Wednesday 3 June 2009

Wild speculation

Things I have no evidence to back up:

Blue house syndrome - seeing one person paint their house makes you paint yours then others do it, then others, then others, so on.
Jack the Ripper was really multiple people seeing the first murder and figuring "hey, I can do that", creating multiple copycat attempts and making a sport out of killing prostitutes.

The Total Eclipse - an event hidden by the occurrence of a larger incident.
The presses focus on the Jack the Ripper slayings resulted in another brutal killer going unnoticed. Whitehall. Pinchin.

Life imitates art - a fan takes things one step too far.
The incredible performance of Richard Mansfield in the Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde inspired a failed surgeon to re-enact the events of the play on the streets of London.

History of Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper, also known as the Whitechapel murderer or the Leather Apron, was one of the most notorious serial killer of all time. His vicious slaying terrified London’s east end for the better part of four months during the winter of 1888. The ripper would select his victim, generally a prostitute, lead them into an alley and strangle them. After which he would gently place them on the ground, slit their throat and proceed to mutilate them. His obvious skill with a knife and impressive knowledge of anatomy led investigators to believe he might have been a trained surgeon.

The exact number of ripper victims is unclear with numbers ranging from four to as many as twelve, but often five victims are acknowledged as being the work of jack the ripper. Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly. These canonical victims have been directly attributed to Jack the ripper, resulting in the string of other murders at the time to be marked down as isolated incidents, hoaxes, or copycat slayings.

Jack the ripper was never caught. This lack of resolution has given birth to many theories regarding who he really was, some ranging from the mundane, a simple madman who got over hyped, to the extraordinary, a rogue Freemason performing secret rituals in the streets of London. Even a member of the royal family is suspected to have been the ripper. Over the years it’s become harder to differentiate actual documented evidence and the opinions put forth by the public and various researchers.

Perhaps the biggest influence on the case, it was the actions of the press that shaped the myth, turning a string of grisly crimes into one of the greatest mysteries of all time. The Whitechapel murders gave rise to tabloid journalism, sensationalized stories intended to sell papers as the primary means. News agencies would take to publishing whatever they could get their hands on in order to hype up the story, dozens of letters supposedly written by the killer surfaced during the winter of 1888, and it was from one of these letters that Jack the Ripper took his name. Most of the letters were discounted as hoaxes but some are suspected to be legitimate. The interference of the press was so extreme that there exists the possibility that each of the ripper slayings were actually unrelated events tied together in the form of a story.

With all the mishandling of evidence, individuals placing or removing it as they saw fit, the true story was lost in the muddy waters of mystery.

PLEASE ADD TO ME

Wall
Into
• Introduce, etc. (Roles?)
• We’re doing Jack the Ripper
Wall
• Adam: History of Jack the Ripper: Who he was, victims, etc.
• As you follow the game, Journalist collects more and more newspapers.
Police
• Henrik: Talkabout finding clues, pointing and clicking, how you explore the world “through”the newspapers and can only access the areas that are mentioned in them.
• Story element: He finds a clue to a possible murder scene.
Wall
• Anya: How the Ripper murders were much more than just violent attacks, how the story was exploited by the media.
• Why the newspaper style is important.
The Alley
• HUD
Puzzle
• Puzzles and how they don’t break the suspension of disbelief with out of place puzzles. (Like a giant sliding puzzle in the middle of the London skyline… Lolwhut?)
• Flowchart of one puzzle. (The wall puzzle)


Writing on the Wall Puzzle

After Effect




Ugh. *dies*

*brings self back to life and keeps working*

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Flowchart Background.

Final First Layer


Yes?

Some Puzzles - more to come maybe?

The Chase: Journalist is following Jack the Ripper, Ripper runs into a building, locks door behind him. Journalist has to find another way in the building. (And by other way in, I mean puzzle.)
The puzzle itself… something to do with a door. You have to choose the right key, perhaps? There could be a shed… out the back of the house. With tons of keys. You have to choose the right one. Maybe the keyhole can match the key.
Once in the house, you encounter one of the murders. (Which would have been played out earlier.)

The Letter Puzzle: Three of the letters you acquire share a similar pattern. When laid over the top of each other, the letters on the page form an icon – this icon would lead the player somewhere. (A building that shares the same icon on it somewhere perhaps.)

Robbing from the Police: Journalist, wanting to solve the mystery for himself, steals evidence from the police. In order to do this, the journalist must do the following:
• Spy through the window and see where the evidence is hidden.
• Find where the key to the evidence drawer is and get it.
• Distract the police in the evidence room and cause them to leave. (This step must be performed last, otherwise the police could come back before you finish all the steps.)
If the steps are not completed, the journalist will simply not go into the room.

Writing on the wall: One of the letters you receive bears the same message as the one that was written on the wall. The writing on the letter has four mysterious circles drawn over it. The circles on the letter correspond to certain bricks on the wall. Each of the bricks come loose. In the first compartment there are two matches, the second compartment there are three, in the third there is one and in the fourth there are four.
(Somehow this is a sequence for something, what, I don’t know.)

Code puzzle?

