I'm your criminal, witnesses, and crime scene - A case study in broadening the purview of game design - A talk by Mikhail Fiadotau

Abstract

The field of game design has grown increasingly visible outside of the game industry, and game design concepts and terminology have been gradually entering popular discourse. From TV game show hosts (notably, Game Changer’s Sam Reich) expressly discussing game mechanics, to escape room designers reflecting on the value of playtesting, game design concepts have found application across a much broader range of contexts than much of game design literature, with its focus on videogame and tabletop games, reflects. In this talk, I will argue that game design researchers and educators have much to gain by broadening the purview of the field to incorporate playful forms outside of conventional video- and tabletop games. As a case study, I will present an analysis of Solve This Murder, an “actual play”-style murder mystery podcast by Dani Siller and Bill Sunderland, in which one host acts as “crime scene, witnesses, and criminal” (i.e., game system and NPCs) and the other one as a detective. While lacking a formalized ruleset, the podcast is created with a markedly game-designerly mindset (Siller and Sunderland are also known for their work on escape rooms and the point-and-click detective game The Rise of the Golden Idol), adapted, however, to the nature of the medium and the format. Through a close reading of podcast episodes, as well as an analysis of the post mortem-style bonus episodes, I will discuss the key game design considerations relevant to the format of Solve This Murder, including negotiating player agency against prescripted story kernels, narrative progression, and the balancing between suspension of disbelief and metaleptic elements.