Draconis
(Daniel Stelzer)
July 25, 2024, 5:18am
1
I know last year we had a whole bunch of mystery games in IFComp. This year, to everyone’s surprise I’m sure, I’m submitting another one.
But I’m curious if it’s going to be a very popular genre again this year, or if another genre will take the lead. Is anyone else working on a mystery/detective game?
10 Likes
SomeOne2
(Max Fog)
July 25, 2024, 6:27am
2
Also the boaty mystery. What’s the big theme? Dreams? Meta text adventures? Something completely unexpected?
1 Like
Draconis
(Daniel Stelzer)
July 25, 2024, 4:16pm
3
No boats in mine this time, I’m afraid. But six detectives, if you’re generous in your counting!
2 Likes
EJoyce
(Emery Joyce)
July 25, 2024, 4:21pm
4
Encorm and I are working on one as well. Tonally I think it’s more of a thriller, but the gameplay is primarily investigative.
5 Likes
Mine’s a mystery game That literally is its set genre in the game code.
3 Likes
Draconis
(Daniel Stelzer)
July 25, 2024, 5:32pm
6
You know, I probably should have done this in the original post. But using the Treaty of Babel genre labels, is your IFComp entry…
Children’s Fiction
Collegiate Fiction
Comedy
Erotica
Fairy Tale
Fantasy
Fiction
Historical
Horror
Mystery
Non-Fiction
Other
Religious Fiction
Romance
Science Fiction
Surreal
Western
Specifically:
“Comedy” includes parodies; it’s not called “humo[u]r” solely because nobody could agree on how to spell it
“Fiction” means literary/non-genre fiction, “whose essential purpose is literary, in a way which trumps any subject they happen to have”
“Surreal” means things that are still fundamentally IF but don’t have an overarching narrative (like Andrew Schultz’s wordplay games)
“Other” means things that aren’t actually IF (like Zarf’s “Freefall”, which is Tetris implemented in the Z-machine)
And no, I’m not really sure why “fairy tale” is separate from “fantasy” and “children’s fiction”, but that’s what the Treaty says.
I’m curious which category is going to come out on top this year!
3 Likes