HISTORY

Murder at the Birch Tree Theater is a video game designed and engineered by Mike Pettry, a musical theater multi-hyphenate. Mike has spent most of his adult life as a professional musician and music director, playing keyboard and guitar in several Broadway productions.  His most recent shows were the Tony Award-winning productions of A Strange Loop and Parade, where he played keyboard, guitar, banjo, and occasionally conducted.  He also orchestrated songs for television productions such Vampirina, Spirit Rangers, and John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch.  He also orchestrated (and played the conductor in) the Documentary Now! episode “Original Cast Album: Co-op.”  Mike wrote music and lyrics for the musical The Light Princess, which was a New York Times Critic’s Pick when it ran at the New Victory Theater in NYC.

Mike spent years mulling on how to merge his two lifelong loves: video games and musical theater. He’s written soundtracks for various video games since 2012, including Epic Dumpster Bear and Blood Nor Water, but it wasn’t until 2023 that the idea for Murder at the Birch Tree Theater began to take shape.

GAME DESCRIPTION

Murder at the Birch Tree Theater is musical theater murder mystery puzzle game that takes place in a small-town community theater. It contains 10 levels, each focused on a particular murder, accidental death, or scheme gone wrong during a production. The player must gather clues and observe the scenes to deduce what happened. The puzzle-solving mechanics are inspired by detective games like Return of the Obra Dinn and The Case of the Golden Idol, and the game similarly blends the puzzles with narrative design. The goal is for the player to find satisfaction not only by solving the mysteries, but by also intuitively piecing together the story.

Every level features a fictional musical production taking place at the theater, which plays into the story, the environment, and often, the puzzle. The soundtrack reflects this as well, drawing inspiration from Broadway musicals of the 20th century.

A larger narrative (featuring an all-animal cast) is inferred through clues and environments, telling a overarching story that spans decades.

GAME DESCRIPTION (short)

Uncover high drama in this whodunnit set in a small-town community theater! Gather clues by investigating the sets, casts and backstage crews of 10 theatrical productions, and use their stories to piece together each deadly crime.

GAMEPLAY LOOP

Explore isometric 2D environments by clicking on and reading/observing clues. As you open clues, key words populate your “inventory” of words. Once you understand what happened in a given scenario, you use your word inventory to fill blank spots in a paragraph of what happened. Once you correctly input the solution, the next scenario unlocks.

Complete all 10 scenarios to learn the surprising history of what went down at the Birch Tree Theater.

FEATURES

• 10 scenarios with mysteries to solve

• Hand-drawn line art of dozens of memorable animal characters in detailed isometric environments

• A soundtrack inspired by classic musical theater scores, meant to pay homage to those composers and serve as a backdrop for puzzle solving

• Dynamic clues that include deceptive notes, secret codes, manipulated voice recordings, and sheet music custom written for the game