The Monster Files by Literal Games

[raw]
made by Literal Games for LD33 (JAM)
This is largely an interactive fiction game. You play as a detective solving monstrous crimes!
Play three exciting cases with 12 diverse and deep characters to solve the mysteries!
Follow the trail of clues and use your puzzle solving skills to reach the climactic conclusion!

Controls:
Mouse. Definitely just the mouse.

Click on people or bodies to interact with them.
Click on items then people or bodies to use the item.
Click to skip text typing.

Credits:
Nathan Patel (@gnatpat) - Programming
Felix Marrington-Reeve - Art
Tom Odell - Music
Archie Evans - Programming + SFX

Ratings

Coolness 100% 1
Overall(Jam) 4.10 37
Audio(Jam) 3.80 90
Fun(Jam) 3.85 70
Graphics(Jam) 4.26 122
Humor(Jam) 3.95 62
Innovation(Jam) 3.66 121
Mood(Jam) 4.11 43
Theme(Jam) 3.51 488

Feedback

Fanatrick
25. Aug 2015 · 02:51 UTC
Holy crap this is polished! The motion and feel is perfect for a detective game. If it followed the theme better this would get straight 5s all across the board from me :)
Demetz
25. Aug 2015 · 02:57 UTC
Oh wow! this is so awesome! the movement is amazing, the sound is dramatic and the overall feel of the game is pretty darn fantastic, congratulations!
FortressAustria
25. Aug 2015 · 02:57 UTC
nice solution for the movement of the characters ;)

I love the style and the choosen colors^^ (we have chosen the same color palette ;) )

COOL STORY! Really enjoyed playing it, it really got me! ;)
TeamCosmitronique
25. Aug 2015 · 03:01 UTC
This was a great entry. Another one I was looking forward to play as I watched its development.
Great overall. Was not expecting it to morph into a fighting game.
Lissar
25. Aug 2015 · 03:03 UTC
I enjoyed the mystery solving, not so much the fighting! That took me by surprise.
vividhelix
25. Aug 2015 · 03:06 UTC
omg this was so fun. first solving the murder, then a dark-souls-esque (stretching it a bit) boss fight. the mood is the best i've seen in all the entries I've tried, very well done! cover art very interesting, it's what drew me in!
jofra
25. Aug 2015 · 03:11 UTC
Great game! :)
rotpar
25. Aug 2015 · 03:13 UTC
Beautiful game.
Stanleys_Stoop
25. Aug 2015 · 03:14 UTC
Though I liked the fighting sequences the real meat of the game is the interrogation mechanic. The animations were well done and the dialog was humorous. Great job!
mrcdk
25. Aug 2015 · 03:15 UTC
Loved it, funny cases and lovely graphics and music!

The second part of the cases rekt'd me ;-;

I had some problems, like more dialog options than space though. I can't remember how I ended there and I can't reproduce it anymore.
tmpxyz
25. Aug 2015 · 03:18 UTC
a fighting game + a detective game, hmm, it's new.
Polyganz
25. Aug 2015 · 05:26 UTC
Great job! The title animation looks like the guy is jerking off. :D Having the text read out faster or be there instantly would've made this more enjoyable to play.
Karai17
25. Aug 2015 · 08:53 UTC
Great game, I liked the genre mixing. :)
Acerio
25. Aug 2015 · 08:53 UTC
That was a cool game. Great audio. Funny too :D
folex70
25. Aug 2015 · 13:23 UTC
congratulations for this game, i very impressed! maked only in 72 hoours!!
Nikteddy92
25. Aug 2015 · 14:33 UTC
Omg this is great!!! Super Amazing!
The best case was the first one with The MONSTER CLOWN.
EPIC
WELL DONE!
bakpakin
25. Aug 2015 · 14:33 UTC
I am very impressed. I expect this to do verrry well.
Kakureta
25. Aug 2015 · 14:44 UTC
I loved the art, the sound, the mood this game gave off. It was really fun to solve those cases. The only problem is it doesn't really follow the theme until the fight with a monster. It was fun!
rattower
25. Aug 2015 · 15:48 UTC
Those are some high production values for 72 hours. Very nice game!
Coruja
25. Aug 2015 · 16:00 UTC
Wonderful game! I liked so much the mix of styles! Great job!
Pusty
25. Aug 2015 · 16:16 UTC
Hahaha! Awesome work! Love the graphics!
S0rax
25. Aug 2015 · 16:43 UTC
Good game, nice graphics and sound. But the battle sequence is so hard and useless for me
gnuwilliam
25. Aug 2015 · 17:26 UTC
Very well done game! Love the art
AwesomeAlliterationAlliance
25. Aug 2015 · 17:28 UTC
Pretty neato! No loose ends in Gameplay, no bugs. Very polished and fun to play.
Jakob37
25. Aug 2015 · 18:25 UTC
Nice, incredible that you managed to pull of this in such short time span! I played through the first case, a lot of fun. Well done :)
Crosstales
25. Aug 2015 · 19:03 UTC
Wow, this game is really well done! Great cases, good audio, nice pixel-graphics and it looks very polished.
Are you planning to release this game? I hope so :-)

