A downloadable adventure game for Windows, macOS, and Linux

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Will Phail is a fifteen-year-old like many others: lazy, spoiled and phlegmatic. But he has one thing that others lack: he's useless!

Experience Will's drama in this short adventure as he searches for his favorite T-shirt so he can hang out with his friends trying to defend his already compromised reputation.

Dodge lazy grandparents, mischievous rats, and carnivorous plants, and find the courage to descend into the frightening basement, where powers beyond understanding lurk, waiting to be awakened!

  • A dive into the golden age of point-and-click adventures
  • A state-of-the-art, ultramodern 9-verbs interface, to put you in total control
  • The humor of the great classics, with jokes conceived for smart people, like YOU who have decided to play this game!
  • Amazing 3D graphics: Dimple, Dlat and Dapproximate
  • Awesome MT-32 music and 22KHz sound effects that will blow your mind
  • Challenging and merciless puzzles that will force you to rack your brains!

The game

Powers in the Basement (PitB for short) is a 5/6 hours long point-and-click adventure game, deliberately reminiscent of the great classics from the 80s / 90s, with a specific sweet spot for LucasArts production.

It's a witty and sometimes surreal game, with clean humor, also suitable for children, set in a pseudo-fantasy world in which the medieval fairytale is punctuated by anachronisms, elements of modernity, and absurd references to nerd pop culture.

You will meet funny characters, face bizarre situations, solve challenging puzzles, and enjoy some hopefully rewarding wild goose chases.

Is this for you?

If you are new to this genre: this is a game for puzzle lovers, those who like to have a-ha moments in the shower or while cooking.

If you prefer story-driven games, rest assured we did our best to make PitB fair and enjoyable to casual gamers as well.

If you are a longtime fan of this genre, well... we hope we can bring you back to your childhood for a while.

Test-imonials

Here is some comments, left by the testers during game development. Those make us particularly proud.

PITB is a gem for a compulsive clicker like me, a tribute to the masterpieces we grew up with. The humor is spot on, the pace is right, the puzzles are well balanced and there are many references to the classics (funny quotes, not JJAbrams-style copycat!). I was impressed by the attention to even the smallest of details. [...]
It's a beautiful little game. The graphics were wonderful. The humor is witty and silly - very enjoyable. I chuckled aloud many times. The story was quirky, which I also liked.
The polish on the game was solid. I really appreciate it. This is the second indie game I've tested and at no moment did I feel like you didn't put in the effort to make my experience great.

Why

PitB is our first point & click adventure, and the first game featuring Will Phail, a clumsy, light-hearted teenager with a hypertrofic self-esteem.
This game is a sort of prequel for a full-length adventure starring Will as a young adult. PitB is not a demo or a short version though: it is a game on its own, with a smaller scope and a story that is only mildly related to the next installment. Before embarking on Yet Another Unreleased Wide-Scope Adventure Game we decided to chew something smaller, learning along the road and introducing our beloved main character to the public.

To us this game, is like a dream come true. We grew up in the golden age of Point & Click games and we have always dreamed of reviving the spirit, humor, and brain-squeezing of the good ol' days, bringing something new to the table as well.

Feel free to join our Discord to leave your feedback.


Keyboard shortcuts

Interface:

You can select verbs in the interface with your keyboard if you prefer:

Give (Q) Pick up (W) Use (E)
Open (A) Look at (S) Push (D)
Close (Z) Talk to (X) Pull (C)

Other functions:

  • Tab: Unlock cursor from game area (in windowed mode)
  • F1: Display game release version
  • F11: Toggle full-screen/windowed modes on Linux

Tips

We know, you beat King's Quest on the first run and don't need tips, but for those who are new to the genre:

  • Observe. Look at things both in the environment and in your inventory: acquiring information is key.
  • Pay attention to what is said in the dialogues.
  • Using the right verb might make a difference: you are in full control.
  • Try not to brute force the solution. Think out of the box but rest assured each puzzle has a sensible solution.
  • Don't rush. If you're stuck and frustrated, take a break, quit the game and let your brain elaborate in the background.

A game by

Illiterate Code Games


Made with PowerQuest LogoPowerQuest by PowerHoof

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

pitb-Windows64-1.2.2.zip 43 MB
pitb-OSX-1.2.2.zip 47 MB
pitb-Linux64-1.2.2.zip 37 MB
pitb_eost_mp3.zip 36 MB
if you pay $2.99 USD or more

Development log

View all posts

Comments

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Is it possible to support scummvm as platform? Or would it need a complete rewrite?

Hi @ilg. Sadly this would need a rewrite of the whole engine. We’re anyway switching away from Unity for the next game. What’s your use case? We may try and address it, maybe.

Support for platforms where scummvm runs, like Wii with wiimote, great experience for point and click

(+1)

OK so it’s for portability. We will take this into consideration, we understand that ScummVM can be seen as a development platform nowadays, but we’re not aware of convenient tools to help with game development.

We’ll investigate. Thanks for sharing and for your interest in our game!

