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I can only think of these solutions having both type of GUIs in one game.
A) Add a blank area for the verbs and make all rooms scrolling vertically. Lock the scrolling with the verbcoin.
B) Draw two backgrounds: one with the resevered blank space for the verbs and one without. Then switch between those when changing the GUI.

I can think of a third solution.
Have the 9-Verb pop up, like the Serria interface or the inventory on a Bass interface.

I guess having the ability to swap and change between a Verbcoin and a 9-Verb interface isn't something you'd want to do ingame though. But I'm sure people would love to be able to change interfaces, when they've been working on one, and realise that they don't like the interface they chose.

this atrocity, they must

If you complete this module, could you make it compatible with the Thumbleweed module? I mean: make sure that the variables and GUI names don't conflict, and ideally make it possible to switch from one to the other easily.

That would certainly be an interesting concept. A game which lets you switch between 9-Verb and Verbcoin.
Simply letting people who started making their game with one interface, easily able to change to another interface, would definitely be helpful.

Sounds brilliant. I go on deviantART a lot, so I'll gladly join.

As a metaphor for the mind, an ongoing (and expanding) code is generally as good as any, in my view. So, if you had a code that apparently had as one of its core ends to keep being seamless/not visible, how would you program it?

Hmm, if I had to try and program something like that, my first attempt would probably involve me trying to make the program re-write itself. The core functionality doesn't need to change, but it does need to move the code around, change the way the code is written, and add and delete useless parts. Unfortunately it would only be able to do this re-writing when its running, fortunately you can only attempt to check out what a part of the code does by running it, and when you do that, the part you were testing will mysteriously vanish due to the rest of the code.

Raw flour with raw

The Purge?

Hopefully, on completion it will entice me to make a more complicated type of board game later on..

If it does, and you want any help, feel free to ask me.

I look forward to seeing this "Pursuit of Cash".

Jinsei!
Since I really want to play an English version of that game.

As a matter of fact, there's a lot of great Japanese boardgame games that I want to play in English. Too bad the only one that ever gets translated is the Mario Party series.
Apparently there isn't an audience for them here in the west.

But as for western boardgames. Cluedo I guess.

Ok, I could solve the case. However, there were only 3 suspects? I couldn't find the yellow one.

Sometimes that happens. I had a case where I could only find one. I guess it's luck of the draw and sometimes you gotta take your lumps.

One of the first things I programmed, was making sure that you could always find every single suspect. As it sets up where you can find a lead, based on who you should already be able to find. So in other words, there's always at least one lead either at the crimescene, red's house, or by asking red for a lead. The next lead can either be found at the crimescene, red's house, asking red for a lead, the house of the first lead you found, or asking the person you found the first lead of. And it just goes on like that.

I've checked and double checked it, and never found a problem with it, even with my testing. Although my beta tester had the same problem you two did, which is why I looked into it so much.
If you can't find someone, it's probably because you're not looking hard enough as far as I can tell. Just break into someone's home and click on everything a whole bunch of times.
If you're absolutely certain you can't find all of the suspects, send me your save file, and I'll see what I can do.

I tried it but I don't really get how I'm supposed to play. I can only compare a limited amount of items - how can I know which ones I should compare?

First, check if they have a motive and/or an alibi.
Next, check to see what items they have. If you only found a handprint, a footprint, and a thread at the crimescene, and only one suspect has a glass, shoes, and a coat, then it's obviously that guy.
Lastly, three of the types of evidence can sort of be compared visually. Those are the threads, the torn letters, and the cigarette stubs. Use those to lower your list of suspects and better decide what to compare.
And remember, sometimes its more about ruling out who it can't be, rather than finding out who it actually is.


Trust me, there's a very low chance that a case will require nothing but luck. It's definitely there, but I've yet to run into one during all of my time testing. And I've managed to complete twenty cases in a row.

@Mandle, yes I realized that looking at the body tells what kind of wound killed the victim. But you know, just cause I found a knife/gun at your home, I don't automatically assume that you used it to kill your neighbor. So yes, it would be nice to be able to compare if the weapon found is indeed the murder weapon. Meaning that maybe other suspects could also have weapons laying around. Again, it's a nitpick. Was just I expected to be able to compare the weapon to the wound. Now I know that if I find a weapon, it's the murder weapon.

You know, it's possible for all four suspects to have a weapon, and it's also possible for the murderer to not have a weapon.
It's also possible for a suspect that isn't the murderer to have a weapon that matches the wounds on a body, and for the murderer to have a weapon that doesn't match the wounds on the body.
It's possible for the victim to have been killed by a blow to the head, and all suspects having hammers. Likewise, it's also possible for none of them to have hammers.

So for example, Blue could be the murderer, and have killed the victim with a gun, but have thrown away the gun, so you instead find a knife in his home. While Yellow could have a gun, because Yellow really likes guns. At least, that's my logic.
The idea was that if you found a weapon, you'd add it to your list of clues pointing towards that suspect if it matched the wounds on the body. The reason why weapons are so rare though, is because they're a free check. You can check all weapons against the wounds on the body, with no stats being involved.

I haven't tried it yet, but what happens if you accuse the wrong person or only have found 1 o2 clues? Just curious.... guess I could give it a try in game.

If you don't have enough clues, but still accuse the right person, they'll still confess. (Have you ever noticed that they always seem to confess on detective shows.)
If you accuse the wrong person, they don't confess and you're told that you accused the wrong person.

Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy?

Whoa, you're probably going to win for art alone.
Here's hoping the gameplay is just as good.

It's nicely done and I it keeps me occupy for the needed 5-10 minutes. Not particular difficult (only did 3 cases, so don't know if the difficulty increases).

Needs some polish in it.
What are the 5 numbers on the top right of the menu for? They *click* but seem to do nothing.

Here's a few nitpicks, in case you decide to improve the game:

Spoiler

-  First the time, you are showing a clock saying AM/PM, but when talking to suspects they say "leaves at 1:00 and returns at 5:00"... And I'm left wondering: Is it 1AM to 5AM? 1AM to 5PM? 1PM to 5AM?
I've noticed (on my third case) that a suspect was returning at 13:00 so... you have a clock referencing hours as AM/PM but then use 24H in the dialogues... Make it consistent, please. And if you can't decide which to use, make an option and let the player decide AM/PM or 24H.
- I've also noticed that knowing the time that the suspects come and leave is totally useless, so I no longer ask them for their habits (I can ask that at the BAR... how does the bartender know that anyway, yet has no idea where they live?) But the tactic I used on my first case was: knock until nobody answers, then "break in".
- You should have a button just to pass the time, as it would look less odd than knocking on the suspects door every hour... So... if you add that, then maybe let the suspect be more cleaver and start getting suspicions if you knock on the door one too many times and have no new question or accuse him. Maybe making the suspect "clean" the house from evidence if that happens or something, thus making knowing the habits more important than it currently is.
- They crack under "pressure" pretty fast. Wish all murders were this straight forward when accused of a crime. Maybe add some more random sentences for them to say.
- Also is there more than one body?? It's like I'm at the same crime scene every time.
- One last thing: why can't I compare a gun/knife with a body? How am I going to check if this is the gun/knife that killed him/her? (as in the wounds are consistent with the weapon)

[close]

Firstly, the average difficulty of the cases increases after each case, for about 25 cases. But nah, the game doesn't get much more difficult, although there's always the chance that you'll get a really difficult case.

Secondly, the numbers at the top of the case screen change the music. In case the song that's currently playing is annoying you for some reason. My beta tester suggested implementing a way to change the music, and that was the first idea that popped into my head. I should probably have put a label there.

Now as for your nitpicks. Thanks very much for the feedback.
I really should have kept the times consistent, and added a "pass the time" button, and included some sort of reason to not knock on the suspect's door over and over again. And I also should have made it so you could use the weapon on the body, as well as right clicking to examine the body (because it seems more intuitive than the current solution of simply right clicking on the body). So once again, thanks for all of the feedback, and all of the suggestions on how I could solve these problems.

- I've also noticed that knowing the time that the suspects come and leave is totally useless, so I no longer ask them for their habits (I can ask that at the BAR... how does the bartender know that anyway, yet has no idea where they live?)

Don't worry, there's an ingame reason why the bartender knows all the habits of everyone, yet appears not to know where they live.
Although I doubt anyone here will ever play long enough to find out.

There is a way to pass time: have a drink at the bar, but I think it passes a few hours.

It passes four hours, unless it 9pm, 10pm, or 11pm, in which case time will pass up to 12am.

Very odd to read a Game of Thrones discussion where BT doesn't mean BitTorrent.

Ironically enough, he could have avoided this whole problem by using BitTorrent.

Is that the correct usage for "ironic"?

a real name. So

Spoiler

Does anyone here know what "hitherto" means?
It means "until this point in time" just so you know.

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Implement every room with just a black background (zero drawing) and the objects it contains (default blue cup sprite)

That sounds like a nightmare, having everything look the same, I'd be getting confused myself. Additionally you can't predict where Indy will walk etc. In my semi inexperienced opinion, I strongly suggest you have at least makeshift objects, characters and backgrounds.

I had simple shapes or lines to have a rough room. I had unanimated silhouettes with name tags on each character. And the objects are crude drawings.

The advantages to this extend to the final art. I realised a room I designed just wouldn't work in its current planned perspective, and if I had drawn the whole room (which takes me like, a week), I'd have wasted my time.

ManicMatt's got a point.

What you need to do is make some rough concept art and use that instead. Make a wireframe. It requires a bit more effort, but it should be easy enough for a non-artist to do. Plus it should save you some work later on, and give the artists a bit more to work with, while at the same time giving you more control over your artistic vision for the game.
Plus, it's what everyone else does. And I figure everyone else is doing that for a reason.

Who's Hitler?

there has been a lot of "Who was Hitler?" so it is conceivable that "Who's Hitler?" could have appeared before

Seriously?

Damn. Ok then, I'll have to come up with something better...

The original NES Super Mario Bros is a HD game.

I'm having trouble "breaking" our current script to make it possible for the player to come and go between places, instead of being stuck in 100% linear "corridors" (they go in, but they can only go out when you're finished with that set of rooms).

How exactly are you having trouble with that?
Just give the player multiple goals to complete, a set of locations attached to each goal, and let them wander between all of the locations.

If your script implies that things are happening in a set time schedule, such as one part of the game taking place in a castle at night when there's a full moon, while another part of the game takes place in a pyramid where someone is about to be sacrificed, just write out the full moon and have the sacrifice be indefinitely postponed. Then give the player an unlimited supply of airplane tickets.