Afterimage is a murder-mistery/investigative interactive fiction. Possible warnings may include explicit language, graphic descriptions of crime scenes, skippable sexual content, and characters wrestling with grief and trauma.
The call comes in just past midnight.
A street you've never heard of; a victim you've never seen; a house broken into, yet nothing taken.
Three weeks later, the killer is still nothing but a moving shadow – a trace of fear, cruelty, madness.
You are a detective, newly assigned to the Graybridge Police Department, tasked with solving puzzles missing half their pieces.
The thing is, this case has no pieces at all.
The details don't fit. The leads go nowhere. And your partner, running on bitterness and an unhealthy amount of coffee, seems more interested in tolerating your presence rather than working with you.
As the investigation deepens, more bodies turn up. A pattern begins to surface. Your senses tell you they're close, lurking in the shadows.
Soon, an unnerving question begins to arise:
Do you trust those around you?
Afterimage is a narrative-driven game that delves deep into character development, complex personalities and psychological layers through the player's choices.
You play as a detective in Graybridge, a bustling metropolis inspired by the fast-paced energy of New York. The plot is carried by a series of mysterious murders happening around the area, and it's your job to follow leads and uncover the truth behind it all – or not.
Inspired by Detroit: Become Human, Law & Order: SVU, Zodiac (2007), and Se7en (Seven).
🔍 Detective D. Jackson
Mid-30s | Male/Female | Dylan/Dina | RO
Your newly assigned partner at the 11th Precinct. Stubborn and relentless, Detective Jackson has a reputation for digging deeper than most. Their intense stare and cranky facade might keep people at arm's length, but once you've earned their trust, their loyalty is unwavering.
Route: Slow-burn - Love after tragedy.
🔭 Officer Lilian Harris
Late-20s to early-30s | Female | RO (female MC's only)
The energetic beat cop that strives for more. Curious, clever, and highly skilled, Lilian has been dreaming of being a detective ever since she joined the precinct. Her friendly approach and contagious smile makes newcomers warm up quickly, but her eyes twitch slightly at the mention of how "better" she'd be if she followed in her brothers' footsteps.
Route: Friends-to-Lovers - Mutual Pining.
🩺 Thomas Lopes
Early to mid-30s | Transgender man | RO
The annoying downstairs neighbor who's always knocking at your front door. Hard-working and impatient, Thomas is training to become a surgeon at St. Brigid's Memorial Hospital. Petty complaints, delivered in a soft Brazilian accent, are often the first thing you hear after the pounding on your door, though you can't help but wonder if, deep down, he's just a lonely man looking for attention.
Route: Enemies-to-Lovers - The Insufferable but Hot Neighbor.
🚬 E. Lavigne
Early 30s | Male/Female | Elliot/Evelyn | RO
The noisy journalist who flirts like it's a sport. Charming, bold and annoyingly good at getting into places they shouldn't. Lavigne's flattery may come off as playful and uncompromising, but behind the calculating eyes and cigarette-tinged breath lies a lifetime mission: to serve social justice and expose the dirty secrets of those who deserve it.
Route: FWB / One Night Thing - Innocent Flirting Turns Real.
⌚ Detective Asahi Kurosawa
Mid-30s | Non-binary
The missing partner. Their unexplained disappearance led to your assignment with Detective Jackson, and whispers about their case echo quietly through the precinct. What really happened to them remains a mystery.
🍁 Dr. C. Rivers
Mid-30s | Male/Female | Cole/Célia
The kind coroner who works closely with Graybridge PD, and Detective Jackson’s closest confidant. Gentle, thoughtful, and surprisingly caring for someone who spends their days among the dead, Dr. Rivers can light up a room even with a quiet smile. Some wonder whether their bond with Detective Jackson is purely friendship... or something more.
Important: Rivers' gender will always be the opposite of Jackson's.
🚔 Captain Lenora Vélez
Mid-50s | Female
With an earnest attitude and the patience of a saint, Captain Vélez runs the 11th Precinct with a steady hand and a commanding presence. She may look stern, but her thoughtful approach towards her officers reveals genuine care.
