Pony Island is a video game developed and published by Canadian indie developer Daniel Mullins. As a metafictional game, the game has the player interact with what appears to be an old arcade cabinet game called 'Pony Island'. The player soon discovers the game is corrupted by Lucifer himself, who is trying to claim the player's soul for itself. The player is aided by the soul of a previous player who helps the player access Pony Island's internal programming to get around the traps left by Lucifer and save not only their soul, but the many tormented souls that are trapped within the game's code.

Gameplay[edit]

Directed by Simon Jenkins, Daniel Mullins. Pony Island is a suspense puzzle game in disguise. You are in limbo, trapped in a malevolent and malfunctioning arcade machine devised by the devil himself. Pony Island is a suspense puzzle game in disguise. You are in limbo, trapped in a malevolent and malfunctioning arcade machine devised by the devil himself.

Pony Island is presented as a crude arcade game. It is primarily a point-and-click style adventure game, frequently referencing other user-interface metaphors, such as a simulated operating system. The player must explore the internal programming of the 'Pony Island' arcade game in order to progress. At times, the player must play 'Pony Island', a type of endless runner game with shoot 'em up elements, guiding a pony character through a grassy valley, avoiding obstacles and shooting enemies that might attack it. The 'programming' of 'Pony Island', as well as of the operating system, may be accessed by clicking on 'portals' that appear on the screen, presenting the player with simplified pseudocode along with one or more boxes and visual instruction commands, such as 'move down', 'move left' or 'repeat'. On these screens, the player will be required to reorder the visual instructions as to modify how the 'programming' will execute. This will either bypass any 'corruptions' in the game's code, or in some cases 'cheat' (for example raising their experience points) the game, in order to progress. The person that the player talks to within the game on messenger creates portals to the core files, of which can be interacted with. In one part of the game, there are 4 people, including the player: The Devil ('1U©iF#r'), CORRUPTED, h0peles$0ul, and you, Guest.

1. Pony Island is a video game developed and published by Canadian indie developer Daniel Mullins. As a metafictional game, the game has the player interact with what appears to be an old arcade cabinet game called Pony Island.Pony Island is presented as a crude arcade game.
2. High quality Pony Island gifts and merchandise. Inspired designs on t-shirts, posters, stickers, home decor, and more by independent artists and designers from around the world. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours.
3. Pony Island Wikia is a collaborative database dedicated to the indie puzzle game Pony Island. Pony Island is an indie puzzle game made by Daniel Mullins in 2016. You play as Theodore, who is stuck in limbo. The devil has trapped you and many other souls in a game about ponies!

Development[edit]

Prior to working on Pony Island, Daniel Mullins had just graduated from college and attempted to launch a game, Catch Monsters through Kickstarter during November 2014, but failed to raise sufficient funds, and instead found a programming job though still wanted to develop games.^[1]

Pony Island was primarily developed during the 48-hour Ludum Daregame jam in December 2014, in which the theme was 'Entire Game On One Screen'. The game placed high in both the Ludum Dare's Mood and Humor categories, and was featured in Zoe Quinn's top 10 games of 2014.^[2] Inspired by the positive reception, Mullins prepared the game on his off time from his job for release through Steam Greenlight, and subsequently published the game in January 2016.^[3]

Mullins wanted to create a game that defied players' expectations from standard game interfaces, and 'flipping them upside down'.^[4] Mullins had been intrigued with games that are 'dark and mysterious', but also wanted to create something that felt like it was not meant to be played.^[5] Part of this last goal was accomplished by minimizing the amount of instruction that the game provided, particularly once the player began to reveal the internal code workings, but built these systems on familiar interfaces so that the player would have intuition on what to do.^[5] For example, in the pseudo-code sections of the game, he found that adding iconography for locks and keys for the commands the players could manipulate helped them to understand how to interact with the code without direct instruction.^[5] At the same time, Mullins wrote the language of the pseudocode to make the programming commands seem ominous as to make the player seem like they were 'toying with a system that [one] may not fully understand'.^[5] Mullins also built in fake error screens and messages through the Steam software that appeared to come from the player's friends, to further the unease that he wanted the players to feel while playing the game.^[5]

Mullins attributed part of the game's success to popular streamer PewDiePie, who had early on asked Mullins if he could post a Let's Play of Pony Island. Mullins believed this helped him to get the game voted on by players for Steam Greenlight.^[1]

Reception[edit]

Pony Island has generally been well received by critics, praising it for being a metafiction on the nature of video games.^{[7][11][12][8][13][9]} The game holds an aggregated score of 86/100 on Metacritic based on 29 critic reviews. IGN awarded it a score of 9.0 out of 10, saying 'Pony Island is a punk rock experiment in storytelling and game design that delights in toying with the player.'^[8] Lizzy Finnegan of The Escapist compared the experience of playing Pony Island as what it might have been like playing Polybius, an urban legend of a video game cabinet used for mind control experiments, and is 'psychological horror done so incredibly right'.^[14]

