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*

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

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.