Creating It Lives Within was an incredible honor, and we're so proud of what we made. That said, because we released the game as we were writing it, we never had the chance to edit it as a single, cohesive work. And looking back, there were a lot of things I wished I could fix.
It Lives Within: The Obsidian Cut is my chance to do so. In addition to cleaning up pacing issues and strengthening weaker arcs, it also includes:
New art
New audio tracks and sound effects
Robust character customization
All-new scenes
Hundreds of new personality-based dialogue variants
A new MC hobbies/interests mechanic
Post-ending bonus episodes
Open code to let people edit their sprites and help others learn from our code, if interested
And more!
Keep reading under the cut for more details 🔥
Note: It Lives Within: The Obsidian Cut is a separate app from the original game. The original will remain available on our itch.io page, alongside Obsidian, under the name "It Lives Within: Legacy Edition."
CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION
NEW BODY TYPES
It was always our ultimate vision to include more body types. Now with our improved skills, we are happy to announce FOUR new body types!
Feminine Slim and Masculine Solid
Masculine Slender and Masculine Full
UN-GENDERLOCKED HAIRSTYLES
As the eagle-eyed may have noticed in the above screen shot, we also now have resized ALL hairstyles for ALL genders, for Devon, Harper, and Rowan alike. You can also now pick Harper's clothes!
BETTER ACCESSORY CUSTOMIZATION
Glasses, piercings, and earrings are separated so you can now mix and match as you please (example in the video below).
NEW HIJAB OPTIONS
New hijab options, plus you can now pick ANY hairstyle with the hijab, not just hairstyles that could be layered under the hijab without peeking out.
IMPROVED USER EXPERIENCE
This video will showcase:
Revamped settings UI (you can now delete saves in game!)
Item descriptions and page tabs
Easier to navigate closet
Improved accessories selection
Background panning
Improved game animations
Auto-hiding settings buttons for a less cluttered screen
GAMEPLAY ADDITIONS
PERSONALITY SYSTEM REVAMP
I have meticulously gone through the game and adjusted countless dialogues and sprite reactions to help the three personalities (genuine/sarcastic/aggressive) feel more consistent. No more weirdly upbeat grumps or overly sarcastic sweethearts. You'll feel your MC's personality at all times - not just during menus.
INTERESTS SYSTEM
The Obsidian Cut gives Rowan the option to pick two hobbies or interests: a primary and secondary trait.
These interests will occasionally influence automatic dialogue, give Rowan unique dialogue options, and alter how certain scenes play out.
NEW SCENES
Let's just say what's the point of releasing a new edition if there aren't some new scenes? Have some teaser screencaps, and know there's more where that came from!
NEW OUTFITS AND SPRITES
Lincoln has new, meticulously hand drawn tattoos. Noah's new outfit was also drawn from scratch. While his outfit will be consistent throughout the game, Lincoln's is an alt that is worn on occasion. Other sprites and outfits may have been edited, but these two were the biggest jobs.
In addition to that, we also have some completely new creature sprites, and the final game product will showcase a some updated CGs as well!
BONUS EPISODES
And last but not least, you'll get to play some additional episodes following the end of the game:
The Beach Episode: Lincoln invites all your friends to Seaside, Oregon, for a group vacation. Mixed and blood routes.
The Shadow Episode: Amalia's graduating, and her friends are there to support her. Shadow route.
Because of the massive number of variants possible upon reaching the end, there will not be an additional episode for any of the other endings.
OPEN CODE
In addition to all these new features, we will be leaving the code open. As such, it will allow players to customize in-game sprites, so have fun editing and putting your character directly into the game! We also hope that the open code will be educational for anyone interested in making visual novels or Choices fan projects.
IN CONCLUSION:
It Lives Within: The Obsidian Cut is an edited alternate version of ILW that will be released in the next few months, started because I wanted to edit the game. It includes new art, scenes, game mechanics, and a streamlined user experience. That said, certain lines of dialogue were changed and other scenes were cut during the edited process. If you find yourself missing things that were in the original but are not in Obsidian, feel free to stick with It Lives Within: Legacy Edition.
