The Eyes of Westerhollow [WiP] - Prologue *(Sneaky Tumblr Update)

Hello my fellow forum dwellers. This is an idea of mine that has been at the back of my mind for at least 2 years now, loosely based on a very special dream I once had.


After narrowly escaping a close encounter with death, you suddenly find yourself in a peculiar town inhabited by peculiar people. While you are recovering from your injuries, ancient mysteries slowly begin to reveal themselves before your eyes, and the edges of reality blur as you discover forgotten secrets buried in your own mind. Meanwhile, a demon from your past is quickly closing in on you. And when he finds you, he will kill you.


This game has a heavy focus on character customisation, relationships and character interactions. Romace, befriend or make enimies of the curious residents of Westerhollow. Leave a lasting impact on the secluded little town, or perhaps even, on the whole world. The concept of this game can be described as a personality test of sorts, and so I have put a lot of effort into developing a deep and complex personality system for the MC, which will directly be under your control and strongly influence where the story takes you.

I am working on this game in my free time alongside other projects, so I will likely fluctuate between productive months and less productive months.

Play Here

Currently this is nothing but a brief teaser, but more is coming soon!


Romance Options
♂️
  • Isaia Accursio
    Tall, dark and intense, with sharp features and hungry eyes. His skin is slightly tan, accentuated by rich brown eyes and black wavy hair, cut short but ever so unruly. His body is towering and lean, but deceptively strong. His expression constantly alternates between smiles and frowns.
    ~
    Isaia has a powerful presence. Confident and accomplished, Mayor of Westerhollow, adored and respected. He greets his people with warm smiles and gracious words. But behind closed doors, he treats his brother with hostility, and continually looks at you with scorn and disgust. A complicated man, but perhaps for good reasons.

  • Alfeo Accursio
    A smooth and unusually symmetrical face with large lips and long eyelashes. Somewhat feminine features yet still remarkably handsome. His brown hair rests in loose curls atop his head. His eyes are a bright hazel, and deep dimples accompany his frequent smiles.
    ~
    Alfeos effortlessly attractive looks are tainted by an exceedingly strange personality. Odd and enigmatic, his kind words are frequently ruined by ill timed sexual remarks and wicked grins. He has an uncanny ability to casually sneak up behind you, and he seemingly never sleeps. A stark contrast to his respectable brother. But unlike his brother, Alfeo genuinely means well.

  • Elwin Bright
    A long face with sharp cheekbones and a straight nose. Sea green eyes take in his surroundigs with a keen acuity. His hair is dark and short and he is very tall and slender. A scar runs over the left corner of his lips, but that doesn’t ruin his delicately handsome features.
    ~
    A reserved and deliberate man, Elwin is usually seen hiding his scorn behind a book. He has no patience for small talk and trivialities, and he has yet to meet someone who doesn’t annoy him. Elwin is an intelligent and insightful man, but unfortunately equally arrogant and rude. He treats most social interactions with wry sarcasm and nasty glares, and preferably some whiskey, dry.

  • Noah Grey
    Sharp features and a gaunt face, a thin pair of rectangular glasses hide his tired eyes when he reads. And he reads a lot. Ruffled ashen blonde hair gathers dust, and his bright blue eyes glaze distantly over his surroundings. His body is bony and frail, and he is very pale, almost vampiric.
    ~
    The towns reclusive librarian, whose best friends are spiders and dust bunnies. Eccentric and mysterious and usually deep in thoughts, yet paradoxically very easily distracted. But behind a stoic face and socially clumsy personality, a talented and observant mind hides deep passions and ambitious projects. Noah may know more about the world than he lets on.

♀️
  • June Farrow
    Thick ginger locks flow down a graceful body. Heavy freckles cover a pale porcelain skin. Piercing green and blue eyes are framed by long eyelashes. Her face is smooth and delicate, with plump lips and shapely eyebrows.
    ~
    June moves and speaks like a siren. Gentle but confident. Calm but attentive. Pleasant. Charming. Seductive. Beautiful. And a manipulative liar. Under the surface lies a dangerous personality who is fully willing to burn the whole world to ashes. Maybe she still bears some deep traumas etched into her dark mind, but she will be the last to admit it.

  • Sela Blair
    Dark hair frames a sharp face in shiny waves. Intense grey eyes glare back from under striking eyebrows. Her skin is a warm tan, and her body is lean and athletic. She cuts an imposing presence, but the vision is spoiled by a permanent frown.
    ~
    Sela is a force of personality. Unpredictable, dominant, fierce and unspoken. She spends most of her time smoking and being mean in fruitless attempts to pursue fun. She is not averse to playful flirting and kinky games, but perhaps her rowdy personality is a cover for a lack of stability and personal fulfillment in her stormy life.

  • Olive Miller
    Light freckles are sprinkled over a sharp nose. She has round cheeks and large, blue eyes. Her brown hair bumps over her shoulders in rich curls. A bit on the shorter side, but not lacking in cutting a shapely silhouette.
    ~
    Open, honest and friendly, Olive is an adventurous and energetic woman, fully devoted to ensuring justice prevails in her humble little town through her job as a police officer. She is always down to jokes and fun and can chug a beer like the best of them. But perhaps her personal devotion to good makes her all too naive of the darkness that lurks in the hearts of men.

  • Elliot Blue
    A pair of large, round and very dark eyes carefully looks back from a cute, somewhat boyish face. Her body is petite and nimble, but usually hidden under baggy clothes. Her hair is short and ruffled and colored in a new unusual color every day.
    ~
    A quiet artist whose only friend is June. Elliot is disdainful of society and is not afraid to make that known. She spends her time making toys and dyeing her hair using whatever weird concoctions she can find in her old attic. She shies away from crowds and seems comfortable in the shadows, but even so, a look of childlike innocence and affection betrays her somber eyes.


