The Ballad Of Devil's Creek

'The Ballad of Devil's Creek' official game/development blog Official Game Dev Mastodon The askbox is always open. NOTE: Please get yourself an avatar. I will block you if I think you're a bot!

[devilscreekballad]

The Ballad of Devil's Creek - INFORMATION POST

The West is Wild and the West is Weird. Take up the role of an outlaw who gets wrapped up in an adventure of a lifetime. Face bounty hunter, ghosts and a doomsday cult as you travel cross the Old West, trying prevent the end of the world at the hands of eldritch horrors.

‘The Ballad of Devil’s Creek is an Interactive Novel WiP set in an alternate timeline of the ‘Old West’. It is to be published on itchio and potentially steam, app- and playstore..

A new century is around the corner, and you are an outlaw traversing the towns and terrains of the Frontier, only to one evening get wrapped up in chasing down the means to stop a doomsday cult from bringing forth the end of days.

You’ll have to deal with hustlers, grifters, gunslingers and vengeful brides as you make your way to the ghost town of Devil’s Creek to find answers, and hopefully get out of there alive.

Where to Play the Demo

HERE For the Choicescript Version on dashingdon. (20 Saveslots) (discontinued for now, please play the Twine version below)

HERE For the Twine Version on itch.io (8 Saveslots)

For bugreports please contact me for the discord server. (see below)

NOTE: Please see tags and warnings below. While this isn't a 'historically accurate' story, it is still dealing with some heavy topics of the time (late 19th century America) and might not be for everyone.

---

Current Statistics:

Words per playthrough: ~100k (219k with code total)

Who can I play as and Who are the Romantic Options?

You can play as cis, trans, non-binary and genderfluid. Inputting your own pronouns and addresses is also possible.

Having interchangeable pronouns is not possible, though. (Because I don't know how to code that).

There's a growing list of races/ethnicity to pick from, all having an impact on the gameplay, big and small.

---

ROs:

Charlie Mulligan : (white, 39, male, Irish-American): MC’s oldest friend and partner in crime. Blue-Ribbon conman, gambler and part-time medium, lost an eye during a job a few years prior.

Seán O’Brian : (white, 28, male/genderfluid, Irish): Another excellent conman who approached MC and Charlie, asking for help with speaking to the dead. [Only romancable in a polycule with Tommy]

Tommy Burke :  (mixed (mother black (French-Canadian of French Descent), father white(Irish)), 29, male, Irish-French-Canadian): Arsonist and pragmatical grump. Was about to be hanged, now travels with the MC. Has a relationship with Seán. [Only romancable in a polycule with Seán]

Mrs. Lian Meadows: (chinese, 35, female): Doctor and sharpshooter, widowed. Pretty cold, no-nonsense approach to life. Travels with the MC to make sure they fulfil their task.

Lynwood: (white, 43, male, British/French American): A Pinkerton agent on O'Brian’s trails, trying to bring O'Brian in for murder.

Josie McKee: (mixed (mother white, father black, both Scottish), 34, female, Scottish): Widow, runs the saloon and bordello in Potter’s Springs. Bit snarky, good with poisons.

‘Preacher’: (white, 40?, male, probably Irish?) A mysterious, almost legendary gunman/bounty-hunter who takes a certain interest in the MC and their posse.

Therese 'Tess’ Lynwood: (white, 37, female (?), British/French American) Lynwood’s younger sister. Bit of a scatterbrained worrywart, but extremely caring. Follows the posse out of worry for her brother and Isaac.

Isaac Delgado: (Latino, 38, male, Mexican-American) Friend and former colleague of Lynwood. Ended up in the area by chance. Very pessimistic due to past events.

---

Charakter Birthdays:

Seán: March 11th

Josie: April 17th

Charlie: May 1st

Tommy: June 9th

Lynwood: June 27th

Preacher: August 13th

Finley: Sept 27th

Meadows: Nov 5th

Discord:

If you followe the blog longer than a week, send a message to get an invite link. We had some trouble with some people, so we're rather safe than sorry.

Tags and Warnings:

Warnings and Taglist.

