Murders & Mistresses July Dev Update: 1,000 Combinations Later…

It's nearing the end of July, and M&M is looking really freaking good!

We're currently finishing up the release date announcement trailer. The first trailer was information-focused — it walks you through the gameplay and core mechanics — so this second one is the opposite: faster, punchier, and built purely to get you excited about what's coming. We'll be releasing it in the next few weeks alongside the announcement of exactly when M&M will release, so stay tuned for that!

Other than that, it's been a busy month development-wise.

I talked in last month's update about what my version of playtesting involves — it's like directing, editing, and bug-fixing a scene all in one — and I'm now about halfway through the entire game. It's genuinely exciting, not just because I finally get to play the game we've spent the last 18 months making, but because I get to make it even better as I go.

And I'm really proud of what I'm playing — both as an adult detective game and artistically. I think a number of scenes could stand side-by-side with prestige TV like Breaking Bad, Mindhunter, or The Mentalist in their overall feel and execution. Despite the large amount of humor, there's a darkness and seriousness to the game that, in my opinion, actually makes the sex scenes especially much hotter. I can't wait for you guys to play them and tell me what you think. Steam post image

The Cases

Outside of playtesting, most of my month has actually gone into the cases.

Here's something you might not know. When I first playtested the demo back in January, I tried to combine two deductions — and it wouldn't work. So I tried two others. Still nothing. I went hunting for the bug that was blocking it… except it turned out there was no bug at all.

When I originally designed the case, I mapped out the key case theories (formerly named "Conclusions") and gave each of them one or two combinations to reach it — roughly 20 case theories and 30 combinations for the whole case. What I didn't realize was how restrictive that would feel in-game. Not until I actually played it. That's why playtesting matters so much: some things are nearly impossible to foresee, and then blindingly obvious the moment you touch the real game.

What I actually wanted, once I was playing, was the ability to freely express my thoughts and combine pretty much anything logically combinable — and have it just work, no hiccups. For example: if "Anne is lying" + "Frank was shot" = "Anne shot Frank," then "Anne had a key" + "Frank was shot" should also lead to "Anne shot Frank" — or something even more specific. The point is that any deduction that criminally implicates Anne, combined with "Frank was shot," should get you to "Anne shot Frank" or a sharper variation of it.

It took weeks to fully implement that for the demo, but it felt incredibly satisfying once it was done — as you hopefully felt for yourself if you played the demo in detective mode. Combining deductions and case theories to think out loud is one of my favorite parts of the game, and it genuinely helped me stay calm as a detective during a pretty stressful first case.

Anyway, that took the demo case from 30 combinations to over 300. That's recursive combinatory design for you.

So this month, I had to do the same for Cases 2 and 3 — the other two cases that use the deduction system (Cases 4 and 5 work differently). Case 2 especially was a lot of work, because it has more variables than the other cases. Without giving anything away: it's not just about who murdered who and why. You also need to figure out which murder weapon was used, and who — if anyone — was framed. Add in even more suspects than Case 1, and the combinatory explosion left me with over 1,000 possible combinations and hundreds of possible case theories.

I'm delighted to say that all of those are now implemented, and both cases feel really exciting to play, deduction- and combination-wise.

I also got to do some really interesting work on the final case, which required designing a brand-new gameplay mechanic that none of the other cases use. I wish I could say more, but I can't without spoiling anything — you'll see for yourself soon enough!

And somewhere in between all of that, I wrote and implemented over 100 in-game text messages and more than 70 achievements. Neither of those gets its own dramatic story, but together they ate a solid chunk of the month. Like I said: busy.

The Supporter Edition

But that still wasn't everything — I also got to work on the Supporter Edition.

I always felt there was so much more we could have done with the College Kings Supporter DLCs, and we simply didn't have the time, thanks to the tight deadlines that come with making an episodic game at that scale with limited resources. For M&M, we're pulling out all the stops: three full bonus sex scenes, behind-the-scenes videos, hours upon hours of developer commentary (where I essentially play through all of M&M while talking about every scene in detail), gorgeous wallpapers, case guides, achievement guides, love interest guides, deleted scenes scripts, and more.

This month I recorded some of those behind-the-scenes videos and started putting the Supporter Edition together in-game. One thing I'm especially excited about: if you're unsure whether the Supporter Edition is for you, the base game will include free tasters of some of the extras — for example, the first episode of my developer commentary series. Give it a watch, and if you enjoy listening to me nerd out about the game, the Supporter Edition gets you a dozen more hours of it. Steam post image

Player Clarity

I guess you'd call those tasters something like player clarity, and it's actually been a really big priority for me on M&M. (Wow, that sentence sounds like a calculated press statement.) But it's true. Here's what I mean: M&M is full of intentional uncertainty — but only within the story. On the meta layer, the game layer, I've tried to be as abundantly clear as possible. That starts with the marketing, the Steam page, and the trailers, but it runs all through the game itself.

You can already see it in the demo. The marriage choice is exceptionally clear about what content each option leads to, and the city map uses colors and icons to show which scenes are dates, hangouts, or main story — and which contain the potential for sex scenes.

This month I went further and implemented a bunch of small features that make the game even clearer. Every save file now automatically shows which segment of the game you're in (for example, Case 2) and which marriage path you're on (for example, exclusive). The sex scene gallery now has an optional "Show Requirements" button — click it, and you can see the requirements for every locked scene: which segment of the game it's in, which love interest path it belongs to, and which marriage path, if any, is required.

I also added two new one-time popups. The first appears before the main menu the very first time you launch the game, explaining that the story — and the consequences of your actions — get dark and are closer to prestige TV logic than porn wish-fulfillment logic. The second appears when you start a new game for the first time, explaining that judgment under uncertainty is an intentional part of the detective experience in M&M.

The goal with all of this is to let you experience the game the way it was meant to be experienced: immersed, with the right expectations, and with friction only where friction is fun. The cases are difficult to solve and the story can get emotionally heavy — but you should never feel the need to meta-game just to unlock a sex scene. The game is clear about what it is, what you can expect, and where everything lives, so you can stay fully immersed and never have to wonder whether you might be missing content that you'd enjoy.

By the way, if you're wondering why I keep switching between "we" and "I": at this point, the rest of the team is mainly finishing the remaining images and animations — which is the same thing they've been doing all year, so there's only so many ways to report on it. Turns out game development isn't quite as glamorous as it sounds. But luckily for all of us, they're nearly done!

That's all for this month. The release date announcement trailer is coming soon, and the actual release won't be far behind — so get ready to play one hell of an adult detective game.

Much love, Steve Steam post image