Lemma Soft Forums

Engine:
This game is being developed in Unity(much as I wanted to use Renpy) due to a few 3D effects I wanted to use. As such, it will be available for pretty much every device under the sun--iOS, Android, PC, Mac, Linux. I had to develop a mini-engine for the sake of making a visual novel with Unity, which wasn't particularly difficult but took quite a bit of my time. It was totally worth it in that it automatized a lot of the process, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone. So I'll probably be releasing my mini-Unity engine for free once I'm done with this game.



I'm a huge murder mystery geek(Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr and Golden Age writers especially) so I always wanted to make something like this. I've been working on this for a while now and while I hesitate to say I'm "nearly done" because I can't work on the game every day and frankly can't predict the days I have time to, I can say that development is on a pretty advanced stage right now. I can't promise any release dates or anything like that but I'll respond to as many questions as I can.

I would really appreciate to hear what you guys would like to see in a murder mystery game, because I'm at the stage where advice and requests like that would be perfect. I've already mostly finished the core programming, but the code is still fresh enough in my head that adding new features should be(relatively) painless. But yeah, I'm really interested in hearing what you guys want to see in a murder mystery game. Do you generally prefer the investigation or the debate sections? Is there anything you always wanted to see done in a mystery game? Anything that you guys hate about adventure games?

(For example, I personally am a sworn enemy of any and all pixel hunting)

Thank you for reading, and I hope that when this game is done you have as much fun playing it as I'm having making it.

This looks really cool and the art/backgrounds are perfect. I look forward to playing and wish you good luck on your game

THIS IS REALLY COOL OMFG.

and the visuals are amazing. *___* //envy
and I love mystery too--- they're like, watching a suspense movie wait what

anyway, good luck with the games development! *A*

I'll definitely check this out. Very nice art! It's also refreshing to see that the writing is already done.

When I see the number 9, puzzles, water, and mystery together, I always think about 999. Is this novel inspired by that game by any chance? Though you mentioned other sources of your inspiration (probably), I'm not familiar with the writers you mentioned (I don't usually get my story 'crack' from books, and I'm bad with remembering names, LOL).

By the way, this is the first time I've heard of Unity. I checked the software out, and I found it neat. I'll be waiting for this game. I love puzzles and a nice story.

OH THIS *___*

I love the story and the characters so far , really caught my attention!!
You just got one *stalker* fan, good luck on finishing it! *w*

thewriterjm wrote:When I see the number 9, puzzles, water, and mystery together, I always think about 999.

*laugh* Somehow I'm totally agree with you XD.

Wow, you have amazing art! Will definitely check on this! Can't wait to see more characters

This sounds incredibly fun : D. I look forward to seeing more and I wish you the best of luck finishing it ^^.

I look forward to this, as I am a fan of mysteries.

Whoa it looks super interesting!
Looking forward to it!!

Those are some impressive backgrounds! You have me excited.

I really adore the art and the kind of art style that is used for the game. It simply looks amazing and really gives off an atmosphere that is perfect for murder mystery games. I love it and am really looking forward to this. Keep up the good work! =)

YESYESYESYES. That is all I have to say. pfft as if

I LOVE murder mysteries (or any kind of mysteries), supernatural and dark fantasy, stories where people are trapped together(escape the room in story-form fiction? It isn't quite like survival fiction so I'm not certain what to categorize it as. ) and especially point and click adventure games! And the whole is greater than its parts. *.* Ohoho~ So yes, I love this. Completely. The gorgeous anime art is of course a big bonus too, but I would probably play this even if the art was nothing but stick figures. ^^;

The only thing which is concerning me a bit is the being turned into zombies if they fail part. Smilie face sums up my face when I read this perfectly: After the initial 'Wha?' moment wore off I snorted. Everything else in the description seemed very realistic, logical and then suddenly-punishment by zombie. I'm wondering if there will be an incorporation of a lot of supernatural elements in this game, or if it is maybe more of a mind game thing? If this threat is meant to be taken seriously by the premise readers, maybe you could word it differently, so the supernatural element was a little less sudden? Or maybe just something like, "cursed to live as walking corpses within the game for the rest of eternity"?(I am guessing it is a kind of 'past losers become enemies for the future competitors' sort of thing. I apologize if this is completely not how it is in your game and I assumed something entirely irrelevant. )

I also find myself relating a lot to the character of Drake(which is very nice because I seem to have especially bad luck when it comes to liking the character I am supposed to be playing as) ; "finds himself torn between being terrified and thrilled by the situation". I would be at once giddy and petrified as well. ^_^;

Also, I must read more Agatha Christie. I have only been able to read "And Then There Were None" which works out well because I have a feeling that you probably were a wee bit inspired by it when writing this. Now wherever I would get that idea from?

