VIDEO 1

iWantToBelieve: ok ok ok
SO

uMad:omg how is teh quality this shitty
what even is this audio lulz

iWantToBelieve: would you let me FINISH
SO
this is the only copy i could find of the stream

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Man when Parker-senpai snipes someone he really goes hard, huh?

asinineAssasin: Could we *please* not talk about two conspiracy theories at once? I have a big enough headache as it is...

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Sorry -_-;;

iWantToBelieve: THANK you AA
AS I WAS SAYING
the original stream got taken down
and we should be GRATEFUL that some rando had a screen capture archived

asinineAssasin: Not to rain on your parade, but without audio...and without a good enough resolution to actually read anything...
I'm not sure, exactly, what you're hoping to prove to us?
uMad: uh did anyone else see that?
hatsuneMikuFan1997: See what?
<_<
>_>

uMad: nvm probably just a glitch or something

iWantToBelieve: look, i dunno what to tell yall
this is what we have
maybe it clears up later on
IN ANY CASE
miku
you were saying in the server you had never heard about this creepy pasta?

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Nope!

asinineAssasin: Here we go, again.

iWantToBelieve: SO
theres this game
Zampanio
that PROBABLY doesn't exist
lots of impossible stuff is claimed about it

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Like what?

iWantToBelieve: doesn't matter
whats IMPORTANT is

asinineAssasin: Oh, no, no, no.
You tell her about your precious 'rumors'.”

iWantToBelieve: a;ksjdf;ajkdf
will you all just let me SPEAK?
fiiiine
weird stuff like it predates PONG
and if you try to talk about it either you vanish, or what you said does

asinineAssasin: As you see, strictly credible rumors.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Scary... @_@

uMad: sus

iWantToBelieve: LIKE i said, not important
what IS important
is this guy claims he got a copy
tho like
screenshots of the comments section say he just found some kind of fan work
and then the stream gets taken down
and no one ever hears from him again

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Parker senpai works fast ^_^

uMad: wut

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Parker-senpai! This streamer guy was REALLY mean to him and we aaaaaallll know what happens to people mean to our Precious Cinnamon Bun~!

iWantToBelieve: right
thats part of it
theres this entire niche like
community of streamers theres weird rumors about
sometimes people accuse them of being associated with Zampanio
or of like
'disappearing' the people who find it?
POINT is
cuz the guy used his real name
after a while of him being afk
someone found a newspaper article in their home town about this dude
same name
who was found with a gunshot wound in his shoulder
completely non-responsive
with the most terrified look on his face
apparently the only thing he says anymore is
'zampanio is a really fun game. you should play it'

uMad: there it is again!

iWantToBelieve: mad!
can you pay ATTENTION
i'm trying to education you heathens

asinineAssasin: No, as much as it pains me to admit it, he's right.
I saw it too.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Is that it!?
I think I see it too

iWantToBelieve: ;alskjdfa;sjf
its over the stream ui too
does this mean this copy was messed with
to try to make it 'spookier'
see THIS is what makes it so hard being an internet historian
people
PEOPLE
should know better than to edit historical records!

asinineAssasin: So, to summarize.
You brought us here to 'prove' a fundamentally ridiculous claim.
And instead got us to watch a phenomenally boring amateur video fully illustrating how absolutely untrue all this 'Zampanio' b.s. is.
uMad: lulz
get wrecked

iWantToBelieve: sigh
yes
fine
laugh it up
guess this was a false alarm
go back to your everyday, mundane lives

hatsuneMikuFan1997: I dunno, I kinda like watching this with you guys ^_^
It's been too long since we've all hung out!

asinineAssasin: I'll admit a certain level of morbid fascination.
It's like a train wreck.
I don't want to look away from how thoroughly your claim has been debunked.

iWantToBelieve: look.
just because someone vandalized THIS video
doesn't mean that a real one isn't out there
i just have to find it

asinineAssasin: And prove what, exactly?

iWantToBelieve: i don't know!
i'm not an idiot, you know!
I don't think spooky magic games are real!
and i'm not gonna let it being 'gross' to check up on weird things like this
let some kinda murder cult get away with it!

uMad: u know
wouldn't it be funny if it were all 4 real?

