{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/detective--family-05","type":"mechanic","id":"detective--family-05","lang":"en","title":"Documents, records and ciphers","summary":"The player extracts information from character-created records and checks their authorship, meaning and reliability.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/detective--family-05/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/detective--family-05.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/detective--family-05.md","aliases":[],"tags":["Detective games","Finding and examining evidence"],"sourceIds":["source-ce786c639336367e","source-86b980b788f54522"],"sources":[{"id":"source-ce786c639336367e","title":"Shadows of Doubt","url":"https://fireshinegames.co.uk/games/shadows-of-doubt/","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-86b980b788f54522","title":"Her Story","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"The player extracts information from character-created records and checks their authorship, meaning and reliability."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Variants\n\n<a id=\"family-05-branch-1\"></a>\n\n- Cross-reading: connect a letter, timetable and transaction log through a shared detail. <a id=\"family-05-variant-1\"></a>\n- Forgery detection: spot a date, phrase or identifier that conflicts with established world rules. <a id=\"family-05-variant-2\"></a>\n- Message decoding: infer a code from an available key and use it to obtain a new lead. <a id=\"family-05-variant-3\"></a>"},{"id":"example","title":"Design example","body":"A delivery log lists a new address. An older receipt assigns that address to a different owner."},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"A working map of detective design: 32 families and 96 variants. The core loop is to find information, form a hypothesis, test it and explain a conclusion. Answer formats, hints and investigation structure are treated separately. Families overlap, design examples are hypothetical, and released-game examples cite primary sources without revealing case solutions."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"detective","id":"family-05","title":"Detective games","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/detective/#family-05","categoryIds":["evidence"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Documents, records and ciphers","description":"The player extracts information from character-created records and checks their authorship, meaning and reliability.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/adventure-her-story-00.webp","width":1440,"height":900,"crop":{"x":120,"y":0,"width":1200,"height":900},"game":"Her Story","sourceUrl":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/","originalUrl":"https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/368370/ss_47f0e58df778d9f10b3df40ddce8bba8e592b1fb.1920x1080.jpg?t=1684962832","credit":"Sam Barlow","rights":"Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"A search query, recordings and a user tag","alt":"A search query, recordings and a user tag","markers":[{"x":58,"y":40,"label":"A query retrieves related recordings"},{"x":44,"y":59,"label":"The player adds a personal tag"}]},"tips":["Let players return to the original recording and check a quote’s context."],"examples":[{"title":"Her Story","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original editorial taxonomy authored for gamemechanics.pro on 2026-10-19. Primary developer and publisher sources support specific released-game examples, not the whole classification; design examples are hypothetical.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/detective"}}