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May-5-2005 09:27

Yesterday I was solving a case: The Baffling Hunt for the Forgotten Shenanigan.

I started by searching the crime scene, as usual, and found a threatening note from a left handed person and a footprint from a slim one.

After I had left the crime scene, there was a twist. I ran into my acquaintance, Miss Pansy Dew. She told me that she saw the cops hauling Mildred Emry off in handcuffs. And while I had to admit that I didn't fully trust Mildred myself, I was fairly sure she wasn't the murderer.

There was one problem: I had never heard about Mildred Emry before. The twist scene, however, told me otherwise.

Some time later, I talked to one suspect and learnt about Mildred Emry. I went to her house and found that she was right handed and heavy. So she was obviously innocent (how the police suspected her was a mystery.) Later, I caught the real murderer and Mildred was very grateful for that.

Still, the fact that I knew well about Mildred before I had ever talked to her or any suspects irritated me to no end.

And it wasn't the first time something like this happened. In fact, it was the THIRD time such event happened to me. One event was exactly like this. In another event I had a nightmare about a suspect whom I had never seen before, whose picture was covered in blood.

Everytime I encountered this bug I sent a report using available form. However, it has never been fixed. That's why I'm posting about it here.

A twist should give a suspense or immerse the player into the story. However, this bug does the opposite; it destroys the immersion. It makes the player to believe less in the story, and thus having less fun.

"Suspension of disbelief is hard to achieve and hard to maintain... One reference to anything outside the imaginary world you've created is enough to destroy that world." - Brian Moriarty, game designer.

May-6-2005 07:07

Sir Kittithaj, I don't think Remington was criticising you, but complimenting how the message boards are used for discussing the game with respect to improving it. I agree with him, as soon as the message boards resort to bragging and negative criticism , the whole sense of community will be lost!

May-6-2005 08:10

I also think Remington was referring to the feeling of being part of a story book when you are here at Sleuth. If the case load and point races become more important than the story, it loses it's appeal.

I would love for the twists to have more bearing on the cases, as well as the details from the eyewitness accounts.

May-6-2005 09:07

Exactly, cfm.

I remember when my friend got the first Nintendo system, and was playing Castlevania. The graphics were so much more detailed than what we were used to that, when he got stuck on a level and asked for advice, I was peering at each and every torch on the wall or stone as if it were a solution.

Since they were just background decoration, then technically they didn't need to be there, right?

I got used to the more intricate details, and the games would be stacks of binary code without them.

May-6-2005 09:18

Castlevania!! *nostalgia creeping into her laughter*

Terrible game, but the graphics were fab for the time. (preferred Finally Fantasy, still does)

May-6-2005 14:37

Sir Kittithaj, Just because I skip through the twist scene, or whatever, doesn't mean I don't appreciate Ben's time and work into writing it. It just doesn't sway me either way when doing a case, so I don't pay attention to it. I have read it before ,alot of times, but now I just skip over it. To each their own :)

May-6-2005 14:47

*feels really stupid about now....*

Final Fantasy....

*sigh*

May-6-2005 15:33

Yeah Makensie, I read it probably 10 times, I feel like I can skip it. :-D I have it memorized for pete's sake. ;-)

May-6-2005 15:58

lol same here!

May-7-2005 10:22

Okay, sorry for misunderstanding you, Remington. My English isn't really great. So instead of reading your post as a compliment, I read it the opposite way! Ugh, I feel silly.

Glad many of you agree with me on the case. As I said, a really minor fix and the game will be more believable.

Makensie, to each their own, too. I might not skip it, but I sure read it faster. :)

May-7-2005 15:33

You know how some people write intros? (I dont know how they submit them or anything... ive just seen "by *******" when reading the intos to cases) twists should be written by other people, too, so they'd be a little more original....

Is this a possibility?