{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/point-and-click--family-11","type":"mechanic","id":"point-and-click--family-11","lang":"en","title":"Deduction, proof and hypothesis testing","summary":"The player forms a conclusion and checks whether the available evidence supports it.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/point-and-click--family-11/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/point-and-click--family-11.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/point-and-click--family-11.md","aliases":["Deduction and hypothesis testing"],"tags":["Point-and-click adventures","Information, reasoning and social interaction"],"sourceIds":["source-2225bbb15bc08944","source-c071af1c88e59913"],"sources":[{"id":"source-2225bbb15bc08944","title":"The Case of the Golden Idol: designer interview","url":"https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/case-of-the-golden-idol","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-c071af1c88e59913","title":"The Case of the Golden Idol","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677770/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"The player forms a conclusion and checks whether the available evidence supports it."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Variants\n\n<a id=\"family-11-branch-1\"></a>\n\n- Identity: connect names, appearances, professions, roles and addresses. <a id=\"family-11-variant-1\"></a>\n- Cause, method and motive: determine what happened, how, why and who benefited. <a id=\"family-11-variant-2\"></a>\n- Alibis and contradictions: compare time, places and testimony. <a id=\"family-11-variant-3\"></a>\n- Elimination: reject hypotheses through constraints and negative evidence. <a id=\"family-11-variant-4\"></a>\n- Relationships: build genealogy, social networks, ownership or organizational structure. <a id=\"family-11-variant-5\"></a>\n- Experiment: predict, recreate conditions and compare outcomes. <a id=\"family-11-variant-6\"></a>\n- Conclusions: complete statements, select accusations, connect evidence or answer freely. <a id=\"family-11-variant-7\"></a>\n- Demonstrating proof: present sufficient convincing arguments to another character. <a id=\"family-11-variant-8\"></a>"},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"A working classification with 44 families and 355 variants. Families overlap: one puzzle can combine items, dialogue, deduction and a character schedule. Core actions, progression architecture and assistance are separate layers. Sources identify examples from neighboring adventure genres."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"point-and-click","id":"family-11","title":"Point-and-click adventures","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/point-and-click/#family-11","categoryIds":["section-2"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Deduction and hypothesis testing","description":"The player forms a conclusion and checks whether the available evidence supports it.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/adventure-golden-idol-07.webp","width":1357,"height":763,"game":"The Case of the Golden Idol","sourceUrl":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677770/","originalUrl":"https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1677770/ss_649570093b41419b15482dd6667b0a74c4a8cfb2.1920x1080.jpg?t=1786374001","credit":"Color Gray Games / Playstack","rights":"Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"Names and actions complete an explanation of the incident","alt":"Names and actions complete an explanation of the incident","markers":[{"x":27,"y":46,"label":"A testable account of events"},{"x":78,"y":49,"label":"People who must be identified"}]},"tips":["Separate observed facts from conclusions that still need checking."],"examples":[{"title":"The Case of the Golden Idol","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677770/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original taxonomy adapted from user-selected design discussions; linked sources support specific examples, not the whole classification.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/point-and-click"}}