Excited to share my work with you! Thanks for your support, and happy Halloween!! 🎃👻
Hello, everyone! Sorry for the last minute getting this set up. But I'm finally ready to post our It Lives book club info 💕 👻
Reading Schedule:
We will start Saturday, September 6
We'll be reading four chapters a week.
It Lives Beneath will follow the same format and begin on October 4.
It Lives Within will also follow the same format and begin on November 1.
Essentially: We'll read ILITW in September, ILB in October, ILW in November.
How it works:
Each Saturday, I'll post a few discussion questions and polls for each chapter. Feel free to vote, reblog, and otherwise interact with the questions!
I will be making a book club channel in the It Lives Within discord for people to chat and discuss in a more relaxed, unstructured environment. Feel free to join and chat with us!
You can also make your own discussion posts and tag them #it lives book club . I'll go through the tags weekly and reblog anything I see in the tag.
In addition to the book club, I'll attempt to stream the week's chapters on Friday through Saturday. We will see how it goes. I'm a little nervous to read everything out loud! But I will make a separate post regarding streaming 😊
Look forward to enjoying spooky season alongside you all!
they’re REAL…..!!! almost. they can be yours. like for free. for it lives season!!
if you’re interested in getting these stickers please follow the form below 🥺!! the form is open until September 20, 11:59 pst so I can get these ordered and out some time in October! there is more info on the form :]
hi gang !! this is amanda (spacetravels on tumblr, jovianplanets on twitter/x, and amajeart on instagram!)
this is an interest form for my I
(also for noah lovers there is an interest check for u. lol)
ALSO thank you @itlivesproject for their blessing for the ilw sheet 🥺 it was so important to me to include the gangs !!
‘I literally have never forgiven PB for dropping It Lives. It was such a great and compelling story, and was building up to an epic third installment. The fan version is great, it is, but it just isn't what I thought they were building up to. I wish there was a way to find out what they were planning, if nothing else...’
POST/CONFESSIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE MOD’S PERSONAL OPINIONS!
They were planning a descent story with creepy crawler monsters in underground caves, and actually wanted to call it "It Lives Within." A group of hikers would go camping out in the woods only to be separated by Power monsters and driven underground. Noah/MC and their team would act as a rescue party type team to help the new crew survive the monsters and creepy crawlies.
There may have been some more planned, but not much. These are about all the plans they had, because the third book was never approved and so it was never in development and the writers never actually were able to sit down and plan out details about how it would look. They weren't really supposed to spend time planning books that likely were never going to get greenlit.
A Brief History of Alternative Romances in Choices
Series - TRR's Alternative LIs: The "Romances" that Didn't Happen
TW: Mentions of OH2's handling of Rafael (though not in detail), racism.
To be clear, this introductory essay isn't directly related to the rest of this series. TRR operated very differently to the other Choices series' when it came to alternative LIs, so a lot of what I'll discuss here won't actually apply to its specific romance mechanics.
Still, it is important to explore what it means to give an LI an alternative romance in PB, and for that we need to look at what the approach to such romances were. Both in the past, and after TRR became popular. Looking into this gives us a general idea of which specific LIs got an alternative romance, why just them and not others, and what such developments said about the way the writing team viewed a particular character.
The Choices App was introduced in 2016, with three stories that were likely meant to cater to different audiences. Out of the three, the crime drama Most Wanted was the only series that focused on a single romantic pairing.
The other two - The Freshman and The Crown and the Flame - presented players with multiple romance options for their main character(s). TCaTF split its narrative between two main characters - Kenna Rys and Dominic Hunter - exploring both Kenna's fight to gain back and then expand her kingdom, and Dom's discovery of his heritage as a member of the Fire Tribes. Even though Kenna and Dom could be paired romantically, they had other potential LIs. Notably, Kenna had 6 (Dom, Tevan, Raydan, Annelyse, Val and Diavolos) and Dom only 2 serious contenders (Kenna, Rose, Sei, Will Jackson all had romances with him. Of these four, Rose was eliminated early on in the series, and Will was a last-minute addition at the end of TCaTF3). TCaTF didn't seem to focus much on the love lives of these LIs outside of Kenna and Dom, until Book 3 in 2017 - and of the cast only Raydan and Tevan seemed to get hints at other potential romances (with Aurynn and Zenobia, respectively).