TO DRAW – Room with flowchart in it, sequence murder

Monday 1 June 2009

Images


Face of the Ripper



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15826443/

Ripper Identity - was interesting.

NOTES - will be updated

Project Mc Ripper

Gender: Puzzle Adventure

We Must: Explain the concept VERY WELL

FOR PRESENTATION:

Flash Presentation that moves inwards, zoom in on an element for next screen.
GOAL 5 – Layers

Needed Images:
Jack the Ripper
The Murder
Third Person view of journalist. In-game
Chasing jack Image first puzzle
The newspaper room

Layer 1:

Introduction: Jack The Ripper

Layer 2:

News Paper room (History Lesson) – Adams

How the news paper is a part of the whole Jack the Ripper universe.

Layer 3:

Gameplay, Puzzles

The game takes place entirely inside a newspaper world. You control xxx in third person and walk around a very surreal version of London. The city will be drawn in Illustrated London Style with LETTERS texturing the space (Line in the Opening Image). You’re able to go to different location and unlock more areas (A bit like jumping inside a painting in Mario). The player will be able to talk to people (In the newspaper world these would be interviews).

The different locations are quite linear NOT OPEN WORLD, you’re only able to access a fragment of the areas that would be found in illustrations. The puzzle mostly involves connecting information from the articles & Interview and pieces them together with other articles to access more areas.

The new Paper room will look like a mad mans collection of news articles posted on the wall red lines drawn from one location to the other. This room will work as an Overworld map of London and will in end look like the professors room from the movie A Beautiful Mind. Making the player question of mentality xxx.

Puzzle Notes 1/6 -09:

The Chase = Maybe

Layer 4:

Animation (The death)

Layer 5:

Final (Lo-Fi Prototype) – The presentation itself is a low-fi version.


Wednesday 20 May 2009

Research #1

Jack the Ripper sites:
Newspaper articles:

Conspiracy theories:

Roles:

Adam: Researcher

Henrik: Flasher

Anya: Artist

TO DO

REMEMBER:

What the game is about.

Single genre.

Puzzles should be presented as a flowchart.

Prototypes… Point and click? Powerpoint, maybe…

Gameplay charts.

Research

Journalism in 1888 Londons, how newspapers were printed in the times. How illustrations were done. http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardandgill/878699886/sizes/o/

Capital punishment in the UK 1880s.

Jack the Ripper: Possibly a doctor.

Conspiracy theories.

Links:

http://making-games.net/QCA/workshops/workshop_11.html

http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf


---------------------------------------------------------------------


Gameplay elements include:

Investigating crime scenes and following clues.

Play as a journalist. This journalist wants to discover the identity of Jack the Ripper because: He has a personal agenda, related to prostitute, wants to get fresh evidence to sell newspapers, etc, etc. (Haven't decided.) This could also be the reason why the mystery was never solved.
Everyone also loves an anti-hero. (Journalist steals evidence from police, perhaps?)

As well as investigating crime scenes:
Talk to people, interact with publishers.

Play as a prostitute at the beginning of each chapter.

Letters are sent to the media and police, as someone who wants to discover the murderer's identity, you have to work out which are hoaxes and which are authentic.

Saturday 16 May 2009

Some stuff...

Leaning towards puzzle game… Or more a mystery game. Brain teasers that relate to solving clues to figure out who Jack the Ripper was. Role playing game would have the player play from the role of the journalist. Do we want this to be a more immersive experience, with the player playing as themselves, or assuming the role of the journalist and make decisions based on the character? As the main character is made up, and Jack the Ripper’s identity was unknown, the events between these two characters (and the events in the game) need not be historically accurate. I think that having this as first person, and having the player see the world through the journalist’s eyes would work well with this type of game. (Much like Half Life)

According to John H. Kim: “In my opinion, the difference between a token and a role-played character is this: Hypothetically, a person watching the game looks over your shoulder and suggests a move, and your reply is "No, my character wouldn't do that." If this happens, or is capable of happening, then at some level you are playing a role-playing game. This simple distinction puts a world of difference between RPGs and other games.” In this respect, do you guys think this game would be a RPG? Will the player decide not to do something because it wouldn’t fit the way a journalist should act?

I definitely don’t think we should immediately discount the FPS elements which could easily be incorporated into the game. A little bit of danger could be good. And they had guns back in the 1880s.

Perhaps this could be… a combination of a puzzle, RPG and FPS?

Game could have multiple paths, depending on the player’s actions?

Art style includes: Story told with newspapers.

Important events in Ripper story:

Many letters were sent to police and newspapers, could be an interesting long term puzzle. (Working out which of the letters are authentic, following the clues they leave.)

Letters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Hell_letter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saucy_Jacky_postcard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Boss_letter

Writing on the wall, same deal as above. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper#Writing_on_the_wall

Physics: Help add realism ‘It’s all about interactivity and immersiveness.’ – Dr. Steve Collins, CEO of havoc.com

Stretch Panic (Freak Out) – Game with an unusual physics engine.

Wednesday 13 May 2009

Research materials - 1888 newspapers

http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1888.htm
Illustrated London News ^ about Jack the Ripper
+2 frog.
I have a frog in my poket