Warnings:

Death

Blood

Violence

Alcohol

Smoking

Swearing

Mindsets and Vocabulary of the late 19th century North America/Europe

Mentions/Discussions of

- Sexual Violence/Abuse

- Spousal/Parental Abuse

- Racism, Sexism, other forms of bigotry

- Miscarriage

- Infertility

- Murder

- Animal Death/Animal abuse

Guns

Spiritism

Mediumship

Ghosts

Supernatural events

Capitalism

Pinkertons

(Note me if there are other things that need a mention. See below for Warnings concerning the RO in detail)

---

Taglist:

#The Ballad of Devil’s Creek (general tag for things game related)

#baodc (general tag for all things game related)

#baodc development (status updates and insight into the work being done)

#baodc spoilers (spoilers)

#baodc ros (posts concerning any of the ROs)

#baodc (name) (leads to posts specifically about the character (replace name with the name you want))

#not baodc (everything not directly game related)

#baodc askbox (the majority of answered asks)

#baodc ramble (rambles and generally more negative stuff)

#baodc stream (for stream announcements. Writing and Let’sPlay Streams)

#unrelated yet relevant (vaguely game related nonsense)

---

Most of the ROs come with some baggage that might not be everyone’s tea:

Charlie: outlaw, gambler, medium, missing an eye, conman. The story of how he lost his eye will be retold ingame.

Seán: Grifter, notorious liar (bad at it outside of cons), cleptomaniac tendencies

Tommy: pyromanic. arsonist and explosive expert, loves blowing things up. likely to lash out verbally at others when pissed off, sometimes physically. short fused.

Meadows: Snarky, cold, and cutting. often condescending and too judgemental.

Lynwood: Ex-confed (didn’t subscribe to the views, forced into service), pinkerton, stubborn, little self-care priorities, low self-esteem, alcohol abuse.

Josie: poisoner, sex-worker, bar owner, promiscuous.

Isaac: former pinkerton, history of drug abuse, depression.

Standalone Post HERE

How to support the game:

SEE HERE

Pat-Reon

KoFi

The author is currently working on the following games as well:

Curious Cuisine: A superhero/cooking slice-of-life romp @cornucopiagazette

Beggar's Luck: A fantasy pirate adventure, set in the same world as Ashenmaw. @setsailforbyacona

Ashenmaw - Dragons of Marrowoods: A dragon adventure/mystery romp set in the same world as Beggar's Luck. @ashenmaw-if

[001x456]

[lestatfag]

STAY SAFE!! [ID: the Gilbert Baker pride flag with the words “Happy pride to all those who are unable to celebrate openly and safely. You are loved and seen!” in all-caps black text over it. /end ID]

[ashenmaw-if]

Did another wordcount.

Ch3 is now at 7000 words (with code) which is 5000 more than the current public wip.

Bad news is that my teeth hurt so bad that even with painkillers I can hardly concentrate on anything.

So until I have the money (800-1400 total, give or take, got 250) to get things fixed (crowns and pulling them would cost the same, because the world can be really stupid about these things, and in fact pulling them would require even more expensive stuff down the line) I don't think I'll be able to really write anything.

I'm sorry.

I was contemplating uploading the unfinished version to patreon and kofi but it feels blergh to do so while the thing's not remotely done.

Sorry

[brighteststars-if]

Official Haitus

Hi everyone. The title makes it obvious what's going on here, so I won't mince words. I am going on an official hiatus from IF writing. I love writing, I truly do, but recently, I have been dealing with both a depressive state as well as writer's block. What I have managed to write, I haven't been able to truly enjoy.

Writing for IFs, I have begun to realize, has began to feel like more of an obligation than anything else. This was true before the rude ask I got yesterday, and it's even more true after it. I was talking to my mom about this, and she said, "Then why force yourself to do it? This is something you do for fun." And that really struck me right in the chest.

So I'm going on hiatus. Kicking back and reclining now that the semester is over and I have the time to enjoy myself. I can't tell you yet when I'll be back, but I doubt it'll be soon. I truly just need time to detox and enjoy what it feels like to be outside of the IF bubble.

Thank you to everyone who has been so kind and supportive thus far. I appreciate you all.

-- Dawn

[ashenmaw-if]

Health Nonsene under cut:

Toothache is back with a vengeance I want to cry ;_;

I need those damn crowns posthaste ;_;

[devilscreekballad]

I am once again in the situation where I am sitting here thinking

Twine has so many more possibilities and stuff, while CS is easier to write in, and it's once again giving me writer's block.

