http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 43&t=34118
I got this idea when I was thinking about typical mystery games. I heard about "Nicole" and wanted to try a mystery game with some elements of investigation processes, random events, weighted probability in a complex order based on a few points systems the game will track, and just stretching my fingers and my brain to the limit. I've always set lofty goals for myself, and usually I can reach them with effort. (I've written a book, btw!)
THE GAME:
Your character, the MC (Name input or assigned name, haven't decided) suffers from periodic blackouts after a car crash in the first year of college. It's time for break and due to the change in personality and the past semester's slipping grades, parents are forcing the MC to go on a vacation with her cousin to socialize and get out of the house. While on Vacation, some small things happen that catch the MC's attention, forcing her to figure out what is going on without succumbing to a blackout in the middle of spying on the suspects!
Structure:
Basically, it's a mystery with some set plot events, and a minor DSE- sort of feel. I incorporated several elements into my writing plan, but not skill stats or a day planner. That didn't suit my needs. So I'm using a few different points systems to track everything.
There are quite a few characters (8 plus MC), but it's nothing you can't handle when playing. All four guys (so far) will have romance options, and there will actually be a plot line for 7 of the characters (one of which is rare and a little more dramatic than the others) as the culprit. What makes this project unique, as far as I can foresee, is that the route is randomly chosen with a probability function after the main intro (so
Also, in the plot, the MC has the tendency to black out if she doesn't get enough sleep, skips too many meals to investigate, or just by random (low) chance of the event being selected. (Lots of probability and random selection in this game. LOTS.) So that's an added challenge that will make spying on others/snooping very dangerous at times, with total sleep deprivation ending in death. There will be a few bad "death" or fail endings scattered throughout. I thought this would be a fun challenge to shake up the typical "girl detective" scenario. (This girl is like the anti-Nancy Drew character- she's kind of depressed due to her health condition and doesn't know most of the characters very well, not to mention she's kind of unwilling to investigate except the mysterious happenings are making her nervous...)
Points Systems (Tracking Framework):
The points systems are so essential to this project. To keep all the plot events endemic to certain characters organized, each route has a point value assigned at the beginning, simply "a_route_points = 50." All the major plot events for Ashley's route have to have the requirement for the route points to become accessible. There are also progress points. "a_prog_points += 1" and such, probably equalling 100 for completion, some choices making the game faster or slower.
- There's also the romance points, or affection points. Those are straightforward. (*
Notably, the last two sets of points influence game play a lot: energy (if you don't sleep and eat, increases chance of blackout/death), and ANGER points. Anger points (just my dub for them) are if you get too nosy and investigate the culprit too much. You won't know for sure which character it is, but if you aren't careful, they might target you early in the game if they catch on to your investigation! Therefore, be careful with how you proceed in interactions with other characters.
I've created some fun hurdles for the player. Hopefully this sounds interesting!
Other notes:
I have an artist for sprites but I'm not sure yet about background art. I'm writing and programming almost all of this by myself and with the help of those who kindly help me with certain functions and other assistance. I'm probably going to forgo music and voices for simply text and appropriate background sounds/noises.
Some of my visuals, for your enjoyment:
What I could use help/tips/comments/feedback with:
Does this game seem interesting?
How many hours would you spend on a route, especially because these routes are ideally going to be very interactive, very changeable?
Would you replay it to try the other routes?
How much would you spend on a game like this? (and does having only sound effects instead of music influence this?)
- Any other suggestions Thanks!