Minor update on the progress: Still working on chapter 3, trying to tie together a lot of flavour text depending on your stats and traits, and some things depending on earlier choices. I’m trying to make it balanced and so that choices matter. Got some really fun world building done that anchors the small town vibes.
Update: I have now finished a 78 page Game Design Document, because some changes and added stuff that needed to be incorporated cleanly, and it’s a lot easier to write this sort of game if you already have most of the pieces.
I’m about two thirds through chapter 3, and hope to finish the prose after the holidays and the coding after new year, depending on bugs and troubleshooting. It’s very *if and stat check heavy for both minor and major things.
Also outlined most of chapter 4 but still need to tweak a few things. But I want to finish chapter 3 first.
Merry Christmas folks!
Patch Update #1: Patched some bugs and pronoun errors in Chapter 2, added a few more Page Breaks. Fixed some minor issues with the startup and changed some minor prose in the Prologue.
Welcome to Trotter’s Creek, a quiet tourist town where diners gossip, cabins creak, and the lake swallows secrets. You arrive as The Writer, a prime‑time TV producer retreating with your teenage daughter, Heather. But fame won’t save you here.
Behind the small‑town smiles lies a legacy of disappearances, corruption, and something monstrous moving through the woods. Chains rattle in the rain. Shadows stretch across the cabins. Every choice you make decides whether you uncover the truth… or become part of the hidden secret.
This is an Interactive Fiction narrative horror RPG where your choices shape every encounter. Build trust, uncover lore, or run for your life as you navigate Trotter’s Creek’s gossip‑ridden diners, corrupt law enforcers, and haunted trails. Heather is watching, and the town is listening.
Set in the world of “Curly the Cursed Con Man”, Trotter’s Creek explores an earlier story where a younger Duane Henslow and his brother Joseph investigate the disappearance of a hiker. Their path crosses yours and you decide whether to join their quest or stay out of trouble.
For more Curly the Cursed Con Man, visit www.drawmoorepictures.com for free comics, art, and more.
“You came here to escape the spotlight. Instead, you’ll fight to survive it.”
You choose your own gender and sexual orientation, including nonbinary. There will be love interests for straight, gay, bi, and nonbinary characters. Some characters will respond positively to your advances, while some are locked in their own preferred orientation.
What kind of TV show you’re the showrunner and producer of will affect people’s opinions about you, so will your outfit, mode of transportation, and other choices.
The game will feature a nightmare randomizer that will randomly make you relive parts of the town’s secret past, and the order of the nightmares will not be the same on two different playthroughs.
The story is inspired by shows such as Supernatural, Stranger Things, and Evil Dead—a mix between classic 1980s slasher and Lovecraftian eldritch horror. As of right now, the demo contains a prologue, two main chapters, and three different randomised nightmares. No art as of yet. I’ll try to update at least once a month, hopefully, and finish the story before or after summer 2026.
Link to the demo: https://cogdemos.ink/go/6662
No AI was used to create this story.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the demo!
Added some Page Breaks in the first patch.
like these
