The Trace

The Trace (officially The Trace: Murder Mystery Game) is a 2015 dark immersive murder mystery adventure game developed by British developer Relentless Software. The whodunnit game, which sees the player assume the role of a detective out to solve a series of murder cases by examining the crime scenes, has been described as "part escape-the-room and part hidden-object, with a bit of puzzle-solving mixed in". The game was available for iOS devices Production Prior to this game, the developers worked on the Blue Toad Murder Files series, which is thematically similar to the subject matter of this game. Relentless Software CEO Andrew Eades explained that while Blue Toad Murder Files was originally conceived as a PlayStation 3 DualShock game, it translated well to a touch pad interface. Becoming the No.1 app on iPad demonstrated to the company a market for puzzle adventure murder mystery games on these devices. The developers wanted to swap that game's cartoony family-targeted style for something more gritty, dramatic, and adult; therefore the franchise was split in two, becoming Murder Files: The Enigma Express and The Trace. Eades explained "The Trace's origins can be found in a prototype from 2010 called Blue Toad Crime Scenes". This "small" prototype was developed as a result of a series of discussions regarding how Relentless Software could further develop the Blue Toad franchise. Crime Scenes "experimented with ways to provide a more detailed crime exploration experience, where you'd take a much more hands-on approach to finding evidence". The game was not the basis of The Trace, but it provided the team with an opportunity to "create a really tactile investigation-based game" and see future potential in the genre. In the game's official press release, Eades said the following: Design The Trace described the formulation of the game's narrative: "Initially we worked out a story per scene but found it was challenging to connect them as a whole. In the end our writer David Varela wrote the whole story independently of scenes and gameplay. Then the best crime scenes within the story were picked out and recreated in the game." Many conversations were had between Varela and the game's producers regarding "just how dark we could go"; in particular two areas of contention were the state of Warren Oakley when the player finds him, and the injuries sustained by the dog Floyd. A "good balance" was achieved by the end of development.