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Backstory

At the beginning of August 2023, I started working on a new side-project.

The simple idea behind it was to give the player meaningful interaction through very limited choices, with random events over time.

This is the story of its development.

Inspirations

Many years in the past, I played a game called "A Dark Room" - it's a web game where things slowly unfold through repetitive, small choices. This simple but engaging gameplay loop and the feeling of "unveiling a mystery" have stuck with me ever since, forming the gameplay roots of Oil Pit.

In 2023, I read Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian". It's a tough read, with many scenes of gruesome violence, but it's also a masterpiece - the way McCarthy evocatively "draws" scenes in that book had a lot of impact on the writing in this game, alongside some interest in poetry.

Do you ever feel like the world is "way too big"? This lonely, terrifying despair that I can't really put into words is something I felt at times last year. Writing Oil Pit was an outlet for that, and this mood eventually formed the atmospheric backbone of this game.

There's other, more minor inspirations - the "Hidden Truth" is inspired by an anime named "Shinsekai Yori". The Illusion beast is inspired by a short sci-fi story about exploring Mars. The "Mucus Membrane" Spiral Horned create for shelter is also used by parrotfish.

Music

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEDlkXVMf5BdjmI-WQWBfT5wLUHUNXaw1

Here's a varied playlist of music I used to listen to while writing Oil Pit. I recommend the cryo chamber mixes especially.

Tools Used

At the beginning of the project, I decided to try implementing it using Ink - it's a language for writing interactive narrative in games which I had passing familiarity with. I wanted something that would be lighter and quicker to use than an actual game engine, but I wasn't certain that Ink would deliver beyond the scope of a simple prototyping tool. While I struggled implementing certain logic with it at first, it ended up delivering well beyond my expectations.
I recommend it heartily, it's free. Here's a tutorial.

Since Inky can export web pages, I used ChatGPT as help for designing the game's interface with CSS, making the page elements like panels, background and buttons fit the game and look nice. I also asked ChatGPT for suggestions for the random "mood" of a child being promoted, but beyond that the game is completely written by me.

Future Plans

When developing Oil Pit, I planned some additional content - like a different endgame encounter, and more events and interactions. I might expand on this version of the game at a future point. I enjoy writing Oil Pit but I'm worried about over-committing to something that is essentially just a free web game.

It would be nice to collaborate with a publisher on a more in-depth version of Oil Pit at some point too - where each one of the characters is a real person, with a name and a face, and their own experience. Perhaps in the future.

If you end up playing Oil Pit, please share your feedback with me, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks,

-David a.k.a superobot1