How come there are no good detective games?

[MattH]

Ok, ok I got the e-mail.
Dev status:
Coding completed: 10-15%
Though process: 40-50%
Knowldge: 70-80%
We got 17+ new computers last wednesday and this afternoon was spent learning server 2003. But I SWEAR REALLY that I will give you something BY SATURDAY.

[vovan]

Originally posted by MattH
Dev status:
Coding completed: 10-15%
Though process: 40-50%
Knowldge: 70-80%

Nice

We got 17+ new computers last wednesday and this afternoon was spent learning server 2003.

Fun.

But I SWEAR REALLY that I will give you something BY SATURDAY.

Hehe, I was just wondering how it was coming along, really. I know I personally can't keep myself concentrated on a coding project for long, unless:

a) I see results right away. (For which to happen, the thing must be trivially simple, and those are no fun any way.)

OR

b) Someone is there to prod me along, literally or virtually. (That is, the project is for work/school, or someone keeps posting the "are we there yet" posts after I've announced my project.)

Hence, thinking that you could be someone like me, I figure an occasional "Are we there yet?" Post couldn't hurt any.

Good to see you are still going.

[J Bytheway]

It's probably too late to mention this, but if you're using a purely text-based interface it might be worth using a language tailored for it, like inform or TADS. Both are OO (in fact, I learnt OO programming using them, which does give me a rather twisted view of it, but I get by ).

The advantage of this is that you get a very good parser for the types of commands people use in text games, and also it handles objects in a fashion suitable for representing objects in the real world, rather than objects as they are usually used in mainstream programming languages.

[okblacke]

Originally posted by J Bytheway
The advantage of this is that you get a very good parser for the types of commands people use in text games, and also it handles objects in a fashion suitable for representing objects in the real world, rather than objects as they are usually used in mainstream programming languages.

But the engines that drive adventure games would be largely different from the engine that would drive a mystery game. (And yes, I know TADS and Inform, too, and am aware that they are capable of a great deal.)

Adventure engines are geared toward telling a single story, in as descriptive and unique a manner as possible.

The trick to a game like this would be to combine as many random elements as possible, yet make them seem as though they'd been individually crafted.

Some elements of these compilers-environments would help, in particular text-formatting, cross-platform capability, and if you were going to use a parser, these two are probably the best around. But I suspect other aspects might hinder.

In particular, if I were doing it (and as I mentioned, I am doing it, but in a different context), I would want as much as possible to come from a database of options. In other words, I'd be less inclined to use a language's object model and more inclined to design one that was constructed by reading data at runtime.

But again, that's just my US$.02.

[J Bytheway]

Yep, those are significant problems.

How about a C++ program to auto-generate source code for an inform game?

[loinburger]

Back in the day I enjoyed playing The Scoop, which changed depending on what you did in the game (f'ristance, if you're not at the docks when the killer comes back from Le Havre, then you can still pin the murder to him by blackmailing the chick who's running the heroin ring instead of turning her in to the police). It was ridiculously hard, so there was plenty of replay value despite the crime never changing.

[okblacke]

Originally posted by J Bytheway
Yep, those are significant problems.

How about a C++ program to auto-generate source code for an inform game?

I once designed a mystery game (in TADS) where what you did influenced what had happened (what the motive was, what had led to the crime, etc.). It was kind of cool.

When I realized how much work it would be to finish it, I nearly barfed.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by okblacke
I once designed a mystery game (in TADS) where what you did influenced what had happened (what the motive was, what had led to the crime, etc.). It was kind of cool.

It influenced what had happened, not what subsequently happened? That's slightly bizarre, but it would certainly increase replayability.

When I realized how much work it would be to finish it, I nearly barfed.

Alas, such is so often the case.

[okblacke]

Originally posted by J Bytheway
It influenced what had happened, not what subsequently happened? That's slightly bizarre, but it would certainly increase replayability.

And IF games are not usually very replayable.

The point more was that the user would end up unconsciously shaping the story. The concept was sort of like the old movie "Laura": Our hard-boiled detective walks into a dead girl's apartment and in the process of investigating the crime falls in love with the victim.

Only, in this case, whether he picks up a letter, looks out the window, etc., he gets a different clue, which creates a different story.

[vovan]

How goes it then, MattH?

[duke o' york]

Anyone heard anything about the CSI game? I saw a review of it in the newspaper today.