[Tumblbug] A record of a murder case involving superpowers ‘Stepper Case.’

‘Staffer Case’ is an indie game project that reads case data and reveals the truth of the crime through the combination of suspicious words. The game consists of 5 chapters with individual events, and the story changes according to various combinations. The game has to go back and forth between visual novel-style dialogue mode and reasoning mode to solve cases.

• Tumblr Link: Shortcut
• About the creator: Tim Tetrapod
• Official Twitter: Shortcut
• Development Blog: Shortcut
• Trial Download: Shortcut

◈ Game Background

The stage of the game is in 196X, a world where superpowers called ‘Steppers’ exist…

If Stepper tries to cover up the crime with his psychic powers, a general investigation cannot reveal the truth, so there is a ‘mana incident task force’ dedicated to psychic-related cases.
In the Mana case task force, stepper investigators use their superpowers to investigate the case.
The gamer takes on the role of Notrick, a new investigator in the Mana case task force, and solves the case.

◈ Game Description

‘Staffer Case’ is a game that reads case data and reveals the truth of the crime using superpowers through a combination of suspicious clues.

There are various types of case data, from documents documenting the superpowers of suspects to records investigated by colleagues using their superpowers, and each document contains 5 or more clues.

You have to find new facts little by combining certain parts of the document to arrive at the identity of the culprit finally. As the story progresses, more incident data can be obtained, and sometimes, incident data are recorded by directly investigating the scene.

The game consists of five chapters with individual events, and the story changes according to various combinations. The game has to go back and forth between visual novel-style dialogue mode and reasoning mode to solve cases.

The reasoning mode proceeds with the unique play of ‘Staffer Case.’ You can collate and combine different incident data to answer questions raised in conversation mode. Side stories are also unlocked as you try hidden combinations.

‘Staffer Case’ will run Tumblbuck crowdfunding until November 9 and will be released through Steam in March 2023.

◈ Project Schedule

◈ Development Team Introduction