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Don't say that!
Belief wouldn't put us in actual danger!

iWantToBelieve: thank you for the vote of confidence, miku
also
what the heck do SNAKES
have to do with zampanio?

asinineAssasin: You can kind of make out some of the words in the skill graph, I'm noting.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: ?

uMad: lulz
rage mode time

asinineAssasin: Well. That was certainly something.

VIDEO 2

iWantToBelieve: ok ok ok
SO

uMad: what even is this audio lulz

iWantToBelieve: would you let me FINISH
SO
this is the only copy i could find of the stream

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Man when Parker-senpai snipes someone he really goes hard, huh?

asinineAssasin: Could we *please* not talk about two conspiracy theories at once? I have a big enough headache as it is...

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Sorry -_-;;

iWantToBelieve: THANK you AA
AS I WAS SAYING
the original stream got taken down
and we should be GRATEFUL that some rando had a screen capture archived

asinineAssasin: At least there are subtitles.

uMad: uh did anyone else see that?

hatsuneMikuFan1997: See what?
<_<
>_>

uMad: nvm probably just a glitch or something

iWantToBelieve: look, i dunno what to tell yall
this is what we have
maybe it clears up later on
IN ANY CASE
miku
you were saying in the server you had never heard about this creepy pasta?

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Oh no, I do!
You told me before remember!
Zampanio is that game where if you even look at it you vanish forever, right? ^_^
See! I pay attention!

iWantToBelieve: huh
could have sworn i'd never told you

uMad: sus

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Like I wouldn't know EVERYTHING about Parker-senpai~!

uMad: wut

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Parker-senpai! This streamer guy was REALLY mean to him and we aaaaaallll know what happens to people mean to our Precious Cinnamon Bun~!

iWantToBelieve: right
thats part of it
they say that Parker guy kills anyone who finds Zampanio
kills or worse
or maybe that person or whatever who is always behind him???
POINT is
yeah
miku's right
they're saying Parker got this streamer guy
all because he uploaded this video
someone found a newspaper article in their home town about this dude
same name
who was found with a gunshot wound in his shoulder
completely non-responsive
with the most terrified look on his face
apparently the only thing he says anymore is
'zampanio is a really fun game. you should play it'

uMad: zampanio is a really fun game. you should play it.

iWantToBelieve: mad!
can you take things seriously for ONCE?
i'm trying to education you heathens

asinineAssasin: Actually, if I may interupt?
I think I saw that thing mad was talking about.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Is that it!?
I think I see it too

iWantToBelieve: ;alskjdfa;sjf
its over the stream ui too
does this mean this copy was messed with
to try to make it 'spookier'
see THIS is what makes it so hard being an internet historian
people
PEOPLE
should know better than to edit historical records!

asinineAssasin: So, to summarize.
You brought us here to 'prove' a fundamentally ridiculous claim.
And instead got us to watch a phenomenally boring amateur video fully illustrating how absolutely untrue all this 'Zampanio' b.s. is.

uMad: zampanio is a really fun game. you should play it.

iWantToBelieve: sigh
yes
fine
laugh it up
guess this was a false alarm
go back to your everyday, mundane lives

hatsuneMikuFan1997: I dunno, I kinda like watching this with you guys ^_^
It's been too long since we've all hung out!

asinineAssasin: I'll admit a certain level of morbid fascination.
It's like a train wreck.
I don't want to look away from how thoroughly your claim has been debunked.

iWantToBelieve: look.
just because someone vandalized THIS video
doesn't mean that a real one isn't out there
i just have to find it

asinineAssasin: And prove what, exactly?

iWantToBelieve: i don't know!
i'm not an idiot, you know!
I don't think spooky magic games are real!
and i'm not gonna let it being 'gross' to check up on weird things like this)
let some kinda murder cult get away with it!

uMad: zampanio is a really fun game. you should play it.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Stop fooling around!
This isn't FUNNY!

asinineAssasin: Miku, you of all peopel should know better than to give mad attention when he gets like this.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Yeah... I guess. -_-

uMad: zampanio is a really fun game. you should play it.

asinineAssasin: Well. That was certainly something.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Does anyone else feel like we've done this before?

