NINE GREEN MURDERS DESIGN. COPYRIGHT (C) 1988 LEVEL 9 ----------------------------------------------------- DESIGN OUTLINE "Nine Green Murders" is an animated detective adventure from Level 9. It includes nine alternative crimes to solve, ranging from the obvious to very obscure, and so can be played many times. The idea is to give value-for-money, while avoiding the frustrations of a long, single-solution adventure. It is the first game to use Level 9's new animated adventure system for 16-bit micros (were we to do 8-bit versions, they would have static graphics). This is a bit like Sierra On-line's "Leisure Suit Larry" or "Police Quest" system, but with: * unrivalled compression, * huge sprites and lots of 3D animation, * lengthy background music and digitised sound effects, * control by pull-down menus, * the advanced features of Level 9's traditional adventures: realistic "game people", UNDO, SAVE/RESTORE, RAM SAVE/RESTORE etc. The display occasionally changes to show close-ups, but normally it consists of: * 3D graphic window, filling most of the screen, within which the player and other people move. There are about 20 "backgrounds". * Pull-down menus to enter commands. * Scrolling text window, about 6 lines, with further information about what is displayed and details of what people say etc. BACKGROUND "Nine Green Murders" is a murder mystery, set at a family reunion in a large and mysterious country house. You are there to advise on the security of the estate but when, in each of the nine alternative crimes, one of the family dies mysteriously, you are called upon to solve the crime. Victim and suspects.. Robert Farleigh (60): millionaire patriarch William Farleigh: son (35). Black hair. Boring doctor in tweeds Kathy Farleigh (nee Pym): wife (31). Mousy hair. Short, fat, glasses Anthony Farleigh: son (33). Black hair. Hooray Henry in DJ, monacle Fiona Farleigh: daughter (30). Black hair.Horsey.Green anorak,boots Clifford Lodge: fiancee (45). Oily brown hair. C.Parkinson-a-like Jarvis Armstrong: gardener/butler (61). Balding.Stooped.Cord Jacket Vera Armstrong: housekeeper (63). Grey hair. School-marm type Sue Lombard: lawyer (40). Dark skirt-suit. Others.. Inspector Gormley: detective (40). Brown hair.Uniformed man Yourself (name/sex specified): security consultant and friend (you can select a male or female player) As with all the best families, the Farleighs hate each other, so it is not surprising when their yearly reunion dinner ends in murder. A typical detective book might start after the crime and concern the interrogation of the suspects - you would learn about events in flashback. But this would allow too few opportunities for interaction and be too confusing to suit a computer game. Thus "Nine Green Murders" starts with the gradual arrival of the guests, early on reunion day, with the player taking the part of a private investigator friend of the family, who has been hired to improve the security of the estate. You can therefore wander about and watch developments, before going into the interrogation phase after the crime has been committed. (There is an option to return to your room and skip ahead to the murder, and interruptions will be arranged to if you try waiting at the intended murder site.) Before the murder, people wander about; arriving by car, finding their rooms, meeting each other and discussing old times, finding their rooms, going for walks etc. Then they sit down to dinner. After the murder is discovered, people will sit around - looking shocked - and generally do little active. The police arrive, but at first only in the person of the village pc. In the hour-or-two before the detectives arrive, you have to solve the crime. Your motivation is that you are an ex-con and would automatically be arrested as a suspect; the surviving Farleighs have similar worries. EVIDENCE The idea is to select just those things and pieces of information which pinpoint the murderer(s) and then accuse somebody. Physical evidence is given to Constable Gormley, or is just noted down (a menu option). Intangible evidence (words or deeds) is recorded in your notebook by a menu option to note all incriminating actions within +/- one minute of the note being made. (The game program makes temporary entries in a buffer for all incriminating actions; these are copied into a permanent area when you make a note. If there is no evidence to be noted, a standard null entry is made in the permanent area. You might be allowed twenty entries in the permanent area - one per notebook page.) On consulting your notebook, it lists LIFO fashion a summary of the evidence in brief. Null entries read as a cleverer equivalent of "nothing much happened". Reading the notebook too regularly leads to jokey refusals. SCORING Physical evidence can be discarded (un-noted) if you realise that it is irrelevant, but this is not possible for false words/deeds in the notebook - thus the scoring system does not penalise the first few. You gain points for: * every evidence object noted; * every note of incriminating words or deeds; * accusing the right person/people; getting a conviction. And you lose points for: * every innocent object noted; * noting innocent words/deeds, after the first few; * accusing the wrong person; * bad manners (e.g refusing to leave the room when asked). CONVERSATION Select the talk option and the person to talk to. This puts their head at the top left, so that you can see facial expressions, and changes the menu to options appropriate to any current conversation. They might include "Hello", "yes", "no", "nice perfume" etc as appropriate. As well as conversation, there would "ask about someone" and "ask about something". These would be followed by a menu of people and objects nearby respectively, and the reply would include alibi details after the murder. Talk - list of - yes SUGGESTED CONVERSATION people no nearby hello etc.. tell me about someone - list of people tell me about something - list of objects nearby Making an accusation works in much the same way. (Note that you don't accuse anyone of murder, as one possibility is that death was accidental and the "murder" an attempt to frame someone.) Death was: Cause of Death: Accuse - list of - natural causes - Burning people suicide Choking nearby murder Disease Drowning Electrocution Fall Heart Attack Heavy Blow Poisoning Shooting Stabbing Suffocation Providing you have identified enough evidence against the person accused (eg their pen-knife was sticking in the body and they subsequently confessed before witnesses), Constable Gormley will perform an arrest. The display then changes to a trial scene and the result depends on your evidence. If poor, the accused gets off. If good, they are convicted. And finally you're told if you convicted the wrong man. ANIMATED SCENERY It is vital to include as much animation as possible in the graphics, without overstepping the bounds of credibility totally. Doorbells should jiggle when they ring, taps drip, coffee pots puff steam, occasional insects flutterby in the garden etc. Someone must visit Toontown and take notes.