Need advice for designing a mystery game...


16 Mar 1995 06:56:32 GMT

Okay,

here's the new and improved idea (and a useful one all around):

I want to write an i-f mystery set in Ancient Rome, something along the
lines of you being a backbencher Roman Senate from a basically backwater
area around Rome, not a lot of clout, a New Man. You learn (to be
decided how later) of a plot to kill an influential member of the Roman
Governmenment (a praetor or possibly oven one of the consuls), and you
need to basically sleuth your way around and figure it out.

Now, Infocom was really crafty at this kind of thing (at least for
Witness, Deadline, and Suspect), and I have figured out (I think) that
I'll need at least the following:

} lots of daemons running a lot of NPC's

} probably base it on a time system rather than a move system

As I see it, it would almost certainly have to be heavily
daemon-dependent, merely for the fact that the NPC's (being the shady,
greedy, backstabbing lot that a great deal of Roman Politicians were)
are going to have agendas of their own, and will follow predesigned
routes and actions, but for the life of me, I don't think I'll be able
to pull this all off by myself (i.e. without at least a modicum of
advice).

So, any advice on writing a mystery? It seems as though so many of the
games out there are heavily puzzle driven, while these mysteries are not
(at least not in the same respect).

Thanks,

Zac