Superb job!
OmarShehata
25. Aug 2015 · 19:04 UTC
Just finished all 3 cases, fantastic game! I absolutely loved how the instructions actually like, and it turning into an action fighting game all of a sudden was a pleasant surprise! The humor was great too!
richardjs
25. Aug 2015 · 22:48 UTC
Great idea for the theme; not only is it original, it gives you a whole framework for setting up these detective stories. The art was great, and I particularly liked the protagonist design.

The fights were frustrating at first, but after I approached it as solving the puzzle of their movement patterns vs. viewing it as a pure action sequence, I enjoyed them more.

A short finale sequence after solving all three cases would have been a nice capstone.
glimaleite
26. Aug 2015 · 00:43 UTC
The visual brought me back to the time when I still had my Game Boy! I really enjoyed the detective parts, but I had a rough time with the fighting mode. Great job, guys!
Mark Venturelli
26. Aug 2015 · 02:59 UTC
Wow this is amazing :O

I also made a story game, maybe you'll like it
Crefossus
26. Aug 2015 · 11:49 UTC
gj
mantis
26. Aug 2015 · 11:50 UTC
Great job!
crucknuk
26. Aug 2015 · 17:32 UTC
Nice stories and really good graphics and music!
KodingNights
26. Aug 2015 · 18:45 UTC
I enjoyed the investigative part. The fighting felt out of place, it was just a strange mix of concepts. Good game though!
LazyPenguin
26. Aug 2015 · 19:21 UTC
This was great!!
mar3k
26. Aug 2015 · 19:22 UTC
Simply AMAZING!
Rocketship
26. Aug 2015 · 21:03 UTC
Loved the story parts, they reminded me of Phoenix Wright games. I wished the cases would've been more problem solving and less fighting as I think the fighting was the weakest part of the game. Loved the atmosphere, story and graphics though. Good job!
lucienpro
27. Aug 2015 · 06:11 UTC
Watched your awesome Twitch stream and you cam out with an awesome game, great job!
crucknuk
27. Aug 2015 · 17:29 UTC
It's a very good game, I liked it! Graphics are good especially monsters sprites. The three stories are fun and the game is very polished. This is a great entry, good job!
Vladirien
27. Aug 2015 · 17:38 UTC
One of the best games I played so far! Reminds me a lot of ace attorney games. The game is really polished, good job!
Dikkop
28. Aug 2015 · 13:51 UTC
Cool game! Like the humour!
Mike Mezhenin
28. Aug 2015 · 16:07 UTC
Holy sh~t, first boss fight was really unexpeceted! Awesome game, one of the best I've played so far.
theholychicken
28. Aug 2015 · 19:48 UTC
Totally engaging through the entire length of the gameplay! The writing is dynamic and funny in each case, the boss fights are spectacular. Enjoyed it very much! Great work!
Stending
28. Aug 2015 · 21:40 UTC
Amazing! Best game I played this LD! Congratulation :)
Dizzyman572
29. Aug 2015 · 17:37 UTC
I love the noir art style! Solving cases is a blast, and I liked the mini fighting sequence. :D
shawn42
30. Aug 2015 · 01:56 UTC
I like it! You basically wrote two games.. the detective game and the fighting.. nice!
Teesquared
30. Aug 2015 · 04:50 UTC
Nice combo of mystery and fighting game. I had a hard time with the fighting but it kept trying over and over. Very complete and polished game.
Aevek
30. Aug 2015 · 08:29 UTC
Super cool game! A really well-implemented mystery interrogation game followed by an acceptable fighting thingy. And three whole cases! Thats a lot of content for 72 hours. Awesome job.
Drunkteam
30. Aug 2015 · 11:42 UTC
Cool story!
Schrodinger Games
30. Aug 2015 · 14:25 UTC
Lovely style! Congrats!
zuurr
30. Aug 2015 · 16:16 UTC
love this entry. extremely well done. great art, writing (those puns...), and audio. lots of content too! seriously great submission.

