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Notes's itch.io pageTheme inspiration
The player needs to decode passages of text while they play.
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Extra Credit Challenges
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Theme inspiration
The player needs to decode passages of text while they play.
Sensory info
N/A
Content info
N/A
Extra Credit Challenges
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Thank you for the game!
I am not a very good puzzle player, so I was unable to finish it. I've deciphered the name of the company CEO and got to his page, but failed to understand where to apply the cipher from it. This was too dramatic jump in conceptual difficulty for me. But I can’t say with absolute confidence that this was the game's fault, since solution might have been just around the corner and I have missed it.
The idea of presenting crucial game info throug separate files is really interesting! I found myself organizing screen space of my laptop into a make-believe research desk, as I divided it into sections to see both game and notes windows at the same time. This provided game with a sort of 'found footage' quality. The dicision to include in-game player character and narrate exposition through the cutscene worked somewhat against this effect, though: on the one hand, I was myself figuring out the clues that were physically present on my laptop, and on the other game assumed that I had to project myself onto the image of some hard-boiled noire P.I. on the screen, as he rummaged through the clues in his office. I felt a dissonance between these to narrative poles and think that game would benefit greately if it would consistently adhere to only one of them. What if, say, the executable file of the game was framed as a kind of database you have to navigate through, and notes - as email that you recieve from the unknown source? This would shift focus further from the game as a self-contained digital object, and emphasise that player herself is an in-game character.
In any way, thanks again and keep up the good job!
thank you so much for your feedback<3
As for the research note it seems that no one was able to solve it, so it is likely my fault.
so I'm gonna tell everyone how to get through it: so SPOILER ALERT!
When you search the kicked CEO's name you will get his only public post, which will say "FIRST WORD OF THE FIRST LINE... SECOND WORD OF THE SECOND LINE..." you are supposed to continue reading the same way. as in 3ed word 3ed line, 4th word 4th line and so on. (In the research note that is)
I should have given a better hint but oh well.
I really like the idea of searching for keywords to unlock new information, it really immerses you in the role of the P.I.! But I have to say that I wish there was a way to see which words are actually keywords that you can search. I spent 10-15 mins entering various keywords from the notes and only got 4 that returned anything useful. I would love to see the rest of the game, but can't seem to get past the first part because I couldn't find the information I need. Maybe highlighting the keywords that will give you results will help?
I think one of my biggest mistakes I think is that I didn't number the notes, which made it harder to know where to start, another one is that if you search a someone's first name without their last name you won't get anything (which makes sence irl, but I should have told the player so).
A general hint I'm gonna give is that all of the keywords are names. (people, places, etc)
Personally I don't think not numbering the notes isn't a big deal since there's only four and there's not a lot in them. I eventually did figure out that you had to search the full names, and got to what I think is a clue to decode the Damion note in his latest post. Unfortunately I'm not the best at puzzle solving so I got stuck there. Or maybe I'm overthinking it.
One mistake I've made in making my games is assuming the player will come to the same conclusions I did from the same information, so a hint that was obvious to me was confusing to the player. A general rule of thumb I've heard is that if it's a little difficult for you the developer, it's too hard for the player. I hope this helps!
You're totally right about that I can't assume the player will come to the same conclusion I do, I will keep that in mind next time. And I will try to give it to someone else to play test. it. thank you for your feedback.
nice game but it was a bit difficult
I wanted to add a number of search results that gave clues to what you should search but I didn't have enough time.
however I'm glad you liked it. did you reach the end(found the killer)?
nope i couldn't get past the research and figure it out any hints?
After decoding damion you will get a name search that you will get a person's name, he has the cipher