Murders & Mistresses Deep Dive #5: A detective game about judgment under uncertainty

Hey everyone,Steve here with another deep dive. Last time I talked about how M&M approaches sex, which is different from how a lot of other adult games approach it. This time, I wanna talk about how M&M approaches detective gameplay, which is even more different from how most other detective games approach it.The key difference is: M&M is focused on judgment under uncertainty, rather than creating cleanly-solvable logic puzzles.

What I wanted from detective games

I love detective games and shows. Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's daughter, Obra Dinn, the Mentalist, BBC's Sherlock… the list goes on.

And while I think that games like the ones I listed are exceptional at creating rich, layered logic puzzles, I've never found them to focus as much on the things I found most exciting watching brilliant detectives on tv shows.

The poking and prodding of suspects, the risky accusations, reading people and evidence through a mix of intuition, psychology, and sociology.So with M&M, I wanted to create a game that focuses on interpreting people and making judgment calls when you can't be certain that you got it right. A game where you have to live with the consequences of your own interpretations of people, without being able to rely on an obvious clue or ui element telling you that you were right.

Because to me, the thrill of having to read people in high stakes situations was always more exciting than doing the math.

Designing a system that can hold uncertainty

Designing the actual detective system in M&M was a step by step process that had to undergo a lot of changes and adjustments, especially during playtesting.

But I always knew that the core was going to be deductions. And in M&M deductions represent the simple idea that any piece of evidence and any suspect can be interpreted differently. So it's up to you, the player, to decide whether an interest in true crime is a healthy hobby, or a sign of repressed violent tendencies.

In story mode, which we added 24 hours after our patreon demo release due to a clear split in the different kind of AVN players in our audience (many people love the combinatory mechanic, but it definitely wasn't for everyone), you make deductions and then pick your solution (who killed the victim(s) and why) from a drop down. 

In detective mode however, you can combine your deductions with each other to create case theories (formerly conclusions) which you can then combine with each other and other deductions to create complex logic webs in all kinds of directions.

When I first designed the system, I had made it lean. Meaning only key combinations were possible. When I playtested it for the first time, it felt pretty bad, because most combinations I wanted to try didn't lead anywhere. So we added some new combinations and conclusions. And again, I tried it and I wanted even more. 

We ended up with 300+ case one combinations. And that started to feel really good.Currently I'm working on playtesting case two, and we've already surpassed 1000 combinations for that case alone… Mainly due to the complex web of suspects, murder weapons and who framed who.

It's gonna be a hell of a lot of fun to play, even when it's not a lot of fun to test, lol.

Dealing with different player reactions

In the feedback survey, we had a variety of responses to the detective mechanic, ranging from people saying they loved it and wished other detective games were more like it, to people saying that they found it confusing and like they had to randomly guess who to arrest.

Similarly with the UI, some people found it incredibly intuitive, others clunky.

Since the original release, we've been fixing bugs, adding missing combinations, releasing story mode, and making small changes here and there like renaming "conclusions" to "case theories".The reality is that we're always going to struggle to make everyone happy and at the end of the day this is a game that by its very nature of forcing you to judge under uncertainty can be uncomfortable to play. But to me at least, it's exactly this discomfort that also creates a unique and thrilling detective experience.

Five completely different cases 

On that note, I think it's important for all of you to know that the detective mechanic will only be used in three of the five cases of the game. This is because the cases are built around judgment under uncertainty and continuation of the story, not to simply reuse our existing mechanics. The hostage negotiation for example is a completely different structural setup with the same underlying emotional experience. 

Building a complex detective mechanic and not using it for every case could be considered wasteful, or plain stupid from a production perspective, but to me, Murders & Mistresses was never about the detective mechanic - that was just one expression of the mind you're inhabiting. 

The story, relationships, sex, choices, consequences, charm, manipulation, guilt, pressure, and most of all matching your emotional experience as a player with that of the protagonist. That's the throughline of this experience. Not any specific gameplay loop. 

Uncertainty is the point

Of course, none of that is much comfort when you're staring at a clue board at 2am, unsure if you just arrested the right person. I designed the discomfort and it still gets me. In fact the first time I properly played M&M's demo as a player, roleplaying as if I didn't know the endings, I had to take a walk halfway through the first case because I was legitimately too stressed out about accidentally putting the wrong person behind bars for the rest of their lives.

And as I was on that walk, I was thinking about Morgan as if she was my actual wife, not some character in a game. And about how I'd be stressed when I'd go home to her after this case. I was pissed at Maxwell for yelling at me as if he was my actual boss. I wasn't having "fun", I was deeply immersed in a world that felt alive. That's how I knew this game was something real.

So yes, it's a weird thing for an adult game to do, it's a weird thing for a detective game to do, and it's a weird thing for any player to want from their game. But it's also the thing I'm most proud of. I love that M&M makes me feel that way and I hope you guys do too. And if you do, trust me there's a ton more of that coming in the full game, releasing later this Summer.

Much love, Steve