[Mystery Game] A Murder In The Public Domain

[cohmstede]

A Murder In The Public Domain is a murder mystery game or visual novel built from public domain movies, sounds, pictures, and images.

OK, the real mystery is why I started this project in the first place. I've never considered myself a writer but at times I can be a decent story teller so I'm giving it a try. I had no idea what this project was going to turn into, I just new I wanted to use old movies and public domain objects to make it. The game follows the adventures of Dirk Caliber and Mary Livingston. At points during the game, you will be presented options of what the characters should do next. I chose Qt for this project because of Phonon. It made life much easier for managing the movies and sounds across platforms. Hope you enjoy it.

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I've released this game as open source licensed as GPLv3. I'm currently releasing in Windows XP,Vista, Windows 7, and Linux. I finally got my hands on a Mac so I'll be making a release soon. Source code, a Windows install exe, an rpm, and a deb are available for download. There are third party applications and codecs required for the different operating systems. These are described on the web page or in the instructions of the game itself.

Here are the links:

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Wep page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[cohmstede]

Release 1.2.0 is now available. In this chapter Mary and Dirk must solve the jewel theft and murder on the Occident Express. They meet a new powerful character that knows of Joseph Leed's murder and seems to know of Mary's past. A powerful character, but is she an ally? The writing flowed easier this time and I like the direction the story is moving in.

I had some fun and changed the mechanics of the sprites so they now follow a random path onto, off of, and across the backgrounds.

Here are the links:

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[cohmstede]

Release 1.2.1 is now available. This is a minor release to make the early Mary Livingston conversations more in line with how her character is evolving. I also tied up a couple of loose ends in the Crustacean Cove murder. I usually won't create a release for such a small amount of changes but this time I thought it improved the game enough to make it worth while. I also added a fun little whirly flashback avi where appropriate.

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[cohmstede]

Here's a film clip of some game play:
http://youtu.be/eez0ABuaSN4

[cohmstede]

Release 1.2.2 is now available. I've made this a minor release because there is no more additional story. There is, however, major changes to the user interface. I've added the << Previous button. This button, or pressing the Backspace key, will move the game to the previous scene. I've added the Next >> button. This button behaves the same as clicking the left mouse button, or pressing the Spacebar or Enter key. The user can now accelerate through sounds, songs, and videos in the same way that they accelerate through a conversation.

Here's some new screen shots:
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Here are the links:

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

[cohmstede]

Release 1.2.3 is now available. I've added a new trivia user element. Now at places in the story you'll be asked to answer multiple choice trivia questions. The questions are about the movies, songs, or anything else I might have dreamed up. This release fixes a bug that causes an intermittent crash during videos in Linux. I updated my Fedora to release 18 and starting seeing the crash. However I'm now seeing a delay after videos on my Ubuntu machine after the fix (bangs head on table.) I might look into bypassing phonon and go directly to gstreamer in my Linux build so I can have more control.

Here's a screen shot of the new trivia element:

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[wysota]

Did you think about reimplementing your game in QtQuick?

[cohmstede]

Did you think about reimplementing your game in QtQuick?

Hi wysota

Thanks for your response. To be honest, I hadn't heard of QtQuick. I'm looking at it now but I'm not sure how much it would benefit my project. My graphics are scavenged public domain clip art and pictures so I don't expect I could ever make fluid animations from my sources. The biggest problem I'm having is with playing back my film clips. I see different behavior depending on the version of the backend and the player. If you look in my code you'll see I've already had to run different code via build defines for directx as compared to gstreamer (MainWindow::movieMediaStateChanged.) Could QtQuick help me with this? As much as I like phonon, I'm thinking I might have to abandon it and write directly to the video player to get more control.

P.S. If I use QtQuick, can I still release my app GPLv3?

[wysota]

I'm looking at it now but I'm not sure how much it would benefit my project. My graphics are scavenged public domain clip art and pictures so I don't expect I could ever make fluid animations from my sources.
QtQuick is not just about animations. It would make your game less "window-ish" and more "gamish". Fluent transitions, easier sound and video support (e.g. think about fade-in and fade-out for sound which is currently quite aggressive in your game) are of course some added value too. You could also easily support mobile platforms without any additional effort.


The biggest problem I'm having is with playing back my film clips. I see different behavior depending on the version of the backend and the player. If you look in my code you'll see I've already had to run different code via build defines for directx as compared to gstreamer (MainWindow::movieMediaStateChanged.) Could QtQuick help me with this?
Most probably yes.


P.S. If I use QtQuick, can I still release my app GPLv3?
Yes, of course. QtQuick is still Qt so the same licencing scheme applies.

I tried looking into the source code for your game to try and provide some mockup for you of what can be done with QtQuick but the code is quite complex and I don't have time to analyze it but maybe I can come up with some simple demo.

[cohmstede]

I tried looking into the source code for your game to try and provide some mockup for you of what can be done with QtQuick but the code is quite complex and I don't have time to analyze it but maybe I can come up with some simple demo.

Thanks wysota, very much appreciated.

[cohmstede]

Release 1.3.0 is now available.

In this chapter Mary must look into her childhood to prepare for the dark man. There is a problem however, she has no memory of her past. Who can help? Dirk and Mary must find someone, anyone, that will point them in the right direction. Along the way, they meet an other worldly ally or at least the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

I have also converted all the video audio tracks from AC3 to MP3. You now only need an xvid and MP3 decoder to play the game.

Here are the links:

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/murderpd/

Web page:
http://murderpd.sourceforge.net/

No decision yet on QtQuick.

[cohmstede]

Release 1.3.1 is now available.
I've finally come up with a good work around for the audio / video delay problem I get in some Linux installs. I've decided to only support the Gstreamer Phonon Backend so I went ahead and set dependencies in the deb and rpm. The delay is gone for both video and audio so I set the conversation key click on by default for Linux builds.

[cohmstede]

OK, way off topic but...


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