Psychological horror on a 1985 computer

I was browsing old floppy disks from a recent estate sale and found SHELLIE’S SECRET: a lost 1985 “detective game” that looks like it was circulated around Tandy shareware circles, although it ends up becoming quite upsetting, psychological and avant-garde by the end. Given the theme, I knew right away I wanted to have a go at porting this disturbing self-published game. It’s not for the faint of heart. 

I’m guessing SHELLIE’S SECRET was probably designed on and for the Tandy TRS-80, likely the Model 4 sometime as early as 1983-5. The files say 1985, although some of the capabilities, including primitive speech synthesis, suggest compatibility with a later sound card. From the shareware splash screen, the original creator of SHELLIE’S SECRET seems to be Eric, a CA-based programmer going by the name Contex Software. I can’t find anything online about them, so have decided to omit their address to respect their privacy. Eric’s programming legacy lives only within these asset files, included to make this game.

Please contact me if you have any information about this game’s background or the identity of its evidently disturbed creator.

DOUBLE CLICK SHELLIESECRET.EXE IN THE GAME DIRECTORY TO START PLAYING SHELLIE’S SECRET. USE THE KEYBOARD TO PROGRESS DIALOG AND ENTER TO SELECT RESPONSES.