ClueGen: An Exploration of Procedural Storytelling in the Format of Murder Mystery Games

Abstract

In this paper I present ClueGen, a murder mystery game that generates its own narrative. I discuss the genre’s suitability for combining gameplay and story using procedural generation techniques, before explaining the implementation and rationale behind ClueGen, utilizing the genre’s common structure as an opportunity to define the scope of the generation requirements. In particular I detail a novel system for telegraphing deceptive characters in procedurally generated games with text-based dialogue, by using audible cues.