Welcome to Whimsey World!
May all your dreams nightmares come true...
DEMO (~50k words) | BLOG | DEV LOG | CAST PORTRAITS | PINTEREST | PLAYLIST | AUTHOR
WARNING: Mousetrap is rated 18+. It contains mature language, graphic violence, gore, surrealist horror, waking nightmares, and potential body horror, loss of self, and death. Detailed content warnings are available in-game and players will have the option to avoid or minimize exposure to triggers for specific phobias.
You are an overworked university student interning at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Hurricane Imogen—a category three storm—would hit Orlando, Florida, your supervisors offered 24 hours of triple pay to anyone willing to remain in the parks during the storm.
You and your friend were eager to volunteer. Sure, you won't be able to evacuate and you aren't entirely sure what you'll be doing, but this is a golden opportunity. You need the money and this can't be too dangerous. After all, Whimsey cares about your safety and wellbeing. They won't put you in danger. Right?
That's what you assume before being knocked unconscious, before you wake up chained to your friend and three strangers, before the neurotoxins poisoning the air system loosen your grip on reality, before nightmares and reality bleed into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can't wake up from.
According to Dickey the Rat's disembodied voice, the first "team" to find four keys and make it back to the Castle will receive $250,000 dollars—plus an extra 250k for every death they cause.
This is a game. No one asked if you want to play, but playing—and playing by their rules—is the only way you'll survive. The only choices you have are kill or be killed, maim or be maimed, traumatize or... well, there's likely no avoiding that.
If you outlast this storm (and the horrors lurking beneath it), you can win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But at what cost? How far will you go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests? To satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play?
Customize your intern's name, gender, pronouns, appearance, and costume
Choose a role - Ride Operations, Custodial, Merchandise, or Character Acting - and gain unique strengths, weaknesses, abilities, insights, and choices.
Choose to play your part or rail against it
Fight to retain your sanity in an increasingly nightmarish world
Get to know your teammates personalities and strengths
Work together as one or attempt to break free of the chains that bind you
Attempt to navigate the tunnels beneath the Fairytale Kingdom or fight your way through a deadly storm
Collect four keys from around the park to earn your safety, freedom, and wealth
Kill or be killed along the way...
Alaric / Aria Wagner
Your cool and confident friend from Germany working in merchandise as part of an academic exchange program.
A's Profile
Emerson Liu
A fellow intern working as a custodian, an aspiring novelist with an insatiable thirst for truth and unending curiosity
Emerson's Profile
Jovy Rivera
A full-time lighting designer and gaffer for the park's stage shows, an extremely sarcastic individual who doesn't like having to take things seriously
Jovy's Profile
Max Keller
A part-time face character, part-time med student with a personality opposite those of the villains they portray
Max's Profile
A Wagner can be male or female, Emerson is female, Jovy is nonbinary, and Max can be male, female, or nonbinary.
This story was submitted to the game jam on January 31st at literally 23:59 UYT. The game that is out now is not the finished game. If you want to know when the finished game goes live or just want more info about the game, follow the Mousetrap blog (here) for game snippets, character profiles, progress reports, surveys, and more.
For more on this author's other projects, check out Albie's personal blog (gamesbyalbie) or the Hades' Kitchen (hadeskitchen) and Zorlok (zorlok-if) blogs.
Thanks for reading, all reblogs are greatly appreciated!
If you enjoy interactive fiction, I highly encourage you to check out the games that were created for the jams. You can find the ranked games here (cliffhanger theme) and the unranked games here (red herring theme).
















