Dark and Stormy Night
A tribute to the old-fashioned point-n-click adventure games. Ideally for one or two players. The setting is a formal shindig of sorts at a Gothic House on the Hill (tm). A number of important personages of all sorts have been invited to the party and anyone who is anyone will be there.
You are an [assassin | detective] who has been tasked to [eliminate | save] one of the party guests, but due to the masked nature of the party, it will not be immediately apparent who your target is. Your informant has provided you with a brief profile, but it will be up to you to get enough clues to the target's identity in order to [do the deed | warn them].
Goals as the Assassin
- Identify the target.
- Once identified, choose to "kill" them. (This just leads to a cut scene where the lights go out, someone screams, and the lights come out and someone's dead.) If you've chosen the right target, congratulations, you've won the first half of the game!
- Identify the Detective.
- Once identified, choose to "kill" them. (again, same cut scene) If you've chosen correctly, congratulations, you've won the second half of the game!
Goals as the Detective
- Identify the target.
- Once identified, choose to "warn" them. (This just leads to a cut scene where the target is properly horrified and leaves the party immediately.) If you've chosen the right target, congratulations, you've won the first half of the game!
- Identify the Assassin.
- Once identified, choose to "arrest" them. (cut scene) If you've chosen correctly, congratulations, you've won the second half of the game!
Because of the game's two-part nature, it is possible for players to win one half and lose the other. The detective has an increased likelihood of being able to find the Assassin if he has successfully killed the target, while the Assassin has an increased likelihood of finding the Detective if the target was correctly warned away. The second half of the game cannot begin if the original target has not been correctly identified.
Game Flow
Act I: Identify the Target
- Player is given a simple dossier/profile of the target at the start
- Must query NPCs and observe the surroundings to find out more information about the target that wasn't presented in the dossier
- Possible qualities:
- personality (as evidenced by mask) / mask
- favorite drink / snack food
- employment
- motive (is this tied to employment?)
- sprite / body
- current mood
- gender (simple...)
Intermission
If the Detective warns the correct target and they leave the party, a cut scene will play and the Assassin will be informed that they have lost their quarry due to Detective interference. The target's sprite will be revealed, as well as their location when they were still in the mansion. The Assassin can then investigate the area and attempt to identify the Detective.
If the Assassin kills the correct target, a cut scene will play and the Detective will be informed that the target has been murdered by the Assassin. The target's sprite will be revealed, as well as the location of the murder. The Detective can then investigate the crime scene and attempt to identify the Assassin.
Act II: Identify the Other Player
Both players may query the "NPC network" for clues about the other player's identity.
If the Detective won Act I, the Assassin may investigate the target's last location for more clues on the Detective's identity.
- "who was the last person to talk to the target" dialogue options becoming available on every NPC
- ...
If the Assassin won Act I, the Detective may investigate the crime scene for more clues on the Assassin's identity.
- Patch of cloth from the Assassin's clothes
- ...
Finale
[amazingly cool ending goes here]
FAQ
- Why can't the detective just warn and clear all the guests out? Because after the detective warns one person, the others will not believe that the detective is telling the truth if he tells them they are in danger! This makes it so that the detective and the killer both have only one shot at identifying the target.
Need my mask links
http://www.goblinart.com/gallery.html
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=40434
http://fantasyguilde.com/masks/masks99.html