Crafting a Murder Mystery...

When we initially became enthusiastic about developing a visual novel, we knew one thing, and it had to be something that drew the player in with the story. Having seen the genius of Agatha Christie's mind at work in novel like Murder on the Orient Express, we decided to go with something we loved: the murder mystery.

It seemed like selecting the genre would be the mere spark setting off the fuse. What ensued was an exciting adventure of challenges, creativity, and learning. One of the earliest and largest questions we had to answer was crafting a mystery that would be suspenseful but truly rewarding to solve.

As the project's Designer and Writer, I began at the bottom-up construction: the characters and the world that would inhabit it. We already possessed the universe we loved, which originated from one of our other games, IT Burrows. The world of IT Burrows had inspired us with so much passion that we wanted to create more stories in the same universe the ones which could both enrich and expand it.

Because IT Burrows is set on an imaginary planet, we figured why not go to another one in the same universe? That choice unlocked the doors to a galaxy of possibilities. It gave us the chance to try new settings, contrasting tones, and distinctive stories that all had the flavor of belonging in some larger world.

And thus the world Hultgranian came into being a cruel, dark world with stories to tell. That's where we begin with an ex-con on his return journey to Planet Onyx, home of The Soulless Disciples, one of the galaxy's most ruthless crime syndicates. He's going back to stake his claim for the position of Prince of the Syndicate the position that comes with power and peril.

However, prior to ever making it to Onyx, tragedy intervenes. Somewhere in between the stars, on his journey, he's killed. Who perpetrated it? How did it happen? And what secrets lie within the depths of this cosmic crime?

I can hardly wait to lift the veils off this mystery and let the players be its companion in the journey. Every clue, every surprise turn, every revelation draws us ever closer to the center of the story a story of betrayal, of ambition, of the dark seduction of power in the galaxy that conceals more than it exposes.

Credit: (Red Line concept sketch. Artwork by Lucas Crain.)