far that hosts a ripped version of, say, the Elegy statue - nobody's bothered before). Then they'd have to get them to work in the newer 3D programs (for reference: I wasted a day of my life the other month trying to reapply all the textures to Twilight Princesses version of Kakariko village, because the old .3ds file it was made in isn't very compatible with the newer 3D software anymore and therefore didn't automatically apply the textures like it should have/did in older versions of the program. I can only imagine how old those MM models are.) Then they'd have to get them to work okay in the unity engine. That's not easy.
Second option: something set in the real world (Ryu's house, the old man's house, the orchard, whatever). So first off they're going to need to build a whole bunch of essentially useless assets (furniture) just to set the scene up. never mind anything plot-relevant or interesting. He's got to either have people building them (time-consuming) OR pay for them pre-built OR get the free ones off, say, Turbosquid, in which case it's either going to look shit or someone's got to spend a good while retexturing everything to make it look weathered and consistent with the rest of the scene.
Either way it's going to take forever. (Note: since Jad mentions that it's hard-to-explain, I could be entirely wrong in assuming it's going to have some kind of 1st-person Myst-type setup. Maybe it's going to be based around, idk, text and photos or something, or a series of static environment images in a point-and-click setup, in which case I'd say expecting to get it out of the door in 2 months is maybe more realistic - but then I don't see what the point of using the Unity engine would be.)
Plus we have multiple versions, multiple set-pieces, and this arc is meant to last a week. Even if we assume more than half of that is going to be spent waiting for YSHDT.net/youtube to update or waiting for enough slowpokes to cross the checkpoints so that we can proceed, there's still got to be a couple of hours of gameplay there, minimum.
I don't imagine we've got a large dev team working full-time, even if Jad *is* paying them, since he's a college student. A handful of people working part time is more likely, and since it's the holiday season they might not in fact be working on it at the moment at all. A comparison: one of my university tutors has a couple of dozen years in the game industry, and has just released a game on itunes (for reference and for shameless plugging: http://www.attackkumquat.com/ - go play it if you can, it's pretty neat). That was made by a dev team of two, working part time and out of their own pocket - much like Jad.
And it took them the best part of a year to do it.
And compare: these guys have a huge amount of experience. They don't have an insane amount of assets: the same building blocks are used from level to level. There aren't any elaborate scripted "set pieces" like Jad is trying to do, Silent-Hill style. You see where I'm going with this?
And, okay, I'm not a coder at all, I am an artist. I don't know the first thing about coding. But I'm willing to bet that programming a game to *not* be a stable environment, making it something that can change somehow between versions, or with players actions triggering environment changes, or with set-pieces, is a heavy workload. Depending on how far Jad is willing to go to break the fourth wall (enabling the game to tailor itself to recognise individual players via their email they've been using on the guestbook is still something I think would be unbelievably cool), that's a whole can of worms right there too. And, guys - this game CANNOT glitch. There must be no glitches in this game, because in a game BASED around scripted anomalies and glitches, a rogue glitch that Jad didn't intend to be there could, depending on the circumstances, destroy the game completely.
tl;dr Unless I am totally off track about how this game will work, I am totally amazed that Jad ever thought he'd get this out around the holidays, and frankly if it comes out in a good, non-half-assed, finished state before April he is probably a wizard who can bend the laws of game production-times to his will, and I will be very impressed.
... Although I can safely say that you won't have to wait until April.
January 14, 2011
The guestbook was removed.
February 1, 2011
The guestbook was added once again, and a new update was placed above the previous one, reading:
- February 1, 2011
Hey, just wanted to give you guys a brief update:
Things are coming along nicely with production, save for one little detail. We've run into a little hitch with Unity and using the original level that we had in mind, but it's nothing that we can't fix/replace. It's a little hiccup, but it isn't stopping anything. I know, I know... waiting for this must be annoying, but understand the work that has to go into making a project like this and how I'm trying to make this whole thing happen by myself. I know that probably isn't so comforting, but it will all be worth it and the longest part of the waiting game is over.
Alright, enough of the bad news. I'm pleased to announce that I've gotten in touch with a very talented artist and he's collaborating with us to make the soundtrack for the videogame. If you've liked any of the music that has been on the website in the past, then you're going to love this.
I also wanted to thank you again for all of your support, understanding, and your donations. They have been absolutely paramount in this story's success and keeping us motivated. Making the final phase of this story has been the most intensive project I've ever taken on and it's all starting to come to fruition in these next few weeks. The next update will be featuring some screenshots of the game and introducing the build-up event and this will probably be the last "out of character" update you guys get.
Again, I couldn't have done all this without you and your support. You guys are awesome.
PS The guest book is back up. Play nice.
February 12, 2011
Several small updates happened in succession, with text being added to "Latest News" and replaced soon afterward with new text:
- At 11:38pm: February 12, 2011
You're beginning to slowly go insane. - At 11:39pm: February 12, 2011
You're beginning to slowly go insane. You begin to slowly lose your grip on reality. - At 11:43pm: February 12, 2011
You begin to slowly lose your grip on reality. - At 11:49pm: February 12, 2011
Not time yet Not yet time. Too soon. So
February 17, 2011
Around 11:00am, the text added on February 12 was removed. In its place, a countdown timer set to end at 7:00pm was added. Labeled "Another Step", it displayed a message when hovered over, reading, "When you unite. 18 Feb 2011".
The timer ended at 7:00pm and the site went down soon afterward. This coincided with the discovery of Within Hubris.
February 19, 2011
The timer was removed from the site. In its place was the final update to the Home page, reading:
- February 17, 2011
The time has come to unite.
Almost.
Chapters
- Page title: Episodes (original) / Chapter Index (after 9/22)
- Page description: Chapter list
- Audio: N/A
- Banner: 9857891195 9dhxc.jpg
The Chapters page was added to the site on September 21. It contained a directory leading to several sub-pages containing each chapter of the Haunted Cartridge Arc.
September 21, 2010
The Chapters page's initial state was incomplete, as noted on the Home page post made on the same day. It contained only the following text, with no links:
- Chapter List
- Chapter 1 - day four (9-7-10)
- Chapter 2 - BEN (9-8-10)
- Chapter 3 - DROWNED (9-10-10)
- Chapter 4 - jadusable (9-12-10)
- Chapter 5 - The Truth (9-15-10)
- For each chapter, read the story and then watch the corresponding video.
September 22, 2010
Upon its completion, the Chapters page was renamed from "Episodes" to "Chapter Index", given a new banner depicting the Happy Mask Salesman, and each chapter contained a link to its own respective page. Additionally, a bonus chapter focused on the Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Rosa video was added to the list. The chapter list now read:
- Chapters (banner image)
- Chapter 1 - day four (9-7-10)
- Chapter 2 - BEN (9-8-10)
- Chapter 3 - DROWNED (9-10-10)
- Chapter 4 - jadusable (9-12-10)
- Chapter 5 - The Truth (9-15-10)
- For each chapter, read the story and then watch the corresponding video.
Viewers also noticed that Jadusable had another Youtube video on his account - uploaded a year before any of this began - a suspicious video of a character named Rosa from VtM:B. If you missed out on the story and are looking to get the "full effect", it's recomended that you watch this video first.- Bonus Chapter - Rosa (6-14-09)
- The above story is the original standalone verison, if you want to read the ARG continuation, you can do so by visitng the mapped out timeline as the website is introduced (occurs after Chapter 5).
October 4, 2010
Chapters was one of five pages, each in the header of the site, found to contain hidden text in its description on October 4. Together, they read:
- Chapters: "https://"
- The Truth: "WHAT"
- FAQ: "IS"
- Donate: "Not so fast."
- ARG Timeline: ".com"
Chapter 1: day four
- Page title: Chapter 1: day four
- Page description: Chapter 1 - Day Four
- Audio: Lost in My Thoughts
This page contained the entirety of Jadusable's first 4chan post, with slight alterations:
September 07, 2010
Guys, I need your help with this. This is a long read, I'm sorry for that, but I feel like my safety or well-being could very well depend on this. This is videogame related, specifically having to do with the Zelda game called "Majora's Mask", and this is the creepiest shit that has ever happened to me in my entire life.