Unlike MW and TCaTF, The Freshman's focus zeroed in on just one character. It was the first series to feature a customizable MC, whose experiences and choices alone would move the story forward. The original three-book series featured romances with three LIs - Chris Powell, James Ashton and Kaitlyn Liao. By the third book, two more were added to the roster - Zig Ortega and Becca Davenport.
You could choose a boy/girlfriend by the end of Book 1, and change partners in Book 3 if you weren't happy with your first LI and/or wanted one of the newer ones. The first three books didn't really have any alternative romances for the LIs themselves, but all that was about to change (for two LIs) in The Sophomore (released in 2017).
(Screenshots from the UnruleLee Gaming Youtube Channel)
In TS, the MC had the opportunity to pair James and Kaitlyn up with other side characters if she wasn't dating them. Kaitlyn begins to show an interest in Annisa, the new keyboardist in her punk band. Similarly for James and Reyna, a member of the editorial staff of Hartfeld's student-run newspaper. Both pairings only resulted in long-term relationships if the MC encouraged them enough, and she had both free and paywalled opportunities to do so.
What is noticeable at this point is that there are three LIs that are not given romantic alternatives - Chris, Zig and Becca. Though members of the fandom did headcanon certain pairings that had some potential in canon (such as Zig with his roommate Aaron and Becca with Madison), the narrative itself never indicated any romances for these characters, preferring perhaps to focus on their romance with the MC.
A possible reason for this could have been popularity. At the time, some in the fandom theorized that Chris was the most popular of the OG LIs, and that Zig and Becca garnered popularity quite quickly when they emerged as options in TF3. So there would be a lot more investment from the teams in charge of the book to focus their writing on their MC-centric routes.
James and Kaitlyn received criticism and sometimes outright hate from fans - some of whom complained ad nauseum whenever options to help them with their professional lives or personal development came up, while being largely accepting of the more popular LIs' conflicts. So it is possible that the writing focused on giving these two LIs other romantic options, in a way they didn't need to for the other three.
However, giving James and Kaitlyn other love interests didn't affect their overall writing. The Freshman series handled the balance between all five LIs with a deft hand, ensuring that every LI had adequate growth, development and attention within the narrative. Whether they were single or paired with the MC, all of them had unique stories that allowed the characters to make mistakes and learn from them, to confront their fears and conquer them, to deal with their problems in a realistic way.
James' story wasn't simply stuck on Reyna - he spent most of TS honing his writing skills and developing a novel, and later co-writing a play with the MC. Kaitlyn's story wasn't simply about romancing Annisa - it was about dealing with her insecurities, building her band from scratch, getting over her fears of Natasha sabotaging her again, being comfortable in her own identity. Their romances with Reyna and Annisa felt like bonus side stories that we could get if we were interested enough...not the be-all and end-all of their stories.
Alternative romances for LIs didn't happen in all books. Many didn't bother with one, especially those that wound up being one-book stories. Some books that ended with an elaborate wedding for an MC and their LI also seemed to do away with this too, mostly by eliminating other love interests or making their presence scarce (for instance, in RoE, the other two LIs for "Katie" virtually disappear when she make her choice, only featuring in brief cameos and mentions). Alternative LIs often featured in series' that were successful enough to get three books, so more often than not, two-book series' like #LoveHacks would barely even have the time to develop new characters to date any LI.
The books that did end up following this route often lasted long enough for at least three books (with PM and ATV standing as exceptions), and likely had more than 3 LIs. In certain books the pairing was paywalled, and in others you could choose a number of free options to encourage the romance.
After a while a pattern seemed to emerge in who got such romances. Sometimes the alternative LI was given only to the "forgotten fourth/fifth" of a series (the extra LI who would get the least attention) - sometimes the "lucky" LI would be a character that was NOT a late addition to the roster of LIs, but an OG LI that just got so little attention and buildup it became obvious that they were given an alternative because the writers couldn't be bothered to imagine what their romance with the MC would look like. One can confidently say this because very often the "alternative romance" was written with more thought than the romance with the LI or any of that character's individual problems, and it started becoming very obvious that the writers felt more comfortable imagining the playthroughs where such LIs could only be friends with the MC.
