galapago

You mean the website was not loading?

I think the game tries push the player to be as efficient as possible with the information extracted from each clue. While this is true that more evidence is better in real life, it is also the case that finding and analyzing each of these takes time and effort, that need to be used efficiently.

I'm the creator of mystery-o-matic. I'm surprised to see it in HN again (as it was previously discussed) but happy to take any questions about it. Btw, the code to produce the puzzles and the website itself is all open-source: https://github.com/mystery-o-matic/mystery-o-matic.github.io

It's partially inspired by murdle, but I think it is different enough. Murdle is all about logic clue (with some small mini games like find a finger print and such). Mystery-o-matic is about temporal and spatial reasoning, with their own constrains and quirks. It's also open-source (https://github.com/mystery-o-matic/mystery-o-matic.github.io).

The Amiga support is coming: https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/1gilybh/enter_castle... but still some reverse engineering to do.

A remainder that the game can be played using ScummVM[1]

[1] https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php?title=Starship_Titanic

That game was not really remastered, but instead they "used AI to remaster the original game footage to HD quality using a rare Japanese DVD release of the game". It is also not an official release (the game is not sold in any digital platforms, unfortunately).

Not any more: https://www.scummvm.org/news/20231206/

There is another HN thread to discuss that release here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38816506

https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Where_to_get_the_games

Depends on what you want exactly, but I think it should be straightforward. Please use the contact form so we can continue this conversation: https://forms.gle/dvA4Wr8LiuHFmDZN7

I suspect there is a bug in the selector. I need to investigate. Thanks for the report!

Good catch, thanks a lot!

This is correct, JS should be enabled to play :). The alternative is using a server to get clues which I want to avoid (the website is a single, static html). This enabled to play offline as well.

Having been cheerfully awarded the sleuth-o-matic rank of Barely Conscious (the murderer was was clear, the precise weapon+time wasn’t) I was wondering: is the mystery generator implemented in such a way that there’s enough “metagaming cues” in the clues to allow someone clever to get a good score on ALL generated mysteries?

Well, the mystery generation is stochastic (where some of them will be more complex and difficult, while other ones are simpler) and the scoring is still under development (it usually very difficult to get a good score). Expect some changes in the near future to make the score more adaptative and fair.

For context: my partner correctly solved today’s mystery seven clues earlier than I did, and she explained that her answer was based on the fact that that 1. In literature certain weapons are predominantly associated with killers of particular genders, and 2. Killers will try to minimize their time spent at crime scenes to reduce the risk of detection, so if the murderer was found there, it’s probable that the murder was recent.

I was suitably impressed, but I’d be curious to know if human psychology and behavior patterns in literature are actually taken into account for the mysteries.

Assumption 1 is incorrect, all the weapons are randomly assigned so it was a lucky guess (however, it is an interesting one to make, so I will think about it to include it in the future..). Assumption 2 is .. actually correct. The mystery generation has a "minimization" procedure, where the actual input (the action from every agent) are reduced while keeping the murder mystery. This will indirectly, tend to make this assumption true.

Thanks for your feedback, it was really interesting.

Ethereum as a platform is not really used, but Solidity smart contracts simulated inside a testing tool. Check my explanation here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38422232

It was used because of the nature of blockchain transactions as operations, but everything is simulated so no cryptocurrency is involved. Instead, every transaction represents a possible state change in the murder mystery (e.g. Alice walks from the Kitchen to the Bathroom). If the state change breaks any rule (e.g. let's say no more than two characters in the same room), then the transaction reverts and the fuzzing tool keeps exploring.

Edit: I guess an expanded version of this should be in the README

Thanks!, I know that cliché, but I tend to take comments too literal :)

What do you mean exactly?

I wanted to create an alternative to murdle.com (which is very good, btw!) and learn a little bit of about web technology

I'm the main developer behind mystery-o-matic, happy to take questions and feedback regarding its engine here!

I'm the main developer behind mystery-o-matic, happy to take questions and feedback here!

I see what you mean. A writer is taking care of creating an overarching story that will explain why they do what they do. Visitors will have access have a small piece of story solving the daily mystery. While the story will not give very precise answers to your questions, it will provide introduction as well as an ending, for the first "season".

Noted!, I will be thinking about this in the next iteration.

I think these are fair points, let's take a look:

I don’t find this engaging as a murder mystery. Firstly, the player doesn’t have agency other than revealing other clues. I think it would be more entertaining if the player could choose what questions to ask.

I tried to keep the game simple, but it is certainly possible to introduce more interaction. I guess, in its core, detective work is mostly reviewing clues and making accusation, but this is supposed to be fun as well.

> Also, the 15-minute time blocks don’t make sense to me. From today’s mystery:

> Clue #1 Eddie said "I saw nobody when I was leaving the bathroom at 10:45"

> Clue #2 Eddie said "I saw Bob when I arrived to the living room at 11:00"

I would immediately ask him why it took him 15 minutes to go from the bathroom to the neighboring living room. Are they in an electric wheelchair that’s almost out of power, or did they in-between commit the murder?

I have to think about this, but the clues could be rephrased to convey that Eddie spend time the bathroom and the the living room, between 10:45 and 11:00.

> Also, the suspension of disbelief isn’t there for me:

- looking at the victim, how hard is it to choose between poison, rope, gun, and knife, especially given that it can be deduced that the body wasn’t moved?

I'm not completely sure what you mean here.

- if they don’t dare lie, why not just ask them “did you do it?”. A murderer that can lie would IMO make things more interesting.

I agree, and I will be introducing a murderer that could lie, which will make the game more interesting (potentially, harder in some cases).

> Minor items that affect play:

- the player has to open all clues up to the murder weapon is revealed. Once you know that, opening those each day will become a chore.

This is not the case in fact, you can deduce where the murder weapon is located and discard the ones in rooms that were not visited.

- in today’s puzzle, when I make an incorrect accusation that includes “Carol”, the text says “After apprehending the suspect”. Isn’t she dead?

Something to fix. I think Carol should not be in the list of suspects (except perhaps, if we allow suicides, which is an interesting idea)

In any case, thanks for all the comments and suggestions!

Not yet. I'm wondering how is the best way to present it without avoiding people to be tempted to skip the daily mystery.

Can the suspects lie?

Right now, the suspects will never lie, but the killer will avoid revealing "too much".

Is the rating at the end based on minimum numbed of clues required, or just on total number of clues used?

The number of clues used. The mysteries are generated with a variable number of clues, so it is still an open question how the score should be adjusted.

Is the rating impacted by number of available choices when i guessed?

Yes.

Can we have wordle-bot analyze our play at the end and tell us how we did?

What do you mean exactly with this?

I'm the main developer behind mystery-o-matic, happy to take questions and feedback here!

PD: the code will be open-source soon, I'm finishing with the cleaning and refactoring..

This is neat, I'm wondering if it can solve it reducing the number of clues. Have you tried it?

Murdle is great and it was certainly an inspiration for mystery-o-matic