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Introduction
Bus Detective aims to explore how authorial dominance in video games affects our decisions. And try to provoke deep reflection on the nature of this hegemony among players by deconstructing the "meaning" and "ultimate goal" implanted by the author in the game.
The game is set on a minibus carrying the characters played by the players, Leo and his friend Silvie, to the city center to participate in a detective club activity. To pass the time on the way, they decide to play a detective game—assuming that a murder will occur on the bus and detailing the process of this murder. The goal of the game is to concoct as fascinating a murder deduction as possible based on the situation on the bus.
During playing, this game appears to be like a normal detective game, where you explore, deduce, and eventually find the right answer.
The game guides the player through information, constantly exploring all that this game has to offer, in which the player also constantly changes the goal of the game as he or she understands it. Yet it is as if nothing the player does can lead to victory.
For all the guidance in the game is essentially misdirection that keeps the player away from victory.
The only route to victory is illogical . Players can't play the game as they would any other game: navigating, constructing their own logic, and ultimately getting a meaningful response (winning). If a high immersive experience is what players are looking for, clearly Bus Detective doesn't contain it. Instead, Bus Detective offers a different experience than player-agency centrism, reinforcing the agency of Npc's and System's, aiming to cause the player to lose the illusion of self-determination.
The illogical victory questions the meaning of victory, in fact, all game victories are defined by the author, and the player has no say. Victory is the author's approval obtained by the player through constantly speculating on game information and hints (under the guidance of the author). Bus Detective gives players useless approval through this illogical victory, making victory frustrating.
Art Design
Keep evironment as simple as possible
So is the bus.
Put the attention of audience on the Characters
Because all the exploration and reasoning is focused on the characters.
In the selection phase, the top view of the bus is used.
The settlement phase restores the camera position from the beginning of the game, bringing a sense of loop continuity to the player.
The game's hidden ending uses only black and white, and green. Create an atmosphere of an Error screen without being AGGRESSIVE.
Some Character Design Flows
Isabella:
A trendy modern drama class teacher.
Characters in the game are roughly modeled. The advantage of rough modeling is that it captures the essence of characters just like a quick sketch.
Mickey:
A Famous town punk.
Mr. Hughes:
Retired, fateful old man.
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