Save Me This Jazz - A film noir detective game

Repi · Mon 18/04/2022 14:01:52

The Story:

Once again Broderick's bad habits make a good excuse to drive people away. His girl Lauren is gone, but this time for good. And she don't want to be found. One day Broderick gets a call from Marty, a bartender, who keeps a local bar called Blue Note. Lauren has emerged, but she has locked herself in the bar's lavatory with silence.

When Broderick arrives at the Blue Note, several people have already tried to lure her out to no avail. They finally break in and find Lauren sliced to death. And the killer has vanished as if merged into the shadows.

This leaves only one option to bring things to closure. Broderick has to kick in his detective skills and drag the murderer out of the dark.

A couple of screenshots:

Regress:

Story: 100%
Scripting: 90%
Graphics: 95%
Sound/Music: 100%(for now)

Expected execution:

During 2022

Development Hell:

The main inspiration came from the original The Twilight Zone and film noir. I think both have something so unique that is hard to replicate in any medium, so why not try it. TZ has the perfect storm of mystery, suspense, wonder, and unexpected ending. I have also admired the witty and tough language of film noir, which is not so common anymore. These days hardboiled words would beat people into a comma.

As far as the development goes, there is a lot of minor tweaking. I'm very frustrated with the ending, so to get it over with, I might just jump off the bridge. This is very powerful technique to solve even the tiniest problems.

There's only one song, the intro. This is because I wanted to give this some sort of silent movie vibe, although there are sound effects. Also, I'm lazy. Didn't want to do songs, because they hurt my ears and brain. Some dialogue needs trimming, some puzzles scripting, and some broads inappropriate ass slapping appropriate for the time period.

But anyway. Welcome to this grim world of black and white, so don't get your hopes up.

heltenjon · Mon 18/04/2022 20:06:53

Hopes are down, now I'm ready for that blues.

But seriously, nice work!

eri0o · Mon 18/04/2022 20:39:29

This was a very in character description of everything! The writing is super fun, I am anxious!

Repi · Tue 19/04/2022 08:17:10

Thank you, heltenjon and eri0o.

This is my first game, so expectations should be kept at a bare minimum. But there is some hope for your feelings of down and anxiety.

CaptainD · Tue 19/04/2022 09:21:58

I'm trying not to get my hopes up but the screenshots and premise are making that very difficult...

Repi · Tue 19/04/2022 11:41:12

Very good, CaptainD. I encourage you to keep those emotions restrained for your own sake.

I should probably mention at this point that this is not going to be a long game. There are 6 playable rooms in total.

heltenjon · Tue 19/04/2022 14:02:12

Quote from: Repi on Tue 19/04/2022 11:41:12
I should probably mention at this point that this is not going to be a long game. There are 6 playable rooms in total.

I expect nothing less than the option to being hurled off the roof in the final fight in the sixth room.

A short game is fine, and a good choice for your first AGS game.

Repi · Tue 19/04/2022 18:04:34

This actually got me thinking about how I could elevate my ending to a new level. Hurling off the roof sounds really tempting, but it might require a seventh room. Which turns me off.

heltenjon · Tue 19/04/2022 18:18:45

If you don't want to make the roof/the seventh room, the character could just be seen through the window when he's falling down.

Repi · Tue 19/04/2022 18:28:54

Look, heltenjon, you got to stop giving me ideas. You don't want blood on your hands.

newwaveburritos · Wed 20/04/2022 02:44:57

Oh, looks great! Good luck with production. I love film noir! Also, if you can't think of an ending just have somebody get sucked into a vortex and then slap a "THE END" onscreen. Problem solved!

Repi · Thu 21/04/2022 09:14:13

Thank you, newwaveburritos, I appreciate it.

Funny you should mention a vortex because I have one more black and white game in mind, where I would like to use this. At the end and beyond.

Repi · Tue 26/04/2022 08:37:12

A small update.

Based on the violent suggestions here, I have come up with the ending. It was kinda there already, but this thread gave me a fresh perspective. I think the story is now complete. So I thank all you sick SOBs, who have been commenting.

I drew a new playable room, and now I'm working on a small ending cutscene and a special feature. I rejected this feature earlier for being too complicated, but it should actually work after all. It's nothing spectacular, and I have a plan B for this if it doesn't work out. I've also written tons of new upsetting dialog and added a few new items for puzzles.

I might have to reconsider the soundtrack though. Music is one of the main themes, and it's odd if I have only the intro. We will see if I care enough.

I would like to give more screenshots, but basically any room would give away something from the plot except one, which I need to rework it a bit.