Ludum Dare #60compo
It's About Time for Murder
Marnie Mayhem's trapped in the 1920s until she can identify her murderer!
Play it Here!
In the future, there are many assassins, all of which have questionable and frankly silly names. Marnie Mayhem has recently been made a target for bringing up the elephant in the room, during a cocktail party she mentioned how silly it is that her group specifically asks for alliterative names. The management didn't like this, so they hired another assassin group to take her out.
Marnie hopped into a time portal to the 1920s to hide in a dirty city. Only one assassin knows to look for Marnie, if she can take them out before they do, she'll be home free.
How to play the game:
Your objective is to find out who your killer is and take 'em out before they can do so. They conveniently pass by your building, so they'll be just outside the window at some point.
Controls are left and right (A and D if you prefer) to move, and the spacebar is used to interact with things.
- The Room: You move left and right and press the spacebar to interact with something when it has the "!" icon above it.
- The newspaper: Use up and down to find the part of the newspaper with the red line, when you do press the spacebar and get information on a potential killer.
- The board: information on your potential killers is here, use left and right to scroll through who you've seen (as well as those you haven't).
- The phone: Occasionally, the phone will ring with very good tips, so make sure you note them down when you answer it.
- The radio: Like the newspaper, but you scroll through stations to find the one station with information on one of your killers.
- The window: This is where you will take a guess at who your killer is. They will be standing outside at their designated time. Fire at the right one and you're safe to return to your time! Fire at the wrong one and... well you just outed yourself and your killer will find you no problem. Choose carefully!
- The bed: This is to kill time, be sure to wake up occasionally for phone calls.
Standard LD Addendums and Disclaimers:
As is the rules for Ludum Dare, my game's source is available as the zipped GameMaker project format on the itch page. There is very little in the way of comments and I would not suggest you borrow most of the practices you see.
I will also take a moment to note that no so-called "generative AI" or any AI tools for that matter, were used in the making of this game. Everything was handmade with my imagination at the helm and various tools I've acquired over the years.
Comments9
henk19 Oct 2026, 19:47
I liked the music and visuals!
I think the gameplay could maybe use a bit more variety. It seems the core loop is scanning newspapers for a couple of minutes followed by waiting for phone calls for a couple of minutes, after which you solve the puzzle then wait couple more minutes for the time to line up. It'd be nice if I had an incentive to switch between the various tasks rather than just waiting things out.
For a deduction game, I'd prefer if it were possible to solve the puzzle without leaving the game window. For something simple like this all it would have taken is the ability to "eliminate" suspect entries using a red mark or something. As-is, I have to keep a separate text document open to write down all the phone hints.
Two bugs:
1. The "sleeping" graphic is misaligned and I can see my character's feet behind it
2. On my second playthrough I somehow caused the game to freeze when picking up the phone immediately after hanging it up, forcing me to close the tab and restart. It only happened to me once, so I'm not sure what the exact cause is.
I think the gameplay could maybe use a bit more variety. It seems the core loop is scanning newspapers for a couple of minutes followed by waiting for phone calls for a couple of minutes, after which you solve the puzzle then wait couple more minutes for the time to line up. It'd be nice if I had an incentive to switch between the various tasks rather than just waiting things out.
For a deduction game, I'd prefer if it were possible to solve the puzzle without leaving the game window. For something simple like this all it would have taken is the ability to "eliminate" suspect entries using a red mark or something. As-is, I have to keep a separate text document open to write down all the phone hints.
Two bugs:
1. The "sleeping" graphic is misaligned and I can see my character's feet behind it
2. On my second playthrough I somehow caused the game to freeze when picking up the phone immediately after hanging it up, forcing me to close the tab and restart. It only happened to me once, so I'm not sure what the exact cause is.
thejackimonster19 Oct 2026, 21:14
Really fun idea to have this combination mechanic with information rather than mechanical parts for this theme. I really enjoy the soundtrack and art style.
flyingbear20 Oct 2026, 02:01
Awesome art and music! It makes me want to check out your other jam games. Creative use of the newspaper and the radio to find hints. Maybe I didn't see it, but I would have liked a way to eliminate suspects on the board. The real time element is a bit tricky. If your murderer is one of the early ones it seems really tough to have enough time eliminate suspects. By the way, I tried three times, and I think I got lucky on my first go and failed the next two. Also, I felt very overwhelmed by all the elements on my first play. I caught the suspect on that play without even figuring out what the newspaper or radio did (I definitely got lucky). I think the game could benefit from a couple of tutorial levels that teach you the newspaper and the radio before the main event
Human Writes Code20 Oct 2026, 09:16
It took me a little while to figure out how the game was meant to be played, but once it clicked I really liked it. I have to admit, I ended up writing down the clues. It would have been nice to cross out the suspects in your pin board when you ruled them out. The music was suited the game well and the pixel art was awesome. Also, a real bakelite telephone in your room in the 1920s??! Seems like someone time travels in luxury! Great work!
Paroxysmal21 Oct 2026, 01:18
Great little game, love the graphics and music. REally reminds me of old consoles. Well done.
Chomby21 Oct 2026, 04:35
Congrats on compo, I like deduction games and this was fun. The persistent clock and sleep made me feel that i'm in the building, up late trying to uncover the identity. The music and visuals are really impressive and consistent. I like the backstory. I'm thinking getting messages like "meet me outside at 7:00" could be another way to use time to gather info.
silkworm_sweatshop21 Oct 2026, 16:53
Really nice graphics, sound and overall polished presentation. I really enjoy deduction games. It's maybe a bit on the easy side with only weapon and time to consider so another layer of depth would be nice. Still, brought out some pen and paper and had fun (even though I later noticed the character files are updated with information in game as well).
vorondesan21 Oct 2026, 17:14
Hi especially dig the graphics and music, really gives you NES vibes! Liked the game too, but sadly it crashed after pikcing up phone many times in a row and after restart never run again, really wish to try it again!
I think the game itself was a bit confusing, but again, I don't really play these types of games almost ever. I love the little world you built and totally got lost in it for a sec!