Hey y’all.
I’ve started working on game in my free time called A Witch’s Curse. It’s my first ever interactive fiction as well as my first time coding. There will probably be a lot of bugs and growing pains because of this, I know it took me the better part of a day to get just the teaser up and functioning. Criticism and feedback would be wonderful! I’m very curious what people think of the story as well as my writing in general.
Also, I want to give a warning, some of the content in the story might be a sensitive subject for readers. I will update this as the story continues, but in the first chapter at least there are brief mentions of child and animal abuse as well as suicide and murder.
A Brief Synopsis: Your memories are faulty, full of minor contradictions and things that never could’ve happened. Other than that your life is simple enough. That is until a strange leather bound book falls in your lap, or rather, you fall onto it.
Characters
The Witch a.k.a “Mom”: Your overbearing mother, she’s been sick for as long as you can remember and you help to take care of her. But, there’s something off about her, you can’t explain it… The two of you are constantly moving around.
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Not Romance-able
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A witch who has cursed you to believe that she is your mother, and you, her obedient child. After you broke into her house and were found out, she cursed you. Her spell was to have you work for her as a mindless servant for the rest of your unnatural life. The two of you move from town to town to avoid suspicion from it’s residents, and you later learn she erases your memories every twenty years or so, so as to keep your own suspicion low. But her magic is starting to falter and she ends up having to move the two of you back to the origin area of the curse to ease the strain.
The Best Friend a.k.a. “Landon/Lorelie”: You remember very little of them, but they seem to keep appearing in your memories. They keep leaving you clues, but how? They’re supposed to be long dead…
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Romance-able
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They grew up in a large house just down the street from yours, being the bastard child of a wealthy scion, they had a more privileged childhood than most and ended up becoming a well read and charming child. However, it was a lonely life to lead, being the only child in the household. You remember spotting them through the window as you and the other children would play. Eventually, they started to sneak out and run with your little gang. This is where they discovered their second greatest talent- lock picking.
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Appearance: They have light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and curly black hair. They love wearing bright and expensive clothes when they can, but often have to wear more muted colors for practicality’s sake. Their living circumstances are… interesting to say the least, but they’re always near by when the MC needs help.
The New Neighbor a.k.a “Maria/Miguel”: There’s something eerily familiar about them, have you met them before?
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Romance-able
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A smiley new neighbor who is either far too nosey, or has already met you in a past life. There’s not much to say about them, for popping up around town as often as they do, you can’t seem to remember any details about them.
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Appearance: They have tan skin, straight dark brown hair, and hazel eyes. They dress very simply and casually, going for what is comfortable over what is fashionable. Not to say that they’re sloppy looking, they care about looking good, just don’t need to break the bank in order to do so. They’re the new next door neighbor, so their house is kind of a mess, but in general they’re a very organized person. They can often be seen around town with a messenger bag packed to the brim with who knows what. No one’s really sure what they do exactly.
The Librarian a.k.a. “Calvin/Claudia”: Has taken an interest in you because of your knowledge that seems to pertain to their research on the history of witchcraft in this town
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Romance-able
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A native to the town of Windrip. They’ve grown up keenly interested in the occult happenings that have occurred here in the past. Working at the town library has given them access to all sorts of documents for their research and while they’re a very kind and helpful librarian, they locks up as soon as the clock hits 7pm and dives into their work. They mostly keep their research a secret, and don’t socialize much outside of work.
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Appearance: They have fair skin, gray eyes, and curly red hair. They wear thick wire rimmed glasses and often dress in business casual clothes for work. More often than not they carry around a book with them. They always have pen and legal pad with them. Their work space itself is very tidy, but their house is a mess as they often don’t spend much time there and when they do it’s to hurriedly eat food and get dressed because they accidentally fell asleep at the library and would be mortified to be seen in yersterday’s clothes.
Setting
This story is set in a world more or less parallel to ours. Magic exists, and has existed for as long as people have been able to utter a curse. Magical hot spots exist all over the world. The spots act like magnets, collecting energies of the people that surround it. Eventually some discovered that the energy could be manipulated and used to perform the impossible, and the people that could take advantage, did. However, not everyone can perform magic and it’s always a dangerous thing to toy with. Even the most seasoned of spell-casters have died from either over using or misusing it, because magic, just like anything takes its toll on the body. This has lead to a mass extinctions of witches over the years, either at their own hands or the hands of others, and with the dying of magic users comes the dwindling numbers of people versed in how to combat it. Today, very few people believe that magic and witches are real. This suits your mother just fine, making it much easier to hide. However, all that hiding over the years, so far from a hot spot, has taken it toll. The strain of it all has finally forced mother dearest to move closer to the original source of magic to keep her spells intact. But she doesn’t seem too worried, after over a hundred years who’s left alive to remember her? You don’t realize it yet, but you’re back in your home town. Welcome home. Welcome to Winthrop.
The town of Winthrop is nestled right up against the edge of a forest with a creek running through it, and a small lake at the edge of town (that is known to be haunted). The location I’ve left purposefully vague, but I take a lot of inspiration from the American South (if the name of the town is any indicator). American gothic literature, especially short stories, has always been one of my favorites to read. The home where the witch and the MC live is not the same house from the prologue, but it is built on on/near the same spot. While the MC’s house is generally falling apart the neighborhood they live in is actually quite nice.
The creek runs through the forrest and now splits the town down the middle. It used to be a mile outside of town but the place has grown quite a bit and now is considered the marker between old town and new town. MC and the witch live in old town. During especially hot summers the creek bed dries up and strange objects have been known to be found. Local children do not go near it.
There’s a park, not far from the center of town which the creek cuts right through. Well, park might be strong word, it’s more like a small patch of cleared land that no developer ever bothered to mess with. As the town grew and carved a place among the forrest trees and highway road, the people grew fond of the empty patch and adopted it as their own.
It is generally accepted that you don’t go into the forest unless you have a death wish, or are so fond of nature that you don’t mind disappearing and never coming back. There are a few well trod paths but even they tend to get overgrown and aren’t always the safest place to be. Lots of different strange sightings have happened there.
New DEMO: https://dashingdon.com/go/3810
OLD DEMO: https://dashingdon.com/go/2742
Game Blog: https://a-witches-curse.tumblr.com/
Discord: https://discord.gg/NUyY38q
Note: If you’re not comfortable posting feedback on the thread, feel free to DM me or send me a message through the game’s tumblr.
Other Stuff:
Thank You everyone who has read and liked and commented on this thread, I hope you enjoy the story!