I recently moved into my dorm room starting as a Sophomore in college and a friend of mine gave me his old Nintendo 64 to play. I was stoked, to say the least, I could finally play all of those old games of my youth that I hadn't touched in at least a decade. His Nintendo 64 came with one yellow controller and a rather shoddy copy of Super Smash Brothers, and while beggers can't be choosers, needless to say it didn't take long until I became bored of beating up the computer.
That weekend I decided to drive around a few neighborhoods about twenty minutes or so off campus, hitting up the local garage sales, hoping to score on some good deals from ignorant parents). I ended up picking up a copy of Pokemon Stadium, Goldeneye (fuck yeah), F-Zero, and two other controllers for two dollars. Satisfied, I began to drive out of the neighborhood when one last house caught my attention. I still have no idea why it did, there were no cars there and only one table was set up with random junk on it, but something sort of drew me there. I usually trust my gut on these things so I got out of the car and I was greeted by an old man. His outward appearance was, for lack of a better word, displeasing. It was odd, if you asked me to tell you why I thought he was displeasing, I couldn't really pinpoint anything - there was just something about him that put me on edge, I can't explain it. All I can tell you is that if it wasn't in the middle of the afternoon and there were other people within shouting distance, I would not have even thought of approaching this man. He flashed a crooked smiled at me and asked what I was looking for, and immediately I noticed that he must be blind in one of his eyes; his right eye had that "glazed over" look about it. I forced myself to look to his left eye instead, trying not to offend, and asked him if he had any old videogames.
I was already wondering how I could politely excuse myself from the situation when he would tell me he had no idea what a videogame was, but to my surprise he said he had a few ones in an old box. He assured me he'd be back in a "jiffy" and turned to head back into the garage. As I watched him hobble away, I couldn't help but notice what he was selling on his table. Littered across his table were rather... pecuiliar paintings; various artworks that looked like ink blots that a psychatrist might show you. Curious, I looked through them - it was obvious why no one was visiting this guy's garage sale, these weren't exactly asthetically pleasing. As I came to the last one, for some reason it looked almost like Majora's Mask - the same heart-shaped body with little spikes protruding outward. Initially I just thought that since I was secretly hoping to find that game at these garage sales, some Freudian bullshit was projecting itself into the ink blots, but given the events that happened afterward I'm not so sure now. I should have asked the man about it. I wish I would have asked the man about it.
After staring at the Majora-shaped blot, I looked up and the old man was suddenly there again, arms-length in front of me, smiling at me. I'll admit I jumped out of reflex and I laughed nervously as he handed me a Nintendo 64 cartridge. It was the standard grey color, except that someone had written Majora on it in black permenent marker. I got butterflies in my stomach as I realized what a coincidence this was and asked him how much he wanted for it. The old man smiled at me and told me that I could have it for free, that it used to belong to a kid who was about my age that didn't live here anymore. There was something weird about how the man phrased that, but I didn't really pay any attention to then, I was too caught up in not only finding this game but getting it for free. I reminded myself to be a bit skeptical since this looked like a pretty shady cartridge and there's no guarentee it would work, but then the optimist inside me interjected that maybe it was some kind of beta verison or pirated verison of the game and that was all I needed to be back on cloud nine. I thanked the man and the man smiled at me and wished me well, saying "Goodbye then!" - at least that's what it sounded like to me. All the way in the car-ride home, I had a ningling doubt that the man had said something else. My fears were confirmed when I booted up the game (to my surprise it worked just fine) and there was one save file named simply "BEN". "Goodbye Ben", he was saying "Goodbye Ben". I felt bad for the man, obviously a grandparent and obviously going senile, and I - for some reason or another - reminded him of his grandson "Ben".
Out of curiosity I looked at the save file. Eyeballing it, I could tell that he was pretty far in the game - he had almost all of the masks and 3/4 remains of the bosses. I noticed that he had used an owl statue to save his game, he was on Day 3 and by the Stone Tower Temple with hardly an hour left before the moon would crash. I remember thinking that it was a shame that he had come so close to beating the game but he never finished it. I made a new file named "Link" out of tradition and started the game, ready to relive my childhood. For such a shady looking game cartridge, I was impressed at how smoothly it ran - literally just like a retail copy of the game save for a few minor hiccups here and there (like textures being where they shouldn't be, random flashes of cutscenes at odd intervals, but nothing too bad). However the only thing that was a little unnerving was that at times the NPCs would call me "Link" and at other times they would call me "BEN". I figured it was just a bug - a fluke in the programming causing our files to get mixed up or something. It did kind of creep me out though after a while, and it was around after I had beaten the Woodfall Temple that I regrettably went into the save files and deleted "BEN" (I had intended to preserve the file just out of respect of the game's original owner, it's not like I needed two files anyway), hoping that that would solve the problem. It did and it didn't, now NPCs wouldn't call me anything, where my name should be in the dialogue there was just a blank space (my save file name was still called "Link", though). Frustrated, and with homework to do, I put the game down for a day.
I started playing the game again last night, getting the Lens of Truth and working my way towards completing the Snowhead Temple. Now, some of you more hardcore Majora's Mask players know about the "4th Day" glitch - for those who don't you can google it but the jist of it is that right as the clock is about to hit 00:00:00 on the final day, you talk to the astronomer and look through the telescope. If you time it right the countdown disappears and you essentially have another day to finish whatever you were doing. Deciding to do the glitch to try and finish the Snowhead Temple, I happened to get it right on the first try and the time counter at the bottom disappeared. However, when I pressed B to exit the telescope, instead of being greeted by the astronomer I found myself in the Majora boss fight room at the end of the game (the trippy boxed in arena) staring at Skull Kid hovering above me. There was no sound, just him floating in the air above me, and the background music which was regular for the area (but still creepy). Immediately my palms began to sweat - this was definately not normal. Skull Kid NEVER appeared here. I tried moving around the area, and no matter where I went, Skull Kid would always be facing me, looking at me, not saying anything. Nothing would happen though, and this kept up for around sixty seconds. I thought the game had bugged or something - but I was beginning to doubt that very much.
I was about to reach for the reset button when text appeared on my screen: "You're not sure why, but you apparently had a reservation..." I instantly recognized that text - you get that message when you get the Room Key from Anju at the Stock Pot Inn, but why was it playing here? I refused to entertain the notion that it was almost as if the game was trying to communicate with me. I started navigate the room again, testing to see if that was some sort of trigger that enabled me to interact with something here, then I realized how stupid I was - to even think that someone could reprogram the game like this was absurd. Sure enough, fifteen seconds later another message appeared on the screen, and again like the first one it was already a pre-exisiting phrase "Go to the lair of the temple's boss? Yes/No". I paused for a second, contemplating what I should press and how the game would react, when I realized that I couldn't select no. Taking a deep breath, I pressed Yes and the screen faded to white, with the words "Dawn of a New Day" with the subtext "||||||||" beneath it. Where I was ported to filled me with the most intense sense of dread and impending fear I had ever experienced, the only way I can describe the way I felt here is having this feeling of inexplicable depression on a profound scale. I am normally not a depressed person, but the way I felt here was a feeling that I didn't even knew existed - it was such a twisted, powerful presence that seemed to wash over me.
I appeared in some kind of weird twilight-zone verison of Clock Town. I walked out of the Clock Tower (as you normally do when you start from Day 1) only to find that all of the inhabitants were gone. Usually with the 4th Day glitch you can still find the guards and the dog that runs around outside the tower - this time they were all gone. What replaced them was the ominous feeling that there was something out there, in the same area as me and that it was watching me. I had four hearts to my name and the Hero's Bow, but at this point I wasn't even considered for my avatar, I felt that I personally was in some kind of danger. Perhaps the most chilling thing was the music - it was the Song of Healing, ripped straight from the game itself, but played in reverse. The music would get louder, building up so as if you should expect something to pop out at you, but nothing ever did, and the constant loop began to wear on my mental state. Every now and then I would hear the faint laugh of the Happy Mask Salesman in the background, just quiet enough so that I wasn't sure if I just hearing things but just loud enough to keep me determined to find him. I looked in all four zones of Clock Town, only to find nothing.... No one. Textures were missing, West Clock Town had me walking on air, the entire area felt... broken. Hopelessly broken. As the reverse Song of Healing repeated for what must have been the 50th time, I just remember standing in the middle of South Clock Town realizing that I had never felt so alone in a videogame before.
