Doctor Crowder invited 3 people to a mansion to celebrate a breakthrough in his research. You are one of those people. But the evening is really a demonstration of his research, and the 3 of you are the subjects.
This is my first attempt at making a game. It's for the mystery/escape contest.
This game has no visuals (at least not yet).
The game does not tell you when your actions cause mental changes or set the stage for physical changes (which are not yet included), but choices do affect gameplay.
The Michael path through the tall door is largely complete. The Susan Path through the shortdoor is largelycomplete. The other 7 paths from the main room after Act 1 are not present in the game.
You are one of 3 people invited to a party to celebrate a breakthrough in a mysterious research project. It turns out that you are to be test subjects. Can you escape?
Doctor Crowder: The mysterious scientist in charge of the experiment
Michael: The head of the department and an asshole
Susan: The chair of the ethics in research committee and Doctor Crowder's would-be nemesis
Emily: A grad student who got caught up in the events of the game
0.01 to 0.02: Basic copy-editing, adding some adult content, and explicitely marking where current development ends
0.02 to 0.10: Some minor edits made to existing material. Additionally, the branch taking Michael through the tall, narrow door is largely complete.
0.10to 0.20: Some minor editsto existing material, along with substantive completion of the branch taking Susan throughthe short door.
First off, kudos for putting yourself out there and making a game.
That said, I have some problems with the way you present situations. They're detailed below.
I picked Emily. Emily is not terribly attractive (That's not my opinion. That's how she's described). We'll come back to that. One of the other characters, Michael, is a sleezeball. That will be relevant later too.
My first choice as Emily was to enter the gates of the mansion, or head east or west. These are false choices, as there is a man at the gate who insists I go inside. Why does that stop me from going east or west? He attempts no coercion, he's just really insistent.
Just as important is why my character would even accept an invite, get a ride to this place... then immediately decide to wander off.
After entering the house, I quickly get an option to strip... something that it makes no sense for my character to consider doing. She immediately rejects the idea, but that it's there at all is kind of immersion-breaking. I suspect it's there to hint that you can take off your dress there, but that brings up another issue... someone can take off their clothes anywhere, should the desire take them.
Then there's the first real plot point. The announcement by Dr. Crowder is hardly detailed or even overtly threatening. Sure, it's ominous, which should result in people saying things like "wait, what's going on?" or maybe "This is some bullshit!" not going into a panic as these lines indicate:
"Susan is crying while frantically racing around the room."
"Michael is entirely too panicked to talk to." We'll come back to Michael's state of mind.
Note for future reference that my character is also panicked.
Next, to get the sex scene you have to follow these steps (I think), grab a drink from the bar, wait for the announcement to happen, then drink some more. Apparently, my panicked character can "enjoy it slowly." It takes about four or five drinks in total, but I know that because I counted. There are no indications of the character's level of intoxication... or even if alcohol is the actual source of her reduced inhibitions.
So, now that she's properly intoxicated/drugged, I can take the protagonist back to the front door so she can strip out of her clothes while panicking, then back to our sleezeball, Michael. Seeing my unattractive character's state of undress, he recovers instantly from his panic and tries to make out with her.
What I would do:
1. At the gate, leave the options there, but have the protagonist be the one that decides against the course of action. "I came here for a party, why would I wander down the street?" This is going to clash with my next recommendation, but I'll explain.
2. Remove the option to undress at the door. Why am I against this being here but barred by the protagonist, just as I recommended in 1? Degrees of absurdity. It's not that strange to notice or even have a wandering thought to walk down the sidewalk instead of going where you planned. It's quite another thing to suddenly have the idea to strip down nude before going in to meet with people, if you're not already an exhibitionist, anyway. Instead, I would have the character idly ponder that they COULD remove their dress there, probably followed by a prompt dismissal of such a silly idea.
For example: "You could hang your dress from a hook, but then you'd be naked!"
3. The rest is all just realism. Have people react appropriately to their situation.
