Ash (12:02)

You burned to death, trapped inside the first all-women college, where the people nearby started a fire under the pretence of it teaching witchcraft to young ladies; some took the opportunity to get rid of those who were like a thorn on their side.

You were given a second chance in life to seek revenge and help other souls trapped to find peace so they can leave this world. Hence why you decided to become a detective.

For every soul that goes to the other side, information about yourself is sent as an anonymous letter. For now, all you know is how you used to look like before coming back to life, how much time has passed since coming back to life (5 years) and what your purpose is: revenge and help the souls.

After helping a child named Bonnie, whose mom was caught in the blaze, you get your full name, your parents’ name and the name of the one who betrayed you, your ex-husband.
You’ll encounter 7 ghosts throughout the week, each with different backgrounds. And after helping Bonnie, she’ll insist in becoming your assistant, where she’ll get accidentally entangled with your deeds creating a charismatic dynamic between the two.

Ash (12:12)

based on
Weird (spooky) experiences in my school in Spain, which not only is Christian (there’s this known superstition about religious areas having and attracting a certain aura), but was burnt twice by the citizens not liking religious acts nearby.
The second time, even the sisters of the house were mistreated.

Logically, there’s always been rumours of people dying in the fires and their ghosts roaming the school’s hallways. It is also known by teachers and classmates, that the school has some kind of mausoleum where they bury the corpses of the family who donated the terrain.

Furthermore, underneath the theatre, there are blocked tunnels that once used to connect with other religious schools during the civil war.

The ominous aura it has overall made it key for me to get inspired for this story.

Ash (12:19)

explanation
The reason as to why I chose a detective theme for the story is, not only because of the external influences after reading "trace", but also because of just like a detective, I'm searching for traces in life.

As the main character questions who she is and what's her purpose, I wanted to parallel this situation with what usually happens in real life; the existential questions, the anxiety around them and looking towards the future.
I also wanted to parallel the searching for traces as stepping stones when tracing your own path.

Outside of the deep meaning, I thought making a detective game would be fun as well.

Ash (13:00)

characters
1 - Robin Gunn




2 - Wilhelmina Bonnie Graves


3 - Marjorie Winnifred Graves

Ash (13:08)

process

Ash (13:13)

finished location

Ash (13:17)

game mechanics
The game’s goal is to solve the mystery and bring down those who started the fire after recovering your memories. To achieve this, you must help the seven main ghosts; the family members or acquaintances will seek out to you for some type of justice. And all that while fighting against unfair situations due to prejudiced and narrowed views involving your low economical status and the fact that you work as a detective, which is not a common job for women.

Getting inspired by a previous project with Ren’Py (just Girly Things), games like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Fran Bow and That’s Not My Neighbor, and puzzle-solving mystery mobile games like Mirrors of Albion, I thought a simple point and click game using only your mouse would be a good idea.

To get some specific information or get into locked rooms, you must solve puzzles with the clues given. The more you explore, the more context you are given to understand the story and the character’s personality and motivation. Some clues will affect your sanity levels; if these were to drop significantly, the ghost you’re trying to help will turn hostile and lead you to a Game Over screen.

You also have the ability to see beyond the mortal realm; this ability is called “Ghost Sight“. This can help while investigating, as some clues can only be seen when activated. However, extended use of this ability leads to headaches mentioned through the character’s inner dialogue (first warning), dizziness shown with areal blurring (second warning), bleeding shown with a bloody frame and with the character’s inner dialogue acting as a last warning, and lastly death (Game Over screen).

To make the game even more interactive and not that linear, whatever key choices you make throughout the game will be remembered and will have an impact on the game’s ending. The different outcomes will make it so the game has a level of replayability.

Ash (13:23)

gameplay
You start in your office. Dialogue comes up complaining about not sleeping enough. After a sudden knock on the door, a child enters; this child is Bonnie and she asks for your help after reading your ad on a newspaper.
She wants you to prove her mom’s death wasn’t an accident, but a murder and from none other than her own father.