As I walked through the ghost town, I don't know whether it was the combination of the out of place textures and the atmosphere and the haunting melody of the once peaceful and soothing song being butchered and distorted, but I was literally on the verge of tears and I had no idea why. I hardly ever cry, and that's not just some macho guy front I'm putting on, but something had gripped me here and this powerful sense of depression that was both foriegn and crippling took hold of me through a TV screen and I didn't know how to cope with it.
I tried leaving Clock Town, but every time I attempted to zone out, the screen would fade to black and I would just zone in to another part of Clock Town. I tried playing my Ocarina, I wanted to escape, and I did NOT want to be here, but every time I played the Song of Time or Song of Soaring it would only say "Your notes echo far, but nothing happens". By this point, it was obvious the game didn't want me to leave, but I had no idea why it was keeping me here. I didn't want to go inside the buildings, I felt that I would be too vulnerable there to whatever I was terrified of. I don't know why, but I came up with the idea that maybe if I drowned myself at the Laundry Pool (I had the Goron Mask, and if I lost enough hearts by falling in water I'd die) I could spawn somewhere else and leave this place. As I zoned in and ran towards the pool, that's when it happened. Link grabbed his head, and the screen flashed for a brief moment of the Happy Mask Salesman smiling at me - not Link - me with Skull Kid's scream playing in the background and when the screen returned I was staring at the Link Statue from playing the song Elegy of Emptiness. I let out an audible yelp as the thing just stared back at me with that haunting facial expression. I turned around and ran out of the Laundry Pool and back into South Clock Town, and to my horror the fucking statue followed me in the only way I can compare this is like the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. Every so often, at random intervals, the animation would play of the statue appearing behind me like I was summoning it with my Ocarina. It was like the thing was chasing me, or - I don't even want to fucking say it - haunting me.
By this point, I was on the verge of hysterics, but not even once did the thought of turning off the console occur to me, I don't know why, I was so wrapped up in it - the terror felt all so real. I tried to shake the statue, but it would literally appear right behind me every single time. Link started to begin to make weird animations I had never even seen him do before, he would flail his arms around or spasm randomly and the screen would cut to the Happy Mask Salesman smiling again for a brief moment before I was face to face with that fucking statue again. I ended up running into the Swordmasters Dojo and ran to the back, I don't know why, but in my panic I just wanted some kind of assurance that I'm not alone here. To my dismay I found no one, but as I turned to leave the statue cornered me in the cubby in the back. I tried attacking the statue with my sword but to no avail. Confused, and backed into a corner, I just stared at the statue waiting for it to kill me. Suddenly, the screen flashed again to the Happy Mask Salesman and Link turned to face my screen, standing upright mirroring the statue, looking at me along with his copy. Literally staring at me. Whatever was left of the 4th wall was completely shattered while I ran out of the dojo terrified. Suddenly the game warped me to an underground tunnel and the reverse Song of Healing queued up again as I was given a brief moment of rest before the statue started appearing behind me again... this time aggressively - I could only take a few steps before it would summon behind me again. I hurrily made my way out of the tunnel and appeared in Southern Clock Town. As I ran aimlessly - in a sheer panic - suddenly a redead screamed and the screen faded to black as "Dawn of a New Day" and "|||||||||" appeared again.
The screen faded in and I was standing ontop of Clock Tower with Skull Kid hovering over me again, silent. I looked up and the moon was back, looming just meters above my head, but the Skull Kid just stared at me hauntingly with that fucking mask. A new song was playing - the Stone Tower Temple theme played in reverse. In some sort of desperate attempt, I equipped my bow and fired off a shot at the Skull Kid - and it actually hit him and he played an animation of him reeling back. I fired again and on the third arrow, a text box appeared saying "That won't do you any good. Hee, hee." and I was picked up off the ground, levitated upwards on my back, and then Link screamed as he burst into flames, instantly killing him. I jumped when this happened - I had never seen this move used by ANYONE in the game and Skull Kid himself didn't HAVE any moves. As the death screen played, my lifeless body still burning, the Skull Kid laughed and the screen faded to black, only to have me reappear in the same place. I decided to charge him, but the same thing happened, Link's body was lifted off the ground by some unknown force and he immediately burst into flames again killing him. This time during the death screen the faint sounds of the reverse Song of Healing could be heard.
On my third (and final try), I noticed that there was no music playing this time, that all there was was eere silence. I remembered that in the original encounter with the Skull Kid you were supposed to use the Ocarina to either travel back in time or summon the giants. I attempted to play the Song of Time but before I could hit the last note Links body once again horrifically exploded into flames and he died. As the death screen neared its end, it began to chug, as if the cartridge was trying to process a lot of something.... when the screen came to, it was the same scene as the first three times, except this time Link was lying on the ground dead in a position I had never seen in the game before, his head tilted towards the camera, with the Skull Kid floating above him. I couldn't move, I couldn't press any buttons, all I could do is just stare at Link's dead body. After around thirty seconds of this, the game simply fades out with the message "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" before kicking you out to the title screen.
Upon getting back to the title screen and starting again, I noticed my save file was no longer there. Instead of "Link", it was replaced with "YOUR TURN". "YOUR TURN" had 3 hearts, 0 masks, and no items. I selected "YOUR TURN" and immediately when I did I was returned to the Clock Tower Rooftop scene of my Link dead and the Skull Kid hovering over, with the Skull Kid's laughing looping again and again. I quickly hit the reset button and when the game booted up again there was one more save file added, below "YOUR TURN", entitled "BEN". "BEN"'s save file is right back where it was before I deleted it, at the Stone Tower Temple with the moon almost crashing. I turned the game off at that point, I'm not supersticious but this is WAY too fucked up even for me. I haven't played it at all today, hell, I didn't even get any sleep last night, I kept hearing the reverse Song of Healing music in my head and just remembering the sense of dread I felt exploring Clock Town. I drove back to the old man's house today to ask him some questions with a buddy of mine (no way I was going there alone), only to find that there's a For Sale sign in the front yard and when I rang the door no one was home.
So now I'm back here writing down the rest of my thoughts and recording what happened, sorry if some of this has grammatical errors and whatnot, I'm running on no sleep here. I'm terrified of this game, even moreso now that I relived it a second time writing this all down, but I feel like there's still more to it than meets the eye, and that there's something calling to me to investigate this further. I think "BEN" is something in this equation, but I don't know what, and if I could get ahold of the old man then I would be able to find some answers. I need another day or so to recooperate before tackling this game again, its already taken a toll on my sanity I feel like, but next time I do this I'm going to be recording my footage all the way through. The idea to record only came to me towards the end, so you see the last few minutes of what I saw (including Skull Kid and the Elegy statue), but it's on youtube. I'll update you guys tomorrow when I play again.
Chapter 2: BEN
- Page title: Chapter 2: BEN
- Page description: BEN
- Audio: Majoras Mask Music Ikana Valley Reversed 0.0
This page contained the entirety of Jadusable's second 4chan post, with slight alterations:
September 08, 2010
I'm going to post what happened and link the video footage, but last night everything got too real for me. I think I'm done messing around with this. I passed out pretty much immediately after posting what happened. But last night, that Elegy of Emptiness statue, I had a dream about it. I dreamt that it was following me in my dream, that I would be minding my own business when I'd feel my neck hairs stand up on end. I would turn around that thing... that horrible, lifeless statue would be staring with those empty eyes right at me, merely inches away. In my dream I remember calling it Ben, and never before had I had a dream that I could remember so vividly. Today, putting off playing the game as long as I could, I drove back up to that neighborhood to see if the old man came back. As I expected, the car was still gone and no one was home. As I was walking back to my car, the man next door mowing the grass killed the power to his lawnmower and asked me if I was looking for someone. I told him that I was looking to talk to the old man that lived here, to which he told me what I already knew - he was moving. Trying a different avenue, I asked if the old man had any family or relatives I could talk to. I discovered that this old man had never been married, nor did he have any children or grandchildren through adoption. Starting to become worried, I asked one final question, one that I should have asked from the beginning - who was Ben? The man's expression turned grim and I learned that four doors down around eight years ago on April 23rd - the man informed me that it was the same day as his anniversary, that's how he knew the specific date - there was an accident with a young boy named Ben in the neighborhood. Shortly after his parents moved, and despite any further attempts to talk to the man to get more information, he wouldn't divulge anything else.
