Methods: The Detective Competition
Release XXII // Chapters 53, 54 & 55
Release XXII is here!
Release XXII contains three chapters, three CGs, and five new interviews.
For the first time ever, I'm writing this post the morning after publishing the Release — but I did get it posted yesterday.
Well, the case of the Invisible Man has reached it's extremely satisfying conclusion. Hmm, maybe not EXTREMELY satisfying, but it is a lot better than the version in the novel, which I can now share with you!
In the novel, I wrote the murders of detectives with absolutely no idea who was behind them. There were TWO killers introduced — The Invisible Man and The Wolf. The Invisible Man was the one Ashdown encountered with the younger Macy, and The Wolf was the one killing detectives in the contest. Both of these killers were always going to be the same person, but I combined both of them at the outset to make it less cluttered.
Speaking of cluttered, many chapters in the novel involved Ashdown running back and forth from the detective and criminal trains in order to speak to Mastermind Silence — who I replaced with Mastermind Killersoul since his method made more sense.
Tronen's murder was more grotesque, with a bomb being detonated inside her stomach, but it was hard to figure out how it would have gotten there without her knowledge.
Originally, The Wolf (and The Invisible Man)'s true identity was Tronen. However, that never felt right and when I began rewriting the plot that was one of the first things I knew had to be different.
Weirdly, a lot of the same clues were there, like Macy Drue wearing a Red July outfit. I never explained why she did that in the original chapters, so I came up with the reason this time (I'd completely forgotten why I wrote that in there...)
Other stuff I changed or cut:
- 'The Man Who Was Invisible' used to be called 'Watson'd' and was basically Mackle giving Ashdown an exposition dump where she solved the entire mystery
- I tried to introduce a romance element with Woes and Ashdown and failed miserably, so I cut that
- The mysteries 'Great Artists Steal' and 'Facts Over Feelings' are completely new. 'Facts Over Feelings' is supposed to be kind of a bad mystery because the Game-masters are overworked creating one hundred of them. Also, because I'm very lazy!
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As I mentioned last update, next week is a "break" where no new chapters will be posted. However, I will be doing a .5 update that will largely affect Chapters 1, 3 & 4. They will be getting new backgrounds, a new Coles sprite that fits with the style of the game better, and Chapter 4's mystery will be changed slightly to be more in line with later ones.
It will also have many little improvements that I've been meaning to implement which will affect many of the chapters.
I've already begun the process — you'll notice that in this Release, I changed Rows's sprite and gave Sparks a new body.
Chapter 2's mystery will be reimagined at a later point.
After XXII.5, Release XXIII will mark the next price increase from five dollars to ten dollars — so now is a great time to get the game while it's still five dollars!
Best,
— LockedOn.
Comments
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A lot to say; pretty heavy spoilers, so if you're the sort of person who randomly reads comments before playing an update, uh, please reconsider..?
I actually had a theory it might have been Jenter (or possibly... 'Jenter?') early on, and completely discarded it. Looking back, you added a lot to this re-write that I could've picked up on. I don't know what the original chapter looked like, but...
Yeah, I found it very satisfying.
The ending showdown between the two wasn't exactly action packed, but that's very suitable for Ashdown. And the way it ended...
I liked both options, but especially choosing to leave.
Everything about it was - really good.
Especially the end.
On to the chapters as a whole, I thought Facts/Feelings was hilarious, though that just might be my sense of humour being, uh, let's call it Game Master tier. Also, Noman's method actually isn't that gross at all - well, it could be very gross, but for the insight gained, I imagine it's worth it?
And the GM car was incredibly interesting, moreso the fact we might be moving onto a boat?! I'll keep an eye out for shady islands that are essentially locked-room mysteries!
Finally, though I'm aware each arc has different focuses... I really liked how the ending of Ashdown's arc played out. I really enjoy protagonists who try their best, but aren't the brightest or most skilled, and what 'Jenter' said was somewhat true. In the option to leave, Ashdown realising that and finding what makes him happy... Yeah, I like that. And I like to think that even if the stakes are quite a bit lower, Dts. Ashdown & Woes have a lot of interesting, low-key adventures in that route.
On to technical stuff, should I wait juuuuuuust a lil' bit longer? I'm digging the changes you've made so far! Which reminds me -
When you're done with Methods, do you think you could add a function where clicking the character sprite'd cycle through seen sprites? You've done some excellent spritework, and I know I always appreciate those as much as CG galleries. It's a bit of extra work, so even if you felt like adding it, I'd recommend holding on implementation, but as I really dug Rows' touchup, figured no better time than now to mention it.
All right, pal! Enjoy your break, you've earned it.
Oh good, I'm glad to hear it. :)
Yes, I think probably the best time to replay the whole thing will be either after Release XXII.5 — or, if you can hold out a bit longer, when Release XXIII comes out, because then when you reach the end of the replay you'll get some new content. :)
Hmm, you mean like a Sprite Gallery? That definitely could be doable. I'll add it to the list of planned content. :)
Awesome! :D It's very low-priority, but something that's come to mind a few times. (And I can definitely wait; I'm still chewing over the end of the arc, and having some time before going into it again'd make the experience even better!)