Death off the Cuff

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A pastiche, a parody and an entertaining half hour, November 29, 2010
It's interesting that so soon after playing Aotearoa, in which I commented genre-writing, I played Death Off the Cuff - not so much genre-writing, as a full-blown pastiche and parody. I daresay parody because it's painfully obvious that the PC is inspired on Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot - the "grey matter", the moustache, the hat. The manner of the expositiion. It screams "Poirot", although there *is* enough to make Mr. Germain stand as his own character. Possibly his belief that bluffing his way through a murder investigation will turn out all right in the end - which is the whole concept for the game.

A very nice concept. A surprising one. Wouldn't work with a more serious game, but this game is anything but serious. It's very light-hearted, and cheerfully throws in a huge number of staples of the genre, most notably the fact that no-one is what they seem. The writing is superbly adapted to the task - it's not meant to read like an Agatha Christie, it's meant to read like a much cheaper whodunnit you can read on your holidays when you don't want to think too much. And because it's also a parody of those very same paperbacks, it allows itself a little humour (such as continously talking about your moustache) which fits in perfectly well. In fact, it's what stops us from groaning *at* the game and start grinning *with* it.

I've seen mentioned, several times, that a potential problem of this game is the fact that the very final clue is, in fact, something that is clearly visible from the very outset *but* which the game doesn't allow you to interacti with until the very end, for no apparent reason. In a game where gameplay consists of carefully examining everything and then thinking about it...

...which I must say, is a superb way of conducting this particular story - every parser message I encountered was tailored to this specific situation, and because interaction was so limited there was a lot of detail to take into account. Which the author did. Often I had to examine things which more than one people had (Spoiler - click to show), such as hair, , and *every single time* the game correctly guessed WHOSE thing I was trying to examing...

...so, in a game where gameplay consists chiefly of that, it's natural to think that keeping the final evidence unmentioned *until the very end* and for no discernible reason is a show-stopper. I will have to disagree on that, and say instead that it provides further characterization for the PC(Spoiler - click to show), in that we realise that the PC was so trusting in his own ego and methods that he managed to overlook something as simple as the detective's uniform.

It's a light-hearted 30 minutes, that pokes fun at the wild twists such stories usually have; at the dramatic exposition in which, it seems, the "great detective" fumbles his way across, practically accusing everyone but the real murderer; at the peculiarities of such detectives, in this particular case some traits of Hercule Poirot with some magnification of his considerably ego; at all sorts of things that are revealed in the end, where relationships are conjured out of the blue.

Also, it constructs a fairly solid mystery, in the end. Not remarkable, but solid and entertaining. It also has some action scenes, in which the PC triumphs by (Spoiler - click to show)bluffing - a perfect conclusion to a whole bluffing game (even though had to "hint" my way through it). It simply didn't occur to me that the PC could be big-headed enough for that to work, but then, one should never underestimate the ego of some detectives...

A bit of light fun, November 27, 2010
I know that there are other murder-mystery IF games out there, but this is the first one I’ve played, and I have to say I really enjoyed myself. I really liked how it excused the fact that you the player don’t know what’s gone on. You are a detective with everyone gathered in the room to make the big-finish accusation, but the detective doesn’t have a clue who the murderer is. So you’re just making random observations about people, hoping that they will confess or in some way slip up.

The first time I was able to accuse someone, I didn’t because I didn’t think he did it. After playing some more and getting somewhere but still not able to accuse someone else (even though I’d started to figure out something of what was going on), I decided to save the game and see what happened if I accused the guy I thought was innocent. And it was a very nice ending. (Spoiler - click to show)The guy is obviously not guilty, but you ruin his life with the accusation, which eventually causes him to commit suicide. The ending part that usually says “You have won” or “You have died” instead says “You have saved your reputation.” Awesome.

One thing I’ve learned is to definitely type “about” or whatever if the author tells you to in the beginning. Some of these games would have been a lot more frustrating without a bit of guidance. In particular, the about text for this game outlines what the interaction is going to be like (mostly just talking about people or objects, with just a little manipulating the environment), which helped me enjoy it more. I certainly would have gotten more frustrated if I went into it expecting to be able to search for clues around the room, move objects, etc. and then finding I wasn’t able to.

The other kind of losing ending I found (Spoiler - click to show)(there are several versions of the “You have saved your reputation” ending, depending on whom you falsely accuse) was particularly great, too. (Spoiler - click to show)I had run out of stuff to do, so I started talking about my own moustache. It lets me keep talking about it, which is usually a sign from the game that there’s something interesting there. But I was saying stupid stuff, and then I was shot from behind while pacing around the room pontificating about facial hair.</spolier>

I highly recommend this game, and it makes me want to go look at some other murder-mystery IF games.

Floundering was never this fun, November 28, 2010
Death Off The Cuff offers an intriguing premise: a famous detective, you've gathered all the suspects for that all-important scene in which you will reveal the true identity of the murderer. The only problem is that you haven't the first clue who that might be. In order to attempt to trick the culprit into a confession, you begin to spout off about whatever's at hand, using the command "talk about" for the majority of interactions, although examine and a few other verbs play a role. You can only talk about things that are visible in the room around you, a clever method of conflating the player with the PC, who is of course casting around desperately for any topic that might yield a confession. Nor is that the only way in which the player and the PC think alike: since neither of you know what you're doing, you'll spend most of the game suggesting random or arbitrary topics of conversation in the hopes that something sticks. The result is impressive in terms of putting you in the shoes of the detective; however, it's too arbitrary to be consistently enjoyable. The limitations on action, and the one-room nature of the game, keep things simple enough for the story to unfold tightly, and there are more than a few twists and turns. Typing "help" at any point will provide a hint on what to do next, and if you get fed up you can always accuse the wrong person. In all, a brief, linear diversion that's slightly more clever than it is fun.

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