I went back and started playing again, I loaded up the game and immediately I jumped at the title screen where the mask flies by - the sound that played was not the normal "woosh" sound, it was something much more higher pitched. I pressed start, bracing for the worst, but just like two nights ago, the files "Your Turn" and "BEN" were displayed (truth be told I looked at the BEN file earlier, it seems to fluxuate between displaying the Owl Save and not). I brought up the BEN file, hesitated for a moment noticing that the stats were not the same as they original were two days ago, it seemed like he had already completed the Stone Tower Temple this time... Summoning my courage I selected it.
Immediately I was thrusted into complete chaos. Sure enough, I was outside Stone Tower Temple, but that's about all that was expected. The zone itself wasn't called Stone Tower Temple, but rather "St o n e", and immediately a dialogue box of complete gibberish that I couldn't make out greeted me. Link's body was distorted - his back was cocked violently to the side where his posture was permenently disfigured. Link's expression was dull, almost monotonous, he had an expression on his face that I didn't recognize before, it was a blank look - as if he was dead. As Link stood there his body spasmed irregularly back and forth I examined what had become of my avatar and noticed I had a C button item I had never seen before, some kind of note, but pressing it did nothing. Sounds played back and forth that I didn't recognize from the game - almost demonic in nature, and there was some kind of high-pitched yip or some kind of laugh or something playing in the background. I had all of two minutes to take in the enviornment before another one of those fucking Elegy of Emptiness statues was summoned and immediately after I was cut into the "Dawn of a New Day" screen, except this time it was without the "||||||" subtext.
I was a Deku Scrub in Clock Town - this scene would normally play after the first time you traveled back in time. Tatl would say "Wh-What just happened? It's as if everything has..." but instead of saying "Started over", she finished her remark in broken text as the laugh of the Happy Mask Salesman played in the background. I was put back in control of my character, but from a fucked up camera angle - I was looking from behind the door to the Clock Tower, watching my avatar run around as a Deku Scrub. Seeing as how I really had no place to go because I could't see anything, I begrudgingly went inside the door. There, I was greeted by the Happy Mask Salesman who simply told me "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" before the screen whited out.
I was in Termina field as a human again. I might as well not have been playing the same game anymore - I was being warped around and there was no sign of a day clock or anything. I took a moment to get my bearings as I looked around the field and immediately I could tell that this was not normal. There were no enemies and a twisted verison of the Happy Mask Salesman's theme was playing. I decided to run towards Woodfall before I noticed a gathering of three figures off to the side - one of them being Epona. As I approached them, to my horror I saw the Happy Mask Salesman, the Skull Kid, and the Elegy of Emptiness statue just standing there. I figured maybe they were bugged out, but by now I told myself that I should know better.
Nevertheless, I approached them carefully and found that the Skull Kid was playing some kind of idle animation on loop, same with Epona, and the Elegy of Emptiness statue was doing what it has been doing all along - just standing there eeirely. It was the Happy Mask Salesman that scared me more profoundly than the other two. He too was idle, wearing that shit-eating grin, but where-ever I moved, his head slowly turned and followed me. I had not engaged in any dialogue with him nor was I in combat with him, yet his head still continued to follow my movements. Reminded of my first encounter with the Skull Kid on top of Clock Tower, I pulled out my Ocarina (to which the game played the ding sound when you're supposed to play your Ocarina) and tried a song I hadn't played yet - the Happy Mask Salesmans' own song and the song that had been playing on loop back in Day 4 - the Song of Healing.
I finished playing the song and as I did, a ear-piercing shriek blasted on my TV, the sky immediatley started flashing, the Happy Mask Salesmans' twisted theme song sped up, intensifying the fear inside me, and Link exploded into flames and died. The three figures stayed lit up during my death screen as they watched my lifeless body burn. That same fear that caused me to lose sleep two days ago started to grip me again as I was met with the text "You've met with a horrible fate, haven't you?" for the third time. There has to be some kind of meaning behind that.
I had little time to ponder as I was immediately given another small cutscene of transforming into a Zora (the species of creatures that live under water in Zelda) and now I found myself in Great Temple Bay. Hestitant but curious to see what the game had in store for me, I slowly made my way towards the beach, where I found Link's horse Epona. I wondered why the game had decided to put her here, was the game implying she was trying to get a drink? Unable to take the mask off, I decided that riding the steed wasn't the reason she was placed there. Suddenly I realized that Epona kept neighing and the way she was angled made it look like she was trying to signal a point to me off in the distance. It was a hunch, but I dove into Great Bay and started swimming. Sure enough - I almost missed it - I found something at the bottom of the ocean; one last Elegy of Emptiness statue. I went down to examine it and suddenly my Zora started doing a choking animation I had never seen a Zora do before - which didn't even make sense because Zora's can breath underwater. Regardless, my character choked to death and died, and again the statue was the only thing that was highlighted in my death. I didn't respawn this time, I was booted back to the main menu as if I restarted the console.
The "press start" screen was before me, I knew the only reason why it would put me here is because the save files had changed again. Taking a deep breath, I pressed start, and I was right. The new save files told me about Ben. Now it made sense why the statue appeared when I tried to go to the Laundry Pool - the game must have anticipated how I would have tried to escape the Day 4 Clock Town. The two save files told me his fate. As I suspected, Ben was dead. He had drowned. The game obviously isn't through with me - it taunts me with the new save files - it wants me to keep playing, it wants me to go further, but I'm done with this shit. I'm not touching any more of the files. This is already way too horrifying for me and I don't even believe in the paranormal, but I'm running out of explainations. Why would someone send me this message? I don't understand it, I just get too depressed thinking about this, the footage is up here for those who want to see it and try and analyze it (maybe there's some kind of coded message in the gibberish or something symbolic in what I went through - I'm too emotionally and mentally drained to fuck with it anymore). Some of you guys may give me shit for this, but you can't imagine how taxing this is for me emotionally - its one thing to see this footage and read what I have to say, its another entirely when you're playing this by yourself and its like the game is actually trying to reach out to you personally. I... I don't know anymore..
Chapter 3: DROWNED
- Page title: Chapter 3: DROWNED
- Page description: N/A
- Audio: notover.mp3
This page contained the entirety of Jadusable's fourth 4chan post, with slight alterations:
September 10, 2010
I know its early in the morning, I've stayed up all night, I can't sleep, I don't care if people see this, that's not the point, I just want the word to get spread so I don't suffer for nothing. I've lost the will to type about this, the less I dwell on this the better, I think the video just speaks for itself. I did what you guys told me to do, I played the Elegy of Emptiness song at the first prompt by the game I was given, but I think that's what the game or Ben (Jesus Christ, I can't believe I'm even humoring the absurd idea that he exists in the game) wanted me to do. He's following me now, not just in the game, he's in my dreams. I see him all the time, behind my back, just watching me. I haven't gone to any of my classes, I've stayed in my dorm room with the windows closed and the blinds shut - that way I know he can't watch me. But he still gets me when I play, when I play he can still see me. The game is scaring me now. It talked to me for the first time - not just using text that's already in the game - it spoke to me. Talked to me. It referenced Ben. It talked to me. I don't know what it means. I don't know what it wants. I never wanted this, I just want my old life back.
Stuff like this doesn't happen to people like me, I'm just a kid, not even old enough to drink yet. It's not fair, I want to go home, I want to see my parents again, I'm so far away from home here at this school, I just want to hug my mom again. I just want to forget that statue's horrible blank face. My original game file is back - just the way I left it before it was gone. I don't want to play anymore. I feel like something bad will happen if I don't, but that's impossible, it's a video game - haunted or not it can't hurt me, right? Like seriously though, it can't, right? That's what I keep telling myself, but every time I think about it I'm not so sure.
