Drawing of three people with animal heads standing in a room with furniture and a door.

The Becker Farm Tragedy

Role
Narrative Designer

Team Size
2

Timeframe
Built in 2 weeks

Tools
Twine, Unity

You came to this farm to find a missing child.

The trail leads to the Beckers, the powerful family behind the village’s sacred animal festival. But as the festival nears, the investigation curdles into something stranger, and getting out alive becomes the only case that matters.

Sign reading "Becker Farm EST. 1929" with decorative border

Drawing of four animals with human bodies, including a sheep, a goat, a pig, and an owl, standing in a room with a sign that reads "Animal Carnival." A dialogue box with Abraham Becker's name appears, expressing gratitude to Parker for working with Amelia.

You are Detective Parker.

You’ve secured work as a pig farmer for the Beckers. Interview the people on the farm, inspect all clues, and whatever you do, don’t blow your cover.

A classroom scene with a large police badge labeled "Officer" hanging on the wall, an alphabet chart on the wall, and a backpack hanging on a hook. On a desk, there is a pillow, and a trash can is nearby. There are two arrows pointing left and right with a dialogue box at the bottom that says, "My badge. It was a risk bringing this here, but I knew it might also protect me if I have to identify myself."

Leave no stone unturned

In addition to the branching narrative, I designed a handful of scenes that open up for exploration: the pigsty, the kitchen, the guest bedroom. Each hold several interactable objects, but most are red herrings.

In this scene, only three are real clues, and only one can be collected: a piece that unlocks the true ending.

Every choice has a consequence.

A room with a bed, a pillow on a nightstand, and a window at the top. There are alphabet letters on the right wall, along with icons for download, share, and menu options. Two speech bubbles in the center say: 'Go investigate the sound' and 'Ignore the sound and stay in bed.' An arrow points left from the door, and another points right from the right wall.

And some consequences ripple through the story. This scene shows the first major branching choices:

1) Go investigate a sound in the middle of the night, or

2) Ignore it and stay in bed.

If you investigate the sound:

You meet a strange boy who gives you a note warning you…

A digital storybook scene with a lion character standing in front of a classroom whiteboard. The whiteboard has a torn paper note that says, 'escape before the festival, do not eat their food!' There is a note at the bottom that reads, 'The boy gives me a note. On it reads:' Hints for a word puzzle game, with several alphabet letter tiles and icons for different tools or actions on the right side.

If you ignore the sound:

Parker convinces herself she didn’t hear anything, wakes up on Day 2.

A brown screen with 'Day 2' written in the center and icons for download, upload, rotate, and menu in the top right corner.

Both choices ultimately lead to Day 2, but the knowledge of the note may help you unlock one of the multiple endings…

Here’s a simplified map of the branch structure, from the breakfast through the endings. I've collapsed Day 3's sub-events and a couple of ending variants for legibility.

What I wanted to highlight is the gate: whether you eat or refuse breakfast feels trivial in the moment, but it ultimately leads determines whether you reach the Day 3 agency path or get funneled toward the ritual.

These are just half of the potential endings.

What Players Commented

“I really liked this entry. I'm not sure whether I got all possible endings, but I sure kept trying because I wanted to discover more and more. This would be a great setup for a longer game.”

— Gugames.eu

“I liked how you created suspense throughout the story. I only played it once but I look forward to trying it again to get some of the other endings. It was a compelling story that's left me curious about what exactly was happening at the farm, I know it was a cult of some sort but why were they doing it?”

— darqwerful

“Wow this is insanely impressive for a game jam, game. Great job! I was able to achieve 3 endings, 2 where I died and one where I escaped, is their an ending that explains everything else?”

— MigDev

Lessons Learned

The mystery, tone, and multiple endings all resonated with the audience. Most players agreed we had nailed the mysterious and unsettling tone. And even though we didn’t have art created in time for the endings, players enjoyed attaining all the possible endings. In the future, I would play with adding endings that escalated the creepy factor even higher.
I would add more clues and breadcrumbs. Players loved the mystery, but also yearned for a bit more explanation. I think the best way to satisfy that need would be to place more clues that connect together to paint a cohesive picture, without resorting to dialogue to explain everything. I’d also include more red herrings that may not lead to answers but expand the world and the lore.
I would flesh out the characters more. We originally had content planned for seven in-game days, with more dialogue and even full arcs for the side characters. These had to be cut to focus on the critical paths and deliver the game by the submission deadline. I would also have some characters stand around in some scenes, opening up the opportunity for more interrogations and cross-examinations.
Lastly, I would reference early game decisions or responses more. For example, towards the end, a character may comment on how well you treated Amelia in the beginning. These references reinforce the feeling that choices truly matter. Our “true ending” was the most rewarding because it directly referenced clues you collected from day 1 and 2.