Palimpsest VR: The Mnemonic Deck

Story & Concept:
Inspired by the cyberspace 'decks' of 'Neuromancer', you are a 'Chronolyst'—a digital archaeologist and data forensics expert. Your interface, the Mnemonic Deck, allows you to jack into the 'Archive'—a vast, visualized metaverse constructed from scraped digital records (declassified documents, Wikipedia edit histories, source code repositories, etc.). Your job is not just to read data, but to experience its history. Drawing from the temporal mechanics of 'Tenet', you don't just move through space; you move through the document's timeline, uncovering truths buried under layers of edits, deletions, and redactions.

How It Works:
The project is a VR application built in an engine like Unity or Unreal.

1. Data Ingestion ('Document Archives'): The core system connects to public APIs (e.g., Wikipedia API, Internet Archive, GitHub API). It pulls documents and, crucially, their entire version history. This data is processed and stored in a format that tracks changes over time.

2. Visualization ('Neuromancer'): In the VR environment, a document is not a flat page but a 'data-construct'. A text document might be a luminous, towering pillar where each paragraph is a glowing block. A code repository becomes a vast, branching tree you can fly through. Hyperlinks are visible tethers connecting to other constructs in the distance. The aesthetic is minimalist and data-driven, focusing on text and relationships rather than complex 3D models, making it achievable for a solo developer.

3. Core Mechanic ('Tenet'): The user's primary tool is a 'Temporal Scrubber', controlled with their VR controllers. By physically pushing and pulling a timeline in 3D space, they can:
- Scrub Forward: Watch the document construct itself in real-time. See sentences appear, edits being made, and sections being blacked out by redactions.
- Invert/Scrub Backward: This is the key feature. As you pull the timeline back, redactions fade to reveal the original text. Deleted paragraphs reappear. You can witness the 'ghost' of the information that was removed, allowing you to understand the intent and history behind the final version.

4. AR Mode: A potential feature extension is an AR mode where pointing a headset or phone at a webpage or physical document overlays its 'temporal ghosts' in the user's real environment, showing key edits or historical versions floating around the object.

Monetization & Niche Appeal:
- Low Cost: Relies on free public data and procedural generation, minimizing asset costs.
- Niche Market: It's not a game; it's a 'super-tool'. It targets researchers, investigative journalists, OSINT analysts, legal professionals (for e-discovery), and history enthusiasts.
- High Earning Potential: The real potential lies in a B2B/Prosumer model. A standard version could be sold on VR app stores. A 'Pro' version, offered via subscription, could allow users to connect to private databases, proprietary APIs (like legal or financial archives), or upload their own document sets for temporal analysis. This transforms it from a novelty into an indispensable tool for specific, high-value industries.