Research #3

Crime poster

BBC image gallery

Police news

Whitechapel murders

Sites map

Wanted poster

Ripper drawing

Jack the Ripper game

Ripper tours

London horror tour

UK history

Research #2

Episodic gameplay:

• Episodic gameplay article
  
• Forbidden Siren
  
• Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Detective games:

• PlaySlueth
  
• Detective Grimore

Newspapers:

• 1888 wiki category
• 1888 article styles
  
• Jack the Ripper article scans
• Jack the Ripper newspaper collection
  
• Evening Star 1888 (for sale)
• Newspaper resource library
• Obituary search site
• Serbian library (1888 newspapers)
• Online newspaper
• Historical text archive
• Paperless archive
• Palace journal 1889
  

Jack the Ripper:

• Article 1
• Falsified research
• Jack the Ripper
  
• 19th century London
• Whitechapel
• Whitechapel society
• Study guide
• Criminology: misconceptions
  

_ ? _:

• History of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
  

Research #1

Jack the Ripper sites:

• Famous criminals
• Wiki
• Casefile
• Timeline
• Jack the Ripper.org
• How stuff works - Ripper murders
• Case study
• Case study 2
  

Newspaper articles:

• London Times
• Times archive
• Wiki news archive
  

Conspiracy theories:

• Wiki list
• Masonic suspects
• Masonic rituals
• Masonic conspiracy list
  
• 10 Suspects
• Painter ripper
• Female ripper
• Several rippers
  
• Media hoax
• Media hoax 2
• Media hoax 3
  
• Ripper profile
• Theory pieces
• Ripper conspiracy site
• Yahoo!answers: getting away with murder
• Weird conspiracy theories
• Buried in Brisbane
• Moved to Melbourne
  

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


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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.

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.

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