After the child gives you the ring that used to belong to her mom (Marjorie) and the name of her father, Virgil Lancelot Graves, papers and a phone number appear on your desk if you take your goggles off; the number belongs to Marjorie’s friend, someone who may be of great help and the papers are basic information about the ghost in question.

Then, you’re free to either explore your office or go to the college in search of clues about what happened to Marjorie. If you choose to go to college, you’ll first need a hidden key to enter the building and afterwards, you’ll be able to explore the hallways and opened rooms in the ground floor; some of the locked rooms may need a secret code or a key to unlock them. You’ll have to find 5-7 key clues to be able to solve the mystery and help the ghost leave this realm.

Once justice is served, you’ll be back in your office and a letter will be at your desk. These letters are very necessary to recover your memories and start the next day.

And the cicle repeats with different things with which you can interact until you’ve helped all the main ghosts.

Ash (13:58)

aesthetic
For this story, I thought mixing film-noir with steampunk would be interesting and fun.
Some characters, like those who died in the fire, take more inspiration from one aesthetic over the other, but either way, the goal is to achieve a hybrid.
A great example of that could be the character, Bonnie Graves.

Another way to come across this two clashing aesthetics is by making use of the ghost sight (colour) or using the goggles (black and white).

influences

• Philip Maloney
• Sherlock Holmes
• Bioschok Infinite
• Steam-/Clockpunk
• Film Noir

sound
For this story, jazz, swing, dark cabaret and electro-swing are the go-to.
Since the time period I’m inspired by, due to the chosen aesthetics, is a mixture of the late 1800s with early 1900s, I thought that similar-sounding songs from that timespan sprinkled with some modern influences would be the perfect idea.

Most of the sound would be in the background serving ambient purposes; the office and inside the college, which have more of a dark, gloomy ambient, would be accompanied by jazz for the most part, swing and dark cabaret in a more melancholic way, whereas the scenes with a more upbeat ambient would have more of jazz/electro-swing music in the background.

inspiration
Steampunk Revolution - Abney Park
Buckets of Blood - The Great Malarkey
The Death of the Cog - The Cog is Dead
Brass Goggles - Steam Powered Giraffe
Automatonic Electronic Harmonics - Steam Powered Giraffe
Why Me? - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
All Night - Parov Stelar
Inkwell Hell - Kristofer Maddigan
Choose Your Seeds - ImRuscelOfficial
Beatophone - Caravan Palace
Suzy - Caravan Palace
Brotherswing - Caravan Palace
Jukebox (Klischée Remix) - Tarmac Rodéo
Black Coffee - Pisk

Ash (14:15)

22.01.26: homework idea: trace/spur
a point and click game.
renpy.
you're a fallen, deppressed detective, once the most brilliant of all, but due to unfortunate accidents a bad reputation got attached.
one day, an old man comes to your help. his daughter and wife went missing while he was out of town and reaches out to you for your cheap services.
you investigate initially their room and, step by step, the rest of the house trying to solve the mystery.
there are clues that indicate that someone withing the house actually murdered them, turning the case into a murder mystery instead of a missing-person one.
(you have to be careful, as investigating some things you shouldn't, may lead to a bad end)

characters:
mc- Robin Gunn (colour inspo: victorian clock)
man- Virgil Graves
daughter & wife- Bonnie & Marjorie Graves (colour inspo: victorian rainbow & victorian rose garden)
head maid- Martha Henry
maid- Mabel Little
butler- Howard Horne

dimensions:
bg-1920x1080
mc-270x270 (side NAME.png)
other characters-___x720

aesthetic inspo:
film noir w/ red highlight
steam-/clockpunk
bioshock infinite

23.01.2026:
· start mc character design

· idea change:
you're a detective, but not a normal one. you have the family's secret ability: ghost sight.
special goggles are worn to relax the eyes; overusing ghost sight gives headaches, dizziness, bleeding and lastly, death.
one day, an old man comes to your help.
his daughter and wife went missing while he was out of town and reaches out to you for your cheap services.
their ghosts appear after the man leaves giving you a clue before forgetting their memories, as it happens with ghosts for them to leave to the other side.
you investigate initially their room and, step by step, the rest of the house trying to solve the mystery.
there are clues that indicate that someone withing the house actually murdered them, turning the case into a murder mystery instead of a missing-person one.
(you have to be careful, as investigating some things you shouldn't, may lead to a bad end)

