Voodoo Buwan: As long term readers to Rez will have no doubt picked up, Trin and I are both fans of games. From treasure hunting, to fishing, to immersive Madpea craziness and late night Slopoly sessions, we can often be found trying to beat each other at some contest or game of chance. In fact, even when we, and our respective partners, all met up at my house in real life recently, there was a time set aside for crashing out on my comfy sofa, and getting immersed in a board game. So, when Trin came to me telling me she'd discovered an SL version of Cluedo (or Clue, for our American readership), it seemed like giving it a road test would be the perfect subject for this, our 100th article!
Trinity Dechou: Yes that's right dear readers we thought it would be wise to mark this milestone by joining collectively with our respective partners to solve the mystery surrounding the death of our very own Governor Linden. The Governor had been found in a bloody heap of death in his prim-worthy mansion.
Voodoo Buwan: And for what you pay, the set itself is lovely. Once the sculpty prims finally stopped being massive balls, we were treated to the sight of a very finely made table and chairs for up to 6 players to sit at, and a nicely made board in the centre.
Trinity Dechou: The only real differences between Clued Up and Cluedo (Clue) are the fact that there are no appearances of Miss Scarlet or Colonel Mustard (such a shame really I've always suited red). The characters in the Second Life version of this game all come from inside the Lab, i.e. those Lindens with access to the Governor's house and therefore those capable of committing such a bloody atrocity
Voodoo Buwan: Likewise, the rooms have been renamed to suitably SL based locales, such as the Dance Club, the Hot Tub and the Casino Games Room; while the weapons are objects that would not be out of place littering a Linden's personal castle (i.e. Pose Ball, Watermelon Gun, Bling Ring)
Trinity Dechou: In the window of our Kernow office we all took our seats and prepared to discover whodunit. We were each issued with a HUD which acted as our in-world notepad.
Voodoo Buwan: This leads me neatly on to my first criticism of the game. The HUD is lovely, don't get me wrong, but as is not uncommon in this virtual world we live in, we were having a bit of a crashy night. And since this is not a game where someone can just drop out easily, and everyone else carry on, the HUD does not deal particularly well with someone crashing once a game has been commenced. We suffered quite a few mis-starts, and on each occasion we all had to effectively bin our HUD's, and let the game give us new ones, before we could recommence
Trinity Dechou: However unlike most other games in Second Life when you do crash you aren't automatically kicked out the game; the game suspends itself and waits for your crashee to return. Also, unless you happen to have the memory of an elephant you will need a good old-fashioned piece of paper and a pen as it is worthwhile to note suggestions made by your fellow suspects in order to more effectively cross off and highlight potential accusations.
Voodoo Buwan: Yes, the HUD may be all well and good at marking off which cards you have, and which ones you get shown, but the fact that you can't jot down a little note that someone doesn't have any of the cards involved in a certain suggestion does mean that it does pay to go a little Amish on the side
Trinity Dechou: The table dished out cards to the contestants so our HUDs all automatically crossed off those cards we'd been given. From there the players take it in turns to head towards rooms, make suggestions about who committed the crime and with what implement. The table then asks the player to your left to confirm or deny any of these suggestions based on their cards. Should they have none, it continues to ask in an anti-clockwise direction until you have suspects, weapons and rooms crossed off on your HUD notepad.
Voodoo Buwan: Of course, one of the chance elements is the fact that to make any kind of suggestion as to who might have dunnit, with what, etc, you need to get into a room, and your movement is all decreed by the roll of a dice. Now, granted, its been a while since I played Cluedo irl, but my god does it take a long time to get from one side of the board to another.
Trinity Dechou: Yes and of course should you start to make headway down the huge primmy mansion halls and are then suspected of the murder back in the room you just broke free off you go shooting back to that room and prepare to make the epic journey all over again, and again and oh yes again.
Voodoo Buwan: And then if someone accidentally ends their turn standing outside of the door you want to go out of, you can't push past them, making you have to do massive detours.
Trinity Dechou: As you play the game, and make suggestions you begin to cross things off your suspect list. You build towards the stage of accusation but of course in true cluedo fashion you may only make one accusation and should that be wrong your game is over although you do stay in place as your cards are needed for your fellow (non stupid) competitors to continue their investigations.
Voodoo Buwan: However, here again I have a bit of a criticism. Maybe it was just the way we played at my house, but if you make a suggestion at the end, and now know whodunnit, I've always played that you can make an accusation straight away, and claim your victory! However, in this game, making that suggestion ends your turn, meaning that if the next player has been paying attention, they can then make the accusation based on what you just said, and win the game. And thus, I bloody lost our first game!
