{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/detective--family-11","type":"mechanic","id":"detective--family-11","lang":"en","title":"Identity deduction","summary":"The player connects an unknown participant to a name or role using several independent clues.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/detective--family-11/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/detective--family-11.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/detective--family-11.md","aliases":[],"tags":["Detective games","Reconstructing events"],"sourceIds":["source-d44fa1b4a4c747d6","source-f40c6ef5f740582d","source-090ee83445744667"],"sources":[{"id":"source-d44fa1b4a4c747d6","title":"The Case of the Golden Idol","url":"https://www.thegoldenidol.com/the-case-of-the-golden-idol/","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-f40c6ef5f740582d","title":"Unheard – Voices of Crime","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/942970/Unheard_Voices_of_Crime/","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-090ee83445744667","title":"The Operator","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/1771980/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"The player connects an unknown participant to a name or role using several independent clues."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Variants\n\n<a id=\"family-11-branch-1\"></a>\n\n- Face and name: connect a portrait, signature, form of address and participant list. <a id=\"family-11-variant-1\"></a>\n- Voice and person: associate a spoken line with a name through conversational context. <a id=\"family-11-variant-2\"></a>\n- Alias and role: establish that two records describe one person, or distinguish people with the same name. <a id=\"family-11-variant-3\"></a>"},{"id":"example","title":"Design example","body":"A character wears a work badge and is addressed by job title. Together these clues narrow the list of names."},{"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-11","title":"Detective games","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/detective/#family-11","categoryIds":["reconstruction"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Identity deduction","description":"The player connects an unknown participant to a name or role using several independent clues.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/narrative-the-operator-02.webp","width":1440,"height":810,"game":"The Operator","sourceUrl":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/1771980/","originalUrl":"https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1771980/ss_613084ae51e3357660fc79c80edaf0385245d951.1920x1080.jpg?t=1778485297","credit":"Bureau 81 / Bureau 81 / indienova","rights":"© Bureau 81 / Bureau 81 / indienova. All rights reserved.","caption":"A person’s record connects a name, face and identifying details","alt":"A person’s record connects a name, face and identifying details","markers":[{"x":62,"y":54,"label":"The set of identifying details helps verify identity"}]},"tips":["Do not reduce identification to a single visual feature."],"examples":[{"title":"The Operator","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/1771980/"}]}},"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"}}