· start custom cursor in pixilart

24.01.2026:
· palette search and mc character painting

· idea change:
after a murder attempt from your now ex-husband where you were in a coma state for 6 months, you were given a second chance in life to seek revenge. in return, you must help ghosts find peace by solving their cases with the "ghost sight" you now possess.
special goggles are worn to relax the eyes; overusing ghost sight gives headaches, dizziness, bleeding and lastly, death.
for every case solved, mysterious letters with your ex-husband's information arrives at your shabby apartment.
one day, a woman and her daughter appear in your office. though they don't remember what exactly happened, they tell you that the main clue should be in the daughter's room.
to your surprise, the husband is nowhere to be seen. so you enter the house and start investigating before he comes back.

· custom cursor painted in pixilart

· goggles on: black & white// goggles off: colour

· scenes: office - apartment (living room-kitchen-bathroom-parents room-daughters room)

25.01.2026:
· idea change:
after being burned, trapped inside your first all-women college, you were given a second chance in life to seek revenge and help the souls trapped not only inside the college, but also those in nearby buildings. For every soul that goes to the other side, information about yourself is sent as an anonymous letter.
For now, all you know is how you used to look like before coming back to life and how much time has passed since.
After helping a child and her mom who were caught in the blaze, you get your name, family's name and the name of the one who betrayed you.
Your ex-husband.

original name: Adelaide Merle McLachlan (Odonaghue)
parents' name: Angus Bennett Odonaghue - Henriette Merle Jephcots
husband's name: Dick Roswell McLachlan

· scenes: office - college (caretaker/janitor's room-bathroom-groundfloor hallway)

· why the idea:
based on weird (spooky) experiences in my school, which is christian and was burnt twice by the citizens religious acts. the second time, even the sisters of the house were mistreated.
it is also known by teachers and classmates that the school has some kind of mausoleum where they bury the corpses of the family who donated the terrain and that underneath the theatre, there are blocked tunnels that once used to connect with other religious schools during the civil war.
all in all, it has a very ominous aura.

· why film-noir/steampunk:
film-noir was the first thing to come to mind when thinking about a mystery case. my brain went looking for similar aesthetics and steampunk caught my attention. i then thought "how would it look like if i mixed film-noir with steampunk?" and ever since, tried to incorporate film-noir fashion into steampunk, where steampunk is the dominant type of fashion. i think there's a lot of potential in such a mixture of styles just as Bioshock Infinite mixed the steampunk aesthetic with the 1920's fashion.

· side robin coloured

26.01.2026:
· started Marjorie

27.01.2026:
· finished marjories designs

28.01.2026:
· made marjories palette (victorian garden rose inspo)

· finished marjorie (full name: Marjorie Winnifred Graves (Scarborough))

· started bonnie (full name: Wilhelmina Bonnie Graves)

· idea tweak: bonnie is alive and marjorie died while trying to save her. after she sees your ad on a newspaper, she goes to your office to look for clues about her mom's death, since she's aware that it wasn't an accident, but rather her own father's doing.

29.01.2026:
· office frontview started and finished

· started gdd

30.01.2026:
· started bonnie's design (7 designs, chosing one and colouring)

· downloaded fonts

31.01.2026:
· bonnie's design finish

01.02.2026:
· bonnie's design coloured

· bonnie in office finished

02.02.2026:
· gameplay examples made

· downloaded free royalty music with the vibes

03.02.2026:
· frontpage image made

· started and finished document

04.02.2026:
· document tweaked

· started physical portfolios

05.02.2026:
· finished physical portfolios