3 Thinky Detective Games From Our Community
And a schedule of streamers playing through the Thinky Game Jam!
Happy Mystery Monday!
The Case of the Thinky Game Jam officially ended last night, with developers submitting around 80 detective games in total!
Wow, what a number!
(You can take a look at all of the entries here.)
There are just WAY too many to list them all in today's newsletter.
Instead, I'll highlight 3 games created by members of our Mystery Gamedev Discord community.
1. The Crimson Debt
Created by Themis, known for having previously made the mystery games The Zodiac Trial and The Divine Deception.
You've lived your whole life in a single basement. Now, your cage is unlocked. You could leave this house at any moment you want. But without knowing what happened, can you ever truly be free?
'The Crimson Debt' is a short mystery Visual Novel, heavily focused on creating a puzzle box of murders. It's lighter on the narrative side and presents a fairly difficult challenge designed for those who appreciate picking apart a mystery. There are two modes, 'Curated' and 'Purist.' The Curated mode is for most players who would like some guidance on how to progress. The Purist mode is for the masochists who want to try and untangle everything without any guidance.
2. Cloning Chaos
Created by Ambierona, a puzzle game streamer and escape room enthusiast.
Another day, another job. You work as a Solo - a contract killer. Today is June 30, 3030. Eladia Volante, the Operations Specialist at Suto-Shira, has contacted you at Gikhusko Tower, the hotel where you and the other freelance Solos are registered for hire. Apparently Suto-Shira's cofounder, Ken Suto, was found dead at Shenzen Industrial Area this morning. Eladia wants you to do what you do best - find the killer and give him what's coming to him.
In the game you are solving a murder by visiting various links, each of which can have a story associated with it. It's up to you which ones to visit - you get points for answering questions correctly at the end, but you lose points for visiting too many links.
3. Many Crimes of Serenity Falls
Created by Greg Solo, this game is currently in the prototype/demo phase.
You are Ashley Rose, a brilliant detective about to enjoy her long overdue vacation in a remote mountainous village: Serenity Falls.
Of course, your getaway gets interrupted. Of course, there was a murder.
A child is found dead, circumstances are mysterious, and every damn person in this town has something to hide.
Look for clues, interrogate townsfolk, and deduce conclusions in this retro-style detective mystery puzzle!
BONUS: Dear Murder Diary
Created by Marcgenesis, this game is also in the prototype/demo phase.
Dear Murder Diary is a text-based murder mystery type game, where the player tries to piece together who died and how by reading newspaper articles. Built from a simple gameplay loop where even the finest of detail can bring you closer to the truth.
Thinky Game Jam Streams This Week
This week, several streamers will be showing off games from the jam!
Last night, Rufus_dufus0 streamed Many Crimes of Serenity Falls and several others.
Xiruo, who streamed our award-winning game Reaplaced back in October, will be streaming on December 18th at 6pm PST / 2am UTC (19th) and December 21st at 4pm PST / midnight UTC.
Joe Plays Puzzle Games will stream on December 19th at 11am PST / 7pm UTC.
Ambierona will stream on December 20th at 7pm PST / 3am UTC (21st).
And Thinky Games will stream on December 22nd at 1pm PST / 9pm UTC.
Exact streaming times may be subject to change.
More information can be found on the official game jam page.
End of Year Survey
This game jam really proved there’s a lot of people who want to make their own detective games, and I’d like to thank our friends at Thinky Games for putting together such an awesome event!
I’m truly excited, and honored, to build a community focused on mystery games.
If you have 5 minutes to spare, please fill out our end-of-year survey to let us know how we're doing!
Your input will help me improve the Mystery Gamedev community next year.
This is your chance to make a difference, so be sure to make your voice heard!
Thank you for reading!
Mystery Gamedev is a community for fans and developers of mystery-themed video games.
If you want to learn how to make your own mystery game…
Or if you want to discover the best mystery games before anyone else…
Join our 150+ member Discord community today!
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