What’s it like to be a casual game developer these days? Legacy Interactive, the publisher of the new hit game, Murder, She Wrote, recently completed beta testing on its upcoming game, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2.More than 400 consumers played the game and offered extensive suggestions. As a result, Legacy is making changes to its Victorian-themed puzzle game’s artwork, interface and gameplay.
“Expectations are high for Legacy’s new Sherlock Holmes game, and customers shared some great ideas throughout our beta testing process. We’ve decided to take additional development time in order to add the polish that a casual game now requires in order to break out from the crowd,” says Ariella Lehrer, President of Legacy Interactive.
The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 2, now scheduled for release in January, 2010, contains everything that made the first game a commercial success: sixteen new unsolved crimes of murder, theft, and kidnapping; intriguing characters, beautifully rendered Victorian locations and 50+ mini-games. In addition, take a peek at a few sample “before” and “after” screenshots to see how Legacy integrates its customers’ suggestions.• The colors are richer in this ornate boarding room hidden object scene.
• The robbers are a little trickier to spot in this fun circus themed mini-game.
• The dialogue boxes are less intrusive to the gameplay.
• The locations and settings are illuminated and animated beautifully.
Developers Diary #1 - here
Developers Diary #2 - here