This one charmed me. I love the worldbuilding, and the cast is all very distinct and vibrant. The aesthetic is on point as well, with the watercolors and music really setting the mood.
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The Case of the Serialized Killer's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Score | #2 | 4.941 | 4.941 |
Ranked from 51 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Log Line
Interrogate suspects to solve a semi-supernatural murder in an Edwardian watercolor mansion where inner demons manifest!
Content Warnings
For Everyone. We have, however, provided a content warning document in the game file.
Team Members
Project head, Writing, Art: Alexis Royce
Writing: Tsushi
Coding, Photography, Editing: Cammie
Music: Nicolas Gasparini (Myuu)
Comments
This is charming whodunnit that immediately reminds me of classical detective novels, but with a personal spin to it. It got all the gameplay elements you'll find in a mystery game: an extensive notebook that keeps track of the characters, and there's a portion where you visit different rooms to interrogate the potential culprits to shake out information from them.
The game is very cohesive and memorable with its style. The art, writing (the way characters talk and the vocabulary used to describe the world), and music are all a perfect fit for the Edwardian setting. I can even find myself humming some of the tunes in this game. The art style is gorgeous with the watercolour and inking where everything including the GUI seems to be custom-made. It's dedication to paint over your own photographs!
All the characters are lovely. I enjoy the diversity in the character designs with poc and varying body sizes. It took some time to notice when Harold got very masculine sideburns and stubble in an almost rugged way, but then it clicked to me why Maggie looks like a new character and yet so familiar, she is in essence the female form of Harold. I love it when designs still retain faithful facial features no matter what gender they are depicted in. The chemistry between the two male main leads is great and typical for an established romantic relationship where they already are comfortable with each other. I was actually surprised this is not some type of prequel or spin-off game because they already feel very realised with a rich history behind them.
I can totally see the potential of the imp system in this VN as it's fun and original and also gives it a gameplay hook, where you can't tell someone's hidden superpower from just meeting them first. The mystery itself is sound and works really well as what you describe as the first episode in a mystery series: the writing is tight where we are introduced to the heroes, they solve the mystery, and it ends on a funny note. (I'm also low-key glad that the mystery is entry-level so I won't be stressing out too much that I couldn't figure out who the culprit is, haha.)
Submitted
Wolfskin's CurseI'm sorry I took so long to reply, thank you for this incredibly kind and in-depth comment! For Hawley and Harold they've had a lot of development in the past as OCs, but this is the first time they're getting put in to any formal project and solidified, I think the depth probably comes from our comfort level writing them vs some of the characters in the cast being more new hehe
The music was such a joy to find, Myuu's work is so incredible and we felt extremely lucky that he offered SO MANY tracks for creators to use!
This was my first time writing a mystery and I wanted it to be not TOO difficult to solve. I know after making this I gained huge admiration for Phoenix Wright/Ace Attorney games that I never had before, just trying to see how they worked their mechanics and charismatic characters was a great thing to study, but I never really realized how masterful and complex it can be to put clues in and deliver enough turns and twists to keep the player guessing!
I'm so grateful to hear you enjoyed it, thank you so much for taking the time to play it and let us know such detailed thoughts about it!
Well, that was a ride and a half, haha. I was a little worried going into it with the point and click/detective elements because while I do enjoy that sort of thing, I also happen to be dreadful at solving any sort of puzzle or mystery, but I somehow managed to reach what was labeled as the true end on my first playthrough :D Probably more down to luck than anything knowing me, haha.
I thought the art was wonderful, I really enjoyed the soundtrack, so much appreciated the music player option as well :3 And I just love the character designs in general, DeLus and Goose being my favourites in the overall looks department! Also, Goose's name put a big smile on my face because I really love geese xD
Oh, and I thought the notepad feature was brilliant, not just as a tool for aiding folks like me with awful memories, but it made me chuckle more than once with the stuff being entered.
I've always wanted to try writing something like this, but I just don't think I could pull it off convincingly, and I honestly don't know how anyone does, haha. I will definitely have to revisit for bad endings because they tend to be my favourite endings x3 I'm trying to play a bit of everything from the jam in the semi-holiday I'm allowing myself though, so it'll have to wait until probably towards the end of the month >.<
Submitted
Limbo LineSo glad to hear you liked it and that the mystery and the notebook helped make the game flow to the correct answer without being too tough on the player. I also love geese so high five there hehe
I had no idea how to write a mystery myself, so this was a challenging one for us, in terms of coding, writing and sheer number of characters and locations! In terms of bad endings I had such limited time that they're not as interesting or unique as I would like, maybe I can take some time to beef them up a bit in the next few weeks, that would be something I'd love to touch up now that we're outside the time crunch haha
Thank you again so much for taking the time to play our game and leave such an in depth comment!
Yeah, I felt that it was perfect in terms of the balance between the mystery and the difficulty!
Huzzah for geese! They're so awesome :3 We don't have that many kinds here, but when I see greylag geese especially, they always cheer me up xD
Well, you guys did a cracking job with the whole thing! And yeah, as I saw more and more sprites appearing, I was thinking to myself, holy moly that's a lot of work, haha. I didn't actually think to time my playthrough in the end but I was there for quite a while I think. I remember going to get coffee halfway through, sitting back down, and thinking, ahh, sipping coffee and solving a mystery. This is the life! x3
I do love me a good bad ending to sink my teeth into, so I'd definitely be interested in checking those out if you decide to go for it :3
I'll be sure to let you know if I make an update on those bad endings. It's something I'm working on in my spare time and hopefully I'll get it done along with maybe some other bits of polish for visuals :)
We have a massive number of geese where I live, Canadian Geese and some farm geese too. I really find them charming even if a lot of people don't like them. They're so big and round and they look so soft!
I think the game is about 2-3 hours, it was so tough to get this much done in the time limit but hearing you had some coffee with the game and had fun really brightens my day, thank you again for taking the time!
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