Adventure Game Concept - Judge Game.

[Magic]

Overview:

You are a judge of the court.

It is your responsibility to oversee trials where you will select witnesses, arrange testimonies and ultimately decide the verdict of the parties before you.

Can you establish the facts? Can you see through falsehood and reach the truth? Can you issue a fair verdict? Will justice be done?

The defendant's fate is in your hands.

I'm considering making a prototype in AGS for a game where the player is - you guessed it- a judge. You will deal with criminal cases and decide on the verdict. Naturally it's inspired by the Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney) games but also by the "You be the Judge" books I read as a child (You'd get a short story and pictures to examine, there would be a single clue to decide whether the claimant was guilty or not). I've also found that there are also some 'Judge simulations' on the net though they're not quite adventure games.

I've put up the brief concept, some links and (most importantly) the script for what would be the first case in the game:

http://ge.tt/6BUKJ2l/v/0?c
(If anyone is concerned about that site then just ask and I can email it, as it's only a 10KB zip file)

I'm aware of the obvious flaws with the concept - that it will be text-heavy and without much for the player to do compared to other games, just like Phoenix Wright, but I think getting to make sense of a criminal case and reach a verdict will be interesting. There is scope in allowing the player to make other decisions like which witnesses to hear from, what questions to ask (you'd have a limited number to ask depending on the difficulty of the case) and so on.

I've been wanting to construct a full game to show off my skills (The closest I've made in the past was an IT technician simulation for university, made in AGS) and I think this is a feasible project since I could make as many cases as I feel like. For further inspiration I'm even considering going to a public gallery to watch a trial and there are plenty of case studies available online.

I also know that it has to be more of a game than a simulation so it will take plenty of liberties with the court system (Again, like Phoenix Wright) and would be about the player's sense of justice and conscience rather than legal wranglings.

What do you think? Is it worth making? Any feedback would be welcome.

[Adeel]

At the first (and quick) glance at your overview. I believe that you should go for it. The idea seems very nice. I can imagine the power I'll get when I'll become judge (at least in a video game).
    I'll comeback with more descriptively reply as soon as I find time. This game is worth making.

[DoorKnobHandle]

You should look up the recently released indie game called "Papers, Please". It sounds pretty damn similar and might be good inspiration. It's an awesome (if you can call it that) game too.

[Magic]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback. I'm at least going to develop a prototype and use this to get back into AGS. Cheers!