A Murder In The Public Domain

[MurderPD]

A Murder In The Public Domain is a murder mystery game built from public domain movies, sounds, pictures, and images.

OK, the real mystery is why I started this project in the first place. I've never considered myself a writer but at times I can be a decent story teller so I'm giving it a try. I had no idea what this project was going to turn into, I just new I wanted to use old movies and public domain objects and have some fun making it. The game follows the adventures of Dirk Caliber and Mary Livingston as they crack the case. I looked at some of the other posts and I've got to say they looked a lot more organized then I am. The game will always end at a conclusive point but I intend to extend it. How many times? No idea. In what direction will the story go? No idea. As I find new movies, clip art, images, sounds, and music, I let them guide the story. Since I'm doing the programming I also expect I'll extend the user interface over time. How? No idea, usually it just comes to me. Hope you enjoy it.

I've released this game as open source licensed as GPLv3. It's written in c++ using Qt for the GUI. I'm currently releasing in Windows XP,Vista, Windows 7, and Linux. I finally got my hands on a Mac so I'll be making a release soon. Source code, a Windows install exe, an rpm, and a deb are available for download. There are third party applications and codecs required for the different operating systems. These are described on the web page or in the instructions of the game itself.

Here are the links:

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[gekiganwing]

I couldn't think of anything clever to say earlier, so here's some slightly late feedback...

The game will always end at a conclusive point but I intend to extend it. How many times? No idea. In what direction will the story go? No idea. As I find new movies, clip art, images, sounds, and music, I let them guide the story. Since I'm doing the programming I also expect I'll extend the user interface over time. How? No idea, usually it just comes to me. Hope you enjoy it.

It sounds like you're writing with a "safety net" (that is, a definitive ending), but also trying to improvise and let the story write itself. Sounds like a good compromise.

It's written in c++ using Qt for the GUI.

Do you find these programs easier than Ren'py? Are you more familiar with them?

[MurderPD]

Hi gekiganwing
thanks for your response

I couldn't think of anything clever to say earlier, so here's some slightly late feedback...

The game will always end at a conclusive point but I intend to extend it. How many times? No idea. In what direction will the story go? No idea. As I find new movies, clip art, images, sounds, and music, I let them guide the story. Since I'm doing the programming I also expect I'll extend the user interface over time. How? No idea, usually it just comes to me. Hope you enjoy it.

It sounds like you're writing with a "safety net" (that is, a definitive ending), but also trying to improvise and let the story write itself. Sounds like a good compromise.

You are correct. I probably should have given a better explanation of the story. The story revolves around Mary Livingston who's boss, Joseph Leeds, has been murdered. The police write off the murder as a robbery gone wrong so she hires a private investigator, Dirk Caliber, to look into it. As they follow the clues they go to new locations, meet new characters, and encounter new murders they must solve. That's where my releases come in. A release will usually carry a new location and a new murder. The location and characters mostly come from the new movie clips I'm embedding (i.e. my next release, Dirk and Mary must solve a jewel robbery and murder on the Occident Express. The main movie clips come from an old Sherlock Holmes movie called “Terror by Night“ as well as three other movies I've picked. Eventually this will all come together and solve the murder of Joseph Leeds but I have no idea when this will happen.

It's written in c++ using Qt for the GUI.

Do you find these programs easier than Ren'py? Are you more familiar with them?

Hmm, we're kind of talking apples and oranges here. Ren'py is a wonderful application for scripting stories, Qt is a set of c++ base classes for creating graphical applications in multiple platforms (i.e. Windows, Linux, Mac, etc...) There is no game engine, no scripting, I had to write that from scratch. I've been writing business software for years, I decided to write a game just for fun (this is my first.) I chose Qt because it was the easiest for embedding a cross platform movie player in my application and it's open source with no royalties. I wasn't looking to use any existing game engines because the point was to write my own. Besides, I had no idea what the game was going to be. When I first started writing this game, I was thinking RPG, but quickly realized there were not enough pieces of public domain clip art to be able to animate them. That's when I switched to a visual novel. Writing my own game engine also allows me to change it over time. I expect I will be making the sprite animation more exciting and I'm thinking of adding RPG style puzzles that the user solves during game play.

[Onepeicefan1992]

downloading this very minute. this game is very intriguing, so what you are saying is the game was created using everything in the public domain including the clip-art?

[MurderPD]

downloading this very minute. this game is very intriguing, so what you are saying is the game was created using everything in the public domain including the clip-art?

Hi Onepeicefan1992

Yes, all public domain. I've also listed the different web sites I gathered resources from on the game web site and in the About page of the game itself if you're interested.
Hope you enjoy it.

[MurderPD]

Release 1.2.0 is now available. In this chapter Mary and Dirk must solve the jewel theft and murder on the Occident Express. They meet a new powerful character that knows of Joseph Leed's murder and seems to know of Mary's past. A powerful character, but is she an ally? The writing flowed easier this time and I like the direction the story is moving in.

I had some fun and changed the mechanics of the sprites so they now follow a random path onto, off of, and across the backgrounds.

Here are the links:

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[MurderPD]

Release 1.2.1 is now available. This is a minor release to make the early Mary Livingston conversations more in line with how her character is evolving. I also tied up a couple of loose ends in the Crustacean Cove murder. I usually won't create a release for such a small amount of changes but this time I thought it improved the game enough to make it worth while. I also added a fun little whirly flashback avi where appropriate.

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[MurderPD]

Here's a film clip of some game play:
http://youtu.be/eez0ABuaSN4

[MurderPD]

Release 1.2.2 is now available. I've made this a minor release because there is no more additional story. There is, however, major changes to the user interface. I've added the << Previous button. This button, or pressing the Backspace key, will move the game to the previous scene. I've added the Next >> button. This button behaves the same as clicking the left mouse button, or pressing the Spacebar or Enter key. The user can now accelerate through sounds, songs, and videos in the same way that they accelerate through a conversation.

Here's some new screen shots:

Here are the links:

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[MurderPD]

Release 1.2.3 is now available. I've added a new trivia user element. Now at places in the story you'll be asked to answer multiple choice trivia questions. The questions are about the movies, songs, or anything else I might have dreamed up. This release fixes a bug that causes an intermittent crash during videos in Linux.

Here's a screen shot of the new trivia element:

[qyrnth]

I'm using mac...I don't really know how to run it...I already extract it but nothing can be opened..
Would you kindly help?

Thank you.

[MurderPD]

I'm using mac...I don't really know how to run it...I already extract it but nothing can be opened..
Would you kindly help?

Thank you.

Hi qyrnth

Sorry, I'm not currently supporting Macs. I'm still looking for a used one at a reasonable price to build a release on.

[MurderPD]

Release 1.3.0 is now available.

In this chapter Mary must look into her childhood to prepare for the dark man. There is a problem however, she has no memory of her past. Who can help? Dirk and Mary must find someone, anyone, that will point them in the right direction. Along the way, they meet an other worldly ally or at least the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

I have also converted all the video audio tracks from AC3 to MP3. You now only need an xvid and MP3 decoder to play the game.

Here are the links:

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[MurderPD]

Release 1.3.1 is now available
It fixes the audio / video delay problem I get in some Linux installs.