People that locally and know me through the webs constantly keep asking me why did I want to create and work on a game like Detective Jane. Some others think that I should have had created a better looking game with Unity or something more... different. As a designer, I have to weight in a lot of options. I could do what my teammates wants to do, I could just create a game that I wanted or create something that people want. To be fair, all the options mentioned are valid and considered. SO, in this blog, I'll try to answer a few questions, as well to "why Detective Jane" and anything that could help people understand why I chose to create this game.

Why Detective Jane?

The day I started creating this game, it was in December in the Latin Game Jam here in Puerto Rico. We had to create a game in under 28 hours. Since we had to come up with a new game rather than enter one that was in production, we didn't have much time to think, let alone time to design and create new texture and content. So me and my girlfriend, who were the team members for the Game Jam, decided to work on a genre she and I liked: detective.

Note that I don't know as much about detective stuff as I'd like to. We just simply created a game that could spark some interest for some people. So we sat down, created some character profiles for the suspects and then went in and decided on a main character. We then designed the challenges and the way the game will play out, and simply made it interesting enough for a 28-hour made game. I guess I'm also omitting some important parts, so I'll explain them.

We didn't choose a female lead because games need more female leads. It's much more complex than that.

Jane in Detective Jane was probably something we pulled out of the hat. The first versions of the game concept didn't actually needed a female lead. You could choose any type of character and the game would just play normally. In other words, the main character didn't mean squat! The main character had no motive, had no soul; it just felt like a bland character that could be compared with NPCs, just controllable. After some thought, we decided to give meaning to the main character. The hard part was choosing genre/type.

Normally, I wouldn't mind a pair of buttcheeks be the detective for the game, but I guess Adult Swim would probably sue us for that, wouldn't they? Anyways, we decided on a female character because we wanted to flesh her out in such a way that the game's story could impact the player. While using a male main character could spark some emotions with the players, we came to a conclusion that creating a female character with faults and a romance interest with another character could be more emotionally impacting than a male character. I could say that playing through the Mass Effect games using FemShep, romanced Thane in ME2 and played the Citadel DLC in ME3, I cried. Literally, I cried. My emotions with MaleShep through the games wasn't as impacting.

The important thing here to learn is the following: don't say we need more female characters because games lack them as role models or lead characters. Instead, coming up with a meaning for the character and give them a soul & motive is more important. The Hammer of Opinion is Unisex.

Also, in the original version, Jane only had the cops and Detective Darren as talkable NPCs. After we changed the original concept (which I will talk about in a bit), we added more important characters like the Judge, Chief of Department, Boss, Jane's brother and sister, and so on. These characters also forced us to add a story that the original concept did not have. That lead to interrogating suspects and before we knew it, we had another completely different game. Well, not completely. Most of the original stuff just made it into what the game will be when it is done.

The original concept of the game isn't the same as the current concept of the game

When we started creating Detective Jane in the Game Jam, we had trouble making the game replayable. In other words: we couldn't think of a way to keep the player "hooked". So I came up with a simple idea: the game's outcome, clues and suspects will change every time you play the game. However, the idea was too broad so we decided to have 6 outcomes, which led to 6 other maps with different clues and locations. At least, now the player has a little curiosity on figuring out who did it in each one of the outcomes. Simple concept, but just isn't so simple to work with in RPG Maker. At least, for us.

So we pitched in the game's original concept in the game's presentation and people liked the idea. Thanks to that concept, we won 3rd place in the game jam.

Why detective?

Well, why not? Seriously, I like detective stuff. It's a puzzle waiting to be solved and I try to solve it as I go. Think of it like the Clue board game is like.

Why not create something "fun" than this?

To me, "fun" is very subjective. You and I have different definitions of fun. For example: I have fun while watching a PPV of wrestling with friends. You could find that lame and say that playing hide-and-seek or water balloons fights with friends is fun. I find water balloon fights with friends fun, but not the hide-and-seek anymore. Fun in games is actually very non-distinguishable. Many gamers today don't even know the difference between fun and entertaining.

The main purpose of a game is the same as a TV show: entertain. See, you could have fun watching TV with friends. But compare that experience to when you are watching it alone. You don't have fun! You just enjoy the show and be entertained! Play Solitaire alone. It isn't fun. But if you find it interesting and entertaining, you will play it. I feel that when I am playing Skyrim alone! I don't find Skyrim fun, but it is so interesting that I want to keep playing. That interesting part is created by my curiosity and I get entertained to figure stuff out. Oh, and enjoying the beauty of Skyrim's nature is also an example of why I play it. It is entertaining.

When I play a game like... I don't know... Gears of War 3 (yeah, let's use that game)in the Horde mode, I get entertained. I don't have fun. I don't jump of joy or anything, I get concentrated, focus on the mission/goal and hope to not mess up. With friends, that experience changes. I think that "fun" could be a compound of entertaining stuff happening simultaneously, while interacting with other players/people. Because it sparks something! Connection, communication, jokes, funny and innocent insults... Geez, I laugh when I'm playing with friends. Not when I'm alone.

Detective Jane isn't a "fun" game. It is an entertaining one. It's a story that we are designing to get one player intrigued and curious as he plays along. We'd love to create games with interactivity with other players, but we can't just jump into a world of development that we don't know about yet. We're working on that, but Detective Jane is a way of saying "We want to entertain people, create awesome experiences and make games! While we work to bring you interactive experiences with other players, here's something so you know we're here!" It was not about fun with Detective Jane. We like the concept and we are pushing forward with it.

Why episodic?

We want to give Jane a complete life motive. We decided to create an episodic game to work on her life and impact players with her. Also, we like how Telltale Games do with The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us and wanted to do something similar in the core of it. Also, Phoenix Wright. Although, we wanted to make Jane both a detective and a lawyer, but that wasn't going to work.



We will be posting about its final days of progress starting on Tuesday. Stay tuned!