[ashenmaw-if]

End of month Status Update

Quick update on what's going on:

Games:

Ashenmaw's next update is at around 7000 words in the next chapter and should go into pateon beta soon.

I really need some feedback on the story so far. The next update will include the means to skip the introduction to the gods, and I am still trying to decide if I'll have it that the Gods that start paying attention to you will be determined by the first ones you pick at any point when they come up, or if there'll be another means. Leaning towards the latter as there are four achievements tied to the Gods in the museum, which would mess up some playthroughs potentially.

Ballad of Devil's Creek is also being worked at, might see an update this year. Tommy needs new pants.

Further projects are coming along, SuperHyperSecretProject #1 should go into closed testing soon-ish too?

IRL: (warning, medical stuff)

Still need money for getting the tooth fixed, also I might have dislocated my jaw a little which certainly did not help things D<

Also I have to take nutrition supplements until I can cook proper meals again as my stove is likely to catch fire since about last august/september. Meaning I'm also saving up for a new stove that will last a little longer than 2 years >_>

Also also still in need of a new computer, but with the current prices that's the biggest financial issue out of them all. Seriously, I checked what a new decent fridge (mine's about as likely to catch fire one of these days as the stove is), stove AND washingmachine with built-in dryer would cost and it's less than a new computer would >_> wtf. Would very much prefer those datacenters to catch fire than my appliances D<

[devilscreekballad]

🌸🌻

<3 Welcome back, it's been a while <3

[z0ruastudyblr]

Common Words & Phrases from AAVE

Gullah & Early AAVE

Gumbo – From Bantu kingombo (okra), brought by enslaved Africans and became the name of the Creole stew thickened with okra.

Goober – From Kikongo nguba, the Bantu word for peanut that entered American English via enslaved Africans.

Yam – From West African languages (e.g., Wolof nyami, "to eat"), brought over during the slave trade and adopted into Southern cuisine.

Banjo – From a Bantu root (mbanza), the instrument was crafted by enslaved Africans based on West African string instruments.

Bogus – Likely from Hausa boko-boko (deceitful, fraudulent), entering American English through African American speech in the 19th century.

Juke (box/joint) – From Gullah juke (rowdy, disorderly), derived from Wolof dzug (to live wickedly), later attached to roadside bars.

Tote (to carry) – From West African languages (e.g., Kikongo tota, "to pick up"), recorded in Gullah before spreading to mainstream English.

Dig (to understand) – From Wolof degg (to understand), popularized by jazz musicians in the 1930s after entering English through AAVE.

Jazz – Possibly from West African or Creole slang for energy/sex, first documented in AAVE in Chicago around 1912.

Okay (OK) – Though its origin is debated, strong evidence traces it to West African languages (e.g., Wolof waw kay) via enslaved Gullah speakers.

Hip/Hep – From Wolof hipi (to open one's eyes, to be aware), entering jazz slang in the early 1900s before going mainstream.

Hepcat – A compound of "hep" + "cat" (jazz slang for a person), literally meaning "one who has his eyes open" in West African-influenced jazz culture.

Jazz, Blues & 1940s–60s Era

Cool (as in fashionable/calm) – Originated in jazz circles, likely from saxophonist Lester Young, and entered mainstream via West African aesthetic concepts of composure.

Cat – A jazz-era term for a skilled musician or cool person, derived from West African-influenced jive talk.

Crib – Jazz slang for a house or apartment, popularized in the 1940s before becoming mainstream in the 1990s.

Hokum – AAVE slang for nonsense or BS, used in blues and jazz before being adopted more widely.

Diss – Short for "disrespect," coined in AAVE and popularized through hip-hop in the 1980s and 1990s.

Bad (meaning good) – From AAVE, where inversion of meaning creates emphasis (something so "bad" it's actually good), used since early jazz era.

Jive – AAVE slang for deceptive talk or a style of jazz dancing, used by Cab Calloway in his 1930s Hepster Dictionary.

1970s–90s (Hip-Hop & Pre-Internet Era)

Homeboy/Homegirl – AAVE for a close friend from one's neighborhood, popularized in hip-hop and later shortened to "homes" in casual speech.

Dope (meaning great) – Shifted from "stupid" in standard English to "excellent" in AAVE during the 1980s hip-hop era.

