As noted previously, the Gameboards category is about creating games for the community to participate in. Such games tend to be pretty complicated, requiring a good amount of writing and effort; here, we can discuss Gameboards more in-depth, as viewers, players, and creators.
While I would like this to be a totally spoiler-free topic for Umineko, I can’t help but imagine that they would at least need to know about certain elements introduced in Episode Two, namely: Red Truth, the appearance of Beatrice, and their meta duels over the locked rooms.
Thus, I’ll say: please mark all Umineko spoilers, except those pertaining to those main elements of Episodes One and Two. If you’re someone who hasn’t read any of Umineko yet, I’ll leave the judgment up to you. It’s not a gamebreaking spoiler, but it would be pretty awesome to run into Umineko without hearing about any of this. I’d advise you not to proceed until you reach probably the first few segments of Episode Two.
I’ll start us off.
I’ve been considering creating a Gameboard after the current one winds up, and I’ve come across a few ideas; I’m curious to know what you all would prefer and think would work best.
My main goal is to create a Gameboard faithful to the originals in Umineko, meaning I’d like to include Red Truth and our beloved Endless Witch. There were a few elements under consideration:
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Lore. Like Umineko, the game would begin with the usual happenings, up to the discovery of the murders of the first twilight. Thus, there’d be talk about Beatrice and the rest within the writing.
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Investigation. Much like the current game, after the first twilight, we would have an investigation and discussion.
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Red Truth. This is one of the things I’d like to discuss. I had two main trains of thought here (there are other possibilities, naturally, but I want to explore these two first):
3.a. NPC Battler vs. Beatrice “prologue.” In this version, I would write up the Red Truth battle, as happens in Episode Two. Naturally, Battler wouldn’t be able to figure out the locked room; that’s why the family will take the knowledge of the Red Truth they’ve been given and use it in their Investigations and discussions to try and root out the truth.
3.b. Player Battler vs. Beatrice. In this version, the players would share control of Battler. Perhaps each person would be given exactly one Blue Truth bullet to fire; something like that. It’d be a little group Red Truth battle. We could either continue it until: i) everyone runs out of their assigned number of Blue Truth; or ii) until the well of theories runs dry.
Of course, the major problem with 3.b. is: what if they solve it? Unless the locked room is much stronger than the players, it’s quite possible the locked room will fall in that early stage, ruining the game. Admitted, you’d still need to investigate to find the culprit; but it’s not as fun as also having the locked room mystery unsolved. Unless the intent is for the locked room to be solved at that stage, which is also possible.
That’s the first question: would you prefer 3.a. or 3.b.i. or 3.b.ii. in a Gameboard?
Next: continuation.
We can also plan the game to continue further in the event the first twilight isn’t solved. Perhaps we’ll even plan for that and kill off more NPCs. Then we’d have multiple locked rooms and such. Which would you prefer: a single twilight or multiple?
Finally: the amount of story.
This really depends on how much story you want. On the far end, you could go all-out: pull out the Umineko assets and forge your own mini fanfic VN for the story, the Red Truth battles, etc. If that’s even possible; I haven’t a clue. On the other end, it’d be a pretty short write-up. If you had to rate these extremes as 1 (short write-up) and 10 (full out story, miniature VN), what would you most prefer?
In summation:
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Would you prefer 3.a. or 3.b.i. or 3.b.ii. in a Gameboard?
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Which would you prefer: a single twilight or multiple?
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If you had to rate these extremes as 1 (short write-up) and 10 (full out story, miniature VN), what would you most prefer?
Since one of the biggest issues for question 1 is whether any writer can make a “sufficiently hard locked room” that the players won’t be able to break, I’m sure some of you might want 3.b.ii but are worried it won’t work out. In that case, we can do a test. I’ve already written several other locked rooms that some reddit Umineko readers haven’t been able to solve (though some have; only one hasn’t). We can test a Red Truth/Blue Truth battle for one of those, if need be, to determine whether a “sufficiently hard locked room” exists for players in Rokkenjima.
I know some post-Umineko readers have a sense that they can conquer most/all locked rooms, now that they’ve discovered the secret behind Umineko’s locked rooms. (At least, I’ve met a good number who have that mindset.) I am thoroughly against such a view; one mystery does not equate to all. A good mystery writer knows how to inspire false assumptions in their readers that only the most clever of readers will realize is false. It’s part of the ambiguity of writing.
In any case, please let me know your thoughts! And, of course, feel free to post your own ideas for Gameboards and such; this is a General topic, after all.
