Summer is nearly over and we're approaching the party season... I hope you're ready for it! In this newsletter I have some advice for anyone wanting to sell their murder mystery game, news of a new interactive movie, a warning about ebay and also a reminder that Halloween is rapidly approaching...

By the way, if you've enjoyed this newsletter or you've found www.great-murder-mystery-games.com useful and you have your own website, please support my site and put a link on your site... Thanks!

Written your own murder mystery party? Why not sell it?

Writing your own murder mystery party is not just hard work - it is also deeply rewarding. There are few things as satisfying as seeing your hard work becoming a hugely enjoyable party for 20 or more of your friends and family.

But once you've written a murder mystery - what then?

Well, you could just consign it to the bottom drawer, or you could sell it over the Internet.

It is entirely possible to sell your own murder mystery game on the Internet (after all, if I can do it anyone can!) but there are a few things you need to be aware of. If nothing else you need to decide if you want to sell it yourself, or whether you want to sell it to another publisher to sell.

I've written an article all about selling your game - either by yourself or to one of the publishers.

Click here to read Selling your murder mystery party game.

Mystery at Mansfield Manor - Murder Mystery Movie

SR Entertainment Inc. is ready to test your deductive skills with the launch of its new website www.MysteryAtMansfieldManor.com. Mystery at Mansfield Manor is an online, live-action interactive murder mystery movie. Hailed as a unique blend of Clue™ and a choose-your-own-adventure movie, the mystery gets underway with a click of a mouse button.

"On the eve of his forced early retirement Detective Frank Mitchell is sent to Mansfield Manor to solve the murder of wealthy oil industrialist Colin Mansfield Sr. After arriving at the manor, the viewer begins to take control over his actions," says Rory Scherer, producer and screenwriter for Mystery At Mansfield Manor. "Essentially, the viewer takes on the role of the lead character, Detective Mitchell, and must solve the murder before the story’s midnight deadline."

Once the viewer pays the nominal $7.99 Cdn (approximately $7 US) fee, they receive unlimited access to the website for 4 days including a Bonus Materials section with a behind-the-scenes documentary and photo gallery.

The game begins with Detective Mitchell interrogating the first suspect, Anna Mitrov, the victim’s maid. She reveals her version of the evening through flashbacks and the clues start to roll in. The player continues to interrogate other suspects and eventually arrests one. Some lie, others are truthful. It is up to the player to decipher who is lying and what clues led them to that conclusion. Multiple endings exist in the body of the two and a half hours of video time and gameplay gets even more involving as some interactive components allow the viewer to become further immersed in the investigation.

Click here to check out the Mystery at Mansfield Manor website.

Downloadable murder mystery games and ebay

Once you've bought and played your downloadable murder mystery party game, you might be tempted to sell the game files on pdf. Here's my advice...

Don't!

In almost all cases, selling the game on ebay (or anywhere else) is a violation of the licence that you agreed to when you bought the game.

The reason that the publishers restrict this is to protect their interests. After all, if you can sell the game on ebay once, you can do it again. And again. And again. (That's why selling software is so restricted on ebay, as opposed to selling "hard" goods such as a pair of shoes.)

If you do that, then it means you are denying those publishers genuine customers. If customers stop buying from the publishers (because they can get the games cheaper elsewhere), then the publishers go out of business... (Murder mystery publishers tend to be quite small and a loss of business can hurt.)

So it's a lose-lose situation. By putting the game on ebay, you contribute to putting the publishers out of business, which means fewer murder mystery party games for everyone to play. So that's why the publishers forbid this in their game licence.

This is also why the publishers will defend their rights quite vigorously and if necessary report you to ebay (or the equivalent). If necessary, they may even take legal action!

So don't sell on your murder mystery game. It helps nobody in the long term.

Ghosts, ghouls, goblins and beasties - yes it's Halloween!

Well, it will be in a couple of months. (Blimey - we're only just at the end of August and we're already talking about Halloween. Where has 2006 gone?)

Anyway, as I tend to say over and over again, I recommend that you don't try and rush your party - and if you're planning a murder mystery party for Halloween, now is the time to choose. (And yes, of course you can plan it all in much less than two months - but I always find that things take much longer than you originally thought so it's best to give yourself plenty of time in advance.)

Anyway, if you like the idea of hosting a murder mystery game for Halloween, you have a couple of choices...

You can either select a game with a Halloween theme - in which case click here. Alternatively, if you just want to throw a party and aren't worried about a particular theme you can click here to see all the parties.

That's about it this time - have a great murder mystery party!

Steve

Comments? Ideas? Feedback?

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