Props – Short for "proper respects" in AAVE, used in hip-hop to acknowledge skill or achievement before entering mainstream slang.

Word (as in "I agree") – AAVE interjection ("Word!" or "Word is bond") meaning "I'm telling the truth," derived from Nation of Islam teachings.

Phat (meaning cool/great) – AAVE acronym believed to stand for "Pretty Hot And Tempting," though likely an invented backronym; popularized in 90s hip-hop.

The Bomb – AAVE phrase for something excellent or top-quality, widely used in hip-hop lyrics before mainstream adoption.

Def – AAVE slang for "excellent," popularized by Run-DMC's "King of Rock" and 80s hip-hop culture.

Fresh – AAVE for stylish or excellent, used in early hip-hop and 80s pop culture before spreading globally.

Wack – AAVE for "bad, inferior, uncool," popularized in hip-hop and later mainstream youth speech as the opposite of "cool."

Hella – AAVE intensifier meaning "very" or "a lot of," originating in Oakland/Bay Area AAVE in the 1970s-80s.

Cap / No Cap – AAVE meaning "lie" and "no lie," popularized by Bay Area rap in the 2010s, derived from "capping" (exaggerating).

1990s–2000s (Internet Adoption & Ballroom Culture)

Slay – From AAVE and Black ballroom culture (Paris is Burning, 1990), meaning to do something extremely well, now mainstream via social media.

Spill the Tea – From AAVE (originally "spill the T," with "T" meaning truth), popularized by drag culture and Black queer communities.

Shade (as in insult) – From Black ballroom culture (documented in Paris is Burning), meaning a subtle insult, now used broadly in pop culture.

Reading (as in insulting) – From ballroom culture ("reading" someone), meaning to publicly insult with wit, immortalized in Paris is Burning.

Kiki – AAVE from ballroom culture meaning a casual gathering for gossip or chatting, later mainstreamed through pop music (e.g., Kesha).

Fierce – AAVE and ballroom term meaning exceptionally good or intense, applied to fashion, performance, or attitude.

Woke – From AAVE meaning socially and politically aware, first used in 1940s Black activism before resurging with Black Lives Matter.

Shook – AAVE meaning startled or upset, used in 1990s New York hip-hop (e.g., Mobb Deep) before mainstream adoption in the 2010s.

On Fleek – AAVE phrase meaning perfectly executed, coined in a 2014 Vine by Peaches Monroee, one of the last pre-AI viral AAVE innovations.

Finna – From AAVE contraction of "fixing to" (preparing to), documented in Southern AAVE for decades before wider use and dictionary recognition.

Chile – A phonetic spelling of "child" in Southern AAVE, used as a term of endearment or exclamation since at least the 1970s (The Wiz, 1978).

2010s–Present (Social Media & Gen Z Slang Pipeline)

Lit – AAVE meaning exciting or excellent (originally "intoxicated" or "on fire"), popularized in hip-hop before becoming a Gen Z staple.

Bae – AAVE term of endearment meaning "before anyone else" or just a shortened form of "babe/baby," mainstreamed in the 2010s.

Ratchet – AAVE originally meaning a rowdy, aggressive woman (from "wretched"), later used to describe anything wild or out of control.

Turnt – AAVE meaning excited or intoxicated, from "turned up" in hip-hop lyrics, mainstreamed in early 2010s party slang.

Clap Back – AAVE for a sharp, witty comeback or retaliation, popularized in hip-hop (e.g., Ja Rule's 2003 song "Clap Back") before internet slang.

Bussin' – AAVE meaning delicious or excellent, applied to food or anything great, popularized on TikTok in the 2020s.

Sus – AAVE shortening of "suspicious" or "shady," used for decades before Among Us made it a global meme in 2020.

Snatched – AAVE originally describing flawless hair/makeup or a tight waist, now used to praise anything perfectly executed.

Periodt – AAVE emphatic form of "period" (meaning "end of discussion"), with a hard "t" for emphasis, popularized on Black Twitter before global use.

Bonus: My personal favorite AAVE term that I see used online religiously is receipts! AAVE meaning the proof shown to back up an accustation

[djarinmuse]

I literally love all of you, but as a Tumblr veteran, Tumblr's main feature is the reblog feature. It is the beating heart of the dashboard and the foundation for a chronological timeline. The For You page here should not be your default setting.

