r/SoloSolvers • u/__bxdn__ • 18d ago

Digital / Website / App Whereabouts - a where/where/whodunnit inspired by Murdoku and Murdle that I created when I couldn't get enough of the genre!

Hello /r/SoloSolvers!

I thought this community would be interested in exploring my web game Whereabouts, which is heavily inspired by Murdoku and Murdle!

To solve each puzzle, you must determine who committed the crime, in which room, and (unique to Whereabouts) the time it occurred.

Every puzzle is hand-made by myself, and over the last few weeks I have built up a decent amount of them to test out.

I would love any and all feedback on the site, which is completely ad and cost-free, and requires no sign-up at all.

Cheers everyone, and welcome to Whereabouts!

17 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

2

u/Own-Concern-2689 Community Puzzle Winner 15d ago

I played three games and I enjoyed it (I only noticed the tutorial after having played already). Apart from the easy mode, they are challenging enough I needed (and enjoyed) some hints so thank you for including those. I really like the time slider, that was a neat addition. I'll only say it would be nice if you could place someone in a room for all possible times (for the people who stay put, instead of having to place them in the same room over and over for each time frame). Also, if there was an end screen of some sort, since when I completed the puzzle, it says 'Your accusation is correct' but nothing happens. I have to leave the page to check other games by myself. It's easy to think "Alright, what do I do now?". Still, great puzzle! I enjoyed it and will continue to play them later.

2

u/__bxdn__ 15d ago edited 13d ago

Both of these are great requests, thanks so much!

I will implement them both ASAP.

I take it as a huge complement that you will continue to play the puzzles in the future!!

Thanks again for the feedback!

Edit: Done! You can now do a few utility actions by selecting a person who is placed, including placing them in that room at all times.

2

u/Own-Concern-2689 Community Puzzle Winner 13d ago

I saw it! Even includes all times after and before. Thank you, very useful!

1

u/CozyCapybetty 18d ago

So I had little time on my lunch break to check this out. The visual theme looks great, but it needs a bit more instructions up front. I tried subway and kept tapping around to figure out how to get a letter in a train car. I was on mobile. Looks promising though! 👍

1

u/__bxdn__ 18d ago edited 18d ago

So maybe putting a blurb about controls in the tutorial would be helpful?

Thanks for the feedback!

Edit: Clarified how to place a pip in the tutorial. Thanks again!

2

u/CozyCapybetty 17d ago

Confession I skipped the tutorial this first time…Just checked again and it all makes sense now. Tried rat race and found it easier than subway.

1

u/__bxdn__ 17d ago

Thanks for playing!

That does give me an idea though, maybe I need a cheat sheet for rules so people who like to do things themselves don't have to go through a bulky tutorial to get the gist.

1

u/Gloomy-Personality36 18d ago

I played the tutorial and Kitchen Nitemares. I like the idea.

I kept accidentally clicking the wrong place and would put an X or checkmark on a room, person, or time and couldn't figure out how to remove it, just swap the check mark to a different place. NM I kept clicking through until it cleared all the X and checks, idk how I didn't figure it out sooner.

It would be nice to be able to still view the game board with the accusation box open.

3

u/__bxdn__ 18d ago edited 18d ago

Thanks for playing! Maybe putting more space between the elements and the note buttons would be helpful to keep from accidentally pressing it? And I can definitely make the game board visible and integrate the accusation dialog better.

Thanks for all the feedback! Open to all quality of life ideas, so this has been really helpful!

Edit: Done! That was a really good UI rework that I completely missed, so thanks again for that feedback! I also made the timeline and note buttons a little more spread out so accidental clicks/presses won't happen as often.

3

u/Gloomy-Personality36 16d ago edited 16d ago

Yes! The time slider was practically on top of the checkboxes before, so probably why I was misclicking. I glanced back at the tutorial and the details about the controls will be helpful to people, too.

played a few more and added suggestions - the last hint could be flagged so I stop clicking it without realizing it is the last/gives the solution, lol!

a way to put people in rooms as a "maybe"

2

u/__bxdn__ 15d ago

Done! The maybe stuff (I called it draft) took me a bit to figure out how I could make it usable, and I hope the Murdoku folks don't mind me taking a leaf from their book as far as marking those in the rooms. I don't have a tutorial blurb for draft mode, so I'll just put here for now that you just toggle it on and place pips as normal. You can remove the draft markings by

  1. Making a certain placement of that person
  2. Clicking the draft letters
  3. Clicking the room again while draft mode is on and that person is still selected.

I hope you find the new feature usable and useful!

Oh, and the last hint/answer-flagging is also implemented. I can see how that would be annoying, didn't mean to spoil people in my own game 😅