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[Release] Berathen Spirit Detective

Venks

Water Pokémon Master
33
Posts
17
Years
Introduction​

Hello everyone! I'm Venks. Back in my day, man I'm old, I used to be quite the competitive battler who effectively only used water type Poke'mon to form his teams. Well while I've had less time to spend EV training and forming the perfect team I've been learning how to program for the past six years. I write in AS3 using FlashDevelop along with Flixel for faster development. I've made a few small browser games and am now trying my hand at something much bigger.

Overview​

This game will play like a top-down RPG without battles. The bulk of the gameplay revolves around inspecting items for clues as well as getting testimonies from witnesses and pointing out contradictions. To add variety I would like to add some stealth segments and mini-games.
Currently the demo has no stealth segments, but does feature one mini-game if you're observant enough to find it.

If time allows I'd like to add 'Summoner' battles where Terrich and his summoned monster companion fight against other pairs in a tournament. Not only would this itself add another goal to the game, but it would also give you something to spend money on: Monster toys and food, monster decorations(fung-shui), and new monsters. I've always enjoyed monster battling, but currently this isn't something in the game.

Motivation​

I have always really enjoyed detective games such as Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, LA Noire, Detective Grimoire, and snippets of Dues Ex. Unfortunately there are not many games in the genre. Feeling a personal connection to murder mysteries, partly due to my love for Detective Conan and Sherlock Holmes, I've decided to make this niche game. I'm hoping to connect with the fans of murder mysteries, older role playing games, and mini-game lovers.

Story​

The two exorcists of LionHeart Kingdom were seeing to their daily chores when there was a knock at their door. The exorcists were given a letter, by the rich merchant Dahlee, requesting the younger exorcist, Terrich, to visit his place in Upper LionHeart Kingdom for a special auction.
Dahlee being a personal friend to Terrich the exorcist decided it would be nice to see his friend again after so many years away.

Upon arriving at the auction the exorcist finds the merchants gathered to be some of the richest people in all of LionHeart. The Spirit Detective was started to think he might have been invited to this event for more than pleasantries.
It is up to you to find out the truth.

Features​

-Unique descriptions for every inspected item in the game
-Multiple methods to solving the mystery
-Build relationships with the denizens of LionHeart Kingdom
-Mini games to add variety to gameplay

Credits​

The game was designed and programmed by myself.
A lot of the art comes from good friends from the RPG Maker community.

Screenshots​



Will add more screenshots along with development of the full game.

Demo
You can play the demo by going to my website which is linked in my signature.
​
 

joeyhugg

378
Posts
10
Years
  • Seen Oct 18, 2017
Well, I just finished the demo and it was amazing! Reminded me of the good 'ol Phoenix Wright days. A bug, the protagonist wasn't facing Anne when she was testifying. Also, I would like to have more info on the evidence. And the character moves waaaaaaaaaaaaay to slow. Otherwise, it was awesome! Keep it up!
 

Venks

Water Pokémon Master
33
Posts
17
Years
joeyhugg said:
Well, I just finished the demo and it was amazing! Reminded me of the good 'ol Phoenix Wright days. A bug, the protagonist wasn't facing Anne when she was testifying. Also, I would like to have more info on the evidence. And the character moves waaaaaaaaaaaaay to slow. Otherwise, it was awesome! Keep it up!
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for playing my demo! I'm really glad you like it. The next adaption will be much bigger so I'll make sure to let you look through all the details on the evidence. Sorry about the character speed! First off could you try playing the game without anything else open that uses Shockwave Player(FaceBook and Youtube). See if that makes the character move faster? Or is the game running at a fine speed, but the character himself is still just too slow?

Here's a little secret. You can run holding down the 'A' button. I didn't display this in the normal controls cus it's still something I'm testing and causes a couple bugs. The Anne facing bug though should be an easy fix. Can't believe I forgot to change her direction under that situation. Thanks for pointing it out!
 

joeyhugg

378
Posts
10
Years
  • Seen Oct 18, 2017
NP, the game was fine, but the character moved even slower than the NPC's. But aside from all of that, it was tons of fun and I enjoyed it.

