Mike Brinker

Revised Final

The Online Who-dunnit Collaborative Murder Mystery!

This is turning into something of a board game realized in Myst type fashion, so bear(sp?) with me as I start working out the details. Ever play the old board game 221 B Baker Street? Mix that into a computer environment with Myst like gameplay(slideshow+animatics), throw in multiplayer, add a twist of lemon (tba) and serve up hot in director. Yes I know director is lame, but I need to start simple.

PLOT:

You have all been assembled at Scotland Yard by the chief of police for one reason. Lady Ann Grimswelder, Dutchess, has been MURDERED! Ba daaaa bummm....and one of you is the KILLER!!! (Insert cheezy lighting clash here). To prove your innoncence, collect as much evidence as you can against another person, disproving your own guilt. Watch out! Collaboration is key to proving yourself innocent. Conspire with fellow detectives and possibly save your own skin. Too much yacking and you might just incriminate yourself! 6 to 8 players, no more, no less. You have until midnight...good luck!

GAMEPLAY:

All detectives/suspects start at Scotland yard and move their way through the town (via a Myst like Slideshow, clicking on pictures to navigate) collecting evidence and visiting the various locations, talking to townsfolk and finding out what took place. Some evidence will point to you, as other pieces will point to others. You have the ability to cover up 2 pieces of evidence against you and trump up 2 pieces of evidence against someone else. All cases will point to every individual, it's up to those in the field to conspire/collaborate with one another. The players all have until midnight that night to find as many clues as possible (about :15 to :30 minutes of gameplay, haven't figure that out yet) and return to Scotland Yard. Each player that joins is given a specific personality or avatar (think Clue here, Miss Scarlet, Colonel Mustard, etc) that is easily identifiable in the game world. Any number of characters can inhabit one place on the gameboard/environment at a time. By clicking on an individual (thats in sight or in that space on the "board") will establish a collaboritive dialogue allowing for deceit/truthfulness/evidence to be exchanged.

Instant Messanger fashion? Maybe this entire game should be based on IM....hmmm....and build a murder mystery around that? Interesting idea....some webpage could be devised to show avatars, and the Instant Messaging client could act as a collaborative tool. Two people who are talking to each other would be blinking. I will have to think more on that.

THE LOOK:

I would enjoy having a bit of video in it, but I think I would rather see a hand drawn world that involves animation, much to the style of "Panopticon" by Todd Furmanksi, but with more of an old paprus, worn look...very yellowed and old. Each player would have a HUD so to speak, with the current time, a Magnifying lens and a clue book. The clue book automatically keeps track of clues found, and notes how many Trumps and Cover Ups you have used. Cover ups could be in the form of a bribe etc. Clues could easily be misplaced and people can easily be hushed with cash.

THE NUTS AND BOLTS:

Director would easily suffice as a test bed, allowing me to actually work on most of it myself, as well as find much needed help on the networking side of things. Many people are fairly fluent in director. Hopefully someone will have some ideas about networked gameplay. Time to do some reading up.

LOCATIONS IN GAME:

The township/city should be built around the following places:

Scotland Yard
The Apothacary (sp?)
The Pawn Shop
The Carriage House
The Pub
The Docks/Harbor/Port
The Rail Yard
The Park
more to come

Each place should be enterable, have one or two pathways and a person to talk to. A simple point/click list/menu structure for asking questions and getting answers would suffice, allowing for the use of bribes and trumps through the cluebook in the HUD. Maybe Drag and Drop, but very simple. Elder Scrolls III encorporates the same list type dialogue patches. This would be no different.