Interactive Murder Mystery Case Design

Investigation Room ([login to view URL]) is an AI-powered interactive detective game, available on the web and iOS. The player is the detective: they get a crime scene and a set of suspects, and interrogate each suspect themselves, by text or voice. Every character is played by an AI that answers according to its own personality, secrets, and what it actually knows. Evidence isn’t handed over up front; the player has to unlock it by asking the right questions. In the end they accuse one person and are scored. So a case isn’t a story to be read. It’s a closed world: every character written with a background, secrets, what they know and what they don’t, and evidence designed to mislead the detective before it leads them to the truth. The job Write one complete case using a template I’ll provide (Word, Google Docs, or any text format you prefer; no coding involved). The template covers: Setting: place, date, time, cultural context 8 suspects, each with a background, relationships, age and birthplace, a clearly defined psychological type (angry, calm, nervous, the amateur sleuth who’s sure he knows the killer...), and a real motive, even if innocent The method of the crime, in detail 10 pieces of evidence: 3 decisive ones held by innocent characters, and 7 red herrings written in exactly the same form and wording so they can’t be told apart from the decisive ones Same-day side events that distract the detective Precise, non-conflicting timings What gets accepted, what gets rejected I judge a pitch on two things only: the crime trick and the misleading sequence the detective goes through before reaching the truth. Setting and atmosphere are secondary. Rejected on sight: locked-room-from-the-inside, power outage, wealthy guests in an isolated villa, or any other worn-out template. Decisive evidence must appear to point at someone else, and must never name the culprit. Style: clear, simple prose. First names only, no clan or tribal surnames. I’ll send you a list of settings already used in the game so you can avoid repeating them. How it works First, send half a page only, covering three things: the setting, the method of the crime, and the misleading sequence for the detective. If I approve the idea, we agree on terms and you write the full draft on the template. One or two rounds of revision with written notes. Payment on delivery of the final approved version. No commitment and no payment before the idea is approved. Cases are published under the game’s name with no writer credit; this is a firm condition. Budget: [100$] per case, plus free access to every case in the game, and the possibility of ongoing work (roughly one case every two weeks) for writers who prove their level. Preferred (not required): that you’ve tried the game and solved at least one case. It’s free to try for up to 15 questions at invsroom.com. To apply: put the half-page pitch described above directly in your proposal. Please don’t send a CV or generic writing samples.