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Field note ·

Preparing for the Halloween 2026 App Store launch

Halloween Grave Dig, a US$4.99 invitation into Carny Island, and the year ahead.

Brett Clements · Creator of Carny Island

Everything I have written and drawn for Carny Island is now converging in a build. Characters, artwork and years of planning are becoming something you can put your hands on. We’re preparing Halloween Grave Dig for Apple’s review, with the aim of releasing it on the eve of Halloween 2026.

This mobile game is the core loop of Carny Island. You name the person you want to bury. We make up the headstone. Scritch arrives with a shovel over his shoulder and a lantern to light the way. Then you choose your path and start digging.

The work right now is getting that dig right. I’ve drawn five pathways and layers of rocks, dirt and clumps that can break apart as you work down. The earth needs to come away in chunks. The pile beside the grave needs to represent what you’ve actually removed. And the lantern needs to light the scene, with falloff and a flicker you can feel as the pit gets darker.

Once that works, we move on to obstacles and kill zones, exploding graves and falling limbs, then snow and rain. We’ll build each addition on the digging we’re finishing now.

I’m also building a way for you to follow the work as it happens. Think of it as a new kind of app: part game, part tutorial, part behind the scenes and making of. You’ll have the game, its latest update, and a look at how we’re doing it. The artwork and decisions that produce what ends up on your screen are part of the experience.

The planned price is US$4.99. For the price of a coffee, I want to take you on a creative journey like no other. The package I’m putting together includes PIN access to the dev logs for a year. I’m aiming for weekly updates as we bring more features online, so you can play the changes and follow the work behind them.

Beyond this launch, the projected plan is a multiplayer game on Steam in mid 2027, with 250 graves in each room and a market called Necronomics. The mobile game is the foundation we’re working on now; that larger game will build on it.

Then we straighten up and aim at Halloween 2027 and the big drop: the party game. That’s where we’re heading. First, we have a grave to dig and an app to get through review.

I’m also turning our calendar into Carny Island Important Dates & Updates — V1. I’ve gone through the systems in the Soul Bible and broken them into small builds, features and making-of chapters, then matched them to the horror dates across the year ahead. It gives you a way to see what we’re working towards, alongside the game as it develops.

Witches’ Night — Walpurgis Night, 30 April 2027 — is our target for Rocket Witches. Then comes the Rocket Witch Anti Missile system, followed by the Rocket Witch targeting system: how to shoot down a Rocket Witch while you’re 6' under. That’s the idea: important dates become occasions to bring another piece of Carny Island online.

Stay tuned.

Halloween Grave Dig in development: Scritch is halfway down the grave with his shovel. Irregular cleared earth reveals the illustrated gravebox wall behind him. The lantern remains on the surface beside the excavated dirt, under the stars and moon. A headstone is on the right; purple frames surround the weather display and tools.
Halloween Grave Dig, 21 October 2026. The sixth dig reveals the gravebox wall behind the removed earth.

Carny Island Important Dates & Updates

V1

This is a Roadmap. Subject to Change/Development. We aim to match it and beat it.

A year of Carny Island feature work, refinements and making-of updates, pegged to the Horror Calendar. The detail below is a development backlog grouped into themed update slots.

491 source-linked small-build/feature facets support 89 editorial update slots. This is not a promise of 491 playable releases. Existing foundations are refinements; later-world concepts are previews.

The projected sequence starts with the mobile dig, then obstacles/kill zones, Gusher effects and falling limbs, then snow/rain. Witches Night targets Rocket Witches; the Anti Missile and targeting systems follow in that order. Mid-2027 remains the Steam target, with the party game aimed at Halloween 2027.

Halloween Eve — 30 October 2026 — Halloween Eve launch

Halloween Grave Dig: launch and the year ahead

Calendar reference: Halloween Eve launch.

The mobile core, opening information and planned game/dev-log offer.

31 October 2026 — Halloween

The core dig, in review

Calendar reference: Halloween.

Current foundations: fixed pathways, real lantern light, authored spoil and the shared world clock.

13 November 2026 — Amityville Murders

Making-of: real research, fictional Crookwood

Calendar reference: Amityville Murders.

A research/context feature; this historical reference is not used as a celebration or a kill-mechanic launch.

13 November 2026 — Friday the 13th

Listen before the dogs do

Calendar reference: Friday the 13th.

Noise, traps, blood trails and persistent consequences; after the core dig is right.

16 November 2026 — A Nightmare on Elm Street

The voice inside Scritch

Calendar reference: A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The character’s repeatable language, living performance and recognisable inner life.

21 November 2026 — Frankenstein

The Gusher: pressure, decay and falling limbs

Calendar reference: Frankenstein.

After obstacles: coffin warmth/pressure, explosive graves and the deliberate ring opportunity.