Current Plan

Prologue: A Hunter in The Dark DONE!
Chapter 1: A Strange Welcome
Chapter 2: The Eyes
Chapter 3: New Friends
Chapter 4: Reality Slip
Chapter 5: Pitchforks
Chapter 6: All The King’s Men
Chapter 7: An Old Friend
Chapter 8: Initiation
Chapter 9: Lockdown
Chapter 10: The Chalice in the Abyss
Chapter 11: Final Confrontation
Chapter 12: The Chamber
Epilogue: Communion

Predicted Wordcount: ~ 350 000, perhaps longer, prehaps shorter, we’ll see.


Updates

[30/5/2019] Edited one of the split scenes in the prologue.
[28/5/2019] Uploaded Prologue and a tiny snippet of Chapter 1.


! This is a WiP, and as thus, everything is subject to change !

EDIT: Yes, editing my own posts is clearly one of my favorite hobbies. You should see how I write the story…


Ask me questions about the world and characters here!

252 Likes

Brief, but I already enjoy your style of writing. Eager to see where the story leads!

2 Likes

Thank you, I’m glad to hear! I was worried that my writing might come off as, uh, kind of snobby and preachy? I know it’s short, but I quickly wanted to throw out this little teaser to gather some reactions. The rest of chapter 1 is already well under way.

@Blackbird im already in love! everything flowed so well. the descriptions, the choices and just everything! i cant wait to read more! :heart: :heart_eyes:

1 Like

Aaaaaahh thank you!! You have no idea how glad that makes me feel!!

2 Likes

Arggh, cliffhanger!!! Why are you doing this to us?
Seriously now, I really really love this story so far. That intense beginning, the writing style, the narrative rhythm… I can’t wait to see more :slightly_smiling_face:

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Heyyyy THIS was great! Good to see another excellent W.I.P I can stalk!

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Your writing is very good. Is the story good as well? No idea yet, it’s too early to say. But the prose… :+1:

Your feet catches on something prickly

catch

Your pain exceeded it’s limits long ago.

its

1 Like

I like what’s here, and the plot has my attention.

Just from the descriptions of the ROs I am already intrigued and itching to pursue most if not all of them? So that’s new. And your prose is descriptive but not overly so. All in all: more soon please!

2 Likes

It makes me pleased to hear that the cliffhangers already have you on the edge. Heh, heh, hee. :smirk:

Oh yes I already have a stalker, I’m in the big leagues now! :muscle:

Thank you, I was very nervous about the prose but this makes so glad to hear. And thanks for catching those little grammar mistakes!

I hope I will be able to keep that attention with what I have in store for you… :wink:

Oh that’s so great to hear! They are a turbulent bunch for sure, but I look forward to introducing them to you all… :blush:

3 Likes

This is pretty good so far. Do you have a tumblr that you can post updates to?

Not yet. It feels like I should put out a bit more content first until it’s viable to create a Tumblr page, unless people want me to?

Fair enough.

Hmm~ I’ll have to bookmark this one~ It’ll definitely be an interesting one to watch~

To be fair, I’m all for anything romance oriented. So when you said it has a heavy focus on relationships and romance I was already hooked.

5 Likes

@MissBilbay

Glad to hear that hooked you in.

The romance aspect is definitely one of my main ambitions in this game, but at the same time it won’t play out as a dating sim. People are complicated, and so I have tried to make my characters complicated. They will react drastically differently to different MCs, and pursuing a romance may reveal new parts of their personalities you didn’t know existed… :wink:

Pursuing or not pursuing a relationship with certain characters, will also drastically alter the story.

Basically there are 5 states of relationships you can have with a character, and 3 different flavors to 2 states of romance, for a total of 9 distinct types of relationships with each character, and that’s without MC personalities taken into consideration. Yep. Let’s see if I’ll manage to get through this with my sanity intact. :sweat_smile:

14 Likes

So far I like what I have read. I am curious as to who The Hunter is, and why they want the Main Character dead :thinking:

1 Like

So, I decided to punch the Hunter, but the action reads a bit off?

I swing a fist, he dodged. Okay.
I pounce with wolfish haze (so I’m a werewolf? Ok), he dodged again, but my claw is deep inside his arm?
And then forceful limbs lash out. Mine or him? Oh, him.
His weight crushes my lungs. So it wasn’t a forceful limb lashing out, then?
We’re in a “knife struggle” where I have to keep the knife from stabbing my face. But it penetrated my skin a bit, then it twisted. Except the knife is now on his arm somehow?

The fight scene is haphazardly goes back and forth with no clear description who is doing the action and who is on the receiving end.

3 Likes

It was only the beginning & I’m already hooked~ Can’t wait for the update!

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Thank you for your feedback.

No one is a werewolf in this story, but the sentence is meant to convey what you feel like. What I’m trying to convey, not only in the scene but in the writing itself, is a sense of urgency. As you might have observed, all 3 of the choices are instinctual respones: fight, flight or freeze. These are sort of automated responses outside our direct control, and so the feeling I’m going for is a sense of detachment of sorts, which is why I wrote it the way I did.

But if it’s confusing instead, then clearly it doesn’t work, so I will go over the scene again and see if it I can make it flow more nicely. Thank you again!

Don’t be afraid to give constructive criticism people, I’m not an author and I’m only doing this as a passion project. Feedback helps me make this story more enjoyable for you all! :blush:

EDIT: I adjusted the scene a little, hopefully it clarifies some of the worst confusions.

Question about the fight scene: Did anyone else understand it like the MC is a werewolf? The scene is meant to feel “animalistic”, but if that gets across like the MC is an actual werewolf then I’ll have to go over it again.

4 Likes