Chapter 4: jadusable
- Page title: Chapter 4: jadusable
- Page description: jadusable
- Audio: N/A
This page contained the entirety of Jadusable's fourth (or rather, his roommate's) 4chan post, with slight alterations:
September 12, 2010
let me just clear things up - i know you guys are worried but "jadusable" is okay. he finished moving out today and he said he's going back home, he's just taking this semester off. i'm not really sure what's happened , i have a vague idea but you guys probably know more than i do. i'm "jadusable's" roommate and obviously i knew something was wrong with him for a few days now. he stayed in his room all the time, fell out of contact with literally all of his friends, and i'm pretty sure he hadn't been eating hardly anything, after the second day i couldn't stay in there anymore, so i've been crashing at a buddy's place, only coming in to my room to get stuff that i need. i tried talking to him several times but he would cut me off or keep the conversation brief when i asked him about his strange behavior, it like he was convinced something was hunting him. yesterday i came to grab my philosophy book and he approached me, looking awful, like horrible bags under his eyes. he handed me a flash drive and gave me specific instructions. he told me that he needs me to do one last favor for him - he finally explained to me what has been going on, gave me the account info to his youtube account, and told me that he's getting away from here, that it lured him to play it again instead of trying to change things and that he shouldn't of done that, and to upload the footage and inform people what happened. i told him that he could do it himself and he got this wild look in his eye and told me that he is never looking at that game again, and that's the last thing he said to me, he never even said bye when his parents came to pick him up. i never even got to meet his parents.
i honestly cant tell you what happened, when he spoke it was kind of hard to understand him and his fucked up appearance really distracted me. on the flash drive there was the footage of the game last night, a text document with his name and password for youtube, and a third document called TheTruth.txt containing what he told me were "his notes" that he'd taken. he told me that this meant everything to him that i follow his instructions exactly, normally i wouldn't be so 'to-the-letter' for request over a fucking videogame, but the way he spoke and the way he looked made me know this was really serious, and i'm going to honor that. i've had this video since yesterday, but had to have someone help me use pinnacle, that's not really my forte. that after watching it i had to go back through and look at his other videos on his youtube account to realize what was going on and even then i'm really really confused. the video I'm releasing tonight, TheTruth.txt will be released on september 15th just like he requested. i haven't dared peek at it yet, so the first time i see it will be the first time you see it out of respect to my friend. to answer your questions, no, i havent tried calling him yet, i think i'll give him a call tomorrow to see if hes okay or not. he should have gotten back home by now.
about the video: in this video i cut straight to when he loaded the "BEN" file in the game, looking back i realized that jadusable left the save select screen in because it said different names sometimes, so my bad for that, but all it said this time was the same at the end of his last video (Link and BEN), nothing different. i wasn't there when he played it, but it looks to me like in the beginning when he first spawns he's testing out his equipment or seeing what items he has or something, because apparently they've changed randomly before. then, after that i just think the game got too personal for him.
Chapter 5: The Truth
- Page title: Chapter 5: The Truth
- Page description: The Truth (original) / I hope you had more patience than he did. (after October 6)
- Audio: unintelligible.mp3 (File 52)
This page contained an entirely new text, describing the events surrounding the release of TheTruth.rtf on September 15 and the subsequent upload of free.wmv:
September 15, 2010
As promised, Jadusable (or rather, his roommate) posted a link to download TheTruth.txt at 11:04pm. Jadusable's post was uncharacteristically short and simply the words "Honesty is the best policy" followed by a download link.
This document contains all of the notes that Jadusable had been taking during the entire ordeal and now they were available to the entire world.
(Read the above document before continuing)
Exactly 108 minutes later, a new video was uploaded to Jadusable's Youtube account, simply entitled "free.wmv". Jadusable changed his Youtube profile picture and added the quote, "Now I am everywhere" to his profile. Viewers were made to draw their own conclusions as to what this video signified.
On October 6, after the site returned to normal following The Glitch, the page's description changed to "I hope you had more patience than he did."
Bonus Chapter: Rosa
- Page title: Bonus Chapter: Rosa
- Page description: she knows
- Audio: N/A
This page contained an entirely new text, detailing the events surrounding the upload of Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Rosa over a year prior to Jadusable's first post:
June 14, 2009
On September 07, 2010, when day four.wmv was first released, Jadusable only had two other videos on his Youtube account profile - one of random gameplay consuming footage from the game Prototype (seemingly unrelated), and a more cryptic video by a character named Rosa from Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines (both of these videos were uploaded a year before the "Haunted Majora's Mask" story began). While the Prototype video was standard fare for someone to have on Youtube, the Rosa video was almost curiously out-of-place. All it contained was the dialogue of an unimportant character in a game made back in 2003 and that was the extent of it. Rosa, in Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, has a mutation which causes her to predict the future and she gives cryptic clues as to what the game's plot is.
At first, she was only a side-thought to those desperately trying to help Jadusable beat the Majora's Mask game to stop the haunting, but as the story progressed people began to notice there were some disturbing simliarities between her cryptic messages and what was happening to Jadusable. The video description itself contained hidden words that were central to the haunting - "drowned", "stoned", "lone wolf", "fourth wall", and viewers suddenly realized that this was too much of a coincidence to be unrelated:
[...] after talking to her you end up being drowned in dialogue. [...] several of the things she alludes to are kind of vague, though, like the lone wolf. [...] when I first played the game at night stoned.
Horrifyingly, over the course of the story, all but a few of Rosa's predictions would come true, from describing the locales Jadusable would visit, to the foes he would face, all leading up to her now-infamous phrase in the video:
Player: "Any advice at all? Something that's going to save my life?" Rosa: "Don't open it"
With such a vague phrase to go on, no one really knew what it could mean. At first everyone assumed that Rosa was telling Jadusable not to open the Majora's Mask file because it was haunted, but as it was later discovered, Rosa was trying to warn the very viewers themselves about an incident that would happen after Jadusable had released his fourth and final video.
The Truth
Page title: Haunted Majora's Mask :: The Truth Page description: It's what THEY don't want you know (original) / WHAT (after October 4) Audio: N/A After the site was restructured, the initial post made on the Home page was also placed on The Truth, albeit with a slightly different ending.
September 20, 2010
The page contained the following text:
- Hey, Jadusable here,
Consider this the 'real' TheTruth.txt
A lot of you may hate me for this, but I've decided that I can no longer continue the Majora's Mask story the way I originally wanted to. Even as I'm typing this I can feel the disappointment and the "OH MY GOD YOU ASSHOLE" cries as you guys read this, and really, it kills me. A lot of people have initially surmised that this must be some kind of viral marketing effort from Nintendo, or some kind of marketing ploy, and while I can't tell you how flattering that is I can assure you that it is neither. I'm just a sophomore in college who came up with this elaborate idea and as it stands I simply don't have the manpower or the funds to continue this in the direction that I wanted it to go (now I realize why it took a team of talented individuals to do Marble Hornets as opposed to just a one-man-army).
Perhaps too ambitious, I purchased the cheapest webhosting service I could find given my budget (aka nonexistant), and with all of the people attempting to access the site (since the website opened two days ago, I've gotten over 300,000 visits and I've spent probably half that time in maintence) - it was almost consistently down. If you're going to involve a website this closely in your interactive story, then you can't have your website crashing or unavailable for the majority of your users; you would need a service that could handle that many viewers. Unfortunately this was something I simply could not afford being a broke college student. I paid for the site out of my own pocket (in retrospect probably not the most sound finanical decision), and with the insane amount of traffic I was getting the server host wasn't cutting it and I didn't want to "break character" by putting Google ads in to generate revenue. I didn't have the money to upgrade and I knew that I wouldn't be doing this story justice if I continued on as things were. Even if the money issue was solved, there's still the matter of the updates taking too long - I simply did not have the time to devote enough attention into the project for speedy updates. So I was presented with two options - either wrap up this game in a lackluster ending that would feel contrived, or stop here and resume it later.
