> Frida: I saw no one in $ROOM when I arrived at 9:30
> Frida: I saw no one in $ROOM when I left at 9:45
to me, the third clue felt wasted. I had already marked off that nobody was there during that time. but does this also mean that nobody arrived at 9:45, and that nobody left at 9:30? in other words, do these clues tell me that nobody was in $ROOM between 9:15 and 10:00?
anyway - pretty interesting game. I think it would be a lot better if the user could ask specific questions. "Where was BOB at 10:30?", and then receive the clue, "BOB was in $ROOM from 10:00 to 11:00" (because if you're investigating a murder, it would be unthinkable not to ask "for how long" as a followup... it should be a freebie). or maybe just "BOB was in $ROOM at 10:30 and left at 11:00" if you want to be trickier. this would give the player some agency and hopefully allow the chance to unlock a large amount of information with a well-chosen question.
also... does it really take 3 clues to determine the murder weapon? maybe that's a legacy of the older Clue game (which I haven't played), but I can't imagine showing up and having no idea which of (poison, knife, gun, or rope) was used to kill a person. by default, it should be obvious IMO (maybe there could be confounding issues, like they have stab wounds but actually died of poison and were stabbed afterward as misdirection), but I guess that takes away a big part of figuring out who did it by placing them in the room with the murder weapon. it would take some work to rethink that part, I guess.
> Frida: I was in the $ROOM from 9:30 to 9:45
> Frida: I saw no one in $ROOM when I arrived at 9:30
> Frida: I saw no one in $ROOM when I left at 9:45
to me, the third clue felt wasted. I had already marked off that nobody was there during that time. but does this also mean that nobody arrived at 9:45, and that nobody left at 9:30? in other words, do these clues tell me that nobody was in $ROOM between 9:15 and 10:00?
anyway - pretty interesting game. I think it would be a lot better if the user could ask specific questions. "Where was BOB at 10:30?", and then receive the clue, "BOB was in $ROOM from 10:00 to 11:00" (because if you're investigating a murder, it would be unthinkable not to ask "for how long" as a followup... it should be a freebie). or maybe just "BOB was in $ROOM at 10:30 and left at 11:00" if you want to be trickier. this would give the player some agency and hopefully allow the chance to unlock a large amount of information with a well-chosen question.
also... does it really take 3 clues to determine the murder weapon? maybe that's a legacy of the older Clue game (which I haven't played), but I can't imagine showing up and having no idea which of (poison, knife, gun, or rope) was used to kill a person. by default, it should be obvious IMO (maybe there could be confounding issues, like they have stab wounds but actually died of poison and were stabbed afterward as misdirection), but I guess that takes away a big part of figuring out who did it by placing them in the room with the murder weapon. it would take some work to rethink that part, I guess.