#fangamestuff

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Sam&Max: Mansion Play opening

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Anything related to this project of mine will now be posted on its own own sideblog!

Introduction

What is Sam&Max: Mansion Play?

It’s a project I’ve been thinking about and working on since the beginning of 2023. I started thinking of what Sam&Max game would I make if I had the chance, but I wanted it to be something a bit different from the usual. That’s when I realized Sam&Max had never been on a murder mystery, we had to change that right? Since then I’ve been writing a script and drawing sprites and rooms of the mansion the story takes place in

What’s the story about?

Sam and Max have a very simple mission tonight, simply retrieve a mysterious document, located in the mansion of the owner of a famous toy factory, the billionaire known as Manny Money, who is hosting a big party tonight. What starts as a simple adventure develops into a strange and absurd murder mystery. Since they are here and have no other plans, Sam and Max will try to find out the person who is behind the murder that suddenly took place in the party. Get to know the guests, from an elegant fashion designer to a skeleton supervillain, and many more. Solve puzzles, or at least try to without asking Max for the answer. Play minigames, you have time to have fun in the middle of a murder case. Find the truth, discover the mystery behind this murder, could there be something deeper happening…? Oh well, who cares, just have some fun in this boring winter night

What can we expect from this story?

Hopefully laughs! The big challenge of this project for me is to make a Sam&Max story that feels very close to an actual real Sam&Max story, I know it won’t be perfect, but I want to come close. I’m not the funniest person ever but a couple of lines I’ve written have made me chuckle, I hope they make you chuckle too!

Aside from that, as silly as this adventure is, I hope you’ll get invested in the mystery! Ask yourself what’s going on, be curious as to what will happen next,… your typical murder mystery stuff, but with Sam and Max

There is a little bit of an emotional core to the story and some characters, but overall this is a comedic murder mystery, which I hope you’ll enjoy!

Is this a fangame? Will it be playable?

This is an idea for a fangame but no, it isn’t an actual fangame. I lack the skills to properly make a game, but I would like to use the skills I do have to share this project once it’s done. I am trying to learn more about Adventure Game Studio and perhaps if I’m confident enough I’ll be able to at least make some parts of the story playable, but as of right now I don’t have plans to do that

When will it finished?

I have a lot of the story thought out but there are still a couple of puzzles pieces missing to make the story feel truly complete. I have written a lot, but it still feels like only the 10% of a bigger story

I have almost finished drawing all the rooms of the mansion, there are close to 100 rooms in this project, so I’m happy I’ve almost finished this part

I have drawn a bunch of sprites, but I still need to draw more, included side characters, you’ll meet a lot of guests in this party!

And overall, this is a project I make for fun on my free time, it’s not a job. I’m hoping to finish it someday but it will definitely take time, sadly it will probably take long

If it’s still unfinished, why make this blog?

I’d like to share updates on a separate blog from now on, I think it’s better this way. I’d like to post sprites, parts of the script and even finished scenes from time to time. And besides, it’s close to Halloween so I wanted to make something special, like creating a sideblog for a project of mine

Are Sam and Max a couple in this?

Yes, obviously, I’m trying to write this as close to canon as possible after all

Who is the murderer?

Not even Sam and Max know, so we’re probably doomed

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the context of this scene is... a lot. but this moment is cute

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new case

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question, which one is better, i can’t decide which sprite outline i like more

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writing Sam&Max stories is fun because a lot of things you'd normally consider bad writing is actually faithful Sam&Max writing

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pointless minigame time

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a bunch of sprite work i've done so far

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insert opening credits here

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thing

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i liked the photos i made for their office

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drawing backgrounds has never been easy but i'm having fun with this project

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i’m not going to share too much of the process until things are more developed but i really liked the text box lol here it is

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sprites are transparent now!

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can u tell us more about the rest of the characters you showed off for ur s&m game?

Thank you I'd love to talk about them!!!

-This is Manny Money, of course I had to go with an Ace Atttorney-like name. He is the one who has organized the party in his big mansion. He is usually always smiling, he is very cheery, but you can easily tell he is a very fake person. He owns a toy brand/company, inhereted by his father, but lately the toys have not been selling well and for some reason Manny is not really doing anything about it? Strange

-I have not decided the name of the rest of the characters yet, this lady here is mysterious, cold, distant and always seems like she knows a lot about everyone and about this mystery. She's a succesful singer, although she usually stays out of public eye from some reason. She is also Manny's ex, something he clearly hasn't let go of, but she has, she is very open about how much she dislikes him. She is suspicious but Sam and Max have funny interactions with her because they are usually pretty nice to her despite everything

-This is a supervillain skeleton, also the owner of a film company, that's not his secret identity or anything but Sam and Max think that it is lol. He is a very theatrical person, when he tries to be a villain or when he is simply having a normal conversation, he just loves a good show. Sam and Max have fought him in the past, but they barely remember anything about him

-This fish is shy, socially anxious, gets startled easily, they are not having a good time in a murder mystery. Think of characters like Luigi, Boober, they are kind like that. They are an actor, whenever they act they become a very confident person, acting is the thing that always calms them, also water because they are a fish. There is a theatre and a pool on the mansion so perhaps that can help? Overall they are a very sweet person, they just worry a lot, and you have a lot to worry about in a murder mystery. They genuinely like Sam and Max, like they don't roll their eyes at them or think they are strange, they genuinely like Sam and Max, it's very sweet. Oh yeah, first sam&max nonbinary representation, second if the VR player counts, there will be a couple more, the party will have plenty of NPCs

-This pig, capitalist pig, he is a terrible person. His entire personality is being a billionaire asshole, he is fun to hate or you can just hate him without the fun. He has funny facial expressions, think of Burgerpants from Undertale, not exactly like that but similar. He is rivals with Manny, even though this pig is richer than him Manny somehow always humiliates him, but he keeps going to his parties anyway

-Of course you know her already, but I want to talk about her too! She is a succesful fashion designer, she has her own magazine. She wants to interview the guests on the party, take pictures, take notes about the different outfits, etc. She does that but gets bored after a while, she loves her job but the party grows old quick. She has a very cute personality with a very blunt and direct sense of humor, she says what she thinks and she is not shy to ask questions, she is a reporter of her own magazine after all, even though it's only about fashion, she is just curious to investigate about everything else too. She gets along well with Sam and Max, the things they find amusing and entertaining she also finds amusing and entertaining, she is just very casual about it. She helps with solving the mystery, because that sounds fun, she will give find a bunch of hints and stuff that will help the case move forward. You'll even get a dress-up minigame thanks to her! She does more in the story but that's a spoiler, but overall she is just a lot of fun and she has the best friendship with Sam and Max

-The squirrel is only there for a puzzle, it's not a character. The bee is not a character either, but it's the mascot of Manny's toy company, you will see him a lot

-The little bat however! That's a little guy that was flying around the mansion until Max accidentaly knocks it out, we use it for a puzzle and then Sam keeps it in his pockets. When it wakes up, even though it's a little mad, it will help you for one thing: fast travel! This is a big mansion, you don't have to backtrack over and over, this little bat is here and is strong enough to carry you both. You can talk to it too, it will have another role in the story later on, but that's a spoiler. I don't know how to describe its personality other than a cute videogame companion, think of Telly Vision from Chibi-Robo, or Heart from Mad Rat Dead