#this is probably disjointed ranting but in my defense i woke up after only 4 hours sleep and may go back for some more

[detectivenyx]

I'm glad that there are a lot instaronpas out there as they provide fangan content at a faster pace (mainly because they are essentially comic strips rather than animated videos or an entire fangame). However, every time I've read one, they have a decent daily life portion and interesting characters but then have uninteresting/underdeveloped murder mysteries that take 20-30 minutes to solve compared to video game/video series fanganronpas or danganronpa itself. There could be execeptions though.

i get why the murder mysteries are underdeveloped - dialogue between characters happens in every story. since they do not hinge on a mystery, people replay these often. but the murder mysteries are seen as unreplayable, since you already know the answers. a second playthrough can cement which trials are good (a 2nd playthrough was what determined trial 4 of sdr2 was a steaming pile of garbage), but rarely is a reason seen to go back. people also erroneously assume a murder is easy to write. they're very difficult, only outclassed in complexity to write by maybe massive sprawling conspiracy mysteries. beginning writers toss themselves into the deep end by going 'i can definitely write a Danganronpa'. even earlier games tended to be more on the subdued side with their mysteries (trial 1 of the first game takes about an hour to complete).

with that said, it doesn't make the experience any better for the reader. i feel like there shouldn't be any shame when saying a mystery sucked, even in a fan project. i don't like the idea that nothing fanmade can be criticised, that only praise is acceptable. it shouldn't be up to the standards of the canon games, but some of these fan projects present really poorly thought out ideas with offensive implications (eg, a fangan by a singlet where someone's SpLiT pErSoNaLiTy kills someone and the SpLiT pErSoNaLiTy is the reason why), and that should be criticised without some overly sensitive cranberry tart throwing up the fanmade project defense.

even when it's not offensive, fangans tend to get... very formulaic with their mysteries, and use the oversimplified jokes as an actual blueprint on how to structure their trial with no variation whatsoever. determine how victim died, oh everyone but Pippi Longstocking has an alibi - BUT PIPPI LONGSTOCKING WAS ACCUSED IN THE 'RED HERRING' PHASE OF THE TRIAL SO SOMEONE'S ALIBI IS FALSE, it turns out Grumpy Bear's alibi was only a technicality, and because Grumpy Bear got accused in the Real Culprit Phase™ of the trial, he is the legit culprit. and oftentimes, because they're working off this blueprint rather than the logical outcome of a mystery, it can feel very stale - like they came up with a body discovery first (not 'who died', but the pretty screaming picture of their corpse), then the culprit, and the 'how he got that way' comes dead last, when it should be the other way around when writing mystery. you write a mystery backwards - you can't ever read it as a mystery, so you need to let go of that illusion of being able to experience the story the way your readers do.

i did a video on the topic a while ago, but even if someone thinks i'm a dick who doesn't know what they're talking about (the 'dick' part is fair but the 'doesn't know what she's talking about' bit is Not), they can easily google or search up how to write murder mysteries and get some tips and pointers. hell, they don't even have to travel out of the DR related videos since Wince Media also made a video on the topic.