A free 5-6 hour Point n Click game ? YES PLEASE!

(1 edit)

By the power of Grayskull!

Yeah! :)

The game is superb, by the way. It is not that short and the story and the jokes are very well executed. I look forward to another game, which hopefully manifests some day.

It will take a while, but we’re working on it, and it will be longer and more articulated :) Probably out 2025.

Thanks for your appreciation, it means a lot to us!

(+1)

Love these games as I also made a LucasArts inspired 9 verb point and click for my own enjoyment. Lucky to have found this gem between all the other games. Had to use the itch app to be able to launch the game on Sonoma on my Mac. Bought you game as I know how much time and love it takes to make this.

Thanks, mate! Your appreciation is even more valuable, coming from a fellow developer.
We're going to check your games! :)

Thanx ! That is always good to hear!

It's a fun little game! Beautiful style, nice music and puzzles were challenging enough but not too hard. I could see this game as the prologue/first act of a classic LucasArts game.

Thanks for your kind words and so happy you enjoyed the game! The size was surely intended since it’s our very first game, but more will come :)

I love the style, well done! :)

Thanks, mate! Hope you enjoyed the game!

I love it, thank you.


Cute little game!

(+1)

Hi Sabrina! Thanks for playing our game on your channel, we're happy you liked it :)

(-4)

This COULD be a good game, but you went too far in the difficulty. Tone it WAY back and add a walkthrough. Games should be fun, not difficult

(+2)

Hi!
Thanks for playing our game! We're sorry if it made you feel frustrated.

Some publishers lean more toward the "click and relax" side of the spectrum, but we deliberately decided to create something more challenging.

Please, consider this is our first game and we did our best to make it difficult, but fair. Still, what "the right amount of challenge" is, is pretty subjective.

We didn't provide a playthrough (we didn't think of it) but there are some gameplays on YT that may help you out, in the meantime. Or you can join our Discord to get suggestions from other fellow players.

We are still learning and we promise we'll strive for a more balanced experience with the next game.
Thanks for your feedback and we hope you'll decide to invest a bit more time in the game, so you can get to the end.

(+4)

This is a matter of opinion. I love the challenge.

Questo il mio risultato... ma un altro aiutino per l'easter Egg? Tipo è possibile che facendo un altra azione si possa perderlo? chiedere la locazione forse è troppo? forse... ma no dai... per favore :)

He's supposed to say "where's the hamster" when you open the generator door but when I do it he doesn't say anything and so I can't ask grandma about it.  

(+1)

You're right mate. This doesn't prevent you from finishing the game, but takes away a useful suggestion. We fixed it in code, we'll probably release a fix with this soon.
Thanks!

Hi! Just to inform you that this is fixed in 1.0.3. Enjoy!

Congratulations for this very nice - and too short - point & click adventure. Well crafted, and apart from one or two puzzles, the game does not particularly rely on pixel hunting. 


Please, continue! 

We'll surely do! Thanks for your kind feedback :) We're happy you took fun playing PitB!

Thank you for this small masterpiece in pure retro pixel style.

I am still missing one red herring. Hidden bitcoins most probably is fake but has anyone found the easter egg, yet?

Thanks for you kind words, AmigaMaster! Glad you liked PitB.

To our knowledge, nobody got the easter egg yet. We gave two hints on our Discord during casual conversations:

  1. You need to use your hands. Both hands.
  2. It requires a bit of videogames pop culture.

Cheers :)

Really cool point and click game. Great work! 

Thank you! Glad you liked it! Thanks for playing it on YouTube! :)

beauty retro ;D

Hey mate, glad you liked it! :)

Hi all! This is my commented longplay (in Italian). How many red herrings have you found? ;) Enjoy!
(1 edit)

Hi Paul! :) Thanks for endorsing PITB on your channel :)
We are curious too, how many have you found, people?

Also, anyone found the Easter Egg?

We loved it, please do more <3

Wow thanks for your nice words! :)

Of course we'll to more! Stay tuned.

Thank you again for telling me about PitB, very nice work with this project. Definitely looking forward to Will's next adventures. :) 

(+1)

Thank you dude, honoured you decided to feature our little game on your channel!

Looking people playing it is teaching us a lot on how to properly balance puzzles so they are challenging but fair and not punishing. We have a long way to go on that, but we'll surely do our best to get better!

It was my pleasure playing. As I mentioned during the stream, it's been a very pleasant surprise.

For the most part the puzzles are good, logical so you're on the right path. :) 

Seen it yesterday, downloaded for a quick run, loved it, bought it, completed it. Now I'll wait for the future releases. Congratulations for the whole project!

Thanks for the kind words, dude! We'll surely do our best with the next game!

(+1)

I like it so far. I hope to be able to complete it soon :D

Wonderful! We would have contacted you to bring the game to your attention but... wow! :D

Thanks for sharing!

That look awesome !!! I will definitely play it !

Wonderful, thanks for you support! :) We hope we'll enjoy this as much as we enjoyed creating it!