---
key: mechanic/detective--family-08
type: mechanic
id: detective--family-08
lang: en
title: Trust and social access
summary: >-
  Relationships affect a character’s willingness to share information. Confident
  behavior alone does not prove truthfulness.
updatedAt: '2026-10-22'
status: active
url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/detective--family-08/'
jsonUrl: >-
  https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/detective--family-08.json
markdownUrl: >-
  https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/detective--family-08.md
aliases: []
tags:
  - Detective games
  - Witnesses and information sources
sourceIds:
  - source-478907b8b62d0628
sources:
  - id: source-478907b8b62d0628
    title: Potionomics
    url: 'https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874490/'
    verifiedAt: null
relations: []
placements:
  - catalogId: detective
    id: family-08
    title: Detective games
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/detective/#family-08'
    categoryIds:
      - testimony
supersededBy: []
attributes:
  preview:
    updatedAt: '2026-10-22'
    title: Trust and social access
    description: >-
      Relationships affect a character’s willingness to share information.
      Confident behavior alone does not prove truthfulness.
    image:
      src: images/mechanics/dialogue-potionomics-05.webp
      width: 1440
      height: 810
      game: Potionomics
      sourceUrl: 'https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874490/'
      originalUrl: >-
        https://shared.akamai.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1874490/ss_1a48567b697d25dee05de6d998e8946ec5ff0ca1.1920x1080.jpg?t=1750960791
      credit: 'Voracious Games / XSEED Games / Marvelous USA, Inc.'
      rights: >-
        Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed
        Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.
      caption: Affinity during a conversation with Saffron
      alt: Affinity during a conversation with Saffron
      markers:
        - x: 18
          'y': 63
          label: A heart marks Saffron’s positive response
    tips:
      - Distinguish willingness to share information from truthfulness.
    examples:
      - title: Potionomics
        url: 'https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874490/'
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
---
# Trust and social access

id: detective--family-08
type: mechanic
key: mechanic/detective--family-08
lang: en
status: active
url: https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/detective--family-08/

Relationships affect a character’s willingness to share information. Confident behavior alone does not prove truthfulness.

## At a glance

![Affinity during a conversation with Saffron](https://gamemechanics.pro/images/mechanics/dialogue-potionomics-05.webp)

[Potionomics](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874490/) · Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed Steam screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.

1. A heart marks Saffron’s positive response

- Distinguish willingness to share information from truthfulness.

- [Potionomics](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874490/)

## How it works

Relationships affect a character’s willingness to share information. Confident behavior alone does not prove truthfulness.

## Variants

### Variants

<a id="family-08-branch-1"></a>

- Building trust: keep a promise or establish authority to open a topic. <a id="family-08-variant-1"></a>
- Choosing an approach: seek information through empathy, exchanged favors or a formal request. <a id="family-08-variant-2"></a>
- Cost of pressure: consider whether an aggressive question will close off later access to a witness. <a id="family-08-variant-3"></a>

## Design example

A witness will identify a visitor if the player first finds a safe way to contact them.

## Context and limits

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.

## Connected materials


## Sources and 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.

- [Potionomics](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874490/) (id: source-478907b8b62d0628)

CC-BY-4.0 · gamemechanics.pro contributors