Moss

  

In the Golden Days When Ink still ruled the world, 

Tom&Wells Press thrived with ceaseless publication. Among its brightest stars was Mr. Shark, a name that filled shelves and emptied them in a blink. 

But one day, the editor worked behind him—Jack—vanished without a trace.

 With Mr. Shark’s poetry collection Moss nearing its release, the project was suddenly left unattended, and time was running short.

Sensing that something was amiss, Ms. Wells began to dig deeper. As her investigation unfolded, an absurd yet quietly heartbreaking secret behind the pages of Moss slowly came to light…

    

Game description

This is a text-based game or an interactive novel with graphs and music.

The whole story is organized in a non-liner  order. As the game progresses, the truth about Moss will gradually come to light, and at the same time, Jack's motives will become more and more clear. 

This game is not based on any true history event or person.

Inspiration (contains spoiler)

The narrative theme of this game came to me one night while I was walking back to my dorm from the library. I noticed a small patch of moss under the streetlight and suddenly wondered—would anyone ever write something about such an unremarkable thing? And if someone did, what kind of person would they be? From that thought, the story began to grow.

This is a story about talent and expression. Jack has a deep passion for writing. He sees beauty in even the smallest things around him, like moss, and even write for them. However, Jack isn’t a naturally gifted writer. He cannot make a living through his writing and ends up working as an editor at Tom&Well Press. During his interactions with Mr. Shark, he is mocked for his ideals. In an attempt to prove that his love for writing goes beyond material and money, he risks everything to publish his own work under Mr. Shark’s name. But something unexpected happens—Jack disappears accidentally, and the publication process is blocked by the alert Ms. Wells, which also reveals the whole story behind that book.

As a fiction writer myself, I’ve met writers who are arrogant but talented, treating writing only as business, but I’ve also seen countless dedicated writers use all their free time to write but fail to produce a "hit." It made me think about the struggles of unseen creators—those who are, in a way, cursed by lack of talent. Like Jack, many of them may find their strengths elsewhere, but that doesn’t mean they can accept not being gifted in writing.