The Process of Elimination
a second-person scrollgame with likert choice mechanics, tpoe haunts scott arsigne, a prison-keeper in a lighthouse on the southern shore of conder, connecticut, while he monitors a new target: jacob wayer, a high school teacher in the same town.
scott falls asleep at his desk, and you wake up in turn, prone on the ground floor of the selfsame tower, one father more alone than usual. maybe you'll spend the afternoon monitoring wren wayer, this high school sophomore in your same town; maybe go outside and take a walk, maybe try and draw again. just don't message wren, don't talk to the prisoners, and do not, under any circumstance, touch the water outside. you don't wanna get contaminated too, do you, hare-bear?
scott falls asleep at his desk, and you wake up in turn, prone on the ground floor of the selfsame tower, one father more alone than usual. maybe you'll spend the afternoon monitoring wren wayer, this high school sophomore in your same town; maybe go outside and take a walk, maybe try and draw again. just don't message wren, don't talk to the prisoners, and do not, under any circumstance, touch the water outside. you don't wanna get contaminated too, do you, hare-bear?
the process of elimination is a tragic hypertext-based adventure about control, isolation, and obsession. it contains depictions of (non-physical) child abuse, animal death, suicide, all-around murder, and deaths by fall damage and gun violence, as well as mentions or implications of attempted suicide, self-harm, kidnapping, and drowning. proceed with caution👍👍
also,
view the ost here,
view it on my website here,
or view the ~walkthrough here.
ALSO,
my friend anna created all of the game's artwork, follow him here!
Comments
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permission to use some of the music from your album for my school project? i'll credit you of course, and i don't mind if you're not fine with me using it :) it sounds really nice btw. i listen to it like it's a youtube studying playlist.
Anyways, this game (more like story lol) is well-written and well organized (sorry for all of the "well"s). By well organized, I literally mean how the text is placed. How the websites seem like... websites, and not just text. The overlapping of text too...
And the writing. I almost feel like I'm the main character. And it's easy to understand. Sometimes I need to pull up a dictionary when I'm reading. Here, it's just... you read straight through. No alt+tabbing to search "def prose" or looking to see what color a zircon is. At least that's my experience.
..Not gonna lie here, I am pretty confused about what's happening. Doesn't mean I'm not allowed to appreciate the core aspects, though. (aside from story and lore... 😬)
And that's probably because I'm an impatient reader. Took a couple of attempts to almost actually read the entire thing. Worth it, because I found out some things. Still skimmed though... I really need to work on that.
okay, life goal: read this entire thing patiently and don't skip.
HI I WOULD BE HONORED?? that is SO nice, i'm so glad you like my music!!! if you want me to talk your ear off about it at all i would be so down, if that'd help with your project or whateva. and thank you sosososososo much, it means so insanely much that the websites were good, god i love fake web design
yyyyeah, i think it's definitely pretty dense text. i didn't want it to be unenjoyable or particularly difficult to read of course, but i am aware it gets hard to keep track of what's going on pretty quick, esp if you're skimming, or honestly just if you're not me, who's been thinking about all this for a whiiile. def need to work on that. if you've got any particular questions about anything plot related i can also try to explain what i was going for -- this is pretty much my first ever creative writing project, and information control over multiple timelines is not the easiest thing to pick up on for your first go, i think. bleh.
anyway, anyway. thank you so much for the nice comment, this has really made my day :) good luck on your school project and your life goal!!! hmu if i can do anything to help w/ either
yo thanks!! honestly, our school project is very beginner. my school doesn't do game stuff so yeah. it doesn't really need code but sometime in the future we might actually switch to something else? thanks for the offer anyway :)))))))))))))) i too, love fake webs!!! for me it's kinda hard to find games that have that. Hypnospace Outlaw is a nice example though, if you haven't heard/played that yet. not free thooo
bbuttttt for my first question,,, what was that first part? like the "does any of this really matter to you" part... after that i went to impatient reader mode lol.. i def got really confused on the next parts. what i think is: you're like... in prison? honestly idk. there's a lighthouse? the character is coding and is very confused and sad? something about a dad? something about murder???? i'm very confused. but yeah, just a reminder, it's not ur fault. i take all of the blame of being confused. and also who are we playing as? are these people even our friends? i am totally gone... fades out of existence
gotcha! yeah no problem, i will be here if anything comes up. i'll look into hypnospace outlaw, it seems fucking sick. anyway, minor spoilers from here on out; i won't mention anything beyond the prologue and chapter 1.
this aspect of format is never explicitly explained, but i think it gets easier to pick up on after more play time, when instances of it are surrounded with context. the prologue (first part) is a dream-slash-flashback combo, one of several. this one involves your father, scott, and his weird comrade who you won't hear much more about for a while. don't worry about this not making sense yet; it won't really be resolved until much later. if you get to the end of the game and feel like you haven't gotten all the information you wanted about this, which can happen, feel free to try another timeline. 100%, even, if you feel so inclined. information given per timeline varies wildly.
you are in a lighthouse which contains a prison. initially, you are not in the prison part of the lighthouse -- if this changes, you will know.
you are not coding, but you may watch someone code. you are, however, somewhat confused and very sad, yeah.
you do have a dad. oh boy does he hate murder.
you play as harry arsigne, a fourteen-year-old boy who is incredibly bored of living in isolation. you do not have any friends, just surveillance software.
good luck!!! 👍
cool!! (also how the heel does a lighthouse have a prison) i'll reply again once i finish reading. honestly i'm really running out of free time, since i have school and homework... and uh, game communities to tend to. but i definitely will try harder to stop impatient reader mode from coming up again!
so... started reading it again, impatient mode off.
this is going to be VERY long. honestly it's making my laptop lag already.
i've noticed this.. when E.K. goes berserk on the windows. it says "we hear him go berserk". so yeah i suppose that's like the dream/flashback combo you're talking about. whenever i reach the car "what's in there?" part, and it says *you are*, i'm kinda weirded out. like, why are we... in our dad's car. or whoever's car it is. honestly, on the italic parts i'm confused on whose perspective it's on. but i always think the "you are" refers to a corpse, maybe.
anyways, choice part. it maybe seems that we're E.K. when choosing? not sure if it matters, so i just choose to scoff. it says "we are on another side of the room". we again. and it says "both".
