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What Makes a Good Detective Game? | Game Maker's Toolkit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwV_mA2cv_0

I signed up just to reply to this topic. A procedural sleuth/mystery game is something I have thought about too at some point. The world deserves such a game which hopefully would have infinite replay value.

Before starting to program there needs to be a design phase of course. Learn about existing detective games, what they do and how they work. Adopt their ideas. Come up with your own, better ideas.

Here are some inspirational games to draw ideas and gameplay mechanics from:

Jack The Ripper gameplay (PC Game, 1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqs7sGUazU

Murder!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNfv9DvVfDU

Could a game mechanic be introduced that works by a process of elimination? A kind of Sherlockian deduction where whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. See the below game to see where I'm getting at.

PC-Sherlock: a Game of Logic & Deduction gameplay (PC Game, 1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVF0gTUtId8

What would the game setting be? Personally I find Victorian London a pretty fascinating place. A time before advanced forensics where you couldn't solve crimes by just doing lab tests.