VIDEO ???

asinineAssasin: Oh, look.
It's an actual train wreck.
How novel.
Belief, you take us to the nicest of places.

iWantToBelieve: oh RIGHT
because its my fault we're stuck here
when i want to warn people about spooky videos its all
'oh SHE'S unhinged, SHE believes in ALIENS'
'oh don't listen to HER'
but when we're ACTUALLY stuck in some kind of looping incorporeal video hell
THEN
its all
'she failed to WARN us'

iWantToBelieve: BULLSHIT.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Guys!
Please!
Stop fighting! T_T
That isn't making it any better!
And Belief!
You PROMISED you wouldn't swear anymore!

iWantToBelieve: sorry...

asinineAssasin: My apologies.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: And enough out of YOU!
Every ten seconds you
You
TROLL us!
STOP!

iWantToBelieve: miku...
I really don't think that's mad anymore...

hatsuneMikuFan1997: No!
No! Okay?
We are NOT being replaced with with with...

iWantToBelieve: shambling husks of our former selves

hatsuneMikuFan1997: THAT!
That's not happening!

asinineAssasin: As far as I can tell, the leading hypothesis are, in order of likelihood:
One of us in a dream and the others are mere figments of their imagination.
All of us are sharing a weird dream or otherwise scientific event together.
A supernatural occurrence has caught us, but mad has escaped, leaving behind only a strange replica. (In this case we should try to replicate his actions to escape as well).
A supernatural occurrence has caught us in some shallow way, but has caught mad in a deeper, more insidious way. (In this case we should try to avoid his actions to avoid falling further in).
Do I have that accurately?

iWantToBelieve: yeah
sure
just invert the order and you're golden

hatsuneMikuFan1997: I want to go home T_T

iWantToBelieve: AA i have to admit, i'm impressed
the fact that you STILL refuse to believe something spooky is going on
despite the fact that you've ADMITTED you don't have a body anymore either
10/10
real big brain of you

asinineAssasin: Do I then take it that all of your dreams make perfect sense? Fully embodied experience, hmm?

iWantToBelieve: they sure as heck ain't THIS
look
stop treating me like some crackpot kook
you've said it YOURSELF
if its dreams
all we can do is wait it out

iWantToBelieve: if its NOT
then we have a very important CHOICE to make
do we try to follow in mad's footsteps?
or try to find some other way out instead

asinineAssasin: I refuse to entertain the thought.
Also, that is an atrocious pun. I refuse to 'go mad'.

hatsuneMikuFan1997: What's the harm though?

asinineAssasin: I beg your pardon?

hatsuneMikuFan1997: If you're right, and it *is* a dream...
Then no one will ever know you were being silly and believing in scary things.
If it's not...
You might save all of our lives...

asinineAssasin: ...
What should I do, then?

iWantToBelieve: next time we're back in the part of the loop where mad is sane, we have to PAY ATTENTION
what is he doing before?
is it always the same point in time?

hatsuneMikuFan1997: But we can't do anything different back then -_-

iWantToBelieve: sure, we're stuck repeating the same chats
but we still are AWARE of the differences
and sometimes they're new loops
so we have to be prepared
next time we're free
we need to do something DIFFERENT

asinineAssasin: I really don't see how this could possibly make a difference.
However...
I do concede that it's better than lacking hope.
And if nothing else gives us something to talk about during the next fresh Loop.

VIDEO ????
iWantToBelieve: ok ok ok
SO
i think i got it
mad was the only one of us who posted an image
not
exactly sure where we're going to get one but
that might be the key

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Nooooo... T_T T_T T_T
T_T T_T T_T
T_T T_T T_T

iWantToBelieve: miku!
miku!
calm down
its okay
remember?
maybe that means AA got out

iWantToBelieve: okay?

hatsuneMikuFan1997: I wish i had eyes right now so I could cry >_<
I hate this stupid chat hell!!

iWantToBelieve: i know
believe me i know
we have to believe though
believe mad and AA got out
they're going for help right now

hatsuneMikuFan1997: Okay...
Okay
I'll try...

VIDEO ?????

iWantToBelieve: no new theories from me
miku, anything from you?)]),

iWantToBelieve: right
yeah
okay
this is fine
i'm glad they got out
if anything
this is great
so happy for them
guess

iWantToBelieve: guess it'll be me next huh
actually
um.
what is on screen right now?
what the hell?
oh
sorry miku
forgot about the whole swearing thing
no seriously

iWantToBelieve: thats US
that's us watching
we never watched that?
what...
look how happy we look
oh
huh
i'm not in there am i
just

iWantToBelieve: just everyone else
watching a lil movie
without
me
probably sending help as we speak
haha
yeah
yeah
once this loop ends

iWantToBelieve: i'll be free as a bird
boy i've learned my lesson
no more
no more digging into things
better left alone
no sirree
not for me
'zampanio, what zampanio' <-- me, once i get out of here
haha

iWantToBelieve: oh
oh its ending
well
uh
wish me luck

 

---

Comments

Guardaro “Hey, it looks like these video controls actually work! What happens if I skip around?”