bit bummed that i was never the monster though.
Ulydev
30. Aug 2015 · 17:00 UTC
Really, really great entry. An insane amount of polish!
roaringcatgames
30. Aug 2015 · 20:42 UTC
Great visual and audio. This creates for a great mood!

-Loi LeMix
randoman
30. Aug 2015 · 21:08 UTC
Really liked the case solving but the fighting was a bit down to me.
MiniBobbo
31. Aug 2015 · 02:57 UTC
This was fun. I like how the accusation is the theme. Refreshing change from the player actually being the monster.

I definitely felt the beat-em-up sections at the end were the weakest part. But they were still plenty fun and each monster made me laugh.
Insality
31. Aug 2015 · 19:00 UTC
oh shi~, how many time i spended?
Great entry, now words. Its brilliant polished game. All is done perfectly
Dianouille
31. Aug 2015 · 19:10 UTC
I love that you mixed a mystery solving game with a fighting game. Nice graphics, cool stories...It's really an awesome entry !
David Yates
31. Aug 2015 · 19:21 UTC
First of all, really nice polish and effort on display here. Loved the art and the quirky little stories.

The gameplay I wasn't totally happy with. The adventure part kind of has that all-too-typical adventure game story/puzzle disconnect where your character is a detective who solves mysteries but all you actually do is complete errands for people and rub objects on each other until something happens. But the stories were all pretty silly, so in that way it didn't really matter as much.

The boss fights kinda came outta nowhere with no fore-warning and I found them more irritating than fun. A boss battle is to a game level as a final exam is to the term's coursework, so this was like if I spent a term studying underwater basket weaving and then got to the exam and it asked me to write an essay on Shakespeare.

But I had fun with it nonetheless. :)
Crosstales
31. Aug 2015 · 20:00 UTC
Good one!
UncleChris
31. Aug 2015 · 20:23 UTC
I really liked it, and very well done and very innovative. The graphics are very well done. And the surprise case endings was perfectly unexpected! Keep up the awesome work.
axoona
31. Aug 2015 · 20:59 UTC
This is a great game, nice approach of the theme, the dialogs are funny and I truly enjoyed solving the cases (but I must admit that although I find it innovative, I really hated the fighting... I just refreshed the game to solve each case from the start...)
JoshyOshKenoshi
31. Aug 2015 · 21:08 UTC
This game is great! I love the original concept, the artwork, and the humour. I feel that the fight scenes were a little restricted, but I still think it's cool that each was different.
HappyHour
01. Sep 2015 · 02:19 UTC
Definitely one of the funniest ones I've played so far. The sudden boss fight completely caught me off guard. Great work!
LeafThief
01. Sep 2015 · 07:27 UTC
Well done. Good and moody entry and SO MUCH content. Really impressive for 72h!
daydreamcorgigames
01. Sep 2015 · 09:32 UTC
Awesome game! Love the humour.
Gamepopper
01. Sep 2015 · 18:56 UTC
Quite funny point 'n' click detective game, which actually had some pretty good twists. Plus I love the animation
The fighting parts were a bit weak however, you can easily beat all three monsters with just one technique over and over again.
HThomson
02. Sep 2015 · 15:44 UTC
A refreshingly original take on the theme. Brilliant mood, straight off the bat I was engrossed in your sepia-tinted world of mystery and intrigue, the title music was the perfect opening and immediately set the tone for the rest of the game.

