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Murder Mystery Express's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Theme | #189 | 3.654 | 3.654 |
| Innovation | #304 | 3.231 | 3.231 |
| Fun | #320 | 3.346 | 3.346 |
| Overall | #334 | 3.314 | 3.314 |
| Graphics | #363 | 3.538 | 3.538 |
| Game Design | #491 | 3.115 | 3.115 |
| Audio | #515 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
The game is a murder mystery that plays on the theme of CALM before the STORM. The CALM part is the initial ticket collection and admiring of art that is placed along the carridges. The STORM is triggered after you collect the tickets and notice that something sinister is going on. Become a detective and solve the case!
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
The art and code for the project is created by myself using Godot documentation and tutorials. The music is licensed from Youtube Audio Library
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Comments
Interesting story, but I do not understand why it randomly ended after trying to speak to the last person (who would have been the first person at the start of the game). I had been questioning the various people in the train car when I tried to speak to the last person and was told I failed to find the murderer :(
Thanks for giving it a go till the end! Sorry about the abrupt ending, I had to rush the endgame so once the objective turns to "apprehend the murderer", it just instantly chooses whoever you speak to next to accuse :( Its not ideal, would have loved to let the player actually press a button or interact with a different prompt. Hope you enjoyed the experience for what it is though!
Thanks. Never even saw the objective change. Know what it's like to have to cut corners rushing though :)
Very interesting murder mystery, and a cool take on the theme! I like how the characters are introduced, and later serve a different role in the game. I failed to apprehend the culprit though. It would be nice if the "names" of each character showed up with the talk prompt, had some challenge remembering who was who. I also would have appreciated a way to speed up the text, particularly if I had seen it before. Loved the Sin City -esque music choice.
Thanks so much for playing! Glad you liked the theme and setting of the game. Good point on the names, I should have had something that displays who you are interacting with. Definitely will work on the dialoge system to see how I can speed up the text with a button click. Happy jammin!
Very cool pixel art style, the space button maybe can be little faster, but the game is very nice
Thank you! Thanks for raising this point, the dialogues can sometimes take a while to fully appear
Very Cool!
Thanks! :)
awesome game! I love investigations like this
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
Interesting game! I enjoyed the mystery. Cool pixel art too. My favorite thing about the whole game is the pixel version of famous paintings. great job on those! well done.
Really appreciate it! I am so happy you pointed out the pixel paintings I hid around the place, those were super fun to make and you are the first one to mention it! :) Did you have a favourite one?
Hmmm tough one... I think it would have to be the Dali one, Persistence of memory. I could see the melting clocks clearly :)
Thats a good one, very fun to try and interpret as pixel art too!
I'm a painter myself, and I sometimes do pixel versions of my paintings and then repaint them by hand and vice versa, so this interests me very much. My appreciation for you work is not just from a pixel artist perspective, but also from a painterly one :)
I LOVE story in a game jam game, and murder mysteries are like catnip to me. Lots of fun :)
I echo what others have said about some sort of indicator when you need to "accuse", but c'est la vie for a game jam game. Cute graphics too!
Thank you so much fellow murder mystery puzzle enjoyer! :) Super glad you enjoyed the story and graphics!
Yes, always someting to improve and thats great. Means there is work to do! Good luck in the jam!
I really liked this interpretation of the theme, also the story is really nice for a jam game. Keep it up <3
(if you dont mind can you rate us)
Thanks so much! Really glad you had a good experience and enjoyed the short story :)
Will definitely check your game out and give it a rate too!
Really solid game! The clues were really well laid out and the characters being identified by roles instead of names was a good decision!
Would suggest adding some sort of retry after finding the Monarch dead though. replaying the whole thing just to get it wrong is quite frustrating
Also the option to talk to the characters again after getting all the clues would've been great instead of immediately accusing them (wanted to try to interact with the monarch body again but instead accused him?)
Overall had a really great time!
I am super glad you enjoyed the experience! Definitely agree with the retry button / not having such an abrupt end. Wish I had spent some more time on it so I could make the ending more interesting!