A bit of backstory: Writing/story-telling has always been a hobby of mine - I actually have a TV show that I'm currently finding an agent for - and being a closet dork, videogames have always interested me as a kid with Majora's Mask ranking among my favorite. I've never attempted writing anything remotely scary before, but MM aways had that "creepy" vibe to it and so on a whim I decided to try my hand at it. Maybe it wasn't everyone's forte, maybe a little cliched to some, but the concept of a videogame - a device that only reacts to what the user tells it - suddenly going outside its coding was something I wanted to explore and something that could engage the reader and have it relatable on more than one level. I wanted to make the story creepy not because of severed heads or morbid descriptions, but on a more psychological level with a fair amount of mindfuckery, for both the poor bastard protagonist and the reader.
I view this whole story as two separate stories - the original "Haunted Zelda Cartridge" - which ended with TheTruth.rtf - that is my original work and story. The second story - involving the website - would pick up where "Haunted Zelda Cartridge" left off. However, it obviously isn't completed and may seem too "out of place" for people to really get the whole picture, thus subject to a lot of "jumping the shark" claims. I know that there were some of the original fans who weren't happy with the direction it went in after the website came out and that it seemed like two different concepts entirely - they were, but I feel had this thing run its course the way I intended those same people may see the "second part" of the story in a new light. This explaination will not do it justice, but perhaps clears things up as to what my overall goal was:
The story was just as much of an experiment to me as it was an adventure for you guys. Being new at this genre, I wanted to try and bring a new kind of feel to the standard "creepy" stories; one that had to do with shattering the fourth wall and that sense of security. When you read a scary story, there's no doubt that it can be creepy, but in the back of your mind you know you're safe behind your computer screen on the internet connected to millions of other people. You've used the internet for years and you know how it works inside and out - and as a result you have this built up sense of security because of how familiar it is. I attempted to shatter that "fourth wall" with BEN. I wanted to write a story that involved the reader so they would feel more connected to the story. The biggest example of this is the big reveal at the end of TheTruth.rtf where the reader suddenly realizes that BEN has not only tricked the protagonist, but the reader as well, making them personally feel betrayed and uneasy at the same time. Obviously Cleverbot isn't haunted, but the way it works is that if a bunch of people start chatting with it saying specific words, the program will notice a pattern and start to associate them together, making it a perfect choice for leaving that lingering doubt of "what if?", especially now that BEN has leaked out into the internet and could theoretically control exactly what you're reading now. Maybe he just wants you to think this was all fake so you stop worrying about it and continue on with your normal lives. Probably not.
As I played with the concept of having the reader become more and more involved, the story sort of evolved into an Alternate Reality Game. I had always admired the unique sense of impending disaster and the three day concept in the videogame, and I wanted to take Majora's Mask and incorporate it into reality without copy/pasting it, which would make it lose all sense of believability. Instead, I opted for a more "modern" take, on how Majora's Mask would be if it happened in real life - there would be no goofy giant moon with a nasty face on it, there would be no floating mask that can possess said moon, etc. Instead there was a cult worshipping a moon that is destined to fall, a hero from another world, an evil entity that has crossed over into another dimension (Majora into Termina, similiar to BEN's entrance into the real world), a three day time cycle, as well as other parallels that would have become available further in the story. I wanted to capture and recreate the same feelings that we all got when we were playing Majora's Mask for the first time as kids. That feeling when you first went back in time, realizing that everyone else was oblivious, that was something that I wanted to try and bring to life. After that, with new knowledge of the events that will unfold, you then set out to change what was about to transpire.
I eventually introduced a "Link" to the viewers, with a second Youtube account, and my idea was to have him decide what kind of actions he'd take based on reponse videos. These response videos would require the user to boot up their own copy of Zelda and preform an action, not only making them feel more apart of the story, but directly in control of it. The viewers now served as Link's guide - or Navi as it was in the game. The main example of this is how Link is killed because of a bad video response on Youtube to a video put up by Jadusable (an incorrect song played). Link then posts a video on his account of the game over screen and nothing more. Yet not even 30 minutes later another user records a video - without any hints from me whatsoever - of him playing HIS Zelda game and releasing a fairy (which revives the player if killed) - which prompted me to revive Link and continue as him. This was only the beginning of what I originally had in mind - Link was the only person who could save our reality despite him being in a completely different dimension, but the players could dictate his actions. So in a sense, they were the guide, yet they were also the actual "player" controlling Link. I'm not going to reveal entirely what would have happened to the main characters or the plot, because I do intend to pick it up again some day and continue this.
I'm still experimenting, but I feel like the genre of "ARGs" is something that should be explored more often; the level of interactivity between the viewers and the creators gives the story a much more "personal" feel. I really hope that we see a rise of them in the coming years - if one single busy college student like me got this far - with an actual team the sky's the limit. The one major issue that I've noticed though, is fraud - no matter how many times I'd subtly try and remind my viewers "in character" that the only people they should be taking information as canon are accounts/websites linked to the original Jadusable Youtube account, every time some new guy claiming to either be a player in the story or be in contact with someone who is came to light, immediately people would swarm them and they'd end up throwing everyone else off because of bad information. I suppose I can't blame them, some of them were pretty damn convincing with their explainations of how they got into the story.
I expect that some of you are pissed now, and I can completely understand why - I can't tell you how much it kills me to have to cut it short like this because I know I'm letting you guys down, but hopefully you can see it from my perspective. I would like to thank my fans - it's because of your support that has motivated me to get this far. If I had it my way, it wouldn't end like this, believe me. But I'm still amazed at how big this has all gotten - its really surreal browsing the internet and seeing an article about something you've written up on Digg, Kotaku, and what-have-you, or overhearing a conversation in class and doing a double-take when you realize what they're talking about.
I would also like to extend an apology to a certain message board who has literally been taken over by people analyzing, exchanging theories, and discussing all aspects of what all this could mean or what the next move is. Haha, I'm sure there are quite a few people who can't wait until this is all over so things can go back to their regularly scheduled programming. Not too much longer.
I am going to leave the website up, but modify it so that it now serves as an archive of the story, and include a timeline of events (I know a few members have been keeping a record, if you could forward that to me at the address below when it's done that'd be much appreciated). Unfortunately being as broke as I am, I don't have the funds to maintain the website for very long, and donations would be appreciated just for the sake of keeping the website up as an archive for future viewers, otherwise the website will probably have to be taken down by the end of the month. If you are legitmently interested in making a donation to help host, there is a donate link at the top of this page. Don't feel obligated at all - knowing that I've kept you guys entertained all this time and provided something fun is reward enough, as lame as that sounds.
As I said before, this has been an experiment, and I've learned a lot of lessons from this for the future, and this is something that I would very much love to do again if given the resources. But, just know that this isn't the end.
If you need to get in contact with me or write me a nasty letter, my email is jadusable@youshouldnthavedonethat.net
Thanks again guys, it's been a wild ride. Loved every single second of it.
Jadusable
?
October 4, 2010
The Truth was one of five pages, each in the header of the site, found to contain hidden text in its description on October 4. Together, they read:
- Chapters: "https://"
- The Truth: "WHAT"
- FAQ: "IS"
- Donate: "Not so fast."
- ARG Timeline: ".com"
FAQ
- Page title: FAQ
- Page description: FAQ (original) / IS (after October 4) / This could come in handy later (after January 1)
- Audio: N/A
- Banner: moon banner6 192.jpg
The FAQ page was added to the header's directory after the site was restructured, but no text appeared on it initially.
September 20, 2010
The page was completely blank.
October 4, 2010
FAQ was one of five pages, each in the header of the site, found to contain hidden text in its description on October 4. Together, they read:
- Chapters: "https://"
- The Truth: "WHAT"
- FAQ: "IS"
- Donate: "Not so fast."
- ARG Timeline: ".com"
January 1, 2011
The description was changed once again, this time to, "This could come in handy later." In bold, black text, "If you are looking for a clue, this isn't it." was added to the main body of the page.
