17 : Whodunnit -- Think Quickly

[Nandrew]

http://www.box.net/shared/oybkkpbzmg

Whodunnit -- Think Quickly is a hasty little offering of a detective game which I've developed in a rather short time and tested only minimally. Hopefully, though, you guys will have some fun with it.

The basic premise is that some killer has gone and poisoned everybody in this generic old film noir mansion, and a generic old film noir detective needs to find out who he is before everyone dies.

By questioning suspects and extracting information, players have to prove all except one of the suspects innocent, then confront the killer with their evidence. While questioning and thinking, players will have to contend with the detective's rising stress levels as dead-end investigations and traumatic events take their toll on his mental wellbeing.

Think quickly. You have about ten minutes.



REMEMBER: This game was rushed. Moreover, it's a we-won't-hold-your-hand detective sleuthy wossname, meaning that nothing is going to be handed to you. If you need to work out how things operate, put your mouse over them and read the description. Play on the easiest difficulty first. Press F1 whenever you need to. And, most importantly, understand that you'll not necessarily win the first time around.

That is all, I hope you enjoy the game.

[dislekcia]

OMW. That is such an awesome idea for a game... Also, generic film noir rocks!

-D

[Cyberninja]

Awesome game Nandrew. =]

[Kensei]

Damn you for being able to create such unique ideas in such a short space of time! ::shakes fist::

[Chippit]

I daresay this is the best thing you've made yet. Tense.

[Thaumaturge]

I really like this, Nandrew - and it's especially good for a game created in a short time!

I really enjoy the gameplay mechanics, the style, and the thought involved in playing it. ^_^

Everything seems to work fairly well. I was a little confused when just lighting a cigarette didn't reduce my stress levels, but that was perhaps just my not having read the instructions properly, or not having internalised them properly - you do mention that they help when relaxing, rather than in normal play. Do they have any effect in normal play? If not, perhaps it might be a good diea to disable them when the player is not resting.

[Gazza_N]

@Thaum: Cigarettes don't reduce your stress levels. They temporarily prevent them from rising. ;)

This game is made of Win and Noir. It brought back happy memories of Cluedo, actually. And Chippit's right - it is a tense game, which means that it succeeds with flying black-and-white colours.

I also laughed at the music - Yahtzee used some of the same tracks for his early Chzo games. As I told Nandrew, I half expected the killer to be wearing a welding mask. :P

[Thaumaturge]

Aah, thank you, Gazza (although they do, I believe, increase the rate of the rest effect as well). ^_^

Another strong contender, I think, hastily-wrought or not. ^_^

[Nandrew]

CIGARETTE MECHANICS CLARIFIED
by Rodain "Nandrew" Joubert

Cigarettes have two main purposes. The first is to cancel stress. This means that when you light up, it doesn't matter how high your stress bar is -- your investigation will proceed as though you weren't stressed at all (you take up to three times as long to question and think while stress is in the red!). If you're unfortunate enough to suffer from a panic attack (full stress), a cigarette can interrupt it and return you to normal functionality.

Cigarettes won't actually *remove* stress on their own, however, and they won't stop the addition of stress if bad stuff happens. They simply let you ignore it for a little while. This is where the second use comes in: if you RELAX while a cigarette is active, your stress will be lowered twice as quickly. This is important considering that all other actions are cancelled while relaxing -- you want that stress down, but you don't want to waste too much precious investigation time!

In general, it's a good idea to use cigarettes in tandem with the relaxation process, though there's also a call for them when your stress levels unexpectedly rise and you quickly need to finish a think task before hitting that relax button.


Not to openly advocate the smoking of cigarettes or anything (hey, it's a film noir thing), but in retrospect I do believe that it would have made more sense if I got the cigarettes to reduce your stress levels on their own. :P

--

Also glad to hear that people are enjoying this game. I'm very happy with what I managed to pull out in the time that I made it. I hoped to make it tense, and that seems to have worked. And yes, the Chzo music does appear to have made a cameo appearance. :P

[Tr00jg]

Holy cheese, this was awesome! JUST when I thought I had it, BAM, the guy dies. I was like OMG OMG!

So cool.

[Tr00jg]

http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2008/...odunnit_t.html

:)

Gogo Nandrew!

[Nandrew]

Sweet!

I'm reckoning this was Dev.Mag's doing.

But dear lawdy! I now regret not taking some time after the comp to, you know, make the game better. Or prettier. Or something.

[Thaumaturge]

Ooh, that looks like good exposure for you, Nandrew. I'm glad to see it! ^_^