Once the Choices app found its "core demographic" and started churning out more books, there were more and more cases of the writers indicating who their favourites were, early on (through providing a higher frequency and quality of diamond scenes for certain LIs, and through their interviews before the book releases). Which resulted in those characters getting more popular and others less so. And it was this "popularity" that often impacted writing choices and treatment.
Such a system of storytelling results in a vicious cycle, where a team will either assume already that one particular character will rake in more money, and give them a head start over others...or where a writer - through intentional or unintentional bias - could push forward a "favourite" front-and-center to the detriment of other LIs.
Here's a list of books that wrote alternative romances for certain LIs (except for OH, but I will get to that one in a minute). See if you can figure a pattern in at least most of these books:
High School Story 3 (2018) - Caleb Mitchell (Jade Ali), Emma Hawkins (Luis Marino), Aiden Zhou (Cameron Levy)
High School Story: Class Act 3 (2019-20) - Skye Crandall (Lilith Vidal)
Desire and Decorum 3 (2018-19) - Luke Harper (Cordelia Parsons)
Perfect Match 2 (2018) - Sloane Washington (Khaan Mousavi)
Across the Void (2018-19) - Zekei Sentry becomes a love interest both to the MC as well as their sibling Eos Elara.
Endless Summer 3 (2017-18) - Quinn Kelly (Kele). (Technically, almost every LI does get some potential in terms of alternative romance...but this features mostly in the AUs shown by The Endless (Sean x Michelle, Estela x Zahra, Jake × Yvonne - among other AU romances). Quinn's romance, however, is solidified in the MC's handfasting ceremony with their LI, where the couple could share a romantic look).
In theory, the alternative romance could sound tempting. It allows the MC to demonstrate care and concern for an LI regardless of their romantic interest, or lack thereof. It may potentially give the reader the surface comfort of seeing an LI they rejected lead a happy life with someone they can love. It seems like a win-win situation for everyone.
But it becomes apparent when you comb through both the romantic and friendly versions of these characters' stories, that something is not quite right. I will take two LIs here as an example.
(Screenshots from Abhirio's YouTube Channel (D&D3) and Danni Stone's YouTube Channel (PM1))
Sloane Washington's major character points in Book 1 involve her love for coding and astronomy, as well as her strong bond with her mother. Book 2 (2018) does very minimal work on either of these; once Khaan enters the picture, almost every diamond scene she gets focuses solely on the possibility of a romance with him. The narrative doesn't even focus the reunion with her mother Kim on her!
Likewise, many, many complaints emerged during D&D3 (2019) about the way Luke's wedding was handled. His mother - who is supposedly very close to him - only features in letters about his brother Ezra's gambling addiction, doesn't have a name and never even attends his wedding. On the other hand, his alternative romance with Cordelia was explored in excruciating detail, to the point where the two are given a wedding and the promise of a future child. It is almost as if the writers couldn't bear to envision him marrying their precious MC.
There are two major things that become apparent the more you observe the above list of LIs who got alternative romances.
One, the LIs that don't get "alternative LIs" are often white and male (Micheal in HSS, Ernest in D&D, Meridien in AtV) with a couple exceptions. The writing takes care to weave their issues and conflicts into the MC's larger narrative and try their best to ensure that we become invested in whatever they have going on in their stories. A good example of this are Ernest's larger storylines about his stepson Percival and his destroyed house in Book 3. On certain rare occasions (especially when there is no default white man in the LI cast), an ambiguously brown man who can be easily exoticized fits into this role of "Creator's Pet" just as well. The writers spend enough time on perfecting their romances with the MC that there is literally no time for anything (or anyone) else.
Two, in all but two of these books, the LI that gets their 'alternative romance' most often...is a black love interest. On the rare occasion a white character is included in such a list, it is often a canonically queer white woman (only if she is an LI tho, because white female side characters have attention and love practically showered upon them) who ends up in such a position (Emma and Skye from the HSS series'). But besides that, it is usually the black LI - who btw is often one of the first people we interact with and written as the most approachable - that bears the brunt of a narrative that makes it clear that it isn't interested in exploring their story on their terms.
