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Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
I'm working on a game called "Can You Get Away with Murder?" in which the reader will be thrown into a situation where they've just killed someone and must find a way to cover it up.  It's going to be simple, so no items or variables, but will have several varied paths.  Could anyone toss any story ideas or suggestions my way?

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Choose what city to hide in. Ex: New York, Boston, Chicago, PITTSBURGH!
What to do there, Get a job, confess your crime, hope someone will take you in or beg on the streets
There were but I forgot, sorry

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Oh here are the others.
Where to get a job
Live in a...
Hope these help

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Thanks!  I wasn't planning on giving the reader a choice to move or anything (I was aiming for the reader to attempt to frame someone else), but that'd make room for an interesting plot thread.  I'll be sure to consider it.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago

Include friends/social life.  Make sure that after htey do this that they ahve to act normal so that no one suspects anything.  Say add a situation where they are sitting in front of the TV with some friends and all of a sudden the news comes on and talks about the murder.  Character then ahs to try and stay normal, etc.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Yeah, I think it'd be better if you didn't move cities at all and worked more on developing characters and getting your character to try and cover it up and keep it quiet around his town, maybe some back-story on why he murdered the person, and maybe that person's mother suspects you or something. Just keep thinking, there's heaps of ways to make a story better by developing characters.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Thanks for the advice!  I'm going to have three plot threads, which will allow you to murder one of three people: your meter reader, because he was having an affair with your wife; your business partner, because he was blackmailing you; or your mother-in-law, because she was being annoying.

I'll include plot threads in which your character can get stalked by a vengeful witness to the crime, become a serial killer, win the lottery off of a lottery ticket you stole from your victim, convert to Christianity, and attend your court trial and attempt to discredit the prosecutors (by making it look like they're fabricating evidence due to their racism or by claiming that a search warrant was signed improperly).  I would appreciate some help with these plot lines.

Thanks again!

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Sounds good, seriously. Even without adding anything, that's better than the average storygame as it is.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago

Thank you, but I want to make this really big.  Seriously, I'd appreciate any help.  And I still need quite a few ways to get caught.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Well, whatever you do, try not to make it so sudden. There are heaps of storygames on this site where the authors have written it so if you make one wrong turn without knowing it you've already lost. Well, for catching criminals there is:

  • They could find you through evidence given by witnesses of the crime
  • They could find you by fingerprints.
  • They could run a DNA check on a single strand of your hair.
  • They could run a DNA check on your blood.
  • They could find fingerprints on a weapon you may have used to kill the person. If you are using a gun, they'll be able to find what type of bullets you are using and which guns they have been shot out of judging by the marks on the side of them, therefore if you are seen with the gun you are toast, or if the cops find the gun and the fingerprints on them, then you're toast.
  • If you use a special machine, then you can see the code imprinted almost invisibly by the printer to put in its logo on the paper and to stop money forgery. By using this machine which creates light, you can expose this, and they might be able to match your printer to a certain shop close to where you live. Not sure what its called though.
  • If you're working through a group, police could be able to pick up radio transmissions between your group.
  • If you're using a computer looking up ways to hide a crime, they can book your IP address and match it to where you live.
  • There could be witnesses of what time you entered and left the victim's house, or place where they were.
  • If there was something recording you at the time, they could find the tape. Even if it was just a voice recording, they can find you judged on your voice by using their machines.
Hope that helps.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Thanks, that's quite a bit to go on!  I'm trying to make it so that the character automatically takes care of some of the obvious links (fingerprints, blood spatter).

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
I thought that would have been the case. Maybe instead of automatically doing it, you could give hints on certain pages to go and get/buy gloves or something. But yes, you should make it pretty obvious to go and solve the fingerprint/blood/hair problem or something. You could make it automatic if you wanted though, just a suggestion. And then if they do get found due to fingerprints or something then there could be a whole new part, like escape or something. You've got this storygame nailed anyway (that's a good thing) so your decision to add even more paths is brilliant.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago

Also keep this in mind:  If you have the choice of murdering one of three people, you are essentially making three games / stories.  Your story might be more personal, and get the reader more interested, if you only have one option and a solid story.  Don't burn yourself out writing an epic for your first time, and don't kill yourself trying to implement items and variables over storyline. 

march

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
^ Words of Wisdom

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago

"...dont kill yourself (while writing a murder game) trying to implement variables..". thougth that was humorous. sorry im a be deprived of entertainment at the moment lol

nate

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Advice taken.  I've decided to cut the business partner and meter reader storylines off of the game; after all, I can make a sequel for those plots.  I will use items, but they won't have too much of a bearing on the plot, and I'm planning on staying away from variables.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
This is completely different then what you are asking for, but:

For a sequel, let's say the crime of your horrible past was covered up and all over with, the government, impressed by your talent in hiding your crime, made you a Detective. There is just one problem, someone framed you for murder, but this time, you didn't do it! Find the real Killer!

A idea for a sequel.

And for items, make some of them like clues or something. EXAMPLE:

A GLOVE. You look at the glove and see nothing special.

Then you run a fingerprint scan over it with another item, and it revealed someone's fingerprint. Then you have to use a database to find that person.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Oh, okay. I thought the business partner would have been better to kill, and maybe the business partner was your wife's brother or something like that, meaning that it was your mother-in-laws son. She is suspicious of you. I just thought it'd have more possibilities than just killing your mother-in-law. Your choice though, that's just my honest opinion.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Well, the mother-in-law scenario would create more of an emotional impact (having to deal with your wife and kids' grief, the possibility of your wife finding out and killing you, etcetera).

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
I was thinking that your business partner could be your brother-in-law or something, but I respect your decision. It just seems a bit unrealistic to kill your mother-in-law simply because she was annoying you. If I do sound like I'm trying to control your story, tell me and I'll stop. I think I'm suggesting, but I've got a feeling I'm doing it to much.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
lol if its in the Writing Workshop you can push all ya want lol.

Ideas for a Murder Game I'm Working On

17 years ago
Thanks for the advice.  However, I've decided to change the direction a bit, to make it less about how to get away with the crime and more about what you do afterwards.  I'll still keep a lot of this in mind, though.