#Robot Detective & the Case of the Automurderated Intern

[zerojanitor]

I composed the soundtrack to a Game Jam game about robots and murder!

The soundtrack leans into a synthy-chiptune style with mechanical flavoring, and covers a variety of moods fitting a robot murder mystery.

Link to the game here: https://s1xplus.itch.io/robot-detective-and-the-automurderated-intern

[amadeusgame]

Bonus Devlog: Postmortem on writing a Mystery Jam Game

This isn't directly related to Amadeus, but I want to share it because it may be of interest. I took about a month off of Amadeus-focused work to write a brand new mystery game for the Mystery Jam 2024 - Robot Detective & the Case of the Automurderated Intern. I chose a narrative/design-focused role instead of art or music, because I wanted to practice the craft of writing in a low-stakes setting.

I definitely feel like I've leveled up from this experience! I'm quite happy with the game we made. I also wrote a pretty in-depth postmortem on the process of writing it, so if you've been wanting more news about my progress on Amadeus this might tide you over until the next major update: "Hello from the Writer!"

As always, Amadeus resources (and as a very temporary spotlight, our silly Ace Attorney-inspired game jam game) here: linktr.ee/amadeusgame

[sibyl-of-space]

I wrote an Ace Attorney knockoff for Mystery Jam 2024! There's a ROBOT DETECTIVE!

Yesterday was the submission deadline for Mystery Game Jam 2024, and despite all odds we were able to finish our game on time! Investigate the crime scene, then deduce the murder...

Robot Detective & the Case of the Automurderated Intern is about an hour long, fully playable in-browser, and if I do say so myself, a pretty fun game. I participated in the Mystery Jam to get some more narrative writing experience outside of my main very long ambitious project, and it was a ton of fun. I'm really proud of what we made!

If you like Ace Attorney, and/or cartoony murder mystery games that are pretty dang good considering they were made in a month by a team of 6 people, check it out?

(I also wrote about the process of writing it [spoiler free], if words about words is something that interests you.)

[amadeusgame]

Writing Testimonials:

"[T]he mystery here is top notch. [...] It shows how you can do a lot with just a little." / "This game is also an excellent example of how to design a fair mystery while intentionally breaking several fair-play mystery rules. At the risk of hyping up the game too much, it has what I can only describe as an Agatha Christie-like twist."

This isn't directly related to Amadeus, but the game I wrote for Mystery Jam 2024 - Robot Detective and the Case of the Automurderated Intern - was featured in a newsletter written by the host about their 3 favorite installments. They had some very kind words to say about it!

If you haven't played it yet, I do want to warn that I think comparing a game jam game I wrote in a month to Agatha Christie is... incredibly generous; but I will take the high praise nevertheless. You can read the full newsletter here.

Amadeus development has picked up a lot this week as well. More on that in the newsletter at the end of the month! (relevant links)

[amadeusgame]

Exciting month! This devlog has a couple announcements, a progress update on development, and some previews of what I've been working on. First half provides an overview, second half has additional details and teasers for those who are interested in such things~

Contents

I. Overview

New Announcements

100 Wishlists Celebration (recap)

Development Updates

II. Details, Previews, and Teasers

New Background Art

Dynamic Text Mechanic

Cursor Warp Mechanic

New Music Tracks

Read below the cut. More on the game: linktr.ee/amadeusgame

I. Overview

New Announcements:

Amadeus will be participating in Steam Next Fest. Look forward to streams of dedicated gameplay footage on June 10 & June 15.

Amadeus now has a press kit! It has some neat info on the history/making-of, in addition to the usual details.

Relevant links at linktr.ee/amadeusgame - Next Fest stream details will be added there soon.

100 Wishlists Celebration (recap):

As thanks for all of the support here and elsewhere, I made a custom webpage to host a multimedia version of the Amadeus demo soundtrack. I've also updated the BandCamp OST album to include the new demo tracks and new art.

Check it out here!

Headphones encouraged but certainly not required.

Development Updates:

Focusing back on Amadeus after last month's Mystery Jam sidequest, I accomplished quite a lot this month.

Art - 1 new point-and-click background + research/sketches for 3 more

Build - 1 new scene built in Unity, also created a template so all future scenes can be built from it easily

Mechanics - Implemented text pauses in all existing scenes, created hotkey to warp cursor to inspectable objects

Music - new music! one dynamic 3-layer track mastered, one track to be mixed this week, one track at sketch phase

Marketing - made press kit and 100 wishlists celebration updates to OST album

(Speaking of the Mystery Game Jam - if you'd like to play a short but finished game that I wrote, you can check out my team's game: Robot Detective and the Case of the Automurderated Intern.)

That's it as far as the big picture is concerned. Bookmark the linktree to stay up-to-date between devlogs!

If you're interested in some more details and some previews/teasers on what's to come in the full game, I've included those in the following section which is a little more long-form.

II. Details, Previews, & Teasers

New Background Art

In the full game, you will briefly explore Dartmaure before heading to the manor. I received feedback from the demo that it could use a little more grounding/introduction when you start controlling Amadeus. I agree; I also have a few more plot hooks I'd like to introduce in this new scene.

