This game now has a post-jam version!

Overview

Jimmy Longtail has been found dead in a mouse trap. This would be normal in the mouse world, but some facts just don't add up. Could it be something more sinister? Don't worry, Detective Whiskers is on the case! Point and click to investigate crime scenes and talk to suspects in this murder mystery adventure.

How to Play

Use your mouse to navigate the menus. You usually have three options:

  • Move: Go to any location you've learned about. Talk to other characters to learn about new locations.
  • Investigate: Investigate the current location. Click on anything of interest to hear Detective Whisker's thoughts about it. If it's important, he will add it to the list of clues.
  • Talk: Present your clues to the character in the current location to hear what they have to say. You can get clues by investigating or by talking to characters. Sometimes you will get the option to contradict what a character says. Click the contradict button then choose a clue that contradicts the statement. You won't always have the right clue, so make sure you search around first.
Credits
  • Made with GameMaker: Studio
  • Programming, story, and dodgy art by Veralos
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  • Nyveon
    Patron

    Not exactly my type of game, but despite that I found it to be very entertaining.

    Great writing and plot, definitely kept me interested throughout :). Interesting theme. My main feedback is probably stuff that's been said in every single feedback already, but music and sound effects would have really added to the atmosphere of the game.

    Overall very well done! Congratulations.

    • Veralos
      Lv. 38
      Veralos Developer of The Mouse Trap

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate you playing the game even if its not usually your thing.

      Yeah, I certainly regret not being able to have sounds. I'll make sure to allocate time for that in my next jam.

  • Hyper Freeze Games
    Lv. 17

    I really liked how the story progressed, in the end, when all was revealed, it all came together soo nicely. This is quite the feat in writing for a 48 hour jam! Graphics were not the prettiest, but got the job done and were clean enough to not confuse items or anything.

    Sound would have added a lot to the charm, but I've been there in other gamejams :D

  • Tero Hannula
    Patron

    This was surprisingly nice game, I liked it. It is too bad there wasn't any sonuds. Reminds me of old point'click games from internet. Game felt snappy as there were no extra animations, and you could try out possiblities fast, which is good in these kind of games. Extra animations would not have fitted graphical style of the game either. And I am surprised amount of conversations and pretty coherent story, good job with it.

    • Veralos
      Lv. 38
      Veralos Developer of The Mouse Trap

      3yrs ago

      Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. The absence of animations is more due to lack of time and competence... but let's say it was because I wanted to make the gameplay snappier.

      • Tero Hannula
        Patron

        You have to know what you need to be accomplished to get core idea out, which you brought. And if you had made animations you might not have finished story. I think it was better this way, also less frustration if you don't get something and you are just trying different possiblities ^^

  • illdie
    Lv. 12

    I really like the creativity of the characters and their designs, and the art style feels like it fits the tone of the game really well. Great game over all. Good job, soldier.

  • Henry Haak
    Lv. 41

    I'm a big fan of the Ace Attorney series, and seeing a game in a similar style during a game jam is really fun. While I think the ambition of the project for a 48 hour game jam made other aspects of the game suffer, the art is still charming and the lack of music isn't a huge deal.

    Obviously the writing of the game is where most of the charm is, and for a script written in 48 hours it's quite good.

    On the gameplay side of things, it does suffer a little bit. The game falls into the same trap as the Ace Attorney investigation sections where you pretty much have to present every piece of evidence to every person. For example, I would have never presented the cat poster to the rich cat if I wasn't just presenting everything to everyone. I also would have liked to see the "Contradict" button on every piece of dialog that isn't your own, since finding the evidence to contradict something is usually pretty trivial.

    Still, I'm impressed you were able to make this game at all, and had a blast playing it!

    • Veralos
      Lv. 38
      Veralos Developer of The Mouse Trap

      3yrs ago

      Yeah, the clue system isn't perfect. Ideally I would have liked to have more lines that nudge you in the right direction when you present a clue to the wrong person, but you know how game jams are. For the cat poster specifically, my intent was that the clue you get for contradicting the rich mouse would sort of prompt you to show the poster.