December 2026 — month recorded only — The Lutz Family Moves into 112 Ocean Avenue

Making-of: the household haunting

Calendar reference: The Lutz Family Moves into 112 Ocean Avenue.

The month-only source frames a cottage/haunting design feature; no invented day.

Month target only; no precise anniversary day has been invented.

3 December 2026 — Swift Becomes Open Source

Making-of: the lab and the code

Calendar reference: Swift Becomes Open Source.

Production collaboration, the lab process and how the game is being made.

12 December 2026 — Scream 2

Sound becomes a consequence

Calendar reference: Scream 2.

Responsive cues, host interruptions and music stings in the stealth game.

18 December 2026 — Scream Premiere

Making-of: the playable short film

Calendar reference: Scream Premiere.

Authored scenes and player agency, rather than an unrelated feature dump.

20 December 2026 — Scream Released

Making-of: cinema is sound

Calendar reference: Scream Released.

The physical soundscape and its theatrical sources.

25 December 2026 — Black Christmas

Winter reaches the grave

Calendar reference: Black Christmas.

Snow/rain art and wet/frozen-ground work, after hazards and Gusher effects.

1 January 2027 — Frankenstein Published

Build the Stein

Calendar reference: Frankenstein Published.

Harvest decisions, the Re-Animator, ANIMATE and the road test — refinement/design work, not a claim of first delivery.

14 January 2027 — Scream

Moggy’s expression and presence

Calendar reference: Scream.

Light-bulb mood and the host’s performance appearance.

2 February 2027 — Apple Vision Pro Released

Making-of: from the original ride to layered space

Calendar reference: Apple Vision Pro Released.

The VR origin is development history, not a promise of a headset app.

4 February 2027 — Scream 3

Moggy’s electric detail

Calendar reference: Scream 3.

The steel-wool hair and electrical character design.

27 February 2027 — Scream 7

One hostile personality, several faces

Calendar reference: Scream 7.

Reusable authored host performance across distinct manifestations.

10 March 2027 — Scream VI

The host gets in your face

Calendar reference: Scream VI.

Mouth plates, lip-sync and screen effects as an authored performance feature.

15 April 2027 — Scream 4

Making-of: The DogGones

Calendar reference: Scream 4.

The selected original soundtrack and its production provenance.

15 April 2027 — The Amityville Horror Remake

Ghost Meter: real ghost or Carnie?

Calendar reference: The Amityville Horror Remake.

Spectral reading and the authored fake-ghost distinction.

Witches Night — 30 April 2027 — Witches Night — Rocket Witches

Rocket Witches

Calendar reference: Witches Night — Rocket Witches.

Brett’s Witches Night launch target, with the existing song/making-of alongside the feature.

May 2027 — month recorded only — Salem Witch Trials End

Making-of: tools, intention and restraint

Calendar reference: Salem Witch Trials End.

Dogma design and deliberate misuse, with the historical research kept as context.

Month target only; no precise anniversary day has been invented.

May 2027 — month recorded only — The Exorcist Published

The possessed host

Calendar reference: The Exorcist Published.

A month-only design feature on the source’s distinct manifestations; exact day remains unset.

Month target only; no precise anniversary day has been invented.

25 May 2027 — Alien

What is hidden in the grave?

Calendar reference: Alien.

Authored insects and concealed buried interference, rather than licensed creatures.

26 May 2027 — Dracula Published

Blood gives the route away

Calendar reference: Dracula Published.

Glass wounds, persistent blood trails and the Harvest’s material catalogue.

Following Rocket Witches — exact date pending — Rocket Witch Anti Missile system

Rocket Witch Anti Missile system

Calendar reference: Rocket Witch Anti Missile system.

Following Rocket Witches; exact date remains dependent on development.

Following Anti Missile system — exact date pending — Rocket Witch targeting system

Rocket Witch targeting system

Calendar reference: Rocket Witch targeting system.

Following the Anti Missile system: how to shoot down a Rocket Witch while 6' under.

2 June 2027 — Bridget Bishop Tried

Making-of: proportion and Dogma

Calendar reference: Bridget Bishop Tried.

The design distinction between using a tool and knowingly overreaching.

2 June 2027 — Swift Announced

Making-of: the technical architecture

Calendar reference: Swift Announced.

A development chapter awaiting its authored implementation account.

3 June 2027 — SwiftUI Announced

The comic interface as a working control surface

Calendar reference: SwiftUI Announced.

Frame, score bubbles, contextual tray and the Big Red Action Button.

5 June 2027 — ARKit Announced

Making-of: preserve the human line

Calendar reference: ARKit Announced.

Layered art, depth and registration without redrawing the original source.

10 June 2027 — First Salem Execution

Making-of: JuJu remembers intent

Calendar reference: First Salem Execution.

A contextual system-design chapter, not a historical death recreated as gameplay.

