PIT!

Hi! Welcome to the PIT! Playground- I'd like to start posting semi-regular updates on where I'm at and talk a little bit more about the project where I've been quite vague so far :)

[All art here has been hand drawn by myself, if the style varies - some pieces are much older than others and I adapt styles yearly it's my clown curse]

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Potential trigger warnings!!!

Bugs (drawn, visual but not detailed)

Uncanny/analog horror-esque creature design/visual distortion of anatomy

This is a project about being a spirit detective, so general warning for talking about death and ghosts

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What is PIT!?

PIT! (Paranormal Investigation Team!) will, as it stands currently, be a choose your own adventure twine interactive fiction project.

You will play from the perspective of detective Carter, a woman in her mid-twenties who inherited a PI office from her father who is no longer in the picture. Somewhat recently afflicted with something known as the Keen, The City's heartbeat matches her every step.

Her clients, more often than not, are already deceased.

PIT! will follow an unravelling thread that reveals the truth of the incident that burned the Old Cove of Ash and Bone to cinders and ruins, spiraling out of control into themes of religious and cosmic horror. (Hopefully, smile) I'm gunning for femme/Queer horror to be super prevalent here.

"Welcome to The ███████ City! Your one stop shop for all things spooky and the only place to get this month's copy of PIT!Monthly, hot off of the pyre!" The City you live in is Home, and it keeps you warm with a hearth of mystery, even while you haven't paid the gas bill. Your work is The City's worst kept secret - not many people take you seriously when you tell them your clientelle are already dead. But you, Detective, are the only help they have.”

(WIP sketch of the Kingston PI office, Carter's side.)

A huge part of the world building of PIT! is directly related to the occult magazine PIT!Monthly - previously it had the working title of OOPs, inspired by the idea of OOP artefacts (Out of Place), but I like PIT! more for logo purposes where I plan on incorporating lighthouse imagery into it (probably the I of PIT! - like the ‘eye’ of PIT!, which is topical for … reasons).

[Cain, a paranormal journalist for PIT!monthly repping the business. This piece came from a comic strip I drew to visualise a plot point I had intended to follow through with but have since scrapped.]

Our story is set in The City, built entirely around the Lighthouse Hotel, a sprawling, nameless metropolis of new build City and Old cobblestone outskirts. It had a name once, but the memory of it has been expunged from public recollection.

The City is split into three areas that the locals refer to as New City, Old Town, and The Outskirts.

[The first sort of visual banner of The City I ever illustrated, inspired by the Persona 5 city loading screens, back when it was called V City and not just The City. A lot of the iconography here is related to locations in The City but some concepts and ideas have been tweaked or updated since!]

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So what's the update?

It's slow going, but progress is progress!

Current WIPs are the Prologue (The Fourth Horseman), and the first issue of PIT!sides (Queen of the 24hr)

We've reached 9000 words for the Prologue, and both diverging plot paths (‘Go alone’, or ‘Take Lewis’) have been started.

There is in fact a flowchart now mapping the entire plot from beginning to end, all chapters (5, +Prologue and potentially an epilogue) have temporary working titles and a majority of cases have been configured.

I'm no coding God, but I'm figuring out twine and it's a satisfying nightmare frankly - still need to figure out the saving mechanic as well as the currency system that will be in place.

Have started planning out the ETs (Electrical Transcripts) that I intend on putting in as hidden links that need to be found - inspired by the mini-plots that come from the bioshock audio logs and voxophones, they'll be short stories from other perspectives of the plot.

And what's the plan for May?

May - I will introduce the characters you meet in the Prologue and write up some information for both Detective Carter, and Lewis (potentially Persephone for PIT!sides too!)

Writing more of the ETs in preparation for Chapter 1

I'd like to release 24hour Queen between the Prologue and Chapter 1, so more content for that - maybe a Cain introduction too?

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Prologue, The Fourth Horseman

You can't help but feel like the body in the well is a declaration of war.

The Prologue will be something of a first insight into Carter and her work, as well as setting up the main plot.

Receiving some odd photographs, slid beneath your office door and taken by a university student you know as Lewis, you return to the scene of the fire two years ago at the old Hightower Sisterhood and discover that sleeping dogs were not left to lie.

It's certainly longer than I had planned already, and I still have a ways to go but I had to pin writing so I could step back and zoom out - I'm feeling more confident in what I've put together and will have more time to write now that I have a more tangible picture of the city.

I have however been drawing some assets that I would like to try and incorporate into the IF, but we'll have to see if I can wiggle that!

“The photograph peers deep inside the well, the one that you know to be emptied and dry, and your eyes follow the coiling pattern of the mold down into the dark like you are being hypnotised by the decay.  The decay stares back. Your gut feeling - that you listen to without complaint, a ball and chain of itself - tells you that this is worth investigating.”

Our working titles for the mainline chapters are as follows;

Chapter 1; Cirque du Fleur

Chapter 2; Hyde and Seek

Chapter 3; Of rot and prey

Chapter 4; Our Lady, Ash and Bone

Chapter 5; The Tower

They are of course subject to change but it is exciting!