One important thing I learned about my own workflow while finishing up the demo is that I was not able to truly write the point-and-click scenes until I had a finished design for the background. The process of designing detailed backgrounds involves a lot of research, research which is itself a form of writing, research that forces me to answer questions I hadn't considered before. So I made sure to start on some new backgrounds much earlier than I did when working on the demo.

I'll likely need to draw at least one more screen for this point-and-click segment, but I finished the first, which feels very good:

Once this was ready I scanned it and started building the gameplay scene it'll be used for. I also decided to make my life easier, and after creating a functional skeleton of a scene with all core mechanics implemented, I made a copy of that to serve as a raw template for future use. All scenes I need to make from here on out can be easily built from that copy. Hooray for not reinventing the wheel every time I need to make a new scene!

(The other art I've been working on is for the very next scene that takes place after the demo ends... within the watchtower. No spoilers for that!)

Dynamic Text Mechanic

One major mechanic missing from Amadeus in the published demo was the ability to pause text mid-scroll for dramatic effect/pacing/"breathing" after punctuation. This is a pretty fundamental visual novel mechanic and it was a priority to add for the full game. It now exists, and I've implemented it in all existing scenes!

I recorded some footage of the intro scene to demonstrate what it looks like. Please note that the actual timing and placement of these pauses is subject to change; at the time of recording I was just really excited to show it off as soon as I had it working.

(Here's a little behind-the-scenes intel for you: the way this works is it interprets the character "<" as a brief pause. Then I just insert as many as I need for the length to feel right! One after commas,< two after periods. << Three after major punctuation!<<< And sometimes<<<<<<< a bunch in the middle of text for drama.)

The pause length is a multiplier of your current text scroll speed, so if you are a faster reader the pause will also be faster (and vice versa). From testing, it "feels" correct to me that way.

This mechanic was much easier to implement than I feared. I'm really happy with it, and I think it adds a lot of character to the writing.

Cursor Warp Mechanic

One of my other priorities for the full episode was to make it playable using the keyboard only. In the published demo, the core game can be completed with just the keyboard, but there are some "inspectable" objects (those indicated with the eye icon, that Amadeus comments on from far away) that you need to hover on with a mouse to interact with.

I've just finished building a mechanic that lets you use a hotkey--currently "i" but subject to change--to warp your cursor over the next item on a list of inspectable objects in the current scene. Then you can press space to interact with it as usual. I am debating whether or not to also have this cycle through all objects that can be reached with WASD movement, but for the moment I'm only using it for the objects you inspect from afar.

This mechanic has not yet been tested on other platforms. I'm hoping to get it in front of playtesters next month to iron out any issues with it.

New Music Tracks

Here's a teaser of a new dynamic track I'm working on for the full game! Like the music that plays while exploring the graveyard and watchtower area in the demo, this piece has 3 distinct layers to it that will fade in at certain gameplay moments. I've done more polishing work on the mix since I made this teaser, and I'm so excited about how it's coming:

The music that will play in downtown Dartmaure is also about 80% done (I should finish a preliminary mix later this week), and I've sketched out the very start of one more really cool piece that will be used later in the episode. I'll share more snippets of the new audio as the release draws closer~

That's a wrap for this month! It was definitely the right call to take a "break" last month and focus on the Mystery Game Jam. Coming back to Amadeus after that break has been very rewarding. I'm incredibly motivated.

Stay up-to-date: linktr.ee/amadeusgame

[sibyl-of-space]

Leo’s Game Dev/ROMHack Projects Masterpost

(Most of my ROMHacking projects are on hold as I focus on Amadeus development... but I will finish them. Trust.)

~*~*~*~GAMEDEV~*~*~*~

Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee

Play as Amadeus, a young werewolf struggling to understand his condition, as he navigates a tale woven by Witches. In desperation, he sells his own memories for a notebook and a promise.

A linear narrative Visual Novel + Adventure Game I am solo developing. Inspired by Umineko, Professor Layton, and Final Fantasy VIII.

Linktree: linktr.ee/amadeusgame Tumblr Blog: Amadeus: A Fantasy Visual  Novel / Puzzle Game Main blog tumblr tag: #Amadeus Game

Robot Detective and the Case of the Automurderated Intern

Knockoff Ace Attorney made in RPGMaker where there's a robot detective. Written by me for Mystery Game Jam 2024.

Quote from Kinjo Goldbar, Mystery Jam Host: “This game is also an excellent example of how to design a fair mystery while intentionally breaking several fair-play mystery rules. At the risk of hyping up the game too much, it has what I can only describe as an Agatha Christie-like twist.”

Play in-browser here: Robot Detective and the Case of the Automurderated Intern

~*~*~*~ROMHACKING~*~*~*~

Ghost Trick:

Tumblr tag: Leo Tries Modding Ghost Trick Romhacking.net thread: [NDS] Ghost Trick “NG+ Mode” (Warning: Game Spoilers Discussed)

Tales of Symphonia:

Concept proposals: Tales of Symphonia ROMHack/Mod Ideas Tumblr tag: Leo Tries Modding Tales of Symphonia

Panel de Pon:

Concept proposals: Diving Into the Panel de Pon ROM Tumblr tag: Leo Tries Modding Panel de Pon

Tales of the Abyss (Complete):

Results masterpost: Tales of the Abyss BGM Game Data Tumblr tag: Leo’s Abyss Excavation

Documents and Other Resources:

Personal webpage: http://www.arcanaxix.com/Romhacking/