Openbound

Openbound is an interactive game, titled in Homestuck as HS 7163 ([S] ACT 6 INTERMISSION 3), that is used as the opening to Act 6 Intermission 3 of Homestuck. This is the first page to employ HTML5, which Andrew notes is "more robust in some ways, but will have some issues with less common browsers".

In this game, you play as Meenah as she explores a dream bubble to talk to other characters, finds her other friends and rallies an army against.

The game largely parodies the microblogging website Tumblr, as Meenah and others often leave tags (beginning with the number sign #) like Tumblr users, and after each conversation you are given the option of "rebubbling" it, with general Bubblr community responding randomly to each rebubble. You are also given the option to "love" or "hate" a conversation, but this does nothing but light the symbols.

This game, like Myststuck, will be divided into three parts for filesize reasons, while the three parts were intended to be released consecutively, due to the delays in Homestuck this caused the three parts to be separated by pauses while the rest of the story continues, causing it to be spread out through the intermission.

Section 1
Act 6 Intermission 3 begins with a Flash animation of the crack in space created by, with some colorful bubbles floating past. It then cuts to Meenah smiling who runs down to the front door of her dream palace, where the interactive part begins.

If you walk to the right, you will notice one of the windows is missing. Walk through and make a right and you will see Andrew Hussie jump off of the castle.

You encounter Aradia first, who welcomes you to the afterlife. After walking down a flight of stairs, you are met with a mysterious trail of broken magic 8 balls. Is that ... sobbing? You briefly speak with a heartbroken Hussie. Bring him a horse, and he is yours forever.

Walk to the right, and you find yourself on a beach. This is where you hold most of the conversations with friends.

Section 2


Meenah and Aranea discuss plans to defeat Lord English. Meenah believes that she can assemble a ghost army to take him out and decides to recruit members for this army.

You also converse with Rose, Kanaya, and Dave. Dave has discovered that he can leave "dave_ebubbles" lying around in Dream Bubbles. They appear to be a parody of the popular Twitter spambot horse_ebooks and consist of snippets of things Dave has previously said. These bubbles look similar to the ones floating at the beginning of the game. Like conversations, they can also be rebubbled. Dave is the only character you are given the option to "be", however he declines your request.

If you go down the stairs, there are two chests. In one of the chests, Hussie is hiding. He tells you to go find another hiding place - it's his, and is coming for him. HE IS COMING FOR US ALL. Amusingly, if Meenah has Hussie following her (having given him a horse), he is also still in this chest, leading to there being two Hussies on screen at once.

After going down and opening the two chests, retrace your steps and go back up to where you talked to Dave and head south to descend further.

Section 3
Traveling further you discover Karkat and his ancestor, Kankri, deep in conversation. Kankri is passionate about social justice and lectures Karkat extensively about "cis6l99ded privilege" (among other issues), continuously warning him of trigger words. Additionally, you can converse with Latula Pyrope, Terezi's dancestor, and Porrim Maryam, Kanaya's dancestor.

While exploring the Derse dream bubble, you come across an entrance blocked by a chest containing a twisted Cast Iron Horse Hitcher that once belonged to Spades Slick and was presumably bent by someone “incredibly strong, incredibly smug, and incredibly floppy when shaken.” (This would of course be Doc Scratch, who bent the horse hitcher after Spades Slick beat him with it.) By returning to Hussie and bestowing him with the horse hitcher, he will love you forever and will follow you as you continue to explore the dream bubble.

Eventually you have the power to "be" Kankri, Latula, and Porrim, and while both Kankri and Latula decline the offer, Porrim allows you "become her", and you are able to unlock a dream bubble that reveals a staircase to the floor below.

If you resume being Meenah, you have the option of grinding down the staircase. After doing so, you are congratulated by Latula, who graciously allows you to "become" her. After doing so, you have the option of then "becoming" Kankri.

If you have Hussie following you while you're grinding down the staircase, Hussie will proceed to follow you halfway down the stairs before running all over the screen, near the staircase.

While being Kankri, if you talk to Meenah and become Meenah, you can convince Karkat to join your party, and he follows you around. Once he does so, he can be made to open the door with his sign on it to the final section.

Section 4
Karkat runs off to be by himself, however there is a booth occupied by Aranea who offers money for a chance to exposite on the Pre-Scratch ancestors Kankri (revealed as a Seer of Blood), Latula (Knight of Mind), and Porrim (Maid of Space). At the far-right end of the room is the end of Part 1. Strangely Aranea offers Meenah Boonbucks, but only gives her Boondollars.

If Meenah goes to the end accompanied by Hussie, she will find the 2010 Spirited Horse calendar that Hearts Boxcars was punched into by Cans (yup he's still farming those goddamn horses).

Meenah walks off to the next section and HS 7164 (the game pauses.)