Canary
In Canary, descend into a cave of madness as detective Francis in this Cthulhu mythos and film noir inspired psychological thriller.
Canary is a NeverWinter Nights module created for WRT399 (Creative Writing and Games Narrative). I led a team of three students (myself included) and our group won the award for best narrative of the term.
For the sake of portability, I translated the entire module into Twine format, and expanded it. I restored several cut features (cut due to engine constraints) for the Twine release. I restored Moss in particular due to its importance to more subtle aspects of the narrative. The monster is an eldritch horror – a living moss spread throughout the entirety of the cavern. It releases spores which cause intense hallucinations, and is capable of gathering itself to change form. When its prey is in range, it bombards them with stimuli and feeds upon the negative emotions released by its prey.
Canary takes place in a film noir 1950s setting. It explores aspects of Film Noir, illusion and sanity. H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos provides a solid allegory to discuss the damaging effects of systemic discrimination on the psyche. There are a total of four endings, depending on the path taken through the game. Canary is publicly available and free to play.