3 Favorites From Mystery Game Jam 2024
Kinjo's list of personal favorites from the first Mystery Game Jam!
Happy Mystery Monday!
It took me all of May, but I finally played through all of the entries to the Mystery Game Jam! With at least 15 hours of gaming across them all, there is sure to be at least one that you will enjoy, so check them all out here.
That said, I wanted to highlight a small number of my favorite entries.
Prizes and judging was never part of the jam, but I had hoped that there would be at least a few games that were just so good that I would have to mention them in this newsletter. This was a really, really, really hard decision to make, because it turned out there were a lot of games that fit that description. So I narrowed it down to three.
I spent a lot of time trying to personally “rank” each game based on various attributes to try and make the decision easier, but in an interesting twist, running the numbers only ended up confirming my gut instincts.
I considered the originality of the ideas, the solvability of the puzzles, the UX and overall presentation/polish, the writing, the consistency in spelling/grammar, quality and consistency of art and sound, the amount of effort relative to the game’s total completion, and just overall how much fun I actually had when playing each game.
The truth is that I really did like every game in its own unique way.
Some games had brilliant ideas, but were either too buggy to play or simply weren’t long enough to demonstrate the idea. Some games had compelling stories with deep themes, but the graphics and music weren’t used effectively. Other games had excellent presentation, but a confusing or underwhelming story. Given some more time, these issues can all be fixed, but I have to look at what was submitted.
The three games I’ve chosen for today’s post did an all around excellent job in every aspect, and they are all games that I genuinely enjoyed playing.
Here they are:
The Candy Killings
The name's Bon, Bonbon. I've just received a case file, and I need your help to catch this candy killer.
Why I liked it: This game utilizes the candy theme to its fullest. Each character in the town is a different type of candy, reflected by their appearance, personality, and role in the mystery. During the course of investigation, you get to know all of these characters really well. They go from candy stereotypes to real people who were terribly affected by the killer’s actions, and you genuinely feel sorry for them.
The mystery consists of several crimes, so you are kept in suspense as the tension rises each day. I correctly identified the killer before the reveal, and I was greatly satisfied by the answer. If I was writing this mystery, I would have done the same.
Twice Bitten (Demo)
Malakai Catshall is an ordinary inspector assigned to investigate the strange murder of a young woman found drained of blood. The case takes an unexpected turn when he himself is attacked in pursuit of evidence and wakes up changed.
Why I liked it: The writing is excellent, both in prose and its vampire theme. It genuinely reminded me of a gothic horror story but set in more of a modern time period. The idea of a detective investigating a murder seemingly caused by a vampire (and maybe even becoming one) is so brilliant that I’m surprised it hadn’t been done before (to my knowledge).
The mystery of whether the killer is a vampire or just a human pretending to be one gave me some major Umineko vibes. Since this is just a demo, the truth is not yet revealed, but it is a solid hour of world-building and suspense that gets you heavily invested in the answer and looking forward to the full game. If you are looking for an example of how to make a compelling mystery demo, take a look at this game.
Robot Detective & the Case of the Automurderated Intern
You've built a ROBOT DETECTIVE who can investigate crimes! Today you get to test her out... but what was supposed to be a safe, closed trial ends up being a REAL MURDER....!
Why I liked it: This game is not only strong on the mystery front, but also strong in terms of gameplay. You investigate the crime scene by pointing and clicking to search for clues, talking to characters and presenting evidence to them. You must then deduce the answer yourself through answering a series of questions by presenting evidence that either proves or contradicts each point.
All the gameplay in the world can’t save a bad mystery, but fortunately the mystery here is top notch. There are only a handful of screens, and even fewer suspects, but you end up collecting a ton of evidence that takes you on many twists and turns during the deduction gameplay. It shows how you can do a lot with just a little.
This game is also an excellent example of how to design a fair mystery while intentionally breaking several fair-play mystery rules. At the risk of hyping up the game too much, it has what I can only describe as an Agatha Christie-like twist. If you would like to know why it works, first go and play the game, and then read this essay from mystery author G. K. Chesterton. I won’t spoil it here. But this game took a risk, and in my opinion it paid off.
Oh, and this game also happens to have my favorite piece of evidence ever collected in a mystery game: the Mystery Jam! But I’d still be writing about the game here even if it didn’t. Jokes aside, it’s an excellent mystery game.
Will there be another Mystery Game Jam?
Yes, but it will be next year, probably around the same time. I’ve already received excellent feedback that will help decide how some things will be improved.
If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, you’ll be the first to know.
Once again, thank you to everyone who participated! Hopefully you all learned something and had fun, even if you didn’t finish or couldn’t submit on time. This was my first time running such an event, so I learned a lot as well.
Looking forward to the next one!
Thanks for reading!
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