
    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. 

