Hello world, here’s what I’m making

Now for my first blog post that is specific to the product. It’s important to have a clear idea of what the product, the market, and the vision look like before making meaningful progress.

What is the product?

UNRAVEL is a multiplayer game application that will host narrative-rich and immersive murder mystery games that eliminates the need for a host or any prep time. UNRAVEL will be targeted to those who enjoy board games, escape rooms, and dungeons & dragons, as the main draw of each of these can be enjoyed in a properly facilitated murder mystery game.

Who is the target market?

The murder mystery as a genre of game has not been explored in Western markets, where the target demographic is served currently by board games, escape rooms, or dungeons & dragons. Experience suggests that this demographic is willing to try new but familiar games.

Murder mystery kit retailers, the closest comparable product to UNRAVEL, do not have the level of quality writing nor the ease of use that convince players to consider murder mystery games as a viable option for regular board game nights. Because they take days or weeks to plan, the murder mystery kits are usually reserved for special occasions. Thus, the target audience of these retailers does not completely overlap with UNRAVEL’s.

What customer need does the product solve?

Elimination of Host Responsibilities

This type of game is not new, however, the amount of work required from the game host makes it difficult and time consuming to organize a murder mystery event. This often means hours of preparation to understand a murder mystery game that the host cannot participate in themselves.

UNRAVEL significantly reduces the time and effort spent by the host to organize murder mystery games and allow players to access all their case information digitally. The burden on the host to run the murder mystery is eliminated and they can fully immerse themselves into the game as a player.

Importantly, the murder mystery game can be started spontaneously, just as easy as choosing a board game on the shelf and opening the box. This means that murder mystery games can be a viable option for regular board game gatherings.

Higher Quality Storylines and Immersion

The digital nature of the murder mystery platform will allow for high quality narratives to be played. These narratives are typically supplemented with a plethora of clues, character information, revelations, etc. that is often difficult to manage through hard copy versions.

Compelling storylines shift UNRAVEL’s offerings closer to that of an interactive TV show or D&D campaign, allowing the players to become emotionally invested in their character, their relationships, and their actions. This value has not been successfully tapped into in the current landscape of social entertainment.

Vision

To turn board game night into murder mystery night.

Mission

Make compelling, narrative-driven, and immersive mystery games accessible to anyone who is savvy with a mobile device and looking to have a fun couple of hours with friends.

Writing out this overview has been helpful in solidifying the direction I want to head in. If I ever start doubting the product or the reason I started this project, I will definitely come back here.

We’ll see if the market behaves the way I expect once my MVP is ready. After all, what is a journey without the unpredictable? Let’s find out together. 😀