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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 9:43 am
by 2 718281828459
Oh wow.

1. Why is it that everyone died the first time but there were 2 survivors here?
2. Is this story based on anything in particular? What were "the documents"?
3. How did you go about creating this? I would probably fail miserably, which is why I decided instead to do my puzzle based on just liars and truth-tellers instead of a story.

JDGA
: "The "one correct solution and only adding reds when necessary" is true to the source material of Umineko, incidentally. (In that it was actually suggested
the GM could change the "correct" solution on the fly as long as they didn't contradict themselves with the red to force the players to keep guessing
)"
2.718
: "But would the players not realize something was up?
They could realize that the actual solution is far more obscure and specific than some of the players' solutions
, no?"

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:44 am
by JDGA
Yeah, it'd be a bit of a jerk move if it wasn't mentioned in advance, and it'd probably lengthen things a lot too, but I suppose it depends on the difficulty you're after.

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 11:16 am
by Something_Smart
In post 75, 2 718281828459 wrote:1. Why is it that everyone died the first time but there were 2 survivors here?
I wasn't a huge fan of the "everyone died" ending either :P Doesn't matter at all to the puzzle, and I do like the idea that the innocent characters are solving the puzzle along with the players of the game, and so they figure it out when the players do...
2. Is this story based on anything in particular? What were "the documents"?
Nope, and there was really no backstory. I ran this game for the puzzle part, not so much for the flavor; I'm definitely a function over form person (read any of my modded games and prepare to cringe). The documents were purely a plot device, I had no idea what they were-- although it wouldn't have been hard to come up with something a corrupt executive was covering up, that wasn't really the point of the puzzle :P
3. How did you go about creating this? I would probably fail miserably, which is why I decided instead to do my puzzle based on just liars and truth-tellers instead of a story.
I did it all in one weekend, with no internet access no less, so let's see how well I can recall.

I was brainstorming possible flavors that wouldn't have been a copy of Segaco's, not that that would have been bad (and Segaco's flavor is the most cliche murder-mystery story imaginable anyway :P ) but I just wanted something different. I came up with this one, and started planning out the characters and the setting.

After I had determined all the characters and the map, I rolled dice to choose the murderers. (Can't say it was REALLY random since I would have rerolled if I hadn't liked it, but I did like the scumteam, if you will, so I kept it.)

Then I just came up with plot devices. Pretty soon through the story I had decided both who would survive to the end and who their likely partners would be-- hence why I was completely unsurprised that you tried Alpha/Alder and Tom/Miles before getting the right answer-- and I geared a lot of the situations around making those teams all seem fairly possible. I erred on the side of making them seem TOO possible, which is why I had to clarify so much in red. I do think it was better, because otherwise it probably would have been a little discussion, and then the right answer as the only logical conclusion.

I borrowed and modified some plot devices-- the question of ammo in the guns, tracking who has what keys to what rooms, hiding, the loud sound from knocking over furniture, and sliding the key under the door (which was brought up in the first puzzle but ruled to be impossible) -- and I invented some of my own-- the documents, the window at the bottom of the door, the elevator, and the sirens (needless to say, these are all dumb flavor-wise but they make the puzzle more interesting :P ).

Then I just read over it and tried to see where the evidence to disprove the incorrect teams would be. For Alpha/Alder I had intended the guns to be the issue but I got outsmarted by not realizing that Alpha could have lied about his gun's size and switched with Ren, and for Tom/Miles I think Ruby's and Catherine's deaths were both difficult to explain.

If you do want to try your hand at something like this, I'd say at least make a rough draft and see how it comes out. It's fine if the flavor is cringey, it's fine if there's initially not enough information or you didn't think of everything (God knows I didn't)... really the only important thing is that you don't contradict yourself or accidentally rule out the correct answer. Given how much you seem to enjoy logic puzzles, I'd suggest you give it a shot :]

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:16 pm
by Segaco
That was nice, and you did great!
The last person I thought would be the killer was Tony, and if that last theory hadn't worked I'd have gone back to Tom+Miles and stayed there for a while since Alder+Alpha was impossible.
A good game indeed,

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 10:48 am
by 2 718281828459
I would like someone other than myself to create the third riddle. (Perhaps we should try leveling up to 5 survivors at the pause...)

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:57 am
by 2 718281828459
2.718
: "hellooooooo... helllllooooooo... anyone heeeeere...."

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 11:54 am
by Segaco
2 718281828459 wrote:I would like someone other than myself to create the third riddle. (Perhaps we should try leveling up to 5 survivors at the pause...)
Easier said than done, I'm afraid
I have a few tricks in mind but I'd have to write, and the last thing I feel like doing right now is writing
I'll probably do it at some point, but for now eh