Donate
- Page title: Donate (original) / Chapter Index (after 9/22)
- Page description: Donate page (original) / Not so fast. (after October 4)
- Audio: N/A
- Banner: 9857865167 53Dkx.jpg
The Donate page was added to the site on September 20. It contained a short message of thanks and a PayPal link.
September 20
The Donate page contained the following text, followed by a PayPal button:
- Click the button below to donate via Paypal to help towards my next expansive project for your guys' entertainment. Please do not feel obligated in any way to donate, any little bit helps out for paying for the costs.
Again, thank you for being so supportive - I could not have gotten this far without it.
October 4
Donate was one of five pages, each in the header of the site, found to contain hidden text in its description on October 4. Together, they read:
- Chapters: "https://"
- The Truth: "WHAT"
- FAQ: "IS"
- Donate: "Not so fast."
- ARG Timeline: ".com"
ARG Timeline
- Page title: ARG Timeline
- Page description: ARG Timeline (original) / .com (after October 4)
- Audio: N/A
The ARG Timeline page was added on September 22. It contained an edited early version of the Moon Children Arc timeline written for the Jadusable Wiki.
September 22, 2010
The page contained the following:
This is a continuation (or part 2, rather) of the "Haunted Game Cartridge" story. if you haven't read the first part, you can do so here. Spoilers ahead for part 1:
After The Truth document was released there was no word from Jadusable or BEN. Viewers nervously awaited what would happen or if there were any repercussions to opening The Truth document, which was widely believed to unleash BEN out into the internet. The following is a modified timeline created by the people over at the fan Wikipedia (used for keeping track of theories and storing information) of the events as they occured in real-time.
- A few coded messages were left on Jadusable's 'recent activity' log on Youtube. Immediately they were run through ciphers by viewers to crack.
- The codes were revealed to be the following hints - the phrases "think about it" and ".net" translated.
- Finally a coded url linking to an ancient tech support forum - http://www.showeq.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-3355.html here.
- Of the link given, there are two things that stand out: The .net structure and someone saying "you shouldn't have done that" as part of an answer to a tech support problem.
- Two and two were quickly put together and a new site was discovered: http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/
- At first it seems like an innocent cultist site (well, as innocent as a cultist website could be). It was a simple layout with seven tabs - Theories, The Truth, About, Contact Us (with a subpage called Press Room), Creed, Search, and Home.
- Creed was a page that talked about various chants that they would do and had the dialogue for them (creepy stuff). Apparently they use masks as some kind of ritual ceremony.
- About just listed the four active moderators, including their likes/dislikes and personal info. No email addresses though.
- Theories was just standard apocalypse theories. Apparently they want to bring the end of the world or something.
- Contact Us had this weird page that was basically a form where you'd submit your name, phone number, etc, so they could "set up an appointment" for you to become one of them.
- Users who tried to access The Truth page were met with a login screen. Exhausting every password/username combination they could think of, they were left wondering what was so important to password protect.
Past this point, viewers reportedly started to see things - references.
- The first reference is the most blatant, the cult is devoted to the moon, and there are children in the moon in the actual Majora's Mask game.
- One user noticed the bookmark icon - which was a small graphic of Majora's Mask, dropping the hint that there was definately more to this website than meets the eye.
- All of the banner images at the top of the different pages were references to areas in Majora's Mask: Swamp, Mountain, Sea, Canyon, City, Apocalypse. Then users began to notice the creepy stuff.
- The home page acted as a sort of "forum" for various moderators of the cult that were setting up the website at the time. They were talking amongst themselves and there were posts about certain areas that were updated and such. A moderator named Nekko talks about ascending and how he can't wait to do it, users are interpretting this as some kind of cult suicide but nothing confirmed yet, Nekko's postings just... end.
- In the middle of the conversation between "DuskWorld23" and another moderator named "Nekko", there was an out of place post by a user simply called "DROWNED" - his avatar was a man with a gas mask extending his hand towards you. His post simply said "You shouldn't be reading this", as if talking directly to the viewer themselves. If his avatar was moused over, it would suddenly change to a picture of the Elegy statue staring at the reader for a brief moment, then return to DROWNED's original avatar.
- On the About page, Rosa is mentioned in a special thanks list. Rosa is a character from Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and is featured in a video on Jadusable's account, mentioned in TheTruth.rtf. She talks cryptically about the future. The video was posted one year ago. Tags on the video reference the BEN videos.
- The Prototype video also has some importance. It too has related tags. Prototype's main character is called Alex after the blackout. On the Main Page, it's mentioned that Alex has gone missing after the Blackout.
- If you right click the banner on the Search page and go to the image properties, there is associated text: "Do you honestly think you can escape me?"
- In the source code for The Truth login page, there's the text: "It's what they DON'T want you to know"
- On the Press Room page, there's hidden text found if you select everything: "Like little lambs. The man is smiling."
- On the Theories page, there's the usual doomsday theories, and one unique, original one, featuring a 'Kelbris.' More on that later.
- On the Guestbook on the main page, there are some posts from some 'cultists' that were there already when the site went live. One asks for an admin to check the Contact Us page, saying something is not right about it.
- There's nothing wrong with the contact page itself, but users did some guesswork by inputting random URLs after "contact/"
- http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/ben/ This was the first discovered.
- BEN's contact page was a countdown to 'The Fourth Day.' The countdown has several hours left, ending at around this time tomorrow. Wonder what it could mean? Kind of a reference to the last video Jadusable posted, stating that 'The Counter Resets.' The music is a Reversed Happy Mask Salesman's Theme, which was featured in the second video.
- http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/drowned/ The next one found was this.
- It's a clear reference to the Giants of Majora's Mask. The coded text on the title reads: "MY EYES... THEY TOOK... MY EYES..." The music is a Reversed Ikana Canyon Theme, which was featured in the first video.
- And of note is the image's filename. It's 'Kelbris.jpg'. According to the lore on the Theories page, Kelbris was the first "Moon Child", having been whispered to by Luna (the moon) herself. So these people apparently think that the moon whispers to them and instructs them somehow? anyone verify?
- Kelbris was said to have been found electrocuted in the lore of the "Theories" page. I don't know if this is of any signifigance, but Link was electrocuted a bunch of times in the first video, as well as exploding into flames.
- No one's been able to crack the login. Reports indicate it might be fake, leading nowhere.
- And that's all that's been discovered about the site, as of Sep 17th, 3AM EST
- Two hours before the countdown was to finish, a new page on the site showed up: http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/ifrit/ asking "Should you know what question to ask, the gate to truth will be opened:" Ifrit's email, ifritmoon@gmail.com, was hidden there. People began mass emailing Ifrit in hopes to get some answers.
- People asking about Ben were told that he had ascended, and his body was never found.
- People asking about the two contact pages were told that Ifrit would get a 404 whenever he tried to look at them, meaning that only the viewers could see them.
- People asking about Rosa were told that she was his sister.
- People asking about Alex were told that he was missing since the "blackout". What is this blackout?
- People asking about what Majora's Mask had to do with anything were told 'nothing. why?'
- Of note is that Ifrit's real name on the About page is listed as Rodney R., in the emails it was Matt HUBRIS.
- When the counter reached one hour left, the main page updated with a new song playing in the background, a faster version of the reversed Happy Mask Salesman's Theme, and Drowned's post dissapeared from the page. People who looked at the source code saw that the song was called "Matt's Final Hour.mp3".
- As the counter neared the end, the people still emailing Ifrit were met answered with 'hang on someone keeps knocking at my door'
- And then... Nothing.
- Nothing's happened yet, as of 8:50PM EST, aside from the site itself breaking.
- Jadusable's account has posted an excrept of lyrics from WHO'S THAT KNOCKIN' by The Genies. A reference, perhaps, to the people knocking on Ifrit's door.
-At 9PM EST, a video response to FREE.wmv was posted, called fj6rt, by TheMissingLink, real name according to the Youtube page: Alex.
- fj6rt was at the title of Ifrit's contact page when it was up. The title of the page has since changed to the url for the video response. The video features Adult Link in Ocarina of Time playing the Song of Time in front of the Moon.
- If this is to be believed that we're playing the game this closely, then the Song of Time takes us back three days...
