Sleuth (video game)
Sleuth is a text-based "whodunit" computer-game created by Eric N. Miller of Norland Software.[1][2][3][4][5] It was first released in 1983.
When the game starts, a murder has just been committed. The object of the game is to solve the murder mystery by examining the house and talking to its occupants.[1][2][3][4][5] Being a text-based game, the graphics are rather simple and consist of ASCII characters. The user can move the character using the arrow keys, and interact with persons and objects by issuing commands (from a fairly limited vocabulary list) at the game's prompt (similar to Sierra's "Quest" games). To win the game, the player must accurately identify the murder weapon, murder location, and the murderer.[1][2][3][4][5] The player can do this by examining different objects in the game, talking to the occupants and observing their behavior. The murderer is the one whose alibi contradicts everyone else's.
The game is made challenging by the fact that the player has to keep track of everyone's stories and also can only question people once or twice before the murderer becomes suspicious. If the player takes too long to solve the mystery, the murderer will eventually kill the player's character and the game ends.[1][2][3][4][5] The game has two modes: a "Basic" mode and a "Personalized" mode. The only difference between the two modes is in the naming of in-game characters. In "Basic" mode, the game randomly generates the name of the characters, whereas in "Personalized" mode, the player can supply the names of the characters. Although the game is simple, no two murder scenarios are exactly alike as the game randomizes attributes of the game like the victim, murder scene, murder weapon, and murderer.[1][2][3][4][5]
The game can be run on Mac with the use of the freeware program "boxer", and has been cloned in Javascript, enabling users to play it in an internet browser.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.bencollier.info/sleuth
