{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/voice-audio--family-18","type":"mechanic","id":"voice-audio--family-18","lang":"en","title":"Investigation and event reconstruction","summary":"The player compares spoken testimony and background sounds to reconstruct an event or test a hypothesis.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/voice-audio--family-18/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/voice-audio--family-18.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/voice-audio--family-18.md","aliases":["Investigation through recordings"],"tags":["Voice and sound","Sound as information and material"],"sourceIds":["source-b219dfc03e4f9c79","source-317fcb9b7089efa8","source-86b980b788f54522"],"sources":[{"id":"source-b219dfc03e4f9c79","title":"Phasmophobia","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/739630/Phasmophobia/?l=english","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-317fcb9b7089efa8","title":"Unheard","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/942970/Unheard/?l=english","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":"Compare audible evidence and reconstruct causal relationships."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Observation\n\n<a id=\"family-18-branch-1\"></a>\n\n- Eavesdrop at the right place and time. <a id=\"family-18-branch-1-variant-1\"></a>\n- Compare different speakers' lines. <a id=\"family-18-branch-1-variant-2\"></a>\n- Identify a speaker, place or action through background acoustics. <a id=\"family-18-branch-1-variant-3\"></a>\n- Distinguish testimony, retelling and a character's conjecture. <a id=\"family-18-branch-1-variant-4\"></a>\n\n### Reconstructing events\n\n<a id=\"family-18-branch-2\"></a>\n\n- Establish action order from sound traces. <a id=\"family-18-branch-2-variant-1\"></a>\n- Connect simultaneously unfolding scenes. <a id=\"family-18-branch-2-variant-2\"></a>\n- Match names, voices, roles and movements. <a id=\"family-18-branch-2-variant-3\"></a>\n- Reconstruct causality between a conversation and a later event. <a id=\"family-18-branch-2-variant-4\"></a>\n\n### Testing hypotheses\n\n<a id=\"family-18-branch-3\"></a>\n\n- Find contradictions in testimony or alibis. <a id=\"family-18-branch-3-variant-1\"></a>\n- Distinguish a recording, broadcast and live event. <a id=\"family-18-branch-3-variant-2\"></a>\n- Check whether a character could hear a conversation. <a id=\"family-18-branch-3-variant-3\"></a>\n- Choose the next listen that best distinguishes hypotheses. <a id=\"family-18-branch-3-variant-4\"></a>"},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"A working design-space map: 27 families, 81 branches and 324 variants. Voice control, audio-based play and communication can combine or exist separately. Released-game examples support particular techniques; supplementary combinations are design proposals."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"voice-audio","id":"family-18","title":"Voice and sound","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/voice-audio/#family-18","categoryIds":["material"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Investigation through recordings","description":"The player compares spoken testimony and background sounds to reconstruct an event or test a hypothesis.","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":["Link conclusions back to the original recording segment."],"examples":[{"title":"Her Story","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/"}]}},"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/voice-audio"}}