PERSISTINT
GNPNG x PERSISTINT: An Adventure in Paradise. Five illustrated panels, left to right: girls in sailor uniforms carrying baskets along a beach with dolphins and a mermaid; a blue-and-white striped temple with a gold dome between two framed portraits; a smiling pastel cruise ship wrecked on the rocks at sunset; a candlelit bunker full of server racks; and a lab with glowing pink tanks, green clone children and polar bear cubs.

A free companion game

PERSISTINT

a lovely little island. everyone contributes. everyone.

Companion to Persistint, a novel by Brett Whitty, coming soon from GNPNG, an independent Canadian press.

Play v0.0.0 Watch the book trailer

Free · plays in the browser · made in Godot 4

PERSISTINT (Per-sist-INT, “INT like INTJ”) is a free companion game: a small 2D game made in Godot 4. It wraps social control in the cutest possible packaging, so that players, and girls and women above all, can recognize it, name it and feel comfortable criticizing it, at school, at work or online.

The cuteness is the weapon.

The book trailer

Play the Persistint book trailer (2:11). Loads the YouTube player.

Persistint, a novel by Brett Whitty, coming soon from GNPNG (book trailer, 2:11). The player loads from YouTube only when you press play.

Three worlds

The game moves between three worlds. In each one the player does the same things: dresses up, makes things, talks to people, goes places. Only the social framing changes, and that contrast is the lesson.

  1. In-game screenshot: the player character in a long white gown stands on a sandy path between a white fence and pink flower bushes, at the exit marked To the Beach.
    Outside the pony stable (placeholder art)

    Innocent play

    The tropical Florida Keys

    A Toca World / Animal Crossing sandbox with gardening, crafting, dolphins, friendly crabs and seagulls, aquarium-show mermaids and a pony stable. No scoring, and nothing can be done wrong.

  2. In-game screenshot of The Landing: Cap'n Kate orders “First Mate: Realign the Promenade Stabilizers, but warmly!” above a map of ship rooms and a panel of buttons such as Helm Gyroscope, Fog Horn and Autopilot Affirmation Panel.
    The Landing: panic on the bridge (placeholder UI)

    Judged performance

    The Cruise

    A feminist-themed celebrity cruise before the wreck. WarioWare-style mini-games hosted by real celebrities, where passengers are made over, judged and “empowered”.

    Flashbacks and a later chapter.

  3. In-game screenshot of the village: pastel tiles, flowers and a smiling stone hut. Priestess Betty says: Welcome, initiate. The Queen Mothers see all who wish to be seen.
    The village on Little St. Piere Island

    Ritualized control

    Little St. Piere Island

    Long after the wreck, the ship and an old colony bunker are sacred ruins. A Covenant of Mothers and Priestesses runs daily life by the 28-day Calendar of Blood, and everyone contributes.

The same paper-doll dress-up is kind play in tropical Florida, a judged makeover on the cruise and part of the ritual on the island.

Name It

After a manipulative moment comes Name It: the player picks out the hook hidden in a compliment and names the tactic.

  • negging
  • concern-trolling
  • in-group gatekeeping

Named tactics go into a journal of Forbidden Knowledge.

There is no combat anywhere. Influence, not violence.

In-game screenshot of the Journal of Forbidden Knowledge, with sections for Named tactics, Recovered pieces such as A Gift-Shop Receipt and A Tide Table, and locked cruise flashbacks.
The Journal of Forbidden Knowledge

Cruise mini-games

  • The Interview

    Oprah Winfrey interviews you and your answers set your stats: character creation as a talk show.

  • The Landing

    Spaceteam-style panic on the bridge as Cap'n Kate tries not to crash a dead ship, with Among Us-flavored crew tasks.

  • Hottest of the HOT

    Tyra Banks's judging show, with Day of the Tentacle-style get-ready chains across the ship.

  • America's Next Top Comic

    A stand-up contest built like Monkey Island's insult sword fighting, and the player is the contestant. There is no winning.

  • In-game screenshot of the paper-doll wardrobe: the character in a white gown beside options for hair (Braids), dress (White) and accessory (None).
    The paper-doll wardrobe
  • In-game screenshot of the Temple: a pink and yellow checkerboard floor with a pink runner of hearts leading to the player.
    The Temple
  • In-game screenshot of the Promenade Deck in the ruins, dark and tilted. Caption: The deck tilts a few degrees from where the floor ought to be. The shrine-keepers have decided that is the direction of prayer.
    Ruins of Utopia: the sideways Promenade Deck
  • In-game screenshot of the village: a villager on a stone hut says, I asked 'why' out loud today. The sky did not fall.
    NPC barks react to world state

v0.0.0

Zeroth release

A playable vertical slice, with placeholder art in places. Free, in the browser.

Play PERSISTINT
Left click
Walk; click people and things to interact
P
Wardrobe
J
Journal
H
Get off a pony while riding

There is no keyboard-only or gamepad control yet.

Content note. PERSISTINT is satire with mature themes: social control, controlled reproduction and dehumanization, shown in a deliberately cute style. Real public figures appear under their real names, and some speak in AI-cloned voices. Cartoon gore appears in one area only.