EDIT: The running speed is good, maybe just speed up the normal walk. I wish I'd known about running from the start >.>
 

th3shark

Develops in AS3/C++
79
Posts
10
Years
I have to say, this looks quite nice. The characters have distinct personalities, although I think they might have been introduced to quickly. I chucked at the final fantasy reference. And Apples totally did it because she stole the chicken. Not really my type of game, but I enjoyed what I played.

Have you tried Ghost Trick for the DS? It's made by the same guys that made Phoenix Wright, and it has a similar subtitle: Phantom Detective. I really enjoyed it, and you probably would too.
 

Venks

Water Pokémon Master
33
Posts
17
Years
th3shark said:
I have to say, this looks quite nice. The characters have distinct personalities, although I think they might have been introduced to quickly. I chucked at the final fantasy reference. And Apples totally did it because she stole the chicken. Not really my type of game, but I enjoyed what I played.

Have you tried Ghost Trick for the DS? It's made by the same guys that made Phoenix Wright, and it has a similar subtitle: Phantom Detective. I really enjoyed it, and you probably would too.
Click to expand...

Haha glad you liked my demo! I have not yet played Ghost Trick, but I've played every Pheonix Wright game save for the 3DS titles. I'll have to check it out. I've stumbled across it a few times, but just haven't had the time to play it just yet.

For those that are interested I'm gonna start posting updates for the full game as I develop it since the funding campaign was successful! Thanks to anyone who donated even if it was only $1!

Not a lot of games use this, but I wanted to make my Detective Game have times where you're asked for specific information and you have to actually write in your answer rather than choosing from a few choices.

Could really use some feedback. What do you guys think of this UI?

QuestionConcept_zps558100c5.png
 
Radical Raptr

Radical Raptr

#BAMFPokemonNerd
1,121
Posts
13
Years
wow, thats a really interesting game Idea, I know a lot of people who love professor layton and phoenix wright - I personally never tried them, but I hear they're good, so it's interesting to see a game in a similar light, especially one with heavy RPG qualities :P

as for the "specific information" thing, it's difficult to actually implement well as you'd need to have it so there's room for error - iunno from the screenshot exactly, but if the player can enter in both caps and lowercase, you need to have the answers accept both, or specify whether or not you should use a specific type of input, such as no spaces, or all caps, etc - also spelling might be an issue

aside from the implementing probs, it's a very good idea, and would add more challenge to a puzzle game - also it would make the game feel more "real" as the player would have to actually "talk" using their own words
 

joeyhugg

378
Posts
10
Years
  • Seen Oct 18, 2017
Yeah, typos and caps are a big issue. But if you can get around that, the system would work! I can't wait to play more!
 

Venks

Water Pokémon Master
33
Posts
17
Years
Saving Raven said:
wow, thats a really interesting game Idea, I know a lot of people who love professor layton and phoenix wright - I personally never tried them, but I hear they're good, so it's interesting to see a game in a similar light, especially one with heavy RPG qualities :P

as for the "specific information" thing, it's difficult to actually implement well as you'd need to have it so there's room for error - iunno from the screenshot exactly, but if the player can enter in both caps and lowercase, you need to have the answers accept both, or specify whether or not you should use a specific type of input, such as no spaces, or all caps, etc - also spelling might be an issue

aside from the implementing probs, it's a very good idea, and would add more challenge to a puzzle game - also it would make the game feel more "real" as the player would have to actually "talk" using their own words
Click to expand...

I have thing for games that make the player think. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed steathily getting headshots with my bow and arrow in the new Tomb Raider game, but I do enjoy mental puzzles as well and wish for more games like that. As for the implementation it'll be something like this:

optionSelected=optionSelected.toLowerCase(); //every answer is turned into lowercase
if (optionSelected=="42" || optionSelected=="forty two") write("Guard","That is the correct answer!",0);
else write("Guard","Um. Did you even read that book I gave you?",0);

joeyhugg said:
Yeah, typos and caps are a big issue. But if you can get around that, the system would work! I can't wait to play more!
Click to expand...

Haha typos will be a problem. As you can tell with that screen shot. I misspelled forty two as "fourty two". I think I'll do a lot of play testing and see what words get misspelled the most and try to work those in as well.
Also I'm really glad you liked my demo. I'll definitely throw a build that I'm working on at you when I get something interesting to show off.
 
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