      My original plan was to let you contradict anything, but I eventually decided against it. I didn't want to make the game too hard and being able to contradict literally any statement could get out of hand (even Ace Attorney limits you to the current testimony). Plus I would have to be super careful to make sure none of the characters say something innocuous that sounds like it could be contradicted.

      But I'm glad you enjoyed it despite those flaws!

  • ZedSquadron
    Patron

    Very cool take on the theme. The story was really awesome too. I really liked this one. As others mentioned below, some audio cues would have made this entry really shine.

    Great work overall!

    -SPROUT-
    Submitted

    -SPROUT-

  • Atomic
    Lv. 19

    Good murder mystery. I liked the character designs, and how three buttons unfolded a cascade of drama. It's unfortunate there aren't any sound effects. It really helps get through a lot of reading for me, even though I liked the writing a fair deal. The engine could be used to make a lot of fun games.

    cat game
    Submitted

    cat game

    • Veralos
      Lv. 38
      Veralos Developer of The Mouse Trap

      3yrs ago

      Thanks for the feedback. Not sure how great the "engine" is. It was my first time trying to implement a dialogue heavy game so a lot of the code isn't ideal.

  • 89o
    Lv. 18

    I actually really liked this one. Detective games are hard to come by in game jams. Good job on subverting my expectations, I thought all the time that it was the electrician or the businessman. The artstyle didn't actually bother me since it remained consistent and wasn't jarring to the eyes. What did bother me is the lack of any sound effects, which you could've just gotten from FreeSound.org, and a few plotholes. I was stuck a few times, once because I wanted to investigate the chain, but I was off by a few pixels, so I thought it couldn't be investigated, and later when I tried to contradict the electrician and showed her the fur, she said it doesn't support my case or whatever. What you could do next time is get someone, maybe a family member, to playtest your game, so you can patch up any plotholes and leave the player immersed.

    • Veralos
      Lv. 38
      Veralos Developer of The Mouse Trap

      3yrs ago

      Glad to hear you liked it.

      Unfortunately sound effects was one of those things I wanted to add that ended up falling by the wayside as I tried to get everything else working. Not sure if we're allowed to use pre-made sound effects though. I might need to refresh myself on the jam rules.

      I'm sorry to hear that you got stuck. Getting someone to playtest definitely sounds like a good idea.

  • Happysquared
    Lv. 15

    I'm a fan of the Ace Attorney series so this was fun to play through. I think the addition of sound and music would have helped it out greatly. I was playing it with a friend and we were reading out all the lines in silly voices.

    Felt the art style was actually quite charming too.

    • Veralos
      Lv. 38
      Veralos Developer of The Mouse Trap

      3yrs ago

      Yeah, sorry about the lack of sound. Giving your own voices to the characters sounds like fun though! I'm glad you liked the art style.

  • dosto
    Lv. 16

    Haa, that was fun. I liked the artwork in all its clumsiness. Story flowed well forward and I didn't really get stuck at any point. It was pretty whole.

    Sounds would have been a nice addition. Maybe some proper ending scene too?

    Ps. Nice to see Megavolt has ended up trying a new life as Millie ;)

    • Veralos
      Lv. 38
      Veralos Developer of The Mouse Trap

      3yrs ago

      It's good to hear that the story worked and was easy to follow. It was a bit hard to gauge how well it came across since I already knew everything.

      Yeah, the ending could probably be expanded a bit.

      That's pretty neat that Millie resembles the other Megavolt. I'd honestly never heard of that character before so it's just a lucky coincidence.

  • Mimpy
    Lv. 26

    Wow, this one really surprised me. You knocked it out of the park! I love the ace attorney style and you got it totally on point. The characters are interesting, the world building is fun and matches the jam theme perfectly, and the mystery itself makes sense and gets the "aha!" moment right.

    It feels like a very full experience, there's lots of stuff to examine and interact with.

    It's a shame there's no sound, but the rest of it holds up very well, I'd say.