Restarting the Mystery Thread
David Michael Tuller
seem to be the basic ways to end the mystery (stolen from Taro,
u93...@student.canberra.edu.au)
1) Important person (Judge, policeman etc.) asks questions about who/when/why
etc, and you answer. All correct, and mystery solved
2) The typical way - Accuse Joe Bloggs, show x pieces of evidence, Joe
Bloggs jumps out the window, satisfying ending etc. :)
3) Catch Joe Bloggs in the process of committing another crime
4) Set up a trap.
1) was used in _Dagger of Amon Ra_, and 2) by Infocom. Neither of these really
appeal to me.
3) shouldn't be allowed because it doesn't show that the person involved is the
murderer - only that he/she is a thief, etc.
4) is my personal favorite although I don't see any easy way for the player to
do this since most traps in novels, movies, TV etc. involve lying to the
character (again, directed dialog might work here).
Based on these, it seems that directed dialog would be very useful for creating
a mystery but I would like to have a way without using it. Any ideas?
David M. Tuller
tul...@rpi.edu
Alan Cox
Well the thought that popped immediately into my head (which means I may well
have seen it elsewhere) is this.
Ensure the player is framed before the game can be nearly completed. He thus
can't go to the law but can set a trap. He needs to lure the cops (who think
he is the criminal) after him into the hideout/whatever of the real criminal
at the right time.
That should keep the player amused, and lurking in dark alleys for a while.
Alan
Erik Max Francis
> 3) Catch Joe Bloggs in the process of committing another crime
...
> 3) shouldn't be allowed because it doesn't show that the person involved is t
> murderer - only that he/she is a thief, etc.
But it could be used successfully, in a way. If you have a suspect
which just none of the evidence will stick to (or there is no direct
evidence, but a lot of circumstantial stuff), and you deduce from the
evidence that he/she will commit another crime here, and you wait
there for him/her . . .
In other words, you don't nail them for the main crime, you nail them
for a secondary crime which implicates the main one. If the original
crime were a murder, perhaps the secondary crime could be snuffing out
the witness who wasn't noticed at the scene of the original crime.
Erik Max Francis, &tSftDotIotE ...!uuwest!alcyone!max m...@alcyone.darkside.com
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Erik Max Francis
> Ensure the player is framed before the game can be nearly completed. He thus
> can't go to the law but can set a trap. He needs to lure the cops (who think
> he is the criminal) after him into the hideout/whatever of the real criminal
> at the right time.
I like this better than the idea that I proposed.