16 June 2027 — Psycho

Shrift knows what makes you tick

Calendar reference: Psycho.

The optional interview and host psychology; consent limits remain to be authored.

23 June 2027 — Apple Announces Xcode

Making-of: choosing the engine

Calendar reference: Apple Announces Xcode.

The engine chapter reflects the actual development record; no silent engine migration is promised.

25 June 2027 — Xcode 26.6 Released

Making-of: build, test and release

Calendar reference: Xcode 26.6 Released.

What has been tested, what is local and what has actually shipped.

29 June 2027 — Original iPhone Released

Practise on mobile before the party

Calendar reference: Original iPhone Released.

The mobile arsenal as training for the later shared-table experience.

Mid-2027 — projected Steam release — Steam multiplayer, 250-grave rooms and Necronomics

The wider Carny Island game

Calendar reference: Steam multiplayer, 250-grave rooms and Necronomics.

Mid-2027 target: multiplayer Steam, 250-grave rooms and Necronomics; actual release remains dependent on development.

10 July 2027 — Apple App Store Launches

Follow the evolving app

Calendar reference: Apple App Store Launches.

A review of the standalone mobile foundation after the projected Halloween launch.

24 July 2027 — The Amityville Horror World Premiere

Making-of: Shrift’s haunted cottage

Calendar reference: The Amityville Horror World Premiere.

Poltergeist staging and the visible promise of locked deeper areas; no Year 5 activation in this window.

27 July 2027 — The Amityville Horror Released

The Cottage freezer heist

Calendar reference: The Amityville Horror Released.

Surface Cottage access and the stashed-organ branch; deeper systems stay locked.

13 August 2027 — Friday the 13th

The arsenal rehearsal

Calendar reference: Friday the 13th.

An equipment/countermeasure review before the shared-table Halloween target.

19 August 2027 — Major Salem Execution Day

Making-of: how the Island turns against you

Calendar reference: Major Salem Execution Day.

JuJu’s authored atmosphere/resistance response; history remains contextual.

13 September 2027 — The Amityville Horror Published

Good ghosts, bad ghosts

Calendar reference: The Amityville Horror Published.

The spectral behaviours, signs and selected soundtrack features.

14 September 2027 — Xcode 27 Released

Making-of: the asset pipeline

Calendar reference: Xcode 27 Released.

Source fidelity, vector extraction and the visual asset record.

15 September 2027 — Xcode 26 Released

Making-of: from drawing to engine

Calendar reference: Xcode 26 Released.

The actual authored-vector import workflow.

16 September 2027 — Xcode 16 Released

Making-of: reading a dark game

Calendar reference: Xcode 16 Released.

Calibration and accessibility/localisation development.

18 September 2027 — Xcode 15 Released

Making-of: rights, credits and provenance

Calendar reference: Xcode 15 Released.

Authorship and source accountability, with unfinished chapters identified.

22 September 2027 — Final Salem Executions

Making-of: choice, not possession

Calendar reference: Final Salem Executions.

The tool-misuse rule and what the game does and does not judge.

28 September 2027 — Xcode 1.0

Making-of: prototypes into production

Calendar reference: Xcode 1.0.

The journey through the early prototypes and the present build.

1 October 2027 — Night of the Living Dead

Every Hero Grave has a story

Calendar reference: Night of the Living Dead.

Vinnie, Marley, authored flashbacks, ghosts and the connected handling of bodies.

11 October 2027 — The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Speed, noise and a Buzz Saw

Calendar reference: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Coffin breach, overheating and Harvest damage; keep the intended tool use distinct.

15 October 2027 — Xcode 27.1 Released

Making-of: crisp art in the shipped build

Calendar reference: Xcode 27.1 Released.

The right treatment for photographic/painted textures and release-fidelity review.

25 October 2027 — Halloween

Make the grave personal

Calendar reference: Halloween.

Headstone identity, the camera/share request and final Halloween preparation.

29 October 2027 — Special Salem Court Dissolved

Making-of: the rules behind the anarchy

Calendar reference: Special Salem Court Dissolved.

Nonlethal weapon intent, Dogma and the Bad, Bad JuJu soundtrack feature.

31 October 2027 — Halloween

The Halloween 2027 party game

Calendar reference: Halloween.

The projected big drop: mobile practice and the physical-table experience come together.

Lunar feature — exact Brooklyn astronomical date to be calculated — Full Moon After the Autumn Equinox

A Moon that changes the night

Calendar reference: Full Moon After the Autumn Equinox.

Sky visibility and Shrift’s authored lunar drinking cycle; astronomical day still to be assigned.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Making-of: one impossible voice

Calendar reference: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.

The paired vocal production and provenance behind Scritch.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Making-of: effort, tools and performance

Calendar reference: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Revisit the living voice inside the approved substrate/tool mix.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

See through Scritch’s eyes

Calendar reference: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.