Now, to answer your questions:
Do you generally prefer the investigation or the debate sections? I definitely prefer investigation because 1. I am a snoop and 2. I think needing to prove my points with multiple choice questions is odd and unnatural. Unfortunately I don't believe that much can be done to alleviate the problems with number 2, which I definitely understand. I just thought I would bring it up for the sake of honesty.

Is there anything you always wanted to see done in a mystery game? Oi, that is a big question. Possibly the option of relationship-building and unraveling mysteries surrounding other people, as well as lots of bits of supernatural things with mini sub-plots that you need to specifically look for to find (as a sort of an odd extra, maybe)? Though I am always for adding in more supernatural elements to mysteries, so long as they are logical and add something, even if it is small. unlockable ghost character WOO! That is all I can think of for now.
Oh, no wait I thought of something else! More secret passage ways. Moar spooky old undiscovered passageways with things hidden in them!(preferably bereft of jump scares because I medically cannot do jumpscares) The way I see it, there is no such thing as too many secret passages(I play Nancy Drew games; can you tell?). Feel free to take this advice with as much caution as you see fit.

Anything that you guys hate about adventure games? I will put these in point form, just for ease of writing and reading.
-More back and forth than story. I need to find this key in one room, to put in the floor 4 scenes away, so I can drain the fountain 2 rooms over then up the stairs, to get the crystal that I need to unlock the outdoor gate that is 7 scenes over. Bad, bad. I feel like I am running errands endlessly and getting nothing done. I think game developers who lack ideas put a lot of back and forth in their games just to extend play time. It is no fun and I often completely forget what any of the errand-running was supposed to accomplish in the first place. Going in between rooms to investigate is great, just as long as everything adds to the story.
-Not enough exploration allowed. For example, when a game tells you to 'look around' in a scene and gives you the option of clicking around. Except that it does not allow you to leave the room, there is no information given on anything that you click, the thing you need is obvious and as soon as you have it the screen goes back to being something you cannot explore or interact with. It is kind of like a question which is supposed to be open-ended having only one correct answer. I like my exploration to be rewarded when I am playing a game, and when I am provided with even a small amount of information about something I clicked on I feel rewarded because I would not have the information otherwise. I'm not sure if this makes any sense?
-This ties into my other point but I really dislike it when there is a specific 'right' and 'wrong' way to investigate things. Obviously if you are attempting to examine a knife then sticking it through your arm would probably not be the right way to examine it. However, if, for example, I wanted to look at the knife handle because it looked like it might have fingerprints on it, but the game would only allow me to look at the blade to examine what looked like blood on it, then that seems unnecessarily prohibitive. All detectives have their own style of figuring murders out and some may seem very odd to others, but as long as it leads to the correct conclusion then they are all good styles. When I am playing a mystery game I want to be allowed that freedom of having my own creative way of figuring things out.

Well, that got long quickly. I need to go to bed now. I hope this helps in some way (and also that it makes sense...)! I am hugely excited for this game! I can't wait to find out more about it! Well, I can, but that is only because waiting builds suspense and suspense is good. Thank you for reading through this huge thing, phew. I wish you a fantastic time completing your game!!

Awesome! I'm making a Mystery VN myself, but this Rocks! Look at those handsome pictures!

Stunning artwork and it's exciting to see people using something other than Ren'py (not that there's anything wrong with Ren'py, but more variety and experience means more we can learn from).

Two questions:
1. when you say "losers" in clearing the Winston game, what exactly does this mean? That there's only one winner? That there can be multiple winners/losers?
2. What's your experience like developing a visual novel with Unity? When I think Unity, I think cheap 3d games, not really visual novels. I'm currently developing an browser-WebGL canvas based visual novel engine that I'll show around here soon, and I'd love learn about other alternative tools outside of Ren'py.