🥼 Dr. Marla Wess
Mid-40s | Female
Analytical, sharp and understanding, Dr. Wess is the precinct's assigned psychologist, tasked with assessing every officer and staff member at GPD. Knows more about you than you think she does.
You might meet and flirt with other characters, such as:
Thorin Andersen, Zain Rafiq, Iris Blake Gallagher, Adam Collins, and Wyatt Fernsby.
In this game, you will:
Choose your gender, sexuality, and appearance.
Customize your past: choose your former division, the reason for your transfer, and how it shaped your reputation and skills.
Build your personality with meaningful dialogue choices.
Investigate crime scenes: solve a mysterious killing spree that's been hunting the department - and now you.
Romance your partner, your neighbor, the flirty journalist who's way too nosy, or one of your cop colleagues (with two gender-selectable choices)!
Access confidential personnel files to glimpse the minds and motives of those around you.
Have a sibling: choose their gender and how close you are after the tragedy that has shaped your past.
Keep your own secrets - what brought you here, and what you're running from.
📌 Afterimage is still on its writing stage! I'm planning to post the demo after I finish chapter one (prologue's already done).
It's been around a month since I last wrote for Afterimage.
I started this project after rediscovering my passion for writing and storytelling, and since then my expectations and excitement have skyrocketed very quickly. However, I decided to begin this at a pretty complicated moment in my life.
Last year I was finishing high school while preparing for pre-college exams. Now, I’m still dealing with academic anxiety as I'm getting ready to actually start college in a few weeks – a big change that, honestly, has been driving me crazy as days go by.
To keep stress from getting the best of me, I’ve been spending my days doing things I enjoy, like gaming and going out with my friends and family. And I know I could've written something, but I didn't. And the reason is probably because, lately, it's been feeling a lot like work.
That's nobody's fault, really, but it’s something that has happened before, and it ended with me abandoning creative projects I cared about.
I do not want that to happen to Afterimage, though.
I’m not sure how these things usually go in the IF community, but I felt it was important to let you know what’s going on. Some people are genuinely excited about this project, and I don’t want to let anyone down by disappearing without a word.
So, for now, I’ll be officially stepping back from posting and updating. I don't know for how long, but I assure you I'll come back with updates in at least a month or two.
Just to be clear: this story is not abandoned. I’m simply doing what I should’ve done before my very first post – taking some time to get things in order and properly finish chapter one.
I'm truly passionate about this project and everything I've created for it, so I'm not letting it go.
I haven't updated in a while, but I've been making a lot of progress lately, and I'm excited to share it with you!
This week, I talked to my mom and she suggested something very reasonable: write the chapters first, then code them later. Right now I’ve been trying to do both at the same time, which has been driving me crazy 😓 So I’m gonna take her advice and try to adjust my workflow.
I also went back to a scene I’d already finished and realized it was lacking some important stuff. I’m still torn between rewriting it now or leaving major rewrites for the editing phase. I ended up doing a bit of both over the last couple of days, but I’ll be putting together a clearer plan soon.
Even though the writing process is a bit messy right now, here's a few things I've come up with for mechanics/storyline:
MC will be a college dropout, and players will be able to choose their former major (which will influence personality, relationships, and more);
MC has an uncle named Peter;
For chronological and narrative reasons, respectively, I've removed both MC's age selection and the option to live in Green Park.
There’s still a lot to do, but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished so far — especially considering this is my first time working on a project like this.
That’s it for now!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a great weekend. 🙂
omg your IF looks super interesting?? how did you come up with the idea lol. I wanna make one too but I feel like I’m doing everything wrong 😭 any advice?
thank you!!