The dialog system was smooth and being able to skip text once you've finished reading prevented any frustration or unnecessary waiting around.

My only harsh critique is that the fight scene feels quite out of place and detracts from the main strength of the game which is the dialogue and story.

However, other than that, fantastic game! 5/5
dickpoelen
02. Sep 2015 · 15:50 UTC
Great clown monster (wasn't expecting a (rather difficult) fight).
hitchh1k3r
02. Sep 2015 · 16:29 UTC
I always like when a game subverts expectations. When I first got into the combat part though I found the controls (mostly hit detection) to be off putting, I think it's important to have a well polished second part when you pull a switcheroo like that. ^_^ Once I got the hang of it though, I finished all three chapters fairly easily. Nice work on this.
crafteverywhere
02. Sep 2015 · 16:47 UTC
Very impressed. Good job! The stories are very fun.
dunin
02. Sep 2015 · 17:58 UTC
nice packaged game!
funny and good graphics..
the point'n click part is maybe too linear but there are three cases: impressive work!
togie
02. Sep 2015 · 18:16 UTC
First boss was easy stuff... after learning to jump with him not away :P Fun though! the blinks should be faster and not as long though... there were a couple time i had no clue where my guy was lol
keddelzz
02. Sep 2015 · 18:24 UTC
Well executed! Fancy graphics and matching audio!
Dining Philosopher
02. Sep 2015 · 19:07 UTC
Very nice entry!
The cases were interesting. The fighting was a bit less fun, since the movement was not so smooth. The music is good. I like the art style. Well done!
kles4enko
03. Sep 2015 · 07:38 UTC
nice!
Chris M
03. Sep 2015 · 09:34 UTC
Nice detective game! So rare to see something like this in LD.

I think I would have preferred a shorter, more compact experience to the amount of content you managed to make here. Sequences like the fight (which is blocking but results in no penalty but a time drain) were exciting but I feel could have been achieved using less intrusive designs (for instance, a short mini game that uses the mouse).

Otherwise great writing, art and ideas. Good stuff!
WizzardMaker
04. Sep 2015 · 13:30 UTC
Great game, nice story but the boss fights where a bit to hard, there should be a "no boss fight" mode
Xanjos
04. Sep 2015 · 15:35 UTC
Found a bug where if you get a double KO in the fighting part, you still get a win but the battle music doesn't stop. Other than that, absolutely loved the storytelling plus the parts where you accuse the suspect of being the monster reminds me so much of the Ace Attorney games.
Drauthius
04. Sep 2015 · 19:15 UTC
Nice entry. I really liked the story, depth and different characters. The graphics (outside of fights) were very nice. The fights were funny, but not that fun.
pirate_shell
04. Sep 2015 · 21:49 UTC
I really like the narritive, music and graphics. Point and clicks as a genre rely majorly on content and having lots of it so I don't think it's the best choic for a jam. That said, with the limited amount of time what you managed to create was impressive and well done. The fighting mechanics were quite clunky but that's understandable. Overall, great entry!
mustaine
04. Sep 2015 · 22:22 UTC
Brilliant. 5 stars.
euske
05. Sep 2015 · 02:31 UTC
This is how video games are supposed to be.
walsh9
05. Sep 2015 · 04:59 UTC
Great writing. Loved the art. Feels super polished. What a great game!
hexagore
05. Sep 2015 · 09:43 UTC
Really enjoyed solving the cases. Nice mechanic there, great art, it was wonderful. I found your use of the theme pretty refreshing too. I must admit I didn't enjoy the switch to a fighting game. It felt unnecessary for me. The case solving was more than enough (maybe if I didn't find it impossible to beat the monster I'd feel differently though).

Still a great entry though, no question :)
xvw
05. Sep 2015 · 12:01 UTC
Your work is awesome!
Love how you turned the theme!

