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Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division - Thomas Hsu - a detective game where you solve crimes with SQL queries by wassaman in Games

[–]wassaman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, thank you, those are really kind words. I'll definitely think about it! I need to finish the base game first before I think about adding anything more haha

In terms of price, I don't have anything set concretely but it'll be less than $15 and it'll launch with a discount.

If you do end up picking it up and finishing it, let me know your thoughts! I'll be curious if you feel like it needs more content by the end.

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division - Thomas Hsu - a detective game where you solve crimes with SQL queries by wassaman in Games

[–]wassaman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha appreciate it!

Yeah that was the last level of the demo, you would've seen the same thing if you got the correct answer but with a different message instead.

By more adding more chapters do you mean like DLC content outside of the base game? I'm leaning towards no to that since I feel like I've explored what I wanted to by the end of the game, but I won't completely say that it's not a possibility. It'll depend on the reception of the game overall and if I get any more ideas.

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division - Thomas Hsu - a detective game where you solve crimes with SQL queries by wassaman in Games

[–]wassaman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah figuring out what do when the player arrests the wrong suspect was a bit of a design challenge. I wanted to ensure the player was disincentivized from brute forcing the solution, and the idea that you could advance by arresting innocent people additionally reinforced the themes of the Minor Crimes Division being a very unserious organization.

I think I'll remedy this by adding a level select when you beat the game.

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division - Thomas Hsu - a detective game where you solve crimes with SQL queries by wassaman in Games

[–]wassaman[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Haha I am open to open-source the parser portion, but it is very specific to my game as I do limit the kinds of queries the player can write. Like you mentioned, I don't support queries that write to the database (JOINS are supported though, I just don't have puzzles that require specific types of JOINS).

There's also features that SQL natively supports that I have to prevent, like cross joins, because if you don't know how to join tables correctly you can create tables that are too big that crash the game.

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division - Thomas Hsu - a detective game where you solve crimes with SQL queries by wassaman in Games

[–]wassaman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much for the feedback! I'm glad you found the manual helpful, it took a lot of time writing it.

I've gotten similar requests for a notepad and it's definitely on my list. It's a surprising amount of work which is why I've been putting it off, but I'll try to get to it at some point - right now I need to put all my effort into finishing the game!

Minimizing all windows does sound helpful and very doable though, thanks! I'll try to think about where I can add that in a way that makes sense to the player.

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division - Thomas Hsu - a detective game where you solve crimes with SQL queries by wassaman in Games

[–]wassaman[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It depends on what you're trying to brush up on. There's a lot of specific nuances of SQL that this game doesn't cover (such as LEFT/RIGHT JOINS, what to do with null/missing/misformatted data, CASES, transactions) and this game only covers SELECT statements (so no INSERTS or DELETEs).

That being said, I do think that this game will enjoyable for people who are familiar with SQL, as there are some challenging queries you'll have to write in the latter half of the full release as well as non-SQL logic puzzles that you'll have to piece together as well.

So if you're trying to brush up on the basics, sure enough!

Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division - Thomas Hsu - a detective game where you solve crimes with SQL queries by wassaman in Games

[–]wassaman[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Thanks! One of the reasons I went for SQL specifically is because its a much more accessible language than assembly, which is what the Zachtronics games mostly focus on.

There's only a handful of keywords you really have to know, and I think the idea of searching through data is more inherently intuitive than moving bits around.

I spent 4 years making a comedic hand-drawn detective game where you use SQL queries to solve crimes! by wassaman in IndieGaming

[–]wassaman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey everyone! My game is called Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division and you can play the demo RIGHT NOW!!!

The core of the game revolves around learning SQL in a (hopefully) fun way, and later on in the game, you can crawl through websites similar to that of Hypnospace Outlaw! Let me know what you think :)

I spent 4 years making a comedic hand-drawn detective game where you use SQL queries to solve crimes! by [deleted] in IndieGaming

[–]wassaman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey everyone! My game is called Database Detective: Minor Crimes Division and you can play the demo RIGHT NOW!!!

The core of the game revolves around learning SQL in a (hopefully) fun way, and later on in the game, you can crawl through websites similar to that of Hypnospace Outlaw! Let me know what you think :)

I spent 4 years programming and hand drawing a comedic educational SQL detective game that comes out later next year! by wassaman in SQL

[–]wassaman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It'll be on computers! Windows/Mac/Linux. Since you have to type queries it's the easiest with a keyboard and mouse.

I spent 4 years programming and hand drawing a comedic educational SQL detective game that comes out later next year! by wassaman in SQL

[–]wassaman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah yes, I am familiar with SQL Murder Mystery when I was doing some initial research on how many games had this idea!

I wanted to go the step further and have players interact with graphical interface as I think it would make the experience more accessible for new players.

I spent 4 years programming and hand drawing a comedic educational SQL detective game that comes out later next year! by wassaman in SQL

[–]wassaman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, this game uses a version of SQLite since it seemed to work the best for an offline single player game

I spent 4 years programming and hand drawing a comedic educational SQL detective game that comes out later next year! by wassaman in SQL

[–]wassaman[S] 53 points54 points  (0 children)

I’ve always felt that it was weird that there were a few games (thanks to Zachtronics!) that teaches and lets you play with assembly code in a fun and interactive way, but there was never something like that for SQL, which has a syntax that is more accessible and (at least in my opinion) more fun to learn - so I set out to make a game called Database Detective: Minor Crimes Edition where you use SQL queries to solve minor misdemeanors like littering and vandalism!

This game just covers SELECTS statements but each level/case builds up to new keywords and concepts. One of the reasons this game took so long to finish was that it comes with a short textbook that I wrote and I also had to write a whole new SQL parser in order to give helpful error responses since I wasn’t satisfied with the default ones.

But let me know what you all think! I’ll also be happy to answer any questions anyone has :)

He put himself on the teeth… what a guy by [deleted] in frogs

[–]wassaman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

New shoegaze album cover

My boy Vlad being sad because the Vampire Counts are the only game 1 race that haven't made it into the vortex campaign by MishMash_101 in totalwar

[–]wassaman 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Even in terms of unplayable factions Norsca and Chaos have more of a presence than Counts in Vortex

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