That is hilarious! Thanks for finding the monarch bug. I never actually thought of interacting with the monarch and in turn accuse him of the murder XD, 10 points to you for trying that! Happy jamming!
I was not expecting to fall into a game that much. I tried four times to find the "person" and found s/he! It was a great experience for a game jam! However, after struggling for nearly an hour, I would want to have a conversation with the culprit about what happened.
Overall, exceptional game, and I had a lot of fun! Well Done!
Notes: For Godot, I needed to use privacy mode to run the game. You should set up the web build correctly to reach everyone without errors.
Other than that, you've done everything that can be done in the scope of this game.
Thanks so much for the kind words, I am super glad you enjoyed the premise of the game and gave it a go multiple times! Made my day! :D I really like the idea you mentioned of a Scooby-Doo esque reveal at the end, I should have spent some time on that to wrap up the experience better.
Will definitely take your advice with Godot, it was my first time making a game in it and I have had some people reach out saying that the new Godot version is better suited for web builds so hopefully I can use that next time! Happy jammin!
This was a very interesting take on a murder mystery, I don't completely get how it works but I think you made it so that it's a limited thing? or maybe you can only have a limited amount of conversations before the game ends? I just wish there was an indicator, maybe something simple as the train's arrival to the destination as a timer? Having to go through everything again just to unknowingly lose is kinda frustrating but I get what you're trying to do.
Great job on this game regardless!
Thanks so much for playing! Yeah the main loop of the game is to collect the clues and apprehend the culprit though I wish I had some more time to flesh out the objectives and, as you mention, indicators to guide the player thru the experience. I get the frustration at the end, maybe I could have had a continue btn that lets you rewind and try to find the real culprit! Cheers! :)
I really enjoyed this take, a really nice vibe and overall interesting game!
Thank you so much! I am super happy you liked the game's vibe and experience!
Hey good job on the game! Great interpretation of the theme, love a good murder mystery.
I am super glad you enjoyed the experience! :) Hope you were able to find the true culprit!
a more unique and striking take on the theme, i really liked this entry! super interesting :)
Thanks so much! Really glad you found it interesting and unique, well worth the long hours :D
Very nice murder mystery game! The only thing that caught me off guard the first time is that you need to talk to the culprit (with the prompt talk) when you finish to collect clues, but after learning about it the second time it was cool. Good job!
Thanks so much, glad you gave it a second play thru, means a lot! Hope you found the culprit. Good point, I really should have made that so much clearer, will keep that in mind for future jams! :)
Very good game, I played it and liked it!)
I will be glad if you play and rate my game The Little Fire, and in return I will rate your game!
Game page: https://bit-game-studio.itch.io/the-little-fire
I will be very grateful to you!)
Glad you enjoyed the game! Happy to play your game also, but dont worry about the rate for rate, I just do it for fun! :)
A unique take on the theme. I particularly liked the art and music. The game feel was great.
I did have some trouble getting the game started though. I strongly recommend upgrading to Godot 4.3 asap. It comes with much improved web capabilities.
Thanks for playing! I am so glad you enjoyed the atmosphere of the game :) You are a legend for pointing that out, I think I may be on 4.2. I will upgrade my Godot version for next time. Oh would you mind sharing what the issue was with it loading? I am intrigued
I had to switch browsers, it wouldn't run on Chrome for me. Maybe I didn't set something up. If you search, you'll find lots of people had that problem with older Godot 4 versions:
Thanks for the persistence! This is definitely something that will save me hassle in future game jams, so you are a lifesaver! Happy jammin!
This is a fun little game. One thing I did like and appreciate was the character movement. It felt so smooth and satisfying. I know it's only a small part of the game but it does make a difference in the long run. Music and art were wonderfully made as well. Pretty cool game bro :)
Thanks so much, I am glad you found the movement satisfying. Makes putting effort into the code/animations all the more worth it! All the best in the jam!
I love the style of the game, the art, music and characters fit together so well!
Thank you so much, I am so glad you enjoyed it :)
Clever use of theme, and great atmosphere!
I really appreciate your kind words!