Who Stole The Presents?!
A Christmas detective game designed for virtual play
The Need
This holiday season looks a lot different for so many individuals this year, including me. Due to the current pandemic, I am unable to see my family this year for the holidays. With that, we plan on virtually engaging with each other this Christmas. My mom asked me to find some games we can play with each other vrtually and I thought why not make my own game that is both exciting and unique to really bring us together. So, I created the detective style virtual capable game: Who Stole the Presents?!
The Plot
The plot of this game is that someone stole all of the Christmas presents and players must use clues and character descriptions to narrow down a culprit.
The Characters
I designed all of the characters using avatarmaker.com and then built out their cards in google slides. All 9 of the characters have aspects of their lives that when paired with the clues will help the players discover the culprit. Their descriptions also include red herrings to throw off the players.
The Clues
There are 12 clues that are messaged to players by the game master one at a time through the chat feature on whatever communication platform they are using. Each clue can knock out 1-3 characters. By the 12th clue the players should now be able to figure out who the culprit is. I created the clues using google slides and PNG images.
AWAKE: they are either awake early or awake late
A quote from the movie ELF
A hint to Christmas Vacation
CITY: the city is in their descritption
Their favorite vacation spot is somewhere with beaches
NEW YEAR: they talk about the New Year
NIGHT: they are up at night
They have red hair or a pet with red fur
A hint at Home Alone
They wear glasses
A hint that their description involves jewelry
TEETH: they care about their teeth
Testing the Game
After creating the entire game and running through it multiple times myself, I wanted to test it out on my game loving friends. To do that we played over Discord where I would send them each a clue in a private message which they would then share the clue they found with the group and then work together to eliminate characters.
The Results:
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The whole game took about 45 minutes to complete and they loved it
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There were a few errors in the descriptions that accidentally sped it up a bit
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They would love to have the final clue not to give away the answer but bring it to a final two that they have to determine what person is closer to being the culprit
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Suggestions for more clues: colors, clothing, more deciphering
Who did it?
Takeaway & Next Steps
Overall, the game was a success but fairly straightforward. I feel that the current version would be great if you are playing with young children as they will find it a challenge but still be able to solve the crime. Next, I want to develop the game a little bit further by adding in more challenging clues, more characters, and a more challenging ending that involves looking at the clues as a whole to help identify the culprit. I also want to add in the second set of clues with a different culprit so that you can play the game more than once. I feel that two rounds should be plenty for a game meant to be played virtually on Christmas. Hopefully I can make these changes in time to send the game out for all my friends and family to play!