Trinity Dechou: However we did learn from this mistake and are aware that as your fellow players are watching your every move and ready to pounce on the victory, I decided to throw caution to the wind and accuse when I was sure in the next game. And thus, I bloody lost our second game!
Voodoo Buwan: Eventually, we got the hang of it a bit more, and actually this annoyance led to an extra depth to the game itself. Making suggestions that included at least on of the cards in your own hand, to try to lead the others down the wrong path, yet all the while, keeping a check on which cards you showed who, and thus who was aware of what you were figuring out. As we said before, it becomes nearly impossible to keep track of without a piece of paper in front of you in the real world, but becomes much more of a tactical brain ache, and more fun for it.
Trinity Dechou: We quickly found that as we played the tension mounted, so much so that when the lovely 'butter wouldn't melt' Aimee lost a game she had a small tantrum and performed a full scale artillery attack on the room.
Voodoo Buwan: As is her way. Fortunately, Trin, Allanah and myself were all still sat at the table, and bravely weathered the ballistic storm.
Trinity Dechou: In the true trying to beat each other fashion, Clued Up does indeed prove to be an excellent game, there is nothing better than saying to Voodoo 'I beat you in a game and you are a murderer!' Poor Governor Linden, bad Colonel Buwan.
Voodoo Buwan: You'll never take me alive, coppers!
On occasion it has been known for Second Life residents to be at a loss as to what to do that afternoon or evening with themselves in-world. Sometimes you can feel like you have seen it all and experienced everything Second Life has to offer you. Have you tried games in-world, and no I don't mean the plethora of board game/ hud/ trivia games on offer in the shops, I mean actual interactive, use your mind games. If you've not tried in-world games, MadPea may very well save you from an evening unsure what to do next.
MadPea Productions create interactive games in Second Life and these aren't your average game either. With well thought out and constructed story boards, scripted HUDs, clues, action, mystery and adventure these games have captivated a lot of residents already which has earned MadPea quite a following. Question is when will you join in?
I managed to speak quickly to Kiana Writer, the founder of MadPea about the games and the concept behind MadPea Productions itself.
Can you tell us what the main aim of MadPea Productions is?
Our main goal is to create high quality and exciting content in Second Life. We like to push the limits of the engine and show people what is possible to do. We want to create a community around our games, so that the players are not alone, they can meet like-minded people or get the help if needed.
What game development experience did you have before coming to Second Life?
Hmm.. does it count that I created a Batman board game when I was little? ;) I honestly had none, I'm a real life writer. When I realized that my stories could involve into interactive games and people were enjoying them, I truly found my calling there.
How does a game come together, how it is conceived and converted into an in-world entertainment zone?
We are a bit chaotic here.. usually we start with my story and build the surroundings around it. Sometimes though, one of us creates an amazing build or we have a HUD idea we like to test and then make a storyline to fit that. Our games all include three main elements: it has to have an interesting story, that actually makes sense and is not just a filler to show off some fantastic graphics (sadly I think a lot of games are like that.. :( ), it has to be interactive and it has to be built so that the player loses himself into the whole experience.
Have you faced any complications when bringing a vision into Second Life?
Not really, sometimes we have to make minor changes to the storyline to better fit the platform restrictions. We imagine and build in SL, so we are not facing the difficulties of trying to import the game from another platform to here.
What sort of feedback have you received from the Second Life community?
So far, the feedback has been really great and positive.We have a large group called madpeas, that is really supportive to all members. We love to hear feedback of all kind so that we can improve. Sometimes people don't understand that this is our hobby and that we are doing the games on our sparetime and for free, at times we are getting demands that are just impossible to meet. With thanks to Orange we have had the space to create on their islands. We are hoping to find more real life companies as sponsors to be able to test our ideas and bring out quality entertainment in Second Life. Sometimes sadly, the money is a huge restriction on what we can create. We have even had some of the Lindens playing our games (and of course we've been spying on them then ;) ).
What’s in the pipeline for MadPea?
We have a big event coming on the 26th at our headquarters, where we are revealing some future plans. We have at least one bigger game coming out this summer. Right now, we're all taking a little time off for holidays and for planning the next year.
Wether you're a romantic helping to discover the ending in Firefly, or a would-be Ethan Hunt trying to finish Within, or even a top class sleuth trying to solve the mystery of the Swamp Hotel, if you're the sort of person who enjoys thinking outside the box and solving mysteries then get along to MadPea, I guarantee you won't regret it.
MadPea Productions HQ
*All images reposted with the kind permission of MadPea Productions*