I can't believe that you could do all that in so little time... this is... monstrous! :D
rxi
05. Sep 2015 · 15:04 UTC
Every part of this entry just *worked* together, the pixel art, the low-colour palette, the tweening motion, the beautiful sound effects, the music, the gameplay, the humour, the weird combination of game genres. Every part had its place and worked to make an excellent and enjoyable whole.

A really fresh entry! Nice work.
CrazyMinnowStudio
05. Sep 2015 · 17:43 UTC
Great sound and a nice look. It delivered a fun flowing story. If you decide to take this further, the monster fights seem a little out of genre and might be jarring to fans of this slower paced style of game. Nice job!
kerotan24
07. Sep 2015 · 15:58 UTC
Funny cases but the fighting feels unnecessary for a mistery.
MaesK
07. Sep 2015 · 18:40 UTC
Great game! And you guys even did three cases! Excellent work. Sprites are really good, specially when they move and rotate just like Paper Mario.
HotBoxGames
07. Sep 2015 · 19:03 UTC
Awesome entry! a lot of content for just 3 days! Loved all 3 of the cases and the art was superb, good job!
DDRKirby(ISQ)
07. Sep 2015 · 21:03 UTC
Amazing! Not only did you manage a polished detective-style game, but when the fight scene started I was like omg, this is like Nightshade!!!

To be honest the fight scene was probably a bit unnecessary but I guess it works well enough. Art style really works well here, good job with the palette and I think the manipulation of the sprites works well. Great job guys, looking forward to reading your blog posts!
allinlabs
09. Sep 2015 · 11:38 UTC
Great game and it's actually pretty long. The fighting seems weird, but everything else is perfect!
nassi
10. Sep 2015 · 13:33 UTC
I liked the investigation parts but the fight parts, not so much. @richardjs already mentioned the puzzle approach and I think that the fights could've been a better fit to the game if they were less action oriented and even more puzzle like. Like having to figure out the monsters weakness and then defeating it with a single move or something. As is I just don't feel the fight scenes really added to the game.
bombjack
10. Sep 2015 · 18:59 UTC
nice game. I wasn't expected the fight :) good job!
LandoSystems
11. Sep 2015 · 00:42 UTC
Very fun game, good art style, good humor, serious plot twists, unexpected horror... great work!
Patomkin
11. Sep 2015 · 16:13 UTC
Fantastic style! :)
Kizler
12. Sep 2015 · 03:24 UTC
That was awesome!
Erkberg
12. Sep 2015 · 16:45 UTC
Wow, that was amazing! Great visuals and gameplay. Those battles were a really nice change of pace. The humor was also great, probably the funniest game I played this LD. I really enjoyed this a lot, good job!
peterthehe
13. Sep 2015 · 12:22 UTC
So incredibly polished. Loved the puns :P
Ovidios
13. Sep 2015 · 12:56 UTC
Awesome! The first case's monster seemed a little too hard to beat though, considering I had no problem at all beating the other ones!
pavel_insight
13. Sep 2015 · 21:46 UTC
GREAT and simple. And also very funny.
Love to see a point&click adventure on LD!
Solved all three cases. 8)
superfreak
14. Sep 2015 · 09:48 UTC
Brilliant artwork and a super polished piece - truly impressive effort!
eemmbbeerr
14. Sep 2015 · 20:54 UTC
A wonderful entry all together!
The fights were hard to figure out because they are a bit unresponsive and it's hard to judge exactly what will land and what won't, thereby ending up in a bunch of restarts, at which point I have to listen to the instructions again. A faster retry would make fighting a lot more enjoyable.

That had to be described in a long text but it is an extremely minor complaint in an awesome entry. Well done!
Tselmek
14. Sep 2015 · 21:05 UTC
Really great and polished game. I don't know what else to say but congratulations for the exceptionnal job you've done. The humour is great, the art is awesome, the sounds superb, everything is perfect. Might have liked something like a stamp thing when a case was done and this'll get you only 1/5.. Just kidding ;) here's your A+ sirs.
andyman404
14. Sep 2015 · 21:49 UTC
Lovely graphics and polish! Well done!
warlorddreadful
15. Sep 2015 · 00:04 UTC
Loved the writing and art style! Great job.