What it's all about
Six characters were having a nice time in a house (I like the idea of teenagers throwing a party while the parents are away, but it could be anything else, really), but unfortunately one of them was murdered. You are a detective and it's up to you to question the five remaining suspects, in order to determine who the killer is, and the place and time of murder. But beware: the killer is lying!
Gameplay
In its current form the entire game takes place in a questioning room. You have a plan of the house at your disposal, which consists of six rooms with doors connecting some of them. You get to choose which suspect to bring in, and then you can ask them a variety of questions---namely WHERE they were at a given time, WHEN they were in a given room, WHERE and WHEN they saw a given character. All suspects answer as accurately as they can, except for the killer who's going to try and put you on the wrong path. By comparing each character's statements, you have to assess who the liar is, then in what room they were at the time of murder. When you feel confident you have solved the case, you hit a button and you are prompted to choose the killer, the time and place of murder. If you were right, you win, if not, you lose. Either way, you're ripe for another game. The victim, the killer, the time and place of the crime, and the whereabouts of each character, are all randomized, so that each game is different.
What is needed
To illustrate this game, I would require the following:
- one background (the questioning room)
- graphics for 6 characters (each with a single pose, a single outfit, and a couple of facial expressions, perhaps serious/worried/angry/sad/afraid, I guess the context hardly calls for any positive emotions)
If that's not enough work for you, the following could also come in handy:
- backgrounds for each of the six rooms in the house, so that we could present the statements as flashbacks (e.g. A-"I was in the kitchen with B and C", the screen fades to a scene with the kitchen background and A, B and C in it) intead of just plain text
- background of a court for the last scene of the game, where you present your solution
- a single graphics for an assistant who explains the rules of the game and sends in suspects at your request
- more poses/outfits/expressions for each character (the more the merrier isn't it)
The way I see it, a somewhat dark style would be best fitted for this project, but I'm open to suggestions. As a programmer, I'm particular about the game mechanics and the gaming experiences---so as far as graphics are concerned, you practically have carte blanche (say, 10% gray). I don't mind who the six characters are and how they are portrayed, as long as they look nice and they contribute to the game's atmosphere, so if you're keen on character design, be my guest. The only constraint is that any of them can be either the victim or the killer.
Current status
The game engine is functional as I'm writing this. Currently the killer isn't lying, which I haven't done yet because I wish to add a few other improvements to make the game more interesting and challenging (and the technical aspect of the lying part goes along with those). But it's not like it's some faraway prospect, like "yeah I wanna make a game like this and that and I'm confident I can do it"---it's already nearly done, and just awaiting graphics.
Perspectives
My plan is to release this game for free, in order to showcase my programming and game-design skills. That's an opportunity to showcase your talent as an artist as well! Depending on how well we work together, and how willing we may be to go further with this project, I have a few ideas of how we could make this into a bigger-scale game (and potentially commercial), and even other projects. But I'm not the type to pull the cart before the horse, so that's a discussion we can have when the current project is done and released. Just saying it doesn't necessarily stop there.
Thanks for your interest, and don't hesitate to PM me for more info.
Cheers!
