Design Q & A

28 September 2009

Paul Woodbridge, Design Director of Relentless Software talks game design and development

What was your role in the Blue Toad development?

“Although I’m the Design Director now, when Blue Toad began I was the Lead Designer. I’m responsible for designing how the game plays and have also worked closely with the writer in developing the story.”

Where did the inspiration behind the game come from?

“During company brainstorming sessions there were many times when the idea of doing a murder mystery would arise. TV shows like Poirot, Midsomer Murders and Jonathan Creek have a lot of popularity so we felt that this was a theme that we could explore further.”

Why a murder mystery?

“People understand murder mysteries - they’re a popular part of our culture and seem to be fairly universally liked. When people watch a murder mystery they are often talking to each other trying to work out who did it. This off-screen interaction is something Relentless tries to put into its games so it seemed like a good fit.”

How long did it take to come up with a game design that actually worked?

“Various prototypes were being developed for about six months. In that time we had a board game where the main mechanic was time, a card game which had too much secret information to work on a TV screen, and various little interactive applications that each fell down at a different hurdle. The version which we finally went with was the simplest one we tried, which I guess says a lot about being careful about overcomplicating things.”

How did you design the puzzles?

“After the plot for an episode had been developed we would divide it into sections and try to find a puzzle for each one. If we weren’t able to think of one we’d make changes to the script and try again. Ruben, one of our designers, has been our puzzle man and once he’s got the basic idea for a puzzle he’ll do a paper prototype and challenge the members of the team with it. It’s a way to quickly test out and refine an idea before implementing it in code.”

What do you think is Blue Toad Murder Files' unique selling points?

“Traditional murder mysteries in both literature and on TV have required a certain type of deduction process to solve, requiring the player to sift through information and find the key points that highlight the culprit. Although there are some excellent games in the murder mystery genre, I don’t think any of them have required this particular thought process and that Blue Toad is the first to do so. It is also a social game that tells a story, and this too hasn’t really been done before.”

Who is your favourite character and why?

“There are a few that I’m very fond of, but at the moment I think it is between the hotel owner and Mrs. Gossip. The hotel owner I like because he often breaks the fourth wall by talking back to the narrator. Mrs. Gossip I like because she’s almost an exact copy of my own Grandmother-in-law, even down to having a huge teddy bear collection. This was intentional, and when I show her the game I’m curious as to whether she will notice the resemblance too!”