Ohhkayyyy..... yeah, something's going on here. so we're a ghost, or at least like, invisible?
SCOTT (seeing straight through you). yeah, i feel like they're talking about us now. so we are in the car maybe, and idk what it means when Scott is seeing straight through us...
Next part.
Orange. The same color that said "you are". yeah i know, impatient mode was replaced with hyper focused mode.
so this is OUR lighthouse. "we wanted to put a light in the sky, so we did. and among the stars our creation waited for night and wept." for some reason, this kinda reminded me of like... a god? sorry, i'm an agnostic non-religious Christian, who learns about God in school, and has to read the bible everyday. it's kinda weird though, like wtf the lighthouse wept? maybe the lighthouse's light were its tears? interesting.
computer. cylindrical glass cage. i have no idea what that looks like. "it is probably your favorite place you've ever been", so like i got a little wonky here. like "ayo the computer is a place?!", but then i remembered that they're talking about the beacon room. either way is still possible, i think.
so, the beacon room makes me feel sucky. and we're isolated. like our father just left us here? ...but considering how they didn't see us, we could just be a sad, wandering ghost left to stay in this lighthouse forever. OR, maybe this is before E.K. goin berserk. and even more OR, we're alive and i'm stupid. the dream/flashback part was a weird one though... like how did they hear me scoff if it's just that?
anyways, i still don't know what E.K. went berserk on. okay, dad has a fear of heights/falling. sooo we have art, cool.
Oh, um. okay, dad's a corpse... yayyyyy.... or maybe this is just because he always looks dead when he's sleeping.
alright we see Scott's computer screen. or just screen.
So we got a security cam. A conversation between someone called Care, and Michael.
Espion Client. Screen of Jacob Wayer. so... Scott is spying on Jacob Wayer's laptop?
Espion Client.
Jacob Wayer. Laptop. 2911:785596
then we got Wren Wayer, also on a laptop.
Then Jacob again, but a cell this time.
then Wren, cell.
then... Virc..???? Virc or whatever. Cell. 3014: something something.
So the Wayers' numbers both start with 2911, maybe it's like a location thing? or they just use the same device. but it's a bit weird, like how would they know if it's Wren or Jacob?
Then Elise something -ley. Cell. 9840: something something.
I don't care if none of these matter!! I love acting like I'm actually finding things out!!
okay, screen of Jacob Wayer's laptop.
searching about disappearances? unsolved missing persons cases in CT 1? or something like that.
JUDE MEDINA - last seen November 23, 2018.
then idk anymore... "i'm just saying accidents like that can happen when ..."
a thread about... Conspiracies? possible. THIS THREAD HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN FOR MALWARE. oh um okay.
also, interesting how we call Scott, Scott, and not dad or father or any parent label.
okay, due to my *amazing* skills... I... copy-pasted whatever was blocked by text. i'm sorry, and i know, i know, i'm a disgrace :(
Espion Client
Jacob Wayer Laptop
2991:785596
Wren Wayer Laptop
2991:594626
Jacob Wayer Cell
2991:218495
Wren Wayer Cell
2991:650281
Vince Oxley Cell
3014:889521
Elise Hanley Cell
9840:617028
Screen of Jacob Wayer Laptop (Espion)
Search - "connecticut|ct|conder + disappe ..."
Unsolved Missing Persons Cases in CT 4. JUDE MEDINA - Last seen November 23, 2018, Jude Medina disappeared two ...
Conder Cybercrimes Detective Assumed Dead
Detective Caroline Reyes, also known by her online handle "cerys62", was briefly ...
Detectivity | Jon Hanley Murder Theory II
i don't know for sure, i'm just saying accidents like that can happen when ...
Detectivity | A Conder Conspiracy
THIS THREAD HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN FOR MALWARE HAZARDS AND COMPROMISED EVIDENCE. READ ...
The Dissolution of the Avian Church
into, but she was actually later found in western Connecticut, using a different ...
connecticut|ct|conder + disappearances +
CARE
You mind if I take some of that, actually?
MICHAEL
Go ahead.
She takes the glass and drinks.
MICHAEL
How is it?
CARE
You haven't tried it yourself?
MICHAEL
No reason to.
CARE
It's pretty good. What's it for?
MICHAEL
Jude.
Mentioned, Jude shifts slightly in his sleep.
CARE
Fuck, that's tomorrow?
MICHAEL
Today.
In response, it freezes for a moment. (it??)
CARE
Seriously?
MICHAEL
Yes.
CARE
Fuck. That's four months.
MICHAEL
It'll get easier, Caroline.
CARE
I know. It just... doesn't feel like it, you know? I mean, what could change here?
MICHAEL
Everything will. Just... slowly. Be patient.
She places her glass in the sink.
CARE
I want to, I just...
Care crosses her arms and sighs.
MICHAEL
I know.
She steps back over Ty and climbs back onto the couch with Sara, taking a moment to settle in.
MICHAEL
Goodnight, Care.
CARE (very quietly)
Night.
...yes... the possibly useless information... i can feel it coursing through my veins...
yup, as i see now, Scott very much hates murder.
anyways i'm stopping here because... yeah i have other stuff i need to do 🤡
Rated Best Game of 2023
no freaking wayyy...