[Out of context doodle inspired by prologue interactions]

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What's PIT!sides?

In mapping out the flowchart of plot and information and diverging paths, I've had to strip a lot of content I wanted to cover that I feel would have oversaturated the main investigation with other clues for other cases or plot threads. PIT!sides will be stand alone but connected side stories released between or alongside main updates that go into some further world building and follow other threads that wouldn't otherwise get any spotlight. Specifically, I plan on PIT!sides being something of a mini series that focuses on the … less professional occultists, witches, or inhuman characters and their stand off against the Hunters. 

Queen of the 24th hour (or something similar, it’s a working title!) will follow Persephone, a barely functioning witch who returns to The City after years on the run from herself. Now home, she returns to work at the local 24hour gas station convenience store that sits hauntingly partway down the only road that leads in and out of The City. Unfortunately for her, wanting a normal life, death visits her nightly, frosted tips and all.

[Persephone and Cain, who will appear in the first PIT!sides.]

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What are ETs?

Electronic Transcripts will be transcribed voice recordings detailing shorter stories that provide context for ongoing plot or characters. I would like to have 5 characters with 5 ETs to find, but I don't want to force numbers while I only have 4 planned and listed at the present time (although in retrospect, 4 could also be fine? Much to think about)

But so far we have 4 guys! Obviously these names will right now mean nothing to anyone but

Cain (our pseudo second protagonist, who will be introduced properly after the prologue) - His Transcripts will talk about his relationship with life and death (or, forever life and never death), and reveal some of his secrets that he keeps from Carter.

Jaw-Long - The story of a monster hunter who chose to protect The City, and the guilt that eats him over it.

Beatrice - A super distanced, outside perspective. Bea's Transcripts will work a little differently, being more of a perspective of the people around her and how their decisions shaped the lives of more ‘normie’ people.

Nera - Mourning, grief, and Her. These Transcripts will cover Nera's suspicion, uncertainty, and difficulty staying grounded as a Seer.

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To conclude!

The goal is to release the Prologue in the later half of this year, with the first side issue following not too long after that - should ye olde classic good intention syndrome not kick in. I'll introduce some characters and concepts properly in May, and then post a separate update at the end of the month. Sort of like dev logs, but more so to keep me humble and moving forwards.

Thank you very much for any interest or following, this has been something I've been planning for the last like two years and am finally making progress in making it real - my inspirations are games like Disco Elysium, Darkwood, or the Spirit Hunter visual novel series, movies like Saint Maud and The Borderlands, and a lot of lighthouse media for no reason whatsoever-

Welcome to The City, home of all things spooky and weird! I hope you enjoy your stay here!

You take a slow amble through the field once the path dies. The grass is long and brushes at the gloved tips of your fingers. Dusk settles ahead, the church that you approach backlit with a soft halo glow. It’s a small building, modest and humble in the shadow of the large sisterhood lodgings.

It stood proud once, with a short standing bell tower and stone walls. The roof now caves in, an unrepaired lesion that leaves its insides to weather and fester. The small stone outlined windows used to feature small stained glass patterning that has since shattered. The shards that remain splintered across the ground reflect light almost impossibly in the shade of the church and crunch beneath the weight of the dog from before.

It’s just a dog.

And you’re just a detective.

Ignore it.

You know better than to engage with the hounds. Her spindled fingers drag long, methodic claws down the crumbling, charred wood that bars her from entry into the church and thus bars yours, too, as you give her a wide berth and instead move around the perimeter of the still standing walls. Away from the entrance of the church, you patrol the perimeter and only draw closer once you're sure that the hound will not call to you.

You don't know if you would be strong enough to resist howling with her.

Consider this your formal invitation to the Paranormal Investigation Team!

PIT! Will be an interactive fiction choose your own adventure novel rife with esoteria and inhumanity. You play as Detective Carter, a young woman who inherited her father's PI office, as she explores The City and whatever is baking underneath.

Release date for the Prologue - The Fourth Horseman hopefully late 2026 !!!!!!

"Welcome to The ███████ City! Your one stop shop for all things spooky and the only place to get this month's copy of PIT!Monthly, hot off of the pyre!"

The City you live in is Home, and it keeps you warm with a hearth of mystery, even while you haven't paid the gas bill. Your work is The City's worst kept secret - not many people take you seriously when you tell them your clientelle are already dead.

> 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞. > …? > 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞. > 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝, 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞? 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚑, 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍𝚢. 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚙 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚜𝚑. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖. > 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

"Welcome to The City! Your one stop shop for all things spooky and the only place to get a copy of your favourite occult magazine, PIT!Monthly, hot off of the pyre!"

The city you live in is Home, and it keeps you warm with a hearth of mystery, even while you haven't paid the gas bill. Your work is The City's worst kept secret - not many people take you seriously when you tell them your clientele are already dead.

But you, detective, are the only help they have.