Villain View, looking closely and camera/magnification review.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

The authored night and its escape

Calendar reference: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.

The contained short-film route and tunnel/night timing design comparison.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Making-of: the host and the pilot

Calendar reference: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.

Archived script variants and Carnie prototypes, clearly distinguished from current canon.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Carmilla Published

Spirit colours and the good-ghost trail

Calendar reference: Carmilla Published.

The readable spectral visual language and gift behaviour.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Carrie Published

The clown’s smile changes

Calendar reference: Carrie Published.

Moggy’s front-gate presence as an expression/performance feature.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Dracula

What survives in an old grave?

Calendar reference: Dracula.

Durable jewellery, dental gold and implanted valuables versus decaying biological material.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Edison Frankenstein

Making-of: reanimating the drawing

Calendar reference: Edison Frankenstein.

Energy-driven bone glow and the robotic-harvest development history.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Final Destination

Look before the trap finds you

Calendar reference: Final Destination.

Scanning, magnifying and reading warnings before committing to a route.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Freddy vs. Jason

One grid for competing players

Calendar reference: Freddy vs. Jason.

Stable grave coordinates and the design of shared targeting.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

A familiar voice, abruptly gone

Calendar reference: Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

The authored death-performance rule follows a recognisable living character.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Friday the 13th

The noisy tools of the trade

Calendar reference: Friday the 13th.

PeaShooter supply and sound, kept within the nonlethal armoury.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Get Out

The ordinary world wears a mask

Calendar reference: Get Out.

Movement, the town approach and the contrast outside the yard.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Godzilla

Build it to break

Calendar reference: Godzilla.

Wrecking-ball clearance, destructible scenery and source-locked scene layouts.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Happy Death Day

The grave remembers your last life

Calendar reference: Happy Death Day.

Nine lives, persistent aftermath and the memorial that remains.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — I Know What You Did Last Summer

The daytime yard still bears the scars

Calendar reference: I Know What You Did Last Summer.

The pastoral mask never repairs the night’s damage.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Le Manoir du Diable

Making-of: the ghost-train illusion

Calendar reference: Le Manoir du Diable.

The entrance, theatrical fake world and its physical sound.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Nosferatu

The sky and the two practical lights

Calendar reference: Nosferatu.

Moon, stars, warm lantern/cold headtorch and the narrowing sky over the pit.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Shaun of the Dead

Donuts, effort and the death industry

Calendar reference: Shaun of the Dead.

Energy decisions and the darkly comic pizza/crematorium connection.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Published

The ShapeShifter’s separate faces

Calendar reference: Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Published.

A continuing hostile personality does not collapse the characters into one body.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Cabin in the Woods

Making-of: the hidden operators

Calendar reference: The Cabin in the Woods.

Backstage desks, machines and Shrift’s theatrical interventions.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Making-of: a constructed world with real weight

Calendar reference: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Gravebox layers, stylised material resistance, the camera and the lighting script.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Call of Cthulhu Written

Beneath Crookwood

Calendar reference: The Call of Cthulhu Written.

Passages, hatches and locked deeper-world design previews, without promising their activation.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Craft

Bad spirits answer bad JuJu

Calendar reference: The Craft.

A planned spectral-behaviour feature; the explicit Rocket Witches launch remains on Witches Night.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Faculty

Learn the advanced kit

Calendar reference: The Faculty.

Mr Chop Chop and the deliberate choice of tools; no unapproved weapon statistics.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Final Girls

Learn to move, hide and get out

Calendar reference: The Final Girls.

Movement/escape decisions and the source’s dangerous daylight alternatives.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Haunting of Hill House Published

Making-of: the Big House beyond the yard

Calendar reference: The Haunting of Hill House Published.

One coherent design-preview dossier for the later Kart, lift and worlds; no playable activation promised here.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Shining

The machinery is breathing

Calendar reference: The Shining.

Silence, the physical soundscape and the later-set atmosphere design.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — The Thing

The condition of the body matters

Calendar reference: The Thing.

Decay, disease/organ provenance and the authored rare-brain catalogue; no invented clinical rates or damage effects.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Urban Legend

Every stone has a recorded identity

Calendar reference: Urban Legend.

Book of the Dead, IdentiCorpse, eras, names and the retained terminology.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

2027 development feature — source anniversary has year precision only — Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Making-of: the host’s drawn transformation

Calendar reference: Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

The authored rot/electricity/fang/skull sequence and The Claw soundtrack feature.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

No valid occurrence in the roadmap window — reference feature slot — First Salem Arrest Warrants

Making-of: Dogma judges deliberate use

Calendar reference: First Salem Arrest Warrants.

Leap-day source: a reference feature, with no valid 2026/27 anniversary invented.

Reference/theme only; the exact update date remains to be scheduled.

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