That is why Luke's mother never gets a name or his younger brother is hardly seen. That is why Sloane is sidelined in her own reunion scene with her mother. That is why most of the romantic playthroughs featuring these characters feel so scarce on the details or the nuances, while their white male (or ambiguous brown male) counterparts chew scenery in their own and everyone else's playthroughs.
In narratives like these, the "alternative LI" is no longer the sweet, sensitive, "they deserve happiness" route that it pretends to be...but more a sign that the writers are uncomfortable with writing said LI in a romance with the main character, and the audience they most want to cater to is uncomfortable reading it.
When the intent behind such a supposedly-nice gesture becomes so rife with bad faith, what is the end result? What happens when an 'alternative LI' - a route that seemed to promise happier futures for certain LIs - becomes more of a tool to punish them for lack of popularity? What happens when the company that created this system stops pretending to value the diversity they claimed to pride themselves in??
What happens - is that you get a story like Open Heart 2.
A lot of the stories I mentioned above were written within the space of 2017-2019. In fact, most of the books in the list came out in 2018. During these years Choices was gaining popularity in the choice-based storytelling business, and romance stories were on the rise. Many Choices Books at this point had at least 3 LIs - 2 male and 1 female - and some had more. And most of the writing teams managed to get away with treating their LIs of colour (specifically their black male and female LIs) badly without significant backlash.
At the time of OH2's release (2020), the book had four LIs in its lineup. Ethan Ramsey - like most white male LIs - was meant from the start to chew scenery. Comparatively the other LIs: Jackie Varma, Bryce Lahela and Rafael Aveiro were at a disadvantage and often it felt like the team seemed to work more on writing them out rather than incorporating their stories organically into the narrative. Rafael particularly seemed to suffer from this in the first book, and by this time making one LI the "forgotten fourth" became accepted as the norm. So when OH2's cover showed every single LI except for Rafael, there was a sense of mild alarm.
It soon became clearer, however, that something more insidious was afoot. The book itself began with a funeral, and Rafael was missing in the first chapter. When Rafael stans finally did get to see him, in Ch 2, they would be hit with a nasty surprise - the LI who was utterly devoted to their MC and introduced them to his beloved Vovó, would be shown dating a childhood sweetheart without any explanation or warning.
(Screenshots from Gabbieschoices YouTube Channel)
When asked about the sudden shift, PB's response was cryptic...but also ominous to a fandom who had already seen all kinds of unfair, horrible treatment meted out to a wide range of black characters by then:
For all intents and purposes, the relationship between the MC and Rafael appeared to be over, with very little by way of closure. Even the few diamond scenes they would get later would show friends-only options. As the book went on, it became frighteningly clear that the narrative was planning to do away with Rafael. At one point, Rafael even spoke of leaving the city altogether, and there were hints towards a far, far worse manner of departure in later chapters.
(Most people who were playing at the time remember PB's plans for OH2 Ch11-12, and the backlash, response and hiatus that followed. If you weren't there at the time, PB's Statement following the backlash - "Representation at Pixelberry" - briefly alludes to the issues that people in the fandom had with the writing decisions OH2 took at the time)
As most of us know by now, this ended with significant changes in the existing story - ensuring that Rafael lived, reinstating him as an LI and having Sora break up with him so they could disappear from the book altogether. Post 2020, no further attempts have been made the "alternative LI" route for LIs.
Part of this could be attributed to the change in format. With the introduction of VIP-access and single-LI books, the need to prepare an alternative romance for an LI has reduced greatly. Other factors too could have contributed: the extra romances becoming too much work, possible fatigue among fandom towards such pairings leading to less revenue from diamond options featuring them, certain books having only one or at most two LIs.
No one in PB has spoken of Rafael's treatment or the inclusion of Sora in OH directly...but since OH2 featured the last ever alternative romance till date, it would be safe to say that perhaps even PB recognised that the Sora story crossed a significant line. In any case, this practice hasn't been adopted in recent books in a while.
