Game: Spectral Traces

A game design by Emma Mörk.

“Want to hear the other side's part of the story? In Spectral Traces you can find the truth from the spirits that has yet to pass to the other side.

Switch between the two main characters to gather information from the dead and the living to solve the mysterious crimes in a darkening city. Solve puzzles to access hidden areas, and witness the consequences whether you caught the right guy or not.”

That’s the high concept for the game. It is a puzzle adventure game. A Detective game with a supernatural twist. The basic gameplay consist of running around in a level with a crime-scene and surrounding areas with clues and witnesses. Both real and ethereal, namely ghosts. You gather clues and talk to the witnesses to conclude a suspect of the crime. The crime can be a murder or burglary.

Concept of split screen gameplay.

Features of the game:

• Switch between characters with different access’s in the game. Sarah has the authority to arrest the suspect, access the crime-scene and be taken seriously when interviewing witnesses. Alexi can talk to ghosts to get clues, he is agile and can access difficult places, and he is able to eavesdrop on conversations.
• Co-op. Played on separate machines, or split screen. The split screen function works that when the characters are close enough the screen become one.
• No identical crime scene. The clues are randomized to a certain degree for each game, providing a slightly different play through each time.
• Puzzles. Everything from pressure plates to dilemmas between ghosts. All puzzles is rewarded with a clue or the access of another area with a clue. These clues isn’t affected by the system of clues disappearing when another one is gathered.
• Consequences. View and listen to the consequences. The game world is affected with what is said on the radio, how the civilians behave, and events on following levels.
• Color highlights. The color highlights will give the player a hint of what is going around them. Blue is neutral, nothing special is happening. Green is safe, having positive conversation. Yellow, alert, something suspicious is going on somewhere close etc. The color’s meaning will be taught early in the game.

The characters of the game is Alexi and Sarah. Sarah, a special police investigator with authority. Alexi, a boy who have been able to communicate with ghosts since birth. Alexi’s brother was murdered and the culprit was never found, as the police wouldn’t listen to Alexis’s first hand proof from his brother’s ghost. Sarah was the only one to listen to Alexi. She claims to believe him, and offers help in catching his brother’s bane in exchange for his help in solving crimes. Together they’ll find out whether influence from the dead is really good or bad.

Character Concept.