Sponsored Feature: Four Thirty Three on how The Secret of Chateau de Moreau on iOS is a mystery worth solving

Using a restrained colour palette can make a game look all the more striking.

That’s definitely the case with developer Four Thirty Three’s The Secret of Chateau de Moreau, which mixes sepia tones with hand-drawn character art to good effect.

Fire Rabbit, the development team within Four Thirty Three who made the game, told us how the title mixes both puzzler and story-led mystery, its unique aesthetics, and what's future there are for the app.

Pocket Gamer: How did you balance both the story and puzzle elements of the game, and are you pleased with the end result?

The original plan was to hire a scriptwriter for the scenario and have the development team create the elements of the puzzle. But even though that team was well known for writing scenarios, they lacked the knowledge in developing games.

So the development team was asked to write its own script. The increased workload added more stress, but we believe the end result speaks for itself. What does the game offer that people can’t get from any other puzzle title on the App Store?

You can just sit comfortably and control the whole adventure by the use of a single fingertip, becoming Sherlock Holmes as you roam through the mansion and ask questions and find information and clues from a range of suspicious people.

The game has a very striking hand-drawn sepia-colored design - what inspired you to make the game look this way?

The intention was to allow the entire game to have the feeling of a mystery novel. The sepia tone creates the image of a tattered book that’s been tucked away in a study for a long time.

The characters, background, and of course the entire interface of the game all came out of the same concept. If the game were designed using colour tones used for animation, it would have created a completely different feel.

What challenges did you face during development, and how did you overcome them?

The actual writing of the script was the biggest challenge. Since the genre of the game is mystery adventure, the levels of expectation we had to meet are very high, yet the creators weren’t novelists or writers but game developers.

The team held many long meetings and worked through many errors to finish the game. For those same reasons, it took twice the estimated time to finish the game, but was worth it for every compliment about the immersive storyline.

There are 50 types of ending in the game – how long do you estimate it would take someone to see every single one?

It depends on the person, but the average time it takes to reach the conclusion of the game is 15 hours.

How have you designed the game to suit iOS devices?

All the controls performed through the touchscreen. This game is not only available on touchscreen phones, but keypad controlled devices as well. This is all possible because the game was created with the purpose of allowing easy and fun ways to enjoy the game through iOS devices.

What part of the game are you the most proud of?

The genre of this game itself and creating it brings pride, but the idea of this game being available in three different languages worldwide brings additional pride.

Have you any plans to bring the game to other mobile platforms, such as Android or Windows Phone?

Of course. A few companies have already bought and released this game and there are plans for more. We hope to make sure people stay interested in the game. The Secret of Chateau de Moreau on iOS is available now, priced at £1.49 / $1.99 [iTunes link]. A lite version is also available [iTunes link].