On the success of Pony Island, Mullins announced his next game The Hex for a planned early 2017 release, but since was pushed to release on October 16, 2018.^[1]The Hex, like Pony Island, is a meta-fictional game where the player takes the role of an innkeeper to solve a murder mystery where the suspects are characters that represent specific video game genres.^[15]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcTaylor, Haydn (August 1, 2018). 'From failed Kickstarter to career-defining success: The story of Pony Island'. GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
2. ^Quinn, Zoe (December 30, 2014). 'Zoe Quinn's Top 10 Games of 2014'. Giant Bomb. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
3. ^Ahern, Colm (January 20, 2016). 'Podcast 20/10/16 – My Little Pony'. God is a Geek. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
4. ^Muncy, Jake (January 18, 2016). 'The Best New Videogames Are All About … Videogames'. Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
5. ^ ^abcdeCouture, Joel (January 27, 2016). 'How Pony Island teaches players to break a game'. Gamasutra. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
6. ^'Pony Island Critic Reviews for PC'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
7. ^ ^abDale, Laura Kate (January 10, 2016). 'Review: Pony Island'. Destructoid. ModernMethod. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
8. ^ ^abcShae, Cam (January 18, 2016). 'Pony Island Review'. IGN. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
9. ^ ^abMorrison, Angus (January 22, 2016). 'Pony Island review'. PC Gamer. Future US. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
10. ^George, Luke (January 15, 2016). 'Review: Pony Island'. Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
11. ^Signal, Jesse (January 15, 2016). 'A strange trip to 'Pony Island''. The Boston Globe. Boston Globe Media Partners. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
12. ^Fahey, Mike (January 5, 2016). 'Pony Island Is One Seriously Twisted Game'. Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
13. ^Hoggins, Tom (January 21, 2016). 'Pony Island review: 'devilishly smart''. The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
14. ^Finnegan, Lizzy (January 27, 2016). 'Pony Island is the Closest We've Come to a Real Life Polybius'. The Escapist. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
15. ^Matulef, Jeffrey (July 8, 2016). 'Pony Island dev announces murder mystery The Hex'. Eurogamer. Retrieved July 8, 2016.

External links[edit]

The wild ponies are Ocracoke's favorite residents.

Seven miles north of Ocracoke village is a 188-acre plot of land, which is lined with and divided into sections by a wood fence. Behind the wooden fence live sixteen Ocracoke Banker ponies, descendants of Spanish mustangs who were shipwrecked just off-shore several hundred years ago. The shipwrecks occurred up and down the barrier islands along the East Coast, and in some places the descendants still roam freely.

The Ocracoke Ponies have a more detailed, different story.

Prior to 1846, Bodie Island, Hatteras Island, and Ocracoke Island were all connected. During the 1500’s, 1600’s, and 1700’s European explorers sailed to North America, establishing colonies in the New World. With them the colonists brought food, clothing, other supplies, and, in many cases, livestock. Many ships ran aground just off-shore of the barrier islands, and in an effort to lighten the load and free the ship from sandbars in shallow water, heavy items were tossed overboard. In 1585, the English ship Tiger (while searching for what is known as The Lost Colony) ran aground near Ocracoke Island. Many believe Sir Richard Grenville, the captain, unloaded his Spanish mustangs onto the island to lessen the weight of his vessel. This is supposedly when the once tame horses adapted to their new, unfamiliar environment and became wild.

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Documentation shows horses have without a doubt been on Ocracoke Island since the 1730’s, when Europeans first created a settlement. Records indicate as many as 300 horses roamed the Ocracoke area at one time. Many horses, through shipwrecks and load-lightening, ended up inhabiting the Outer Banks, roaming freely around the long ribbon of sand.

A massive hurricane in 1846 changed the geography of the Outer Banks, carving Hatteras and Oregon inlets, but the ponies remained. As more people began to settle on the islands, they began incorporating the ponies into their lives. By having the ponies pull carts loaded with heavy cargo, supplies, and large catches of fish, transporting goods became easier and more efficient. Later, the United States Lifesaving Service (U.S.L.S.S.) used the wild ponies for general beach patrols, as well as a way to carry equipment to and from shipwrecks, plus haul salvaged goods from shipwrecks back to the villages. During the Second World War, the United States Coast Guard (U.S.C.G.) had a small herd of ponies which they used to conduct beach patrols, searching for German u-boats that were patrolling the East Coast, just off the Outer Banks.

After the war, many Ocracoke residents began staking claim on some of the wild ponies. Annually, on the Fourth of July, residents would ride to the north of Ocracoke, and drive the ponies into the village where they would be temporarily penned. Once in the pens the ponies would be sorted, and any new ones were branded. From there some were broken for personal use around the village, while others were sold. The rest were returned to their wild habitat and the pens were taken down until the next year.

As recently as the 1950’s, the Ocracoke ponies served another unique purpose. The Ocracoke Boy Scouts, who are still an active organization on the island, cared for the ponies. The Troop had the distinction of being the only mounted troop in the country, a distinction they held for several years.

Highway 12 was paved in 1957, and as a result of increased vehicle traffic, ponies were being injured and killed. The ponies were also over-grazing, and in response to that factor and the increasing traffic accidents, a law was passed in 1959 to permanently pen Ocracoke’s Banker ponies. They have remained penned since, and have been cared for by the National park Service since the early 1960’s.

The current herd has sixteen members, one of whom was born in February of 2015. On top of their obvious natural appeal and fascinating history, the Ocracoke Banker ponies have different physical characteristic from their wild counterparts. They have a different number of vertebrae and ribs (much like Spanish mustangs), plus they are shaped differently, have different coloring, are generally smaller in size, and weigh less than other horses. They are currently cared for by Laura Michaels, a National Park Service employee, who holds the position of Wrangler/Animal Caretaker, and a handful of volunteers.

During severe weather events, Laura makes sure the ponies are fed and safe. The ponies are not locked in their barns during severe weather, which allows them to roam around their pastures and take care of themselves and each other. Laura assesses any damages to the barns, fences, mangers, and utilities once the weather clears. She is also responsible for training the volunteers who feed the ponies, as well as general maintenance around the pasture and keeping an eye on the health of each pony.

Pony Island Wiki

The National Park Service created the “Adopt-a-Pony” program, allowing anyone to figuratively adopt ponies from the herd. Each adoption fee of $25.00 goes directly to the Ocracoke herd and is used to purchase food, supplies, and provide medical care.

Pony Island Hotel On Ocracoke Island Nc