…

“I immediately regret my decision.”

BE KING REWING

CooLguNxDD I wonder why the video works like a twitch stream. Not actually a game but it is fun to watch. The chat is generated so…… looks cool but repeated so many time. Nice work!

Ciolac Svetlana I like this

amarokczukay quite an interesting take for a game jam, well done!

Defrag Different than what I was expecting, so nice work there. What did you develop this in?

jadedResearcher @defrag plain old javascript, html and css for the ‘game’

the videos came from a combination of stable diffusion ai images in ‘loopback’ mode and my streams of my own zampanio fan work

Sturza Anzor Good work

stewthepoo What a super unique idea for a submission!

Guardaro @jadedresearcher What’s Zampanio?

Ayelen Maldonado That was weird but weird in a good way

jadedResearcher Eheheheheh Zampanio is my very favorite creepy pasta. TLDR probably a house of leaves rip off but for a video game. If you find it absolutely nothing at all spooky happens to you, you just get obsessed with it.

testsubject06 That was certainly an experience unlike anything I’ve ever played. It was like going into the rabbit hole of YouTube creepypastas, as one does, but as an external observer. What an unusual entry.

The ai generated distortion loops made the whole thing a surrealist nightmarescape.

I’m not even confident I’ve seen all of the content, because it feels like the content itself is actively avoiding being seen.

Loved it.

jadedResearcher @testsubject06 “I’m not even confident I’ve seen all of the content, because it feels like the content itself is actively avoiding being seen.”

You get it entirely! That’s the vibe I’ve tried to capture that I love so much about the Zampanio creepy pasta!

OnurY Very unique idea, good job!

Roitchie Please hug me I’m scared. Honestly a really great and unique idea. It really nailed the eerieness with the sound effects and vibe. And genuinely creeped me out.

Samuli Great piece of horror! At first I was clicking all the ui button and scrubbing the video back and forth to see if there is a game here somewhere, but I guess the game is just the one you created for the video.

monika Nice! I’ve always wondered what an unfiction / arg kind of thing would look like at a game jam scale, and you nailed it.

Pietrek A novel concept and actually creepy! I would love more interactiveness.

jadedResearcher “Nice! I’ve always wondered what an unfiction / arg kind of thing would look like at a game jam scale, and you nailed it.”

@monika Yesss, you get it exactly.

Matt Ravenhall Super spooky, I love it!

OddballDave W-w-what did I just play. Whatever it was I’m here for it. I’m not even sure how to critique it.

Good stuff :8ball:

 

---

Code notes

//TODO: make sure all assets are kept locally so when i upload it still works

//your soul will build your body into a home. /*

people are watching a "lets play" of zampanio.

every ten seconds theres a flash of an ai melted "BE KIND: REWIND"

they're discussing the 'rumors' about what happens to people who play zampanio. joking that its okay, they're only WATCHING someone play it.

actually did you here that they found the streamers comatose body in an alleyway somewhere?

in the console, truth is crooning to you. come. join.

dig a little deeper. what could it hurt?

if you rewind, the chat rewinds as well. they notice. you've caught them in a loop. if the video itself loops, too.

*/

/* multiple ways we could do this. the easiest is "when your time code hits, add yourself with a lil sound";

but one thing that could be interesting is 'if the video is rewound, so too is time'. (could play with that) */ //yes yes, i'm bad for using global variables, so sue me, i'm going fast

iWantToBelieve uMad hatsuneMikuFan1997 asinineAssasin

*/

//theres clearly loops we don't see. they reference events we never see. //also i wasn't going to have AA flat out use html in this loop but now that I HAVE had them do that //well, now i want an excuse for miku to //what a weird thing to be what shambles you //digging just a bit deeper //and seeing the truth //more than just words on a page //the code underneath //mad uses image tags. that's markup. //thats enough

//have I mentioned lately that this is a Lonely game? they all use Belief's writing style

//north is normal, east begins to crack, south we've lost mad, unknown we've lost AA, and in west Belief is alone