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Apr-28-2004 15:29

Todays update added the first in a series of Featured Mysteries. Please post any comments or questions and report any bugs concerning Featured Mysteries here.

Also, please don't post any spoilers about the Mystery itself on the boards, or at least warn if you are going to.

Thanks,
Enjoy.

Apr-30-2004 16:53

OK, for anybody who is interested in writing a mystery now, here are the major elements I need:

Big Text Parts
--------------
1) The Intro
2) The Crime Scene
3) The Twist
4) Research Results
5) The End (only shown on successful accusation)
* Each of these stages can unlock 1-2 or more unlockable questions (see below)

The Suspects
------------
1) Name, Relation to victim, gender, hair, build, handedness
2) First Meeting Text
3) Greeting (displayed everytime you talk to them)
4) Their alibi answer
5) Their response to the motive question
* Note witness evidence does not work the same way as in random mysteries, so there is no "Ask whether she has heard or seen anything to make her suspect somebody." question.

Hints
-----
Hints are more free form than in random mysteries. If a townsperson has a hint, I need the full text of their response. Receiving a hint can also unlock an unlockable question (see below)

Physical Evidence
-----------------
Works almost exactly like random mysteries. Tell me the type, subscategory (curly, straight, etc) and who it implicates.

Unlockable questions
--------------------
Unlockable questions can be assigned to either shopkeepers or suspects. They become visible either through reaching one of the major text blocks (see above) or by asking a previous unlockable question. For each question, tell me the question text, the answer text, who you can ask it of (can be shopkeeper or suspect), and what asking it unlocks (they can unlock additional questions, make unknown suspects visible and/or add an item to your witness evidence list.

Umm, you can email me with questions about this.

Apr-30-2004 17:44

thanks i will use that

Apr-30-2004 17:53

a quick thing to others writing stuff to make it easy to read if you are using word, have a contents bit and hyperlinks from that linking down to the certain topics.

Apr-30-2004 18:04

What is the motive question?

Apr-30-2004 20:01

When you ask "Do you know anybody who has a motive... blah blah". In Random Mysteries, the reponse is just a list of all the motives that suspect knows. In Featured Mysteries, it's a scripted response.

May-2-2004 18:36

I don't remember the exact wording of the question, but one of the questions asked of Eric has some really really bad spelling and grammer issues.

May-2-2004 18:39

Oh, and I should mention that after playing trying a couple of times to get through it, I was pretty surprised to find that one of the suspects that appeared the first time, didn't appear the next couple of times. He's mentioned, but doesn't ever appear as a suspect.

May-2-2004 20:14

There is one suspect that is not revealed through the motive question, and must be revealed through another method.

May-2-2004 22:58

*whips out his thinking cap and gets writing* i'll do anything so i don't have to buy a subscription! lol

May-3-2004 10:06

I'd love to create a mystery in exchange for a free subscription.