Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
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From: sandy@cs.mun.ca (Sandy Walsh)
Subject: MurderMaker... it could be yours!
Message-ID: <1994Sep3.165821.26295@cs.mun.ca>
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Organization: CS Dept., Memorial University of Newfoundland
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Date: Sat, 3 Sep 1994 16:58:21 GMT
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Hi there, I have written a program for developing "Host-a-Murder" type of
games. I am thinking of making a crippled version available as shareware
(up to four suspects max, registered is unlimited). 
I am just putting the final touchs on the User Interface (currently 
Windows NT, or Window 3.1 with Win32s), and wondering
how much demand there would be for such a beast and if I should invest any
more time into it. I will still use it for my personal use as it was intended. 

WHAT IS A MURDER MYSTERY?
Host-a-murder type games are "parlor games" ... no computers, boards, etc. 
A group of friends (commerical versions require 3-4 guys and girls each)
get together and each play the part of a suspect in a murder. The revelation
of the motive/method of each player is exposed through various "scenes".
There are usually 3 scenes. After all the motives and methods are exposed
each player must accuse whoever they think did it. Typically the game is
played with a dinner served in the middle and everyone dressing up for 
the part. It's *really* quite fun.

WHAT IS MURDER-MAKER?
You develop the script with generic suspects and a generic victim 
(by generic I mean that you don't have to give names, genders or physical
characteristics or job information, etc unless the plot demands it). Later
you can "fill in the blanks" with all your friends names/descriptions/
professions/genders/etc. 

MurderMaker will compile all this information and
resolve all sorts of suspect specific information, and outputs a data file
for your favorite wordprocessor (currently only WordPerfect 5.1, but
RTF {Word}, and ASCII will be available soon). All you need to do is create
the scripts for the murder. As the game grows in popularity I am hoping
that a collection of scripts will be available for all users. The real
nice thing about MurderMaker is that you don't need 4 guys/4 girls all the
time. Sometimes you have an extra person or two (not always couples) and
they would like to play as well. MurderMaker makes that possible. 

Also, 
MurderMaker can have any number of scenes, it's all up to you. MurderMaker
can also include/exclude characters depending on the availability of
another character. IE: If suspect1 is available, then the suspect2 character
can be used. Additionally, relationships can be determined automatically; ie:
if suspect1 is male is suspect2 is female, then others referring to either
can say, for example, "Noah Boddy is the *husband* of Jane Doe" or "She
has been *his* *wife* for the last 10 years". The words in ** are typical
substitutions made for you by MurderMaker, if the gender of these two 
characters were reversed so would all references to them in the entire
script!

If you think you would be interested in such a package, send me some e-mail
(sandy@cs.mun.ca) ... if the response if great enough I will post it to
some ftp site in the near future.

Thanx for your time,
Sandy

-- 
----
Mr. Sandy Walsh| I've been coding you, to see what form you'd take. 
sandy@cs.mun.ca| You were hiding in binary, I just wanted to free your shape.
               | - A variant on a tune from "The Tragically Hip"
