Hi everyone!

I’ve been working on some shorter cases that will serve as the initial levels for the game. The latest one that I finished is probably going to be the first “case”. Because my own inspiration for the game came from reading detective novels, I thought why not include something similar in the game. In this case, you play as a young Cleo who is reading a story that takes place in the ancient (and fictional) kingdom of Anira.

The protagonist of the story is Tira, a loyal friend of the king who just happens to be an excellent detective. Someone has burned an important document and it’s his job to figure out who did it.

Before Tira reveals the culprit, you (as a young Cleo) are given the chance to solve the case yourself. You’ll have to read the book carefully, pay attention to Tira’s observations and figure out who did it and how.

In a way, it was more challenging to make a level that’s small and easy than some of the longer cases I’ve worked on. With longer cases, you have more room to add clues and suspects but in this one I really had to strip away anything superfluous and focus on just the essential details. One of my inspirations while developing this case were the Hercule Poirot short stories in which Agatha Christie brilliantly manages to fit in deep and interesting mysteries in just a few pages.

I really enjoyed working on this bite-sized case and the “storybook” format felt perfect for it. In fact, I like it so much that I’m now considering adding a few more stories to Tales from Anira. (Maybe solving the storybook cases could be like a side-quest in the game.) I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks for reading! :)