{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/voice-audio--family-19","type":"mechanic","id":"voice-audio--family-19","lang":"en","title":"Codes, ciphers and hidden messages","summary":"The player discovers a coding rule and translates a sound sequence into a message, command or device setting.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/voice-audio--family-19/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/voice-audio--family-19.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/voice-audio--family-19.md","aliases":["Audio codes and hidden messages"],"tags":["Voice and sound","Sound as information and material"],"sourceIds":["source-909400af9fbfca32"],"sources":[{"id":"source-909400af9fbfca32","title":"Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/341800/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"Discover an encoding rule and extract a message."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Symbolic codes\n\n<a id=\"family-19-branch-1\"></a>\n\n- Decode short and long impulses. <a id=\"family-19-branch-1-variant-1\"></a>\n- Read a message encoded in pitches or rhythmic figures. <a id=\"family-19-branch-1-variant-2\"></a>\n- Map sounds to letters, numbers, directions or actions. <a id=\"family-19-branch-1-variant-3\"></a>\n- Infer an unfamiliar sound alphabet. <a id=\"family-19-branch-1-variant-4\"></a>\n\n### Hidden information\n\n<a id=\"family-19-branch-2\"></a>\n\n- Find a message in background noise. <a id=\"family-19-branch-2-variant-1\"></a>\n- Isolate a part among layered tracks. <a id=\"family-19-branch-2-variant-2\"></a>\n- Detect a message in repetitions, accents or pauses. <a id=\"family-19-branch-2-variant-3\"></a>\n- Distinguish a real signal from a similar counterfeit. <a id=\"family-19-branch-2-variant-4\"></a>\n\n### Decoding transformations\n\n<a id=\"family-19-branch-3\"></a>\n\n- Change playback speed to understand a message. <a id=\"family-19-branch-3-variant-1\"></a>\n- Play a fragment backward. <a id=\"family-19-branch-3-variant-2\"></a>\n- Select a frequency, filter or listening channel. <a id=\"family-19-branch-3-variant-3\"></a>\n- Combine message fragments from different sources. <a id=\"family-19-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-19","title":"Voice and sound","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/voice-audio/#family-19","categoryIds":["material"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Audio codes and hidden messages","description":"The player discovers a coding rule and translates a sound sequence into a message, command or device setting.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/interface-keep-talking-02.webp","width":1440,"height":810,"game":"Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes","sourceUrl":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/341800/","originalUrl":"https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/341800/ss_11c9963bc5d93a2c31857c94760305208fc9b023.1920x1080.jpg?t=1699020889","credit":"Steel Crate Games / Steel Crate Games","rights":"© Steel Crate Games / Steel Crate Games. Publisher-distributed Steam screenshot. All rights reserved; excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"Keep Talking: a Morse module with a response-frequency control","alt":"Keep Talking: a Morse module with a response-frequency control","markers":[{"x":52,"y":48,"label":"Decoding determines the frequency; TX transmits the response"}]},"tips":["Allow signal replay and consultation of the coding rule."],"examples":[{"title":"Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes","url":"https://store.steampowered.com/app/341800/"}]}},"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"}}