At the outset, one could argue that the Rafael and Sora situation is extremely different from the "alternative romances" I have listed so far. Unlike all the others, the intent behind introducing Sora was to deny the player a Rafael romance altogether, rather than present Rafael himself with an option. Whatever the problems with the other LIs, at least they got a romance with the MC!
However, I do think the Sora story was rooted in what the alternative LI route had become over time. It may have started with good intentions - with the idea that perhaps if the numbers showed certain LIs being ignored, it may be kinder to give them happy futures with other people who would love them. As long as the alternative romance was just a part of the character's larger story (as is the case with James and Kaitlyn), it felt less harmful and more sweet.
But when the ability to rake in finances becomes a marker of a character's worth, when the writing itself rigs the game from the start of a series, when both PB and fandom find themselves incapable of examining their own biases with regards to said characters...the purpose of such romances becomes warped.
At such points, it becomes more about establishing that this character's romance with the MC is not worth exploring. About delivering the message that it's okay to drop this LI - that as a player, you had more chance of getting your money's worth if you did drop them.
To be more clear, the Sora story is a culmination of what happens when a certain type of LI is set up to fail from the start. There are less opportunities for them to win the reader over, less time, less options to bring in money. In such an environment, the "alternative romance" becomes about considering certain types of LIs "less worthy", and spending far less time developing their MC-route - because as far as the "data", "money" and "finances" are concerned, they hardly have one!
The culmination of such a system, is that the worth of an LI can be brought down so much that the writers become comfortable with killing a non-main and non-white LI. Sora, as an alternative LI, was a way to write Rafael himself out as a romantic option, not a route meant to move his own story ahead. Sora is what happens when PB pushes forward favouritism and racism to the point where the writing is emboldened to take such steps for LIs of colour (particularly black LIs) they deem unpopular.
Which is why - in the present climate - the elimination of such a system is a marginally better prospect. If we cannot trust such a seemingly "nice" process, what's the use of having it around?
This essay series isn't about all of PB's stories, however. It is about TRR. Still - it is essential to explore and understand the original intent behind using these romance routes, and the history of how such storylines developed over time. Considering that TRR released from 2017-2018, analysing the significant patterns of that time places the writing of TRR's alternate romances into context.
TRR's approach to the alternative LI route has been different from other books, in very specific ways. One of the most prominent ways was that the narrative featured romantic options for the three OG LIs, and briefly attempted one for a fourth (the closest parallel to this in another book would be Endless Summer). Even popular love interests were presented with romantic routes, in case the MC wasn't going to marry them.
Does this mean that TRR managed to avoid falling into the same rabbit hole of bias and favouritism, that the other books did? Not by a long shot. The same problems just manifested in very different ways - and in this essay series, I will discuss those problems, romance route by romance route.
This essay is absolutely amazing! Btw, I thought Michael could romance Morgan, but I forgot she doesn't go to prom with him on Book one and they suspiciously grow apart on Book two.
I didn't know Sora was PB's last attempt give a LI an alternative romance, but I guess it kinda confirms the reason why some LIs have other romance options and others don't. Also, I have to mention how much it still stings to read anything about Rafael x Sora or Open Heart in general (being a Rafael stan, Brazilian and mixed raced kinda makes the whole situation a bit harder to swallow), but I'm thankful to read your opinion on it.
Thank you for sharing another outstanding essay! I can barely wait to read more!
Thank you so much @lorirwritesfanfic!! I remember that prom dates. I recall at the time that some people shipped Micheal and Maria as well?
At some point during the research I went on the Choices Wiki list of LIs to confirm a theory I'd had in my head with LIs. I didn't expect to confirm that Sora was the last, but I came to that realisation after going through this list and checking the dates of these series'. I didn't play OH2, but I did hear about what was happening from several mutuals and even before the backlash, the direction they were heading filled me with a heavy sense of dread. I can just imagine how painful that book and those creative decisions may have been for you as a fan and as a mixed-race Brazilian. I'm so sorry you and other Raf stans had to go through that 😔
i mentioned time loop au . i was gonna draw proper things but i forgor. anyway mc keeps repeating the events of the book and just can’t quite figure out how they’re supposed to break the loop and save everyone (the cruel joke is that they can’t)
