Happy Mystery Monday!
Mystery games are a unique blend of story games and puzzle games, which is why I love them so much.
So far, I've written a lot about visual novels, but the truth is there's a whole world of gameplay we still need to explore.
Today, let's approach mystery games from the other side — the puzzly, thinky side!
Thinky Games
Thinky Games is a community for fans of the thinky game genre.
You should be excited to learn that from December 1st to December 17th, they are hosting the detective-themed The Case of the Thinky Game Jam!
In this very relaxed game jam, you have ~2 weeks to create and submit a game that captures the detective case-solving process through its mechanics.
If you’ve been wanting to make a mystery game, now is the perfect opportunity!
There are no rankings or prizes, so just have fun!
...But, you might be wondering: what exactly are thinky games?
Thinky games are those that invite you to carefully reason your way through problems and challenges — games involving puzzles, logic, deduction, strategy, deep systems, engineering, and more, often brimming with aha moments!
Three notable examples of thinky detective games include The Case of the Golden Idol, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Her Story.
These games are marked by their unique mechanics that truly simulate the experience of being a detective uncovering the truth.
The Case of the Golden Idol has a fill-in-the-blank system that allows the player to piece together each mystery. You are thrown straight into a deadly situation that must be explained in just a few sentences. By observing the environment, you build up a collection of clues that must be used to explain what happened in each scene.
Return of the Obra Dinn tasks the player with identifying the names and fates of all crew members aboard a mysterious ship. The player has the ability to move around the ship in full 3D and witness the final moments of each person's life, accompanied by audio clips that provide context. The player must examine these scenes to gather clues and make deductions in their book.
Her Story has a unique way of conveying a linear narrative. Your goal is to uncover the truth behind a murder by watching video clips of a police interrogation, but you are forced to watch the clips outside of chronological order. By paying careful attention to each clip, you learn new keywords that must be used to search for more clips via the computer, until eventually you have pieced together the truth.
It is important to note that each of these games still has a story, but rather than conveying it through a traditional visual novel format, much of it is pieced together by the player through visual inspection, investigation, deduction, and inference.
The ways you can represent the “detective experience” via gameplay are virtually endless, so I’m really excited to check out the creative games made for this event!
The developers of The Case of the Golden Idol gave an excellent talk at the beginning of the game jam, which you can watch in the video below:
Thinky Games also shared their own tips for creating your thinky detective game:
Take your favorite detective game as a starting point and add a twist to it!
Draw inspiration from other detective stories!
Find creative ways to express the detective case-solving process!
Explore a unique theme for detective gameplay — no need to have an actual detective!
If this sounds like fun, be sure to register for the game jam on itch.io!
You should also visit the Thinky Games Discord server to find a team and share your game, and sign up for their own Thinky Newsletter for updates!
And if you need help, you can reach out to us on the Mystery Gamedev Discord, too!
I’m always excited to help with the development of mystery games, and I can’t wait to experience all the innovative games created during this event!
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!
And if you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please consider sharing it with someone who needs it.
We really appreciate it!