I was really hoping someone asked me about this so there's a lot to read!!
the idea first came to me around 2022. I was really into true crime and I wanted to write something like that. at first, it was a fanfic idea and the only characters I'd created were Vélez and Lilian, but as time went by I stopped plotting it and lost my obsession with fanfic as well.
then, I found out about IFs last year and I spent a really long time deciding whether I should write one or not. it was only after finding my old notebook (where I used to keep track of my fanfics) and remembering I actually had good ideas that I decided I was gonna do it.
and then afterimage was created!!
plus: jackson was based on one of the characters I was writing about and the other one became MC. lavigne and thomas though were made specifically for afterimage's plot!
when it comes to advice... well, I'm terribly disorganized, so I'm not the best person to help with that 😓
but I strongly suggest using notion! once you learn how to use it through a youtube tutorial or something like that, you can easily organize your stuff.
remember, it doesn't have to be extremely complex! if there's a section to plot your characters and write random ideas that you have, you're already doing pretty good!
what also helped me a lot was working on a chronology. so I guess that's advice as well!
okay so i might be overanalyzing but… is the MC’s sibling important later on? or are they just background lore? I’m genuinely curious because they got mentioned in the intro and then they just disappeared 👀
yeah, the sibling will be important in the long run.
besides investigating the murders around graybridge and trying to maintain a love life, MC has personal lore as well, and their sibling is a big part of it!
however, I can't give too much info on that, cause MC's past is a mystery even to themselves.
+505 words, which means the 1st chapter is now around 7K WORDS;
I finished my first scene – a welcoming conversation with Captain Vélez!
And yeah, I realized the completion of chapter one will take some time since Afterimage's MC is heavily influenced by players' choices, therefore more branches are written than usual.
With that in mind, I'm planning on dividing each chapter into THREE PARTS so that I'm able to publish this thing soon.
FOR THE STORY:
I started working on MC'S SIBLING. I can't talk much about it because it will be a subplot, but by choosing what kind of relationship MC has with them both their personalities will be influenced.
The initial idea where MC was a local was scratched: now, they used to live somewhere else with their family, but something made them move to Graybridge.
It's been a while since I've written anything, so I'm very proud of what I accomplished yesterday.
Oh, and if anyone gets confused with my wording, feel free to ask about it!
I know I've been missing for some time, but I'm happy to announce you will be getting some updates – pretty good ones for y'all, I hope – tomorrow!
And I have some things to talk about, as well.👇
This time of the year has been crazy for me.
I'm currently juggling studying, waking up early, writing essays, obsessing about stranger things, and trying not to go insane. I've barely had the time to stop and write something that's not a long ass dissertation about why generative AI will be a danger in the future or why fascism is becoming a thing again.
However, I'm happy that I got to do some of the things that I like this past week – like drawing and writing. So, even though I'm dreadfully exhausted, I'm slowly getting back on track!
Also, I knew I said chapter one was going to be released this year, but don't get your hopes too high. 😕 I thought I'd be able to pull out some magic tricks up my sleeve and somehow finish a whole chapter in like two months, but planning my time is definitely not one of my strengths.
But, you know, we'll get there. Some day.
In any case, I already apologize if someone's overly excited 😓
Anyway, I just wanted to get some things out of my chest and let you guys know I'll be posting the weekly updates post, so thanks for reading!!
não sei o que foi pior, o jumpscare de exatas ou o jumpscare de ver português....... coragem e força, ícone ✊🏻😔
both were horrible, but at least I'm good at grammar, text interpretation and stuff like that – can't say the same for math and physics though, but I tried my best!
and thanks by the way! I think I did ok, better than I thought I'd be, so I take that as a win
while MC is terribly afraid of failing the people they love and overlooking important details that could later turn out to be crucial for the investigation....
First, to the people concerned about the mango situation: I'm doing better! My skin isn't as red as it was two days ago and the itching has almost gone away, but I'm not 100% yet.
Now, for the update part. These past two weeks have been hella busy – I cannot stand studying or worrying about college anymore. Therefore, there isn't a lot of stuff, but chapter one now has 244 new words!
I'm really tired, but there's only about a month of this craziness left. After that, I'll happily write and plot this project for hours on end!
Thank you all for being a part of this, and have a great weekend!