- Jadusable makes a repeat posting on a forum, posting the exact same thing he did three days ago (which was TheTruth.rtf and the words "Honesty is the best policy").
- http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/ went down for maintenance. Just checked myself, this confirms that we've gone back in time - the website doesn't exist yet.
- Everyone in the chatrooms and IRC are freaking out right now. We've essentially been "sent back in time", but this time we have to do things right, just like in the game.
- http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/ is back up, the next day afternoon. It's in an early state, as it appeared before. However, there is no sign of Ifrit posting in the discussion as he did originally, and the About Us page doesn't list Ifrit at all. DROWNED is no where to be found in the discussion, very mysterious.
- However, http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/ifrit/ looks different. The Elegy statue stares at you, repeated three times, while the Skull Kid laugh is heard in the background. Text says, "Expecting to find someone else?"
- Ifrit is likely dead. Which presents the theory that the four "giants", once killed, do not travel back in time with us. So then what is our goal here?
- http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/contact/ifrit/alex is discovered. The page says "another who knows of them, chooses.... mask.... sends aid.... fallen.... vehement.....diety.... he is alone against them"
- The Truth page of the website has changed, apparently we've gone far back enough before it was password protected by the staff. It says, "Still in the progress of moving everything over, sorry for the delay. But it is imperative we find him and silence him before he can reveal our intentions. Also, I can't figure out how to make this private, we've got about two days or so before we open up this website to the world so I figure it'll be okay for now, not like anyone can stumble upon this, but can someone help out with that? - DW"
- Ifrit's post is missing from the front page (It was the oldest post, so it's not a case of it not being added yet.) This further adds to the fact that Ifrit is either dead or missing because of what happened before the time reset.
- This being Day One, and not Day Two, Nekko has not ascended (read: been sacrificed) yet. Are we meant to save him this time? A lot of people are coming up with theories on why Chris should be saved.
- The "Creed" page is investigated for clues, as Duskworld mentions many typos. Several typos are found, possibly a hint, since a letter "y" is intentionally bolded. Nobody was able to figure it out, however.
- Nothing else new is discovered today, we will have to wait for them to continue updating the website it seems, but this time we'll do things different.
- On a whim, a user video responds on Youtube to free.wmv with the Song of Time reversed. This is accepted as a response, which evidently has the in-game effect of slowing time.
- Ben responded to this by posting a ciphered message, saying "You have learned something new. How long until your blessing becomes a curse?", likely referring to our newfound knowledge that we can play songs to trigger events. THAT must be the trick here. Immediately we all begin looking up what the songs do and their meanings.
- Once it is discovered that other songs work, people respond with other songs, including New Wave Bossa Nova, Song of Healing, and the Oath to Order.
- The Song of Healing was played by HigurashiMGOST is response to BEN.wmv. This caused a new post to appear on YSHDT.net, in the discussion where Duskworld and Nekko talk about Nekko's ascension. The avatar was the image of the distorted Kelbris, with the name "WHO DO YOU THINK THIS IS" and text announcing that he would be knocking on your door next, and he had something he wanted to talk about.
- New Wave Bossa Nova was played by MFGreth , in the game it gives people who can't speak a voice, and it was played with the intention of unsilencing Ifrit. It got accepted and Ifrit was able to be contacted once again.
- A viewer got ahold of Matt Hubris (aka Ifrit), however it turned out to be Rosa, who asked about Matt, as she hadn't seen him. She said that something happened during the blackout, and then said that something was counting down at her door. The viewer paniced, and after a bit of debate in chat a user named Miya played the Song of Time by uploading it as a video response, and it was later accepted, resetting the clock again, pushing everyone back.
- The Oath to Order was played as well, but since we do not have all 4 giants yet, it was too early, which Alex was quick to let us know know. This may also have killed Alex. It is hard to tell.
- After this, Jadusable changed the video tags on the Rosa video to *You *Didn't *Save *Her. Other tags were changed to *Rosa *Trapped on other videos. This could very well mean that Rosa was killed because we waited too long to play the Song of Time.
- Around this time, Alex posted a video of link being killed by dark link, with the title "..." (most likely due to someone uploading the Song of Healing as a video response - which in the past has caused Link to end up dead, so not really sure why the user did that) MFGreth responded with a video of link using a fairy, which revived Alex. Shit just got real.
- Somebody responded to Jadusable with the Song of Awakening.
- In response to this, Jadusable posted "huntyoudown.wmv" which featured dark link walking around in the area where Alex had died. He slowly walked around the room and out the exit, pulling out Navi at the end. This might be a hint.
- The same idiot who posted the Song of Awakening also posted a video of link fighting and defeating dark link. Not sure if it will be accepted.
- As of 2:30 AM PST on Sept 20th, we are a few hours into Day 1 (due to Miya's Song of Time).
- The ARG has ended indefinitely. Jadusable claims he is unable to finish due to financial reasons. The full post can be found on the main page of youshouldnthavedonethat.net
October 4, 2010
ARG Timeline was one of five pages, each in the header of the site, found to contain hidden text in its description on October 4. Together, they read:
- Chapters: "https://"
- The Truth: "WHAT"
- FAQ: "IS"
- Donate: "Not so fast."
- ARG Timeline: ".com"
January 1, 2011
On January 1, the page's description was removed and the phrase, "Pyrrhic prophecy is hinted at" was added to the timeline, one line above the phrase, " In response to this, Jadusable posted "huntyoudown.wmv" which featured dark link walking around in the area where Alex had died. He slowly walked around the room and out the exit, pulling out Navi at the end. This might be a hint."
January 5, 2011
The pyrrhic prophecy line was removed early on January 5.
Guestbook
- Page title: Haunted Majora's Mask :: Guestbook
- Page description: Neeto speedo! We just rebuilt our site in record time and now we can easily change EVERYTHING.
- Audio: N/A
- Banner: inneroptics_dot_net_canyonlands.jpg
The Guestbook page was added on September 20, and initially contained nothing. The guestbook was moved to this page on September 21. The page was hidden from normal view, but users were able to access it via URL manipulation.
The page contained the following text, followed by the guestbook:
- We're happy to see you here.
Leave your mark here by signing our guestbook.
The Glitch pages
The Glitch is an event that occurred on October 6, 2010 in which the Home and FAQ pages changed in ways that hinted toward the existence of hidden files within the site. This resulted in the discovery of 63 files, varying in degrees of importance.
Home
The Home page's contents were entirely removed. In its place was an image of an elephant-shaped gas mask, labeled Eyes.jpg. Above the mask in small, black text was the following:
- It's not real It's not real It's not real It's not real It's not real It's not real It's not real It's not real It's not real
Below the image was the following cipher:
- UJQ XGJXDIYEXYGXGJZAE. UJQXKXDIYEKYOJZAE. UZAE. SGK JQ SOO ITSYGJQNJAJMNR
This cipher has never been solved. However, portions of the final group of letters contained links to hidden files:
- JAJM contained a link to the 49th hidden file, a text document titled "FSZTKU.txt" that reads, "You didn't think I was done with you. Did you? You are done playing when I say you are done playing."
- N contained a link to the 50th hidden file, a text document titled "TheLie.txt" that reads, "This is just a dream."
- R contained a link to the 51st hidden file, a text document titled "TheTruth.txt" that reads, "Wake up. You have to wake up."
The latter two files were password-protected. The password for both of them was "BEN".
These links led to the discovery of 63 total hidden files, some of which also required passwords.
After around an hour and a half, the page updated with three consecutive phrases under the "Latest News" section.
- The first read, "You are waking up now. 13 minutes.
- Eight minutes later, it was joined by, "You are waking up now. 5 minutes."
- Five minutes later, the final message: "Pulling the plug."
Moments later, the site reverted to how it appeared on September 20.
FAQ
The FAQ page, which was empty except for its banner, had its banner replaced by a black image titled "nowyou.jpg". Upon hovering over it, a close-up cropped version of Kelbris.jpg titled "trapped.jpg" appeared. In the background, a short clip of someone whispering "Help me, please, you have to help me" played, titled "unintelligible.mp3".
This page reverted to its original state soon afterward.
Notes
TBA