You guys have got to start reblogging stuff you enjoy, especially, specifically gifs and fan art but also fics and fan theories or even hot takes if you're not afraid of a lil discourse. I'm tired of being the first or third reblog for a person's post and then seeing my blog's followers do nothing but hit like, while blogs sit there with no new posts in months or years!

Reblog more stuff please. Thank you, have a good day.

You're not even going to reblog this post are you 🫩

[triassictriserratops]

fandom dies in the likes. You HAVE to reblog.

[justsoulhere]

Don't mind me tagging every fandom I can think of

[spoiledblogif]

Hey all! New Scam Just Dropped!

So I got cold called by the bot on the right and just as I'm searching for this scam on google to find examples of it to MAKE A POST LIKE THIS

The bot on the left helpfully jumped in to provide me with such assistance.

These are scams. Obviously. The messages they send are copy pasted, they come from new or almost new accounts with zero posts, and I'm gonna bet the guy on the right never will send me the sexy, sexy potato pic I requested.

I feel this goes without saying but: Report, block, and delete. As the interactive fiction community grows, we're going to be targeted by shit like this more and more.

[tiktoksthataregood-ish]

[cosmonaut-observer]

If you live in the UK you need to see this

Protect Internet Freedom from now until forever. It's important existentially! Americans stand with UK citizens in our struggle against government censorship

[russettrush]

Growing up in the online world: a national consultation

We are consulting on further measures to prepare children for the future in an age of rapid technological change. This includes potential ag

Got the link via @finalducc

If you live in the UK, please be sure to take part in this!

[fading-bisexual-queen-milkshake]

@daysleftofsecondterm

[starlightshadowsworld]

You guys have my whole heart for sharing this I had no idea will be filling this out and encourage all my fellow brits to do soo too. If you’re not from the UK please keep sharing this around we have till the 26th May to submit these in.

This whole thing was set up without our say we all need to make sure we’re heard.

[shadowphoenixrider]

A tip for filling it in - ignore section 1, sections 2 onwards are the meat and potatoes.

Beware! There is a snitch question at the start of the VPNs section, asking how 'children' are getting age stuff without using VPNs. You don't know anything, and if you do, no you don't.

I would focus on data security issues, the fact age verification doesn't work anyway to protect children - I was pushing particularly to switch to credit card verification, since it's more private, can be easily severed if compromised, and you need to be 18 to have one - it's not perfect, but I think they're more likely to give on the issue if we provide an alternative.

Push economic issues for banning/age-gating VPNs - that's the one thing that tends to get governments to back down.

Good luck. Let's hope we can make a dent in this.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

not my tweet but I thought it would be a good psa for artists here too

[ayy-junipei]

Oh this is a common scam I find at work. Any file that:

isn't jpg, jpeg, pdf, or png

Is a file extension you don't recognise (this one is a visual basic file, used for scripting, but others like exe or bat are used)

has a very low or unexpected file size (this one's is less than 1KB, or 0.001MB, a good reference should be at least 500KB)

Is likely a scam. Stay safe kids.

[quinloki]

I've said so on bsky about this, but it's worth saying here:

Scammers will use pressure, panic, over-payment, and rigidity* to try and get their scam to work.

A REAL honest to goodness client will work with you, show at least some modicum of patience, and be flexible. So if you are provided a link or file you don't absolutely trust, you can ask for a different file type, or request the reference via a different method.

*What I mean by rigidity is that they'll INSIST they cannot use a different payment method. they'll INSIST they only have that one reference. They'll INSIST to overpay you. They'll be very rigid in what they want you to follow because they need you to do things a certain way for the scam to work.

[devilscreekballad]

I have this massive urge to get some sculpting clay and tools and make little chibi figurines of the characters >_> For Ashenmaw and CuCu, too

[radioactive-earthshine]

Not sure why it's a new trend among fic readers to assume if the fic has not been posted within the week it's inappropriate to comment on it, like the fic has to be hot out of the oven to give feedback for.

I got a comment on a fic that is less than a year old and it was mostly an apology for being a comment on an "old fic" and how late they were in commenting.

Just comment on the fic. Doesn't matter how old it is.

[mysteryteacup]

Fandom is not social media.

Fandom is not trends.

Fandom is a cross between a library and having a slumber party with your friends.

"Old" means nothing to fic.