Need opinions on Adventure Games and Detective Fiction

smudboy

Hey PAF

I'm curious about some good ol detective fiction games out there. (If they are still out there.) I know Rockstar is developing an L.A. Noire style game, which looks like an interactive American detective fiction story (hardboiled/noir). The only one that comes to my mind (though not exactly a clearly definable genre) would be Gabriel Knight.

One of the reasons I'm asking is I'm interested in developing one. I'm curious what kinds of things players would want to see in a 1) adventure title, 2) detective fiction story. I'm looking at things from the "Twenty rules for writing detective stories" by S.S. Van Dine (http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/vandine.htm), all the way to current police procedural style dramas and reality based crime shows (CSI, Bones, The Next 48, etc.)

Obviously, in any kind of game of the adventure genre, the story and storytelling are what counts. I came up with a survey to see what basic stereotypes people would like to see.

http://www.eSurveysPro.com/Survey.aspx?id=63567b21-eee5-43fb-8631-4dd39e097b6d

I'd love to hear your opinion or comments as to what makes a good adventure game in the detective fiction genre.

fuelish

Looking at classic noire like Dashiel Hammets books, there will be some difficulty in that the hero knows stuff the reader does not. Unlike a murder mystery, there are often no clues to the whodunnit. In a game your character, as the hero, needs to know (or be able to discover) where to look and who did what. That would be fine but it does change it from the readers experience.
For some good dialogue flavor watch the Peter Gunn series they are great.

Xagarath

Discworld Noir and the Phoenix Wright games are pretty much traditional murder mysteries, though the first takes an unexpected turn.

Cherrn

The Tex Murphy games are also great examples of detective stories in games. They are very non-linear for their genre, and do a great job with the investigating aspect of being a detective. Although, they are largely humorous in spirit, and take place in a cyberpunk-ish world. In that vein, check out the Blade Runner game as well - it's also a fantastic non-linear detective experience, and uses the investigation tools from the movies.

freakish light

I don't know if it conforms in the strictest definition, but I would recommend Hotel Dusk: Room 215 for the DS in this category. Basically, the only way to describe it is an "interactive mystery novel."

smudboy

fuelish wrote: »

Looking at classic noire like Dashiel Hammets books, there will be some difficulty in that the hero knows stuff the reader does not. Unlike a murder mystery, there are often no clues to the whodunnit. In a game your character, as the hero, needs to know (or be able to discover) where to look and who did what. That would be fine but it does change it from the readers experience.
For some good dialogue flavor watch the Peter Gunn series they are great.

I've also found in A.C. Doyle that Sherlock has some "hidden evidence" that not even the reader has any insight or experience into, and that's not because of the time period or situation. He connects a series of deductions based on a theory, and there's barely any opportunity to avenue for the reader to figure any of it.

I've been listening to some Henry Mancini. Peter Gunn is one interesting PI. Thanks for the reference! I'm trying to see how I can find some Peter Gunn collection.

jothki

It might be a good idea to provide an unecessarily detailed but interesting description for everything the player looks at, but then again I don't know if noir would make use of something like that. If you were doing something Holmesian (I have no idea if that's a word), then you would certainly want to do that.

Xenogears of Bore

Ye olde Hotel Dusk is a decent take on the genre.

smudboy

jothki wrote: »

It might be a good idea to provide an unecessarily detailed but interesting description for everything the player looks at, but then again I don't know if noir would make use of something like that. If you were doing something Holmesian (I have no idea if that's a word), then you would certainly want to do that.

I'm sure there might be a few literary buffs who would love massive amounts of dialog. It would however drive the writer absolutely crazy putting everything together.

Noir would probably be quite the opposite. Succinct, punchy dialog would not involve descriptions of every article a player might come across. Perhaps some key descriptions in a morbid, romantic manner (like oddly describing a chair). The abundance of information would be more confusing then helpful.

fuelish

smudboy wrote: »

I've been listening to some Henry Mancini. Peter Gunn is one interesting PI. Thanks for the reference! I'm trying to see how I can find some Peter Gunn collection.

Netflix is the place. Or if you want to buy them I think they are from Criterion. Net flix also has lots of the classic noire you will not find at Blockbuster like The Third Man, The Enforcer, and old British gangster flicks like the Long Good Friday and Get Carter(These also have the flavor you are looking for, I think.)