Front desk
The first contact with the library. Counter, old cards, borrowing records, and objects left behind.
independent narrative game
Tinea
The library still keeps stories.
After her mother’s death, a woman returns to her hometown to organize the old library her mother cared for during most of her life. Among forgotten books, photographs, letters, and old records, she begins to understand a person she can no longer ask questions to.
website started on 07/02/2026
version 1.0
in development
note found at the front desk
“Some people leave. Some stay. Some somehow do both.”
01 — The book
About the game
Tinea is an independent narrative game currently in development.
The story follows a woman who returns to her hometown after the death of her mother. What was supposed to be just a few days organizing an old library gradually becomes a journey through memories, forgotten objects, and small traces left behind by people who passed through that place over decades.
The game uses exploration, environmental storytelling, and subtle psychological suspense to tell a story about memory, grief, and the way people continue to exist through the things they leave behind.
Instead of focusing on combat or constant action, Tinea invites the player to observe, explore, and understand the stories hidden among shelves, photographs, letters, and old books.
02 — The library
A place that remembers
The library is not only a setting. It works as an archive of small lives, keeping objects, records, and ordinary moments from ordinary people.
Main hallway
Tall shelves, silence, old wood, and books that seem to take up more space than they should.
Children’s hallway
Drawings, school books, forgotten toys, and memories of children who grew up inside that space.
Mother’s office
The most intimate place in the library. Letters, notes, photographs, and personal records from Maria de Fátima.
Storage room
Old boxes, donated books, incomplete files, and things that may have been kept for too long.
03 — The archive
Objects that tell stories
In Tinea, collectibles are not there only to be found. Each object is a memory, a fragment of someone, a small mark left inside the library.
Photographs
Old photos with handwritten notes on the back. Some capture simple moments. Others seem to hold something left unsaid.
Books
Donated, borrowed, or forgotten books. Some carry dedications, markings, folded pages, and small traces of those who read them.
Bookmarks
Tickets, pressed flowers, notes, shopping lists, and small pieces of paper used to mark pages.
Mother’s notes
Records of everyday moments written by Maria de Fátima, the former librarian.
Paintings
Paintings made by children, portraits, old phrases, and images that reveal the library’s connection with the community.
Small traces
A forgotten coat, a recipe, a bingo card, a plush cat. Small things that remain.
04 — Philosophy
Small objects, large stories
Tinea believes small objects can tell large stories.
The library as an archive
The library is not only a setting, but an archive of lives, affection, and absence.
Narrative through details
Every photograph, letter, dedication, or annotated book represents a trace left by someone.
No rush
The player is invited to observe, return, reread, and slowly assemble the stories.
Silence also speaks
Not everything needs to be explained in order to be felt. Some memories remain in what was never said.
05 — Atmosphere
Rain, silence, and old paper
Rather than constantly trying to scare the player, Tinea seeks to evoke a lingering feeling of nostalgia, silence, and quiet unease.
The library is both welcoming and unsettling. A place where the scent of old books, rain against the windows, and forgotten objects seem to preserve memories that refuse to disappear.
Brazilian countryside
old library
rain
silence
memory
longing
old paper
traces
06 — The uncanny
Not every memory stays the same
In Tinea, suspense does not exist to replace melancholy. It appears quietly, like the feeling that something changed while no one was looking.
Subtle psychological suspense
Discomfort comes more from observation than from direct jumpscares.
A living environment
The library seems to react to what has been seen, read, and remembered.
Unstable memories
Some details may feel different as the protagonist progresses.
Silence as tension
Not everything needs to be explained in order to be felt.
This section avoids specific details in order to preserve the game experience.
07 — Book of Records
The library keeps receiving visitors
Throughout the game, the Book of Records works as a readable object: an old notebook left inside the library, filled with notes, names, and small events recorded over the years.
By the end of the experience, a new possibility appears. The player may leave a small trace of their own, as if they had also passed through that library.
This idea is still in development, but it comes from the desire to turn the act of playing into one more memory preserved by the space.
08 — Inspirations
Games, feelings, and references
Tinea is inspired by works that tell stories through small details, objects, environments, and silence.
What Remains of Edith Finch
For its environmental storytelling and the way objects and spaces reveal family histories.
Life is Strange
For its contemplative pacing, everyday details, and the emotional weight of photographs, choices, and memories.
To the Moon / A Bird Story
For their relationship between memory, affection, loss, and small scenes capable of carrying deep emotion.
OMORI / GRIS
For their symbolic approach to pain, trauma, grief, reconstruction, and feelings that are difficult to name.
Celeste
For its emotional journey and the idea of transforming internal conflicts into game language.
The Last Report
For its atmosphere of suspense, observation, and exploration of environments filled with quiet tension.
Sally Face / Fran Bow / Dollmare
For their psychological suspense, strangeness, and discomfort created more through atmosphere than direct scares.
A Space for the Unbound / Coffee Talk
For their slow pacing, human relationships, and appreciation for quiet everyday moments.
09 — Journal
Development
First narrative definitions
Initial project organization, Obsidian structure, and writing of the first story moment, focused on the protagonist’s arrival at the library.
First Godot prototype
Creation of the first playable version, with movement, an interactable object, and a functional text box.
Website version 1.0
Creation of the first version of Tinea’s official website, with rain, library atmosphere, archive, inspirations, and project presentation.
First playable area
Initial library prototype in Godot, with interaction, object reading, and first atmosphere elements.
10 — About the project
Made by Satomoit
Josiane Bueno
Tinea is a personal project in development, created as an exercise in narrative, programming, game design, art direction, and memory.