The game is set in 1920s Brigiton, a fictional community in small-town America, and involves the player guiding the activities of a group of high school girls as they explore its intrigues.

Highlighting social rebellion in an era where women had only limited freedom, the title's motto declares "This is the game where good girls get better by being bad!".

In contrast, losing a mini-game can result in a girl being unavailable for a period of time, or possibly even exiled from the player's gang.

This is done by selecting an action suggested by one of the girls (e.g. "Expose" to try to reveal the truth), and then playing the corresponding mini-game.

Nemitz explained, "The card game reduced entire battles down to a single dice roll, but it was really fun!

The bigger idea struck me later, that you could swap out combat in RPGs with different kinds of conflict resolution mechanisms".

Describing the look and feel of the title, Nemitz noted that the user interface metaphor was that of a 1920s parlour game.

David Cherry, the lead artist, deliberately made elements look worn or faded with time.

The other nominees were: Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Fallout 3, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Tomb Raider: Underworld.