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Doctor Turquoise7 years ago

As a big fan of mystery visual novels, I greatly enjoyed what I saw of this demo. The silly art style and dialogue clash so well with the grim premise and imagery in this game, it's truly a incredible experience. I eagerly await the full release of this game.

A few questions to the developer:

1. What was your inspiration for drastically changing the direction of the game from a silly, slice-of-life visual novel to a dark murder mystery? are there any games or other forms of media from which you drew inspiration?

2. How do you plan on implementing  the puzzle mystery into the game mechanics? the demo's only mechanics were branching story paths and looking for clues. what mechanic would be used for deciphering the clues and solving the crime?

3. Considering the art style and previous game, how serious will the mystery be? Does the crime follow logic and can be solved rationally, or should we expect some more silly antics in the core mechanics and narrative, such as the first game?

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Tookipalooki7 years ago (1 edit)

Hello Turquoise!

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself so far! I'll try answer your questions as best I can :D

1. The first game was made quick and simple as the first game I'd ever put together, so a lot of what was in each branch was in that one was me trying a mechanic out and getting it to work. For example The lantern forest path was made to try put together the car chase scene, the map itself was just to try figure out how to make one. I thought it would be a nice idea to tie the games I make as I'm learning together by giving them the same characters and to lightly reference each other. It seemed like a fun way for me to track my progress as I learn and invite people along for a very bumpy ride. 

I was watching a series called Shetland at the time when Nano rolled around which was likely why it turned out like this, I probably started to think I was the new Miss Marple.

2. The demo unfortunately had to stop at the point before I was about to put in the main mechanic. Which is the game is intended to run 3 times before reaching the final conclusion in a groundhog day like scenario. With Chook being the only character aware of the loop in time happening via the main menu. A lot of what happens in the first act in the demo sets off switches for minor changes to be made for how the second act would then go on to run & changing some of the characters around and how they then act.  The actual mystery would always go on to be solved but who dies along the way can change. 

3. Hopefully the intentions and actions of the characters follow some sort of logic, but it would likely get a little unusual before hitting the final act because time travel gets involved.

I do hope that helps Turquoise, thank-you for the fun questions!

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Doctor Turquoise7 years ago

Thanks, that explained everything. the time-loop mechanic sounds awesome and will definitely make the game very interesting.

BTW, there is a mystery, puzzle heavy, visual novel game series which sound similar to what you're planning to do.  The series is called "Zero Escape" by Spike Chansoft (Who also made Danganronpa which is also a great detective visual novel). In the Zero Escape games the player makes choices like most visual novels, which lead to different timelines and results. The main character however is able to recall information from other timelines through multiple playthroughs, which is the main mechanic of the narrative progression.  Might be worth taking a look at, you might enjoy it

If you're looking for anyone to consult or test out your ideas, I'd love to help. Thanks again for answering!

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