Though almost unbelievable, we still work on our “secret mystery project”.
We’ve divided the gameplay into “scenarios” (which might be called “chapters” just as well)and have now asked people to play and comment on the very first one of these. It’s gameplay is very different to the “main gameplay”, so you might wonder what we’re trying to achieve with these feedback sessions?
The scene we’re talking about is actually the very first scene to the game, so it is especially important, what with all those first impressions. It’s a simpler form of gameplay, in that it’s basically just answering questions (in elaborate ways – it’s not simply clicking on a button! 
). It’s, at least thats what I believe, an intriguing scene. Even before you’ve seen the main character, you get a short introduction (=briefing), and then the game just keeps asking you questions, logically advancing the scene. You’re thrown in the game, and you’re bombarded with gameplay.
This used to be very different in old drafts. The main character talked directly to you, and there was lots of text. That kind of approach can work fine, but we wanted something a little more direct and drastic. So we cut all that, and changed the style completely. And now, you’ll have to solve a puzzling case, hopefully having fun along the way and maybe wondering … who wants to know all this? Who am I talking to, who am I playing as?
I believe it is a much better introduction than before. And I can’t wait for all the feedback!
In a way thats also an advantage of this chapter/scenario-based approach. We can take parts of the game and have them tested individually. Now that the main code is done, we can advance scenario-wise with further code. This results in a lot more cinematic experience than we had in mind at first, but I believe the first chapters can be done in such a style 
