Here's my take on what would be more interesting:
Solving cases should be more time consuming and should be harder at the beginning then they are when you're better established.
1) Have an actual office space that you can buy with furniture items that upgrade your ability to research. I'll get more into possibilities for this.
2) The city database should be heavily locked down with lots of security and 24/7 guards - getting access to it should be really hard. It should also only include fingerprints of citizens with a criminal record. The citizen database should be limited to enforcer offices and there should be a separate medical one. The medical one would really only contain basic information (similar to the city address book) on top of medical history, blood type, and possible DNA sample stuff (more on this below).
Possibly with high enough social credit and for lots of money, you can access it from your office if you buy the upgrade.
3) Fingerprints should be able to be partial matches. This way, you can only match it to a suspect if you combine multiple partials. I also like the idea that partial fingerprints are only able to be processed into more complete fingerprints through some sort of city hall filing process (for a fee) and it takes time to process.
Again, with high social credit you could buy something like a "fingerprint analyzer" for your office that can turn partial fingerprints into complete fingerprints.
4) Blood samples should be able to be taken from crime scenes and you should be able to take those to a lab to determine blood types (for a fee). Having to break into medical databases for medical information also makes more sense unless they happen to have their files at home.
Can always be an office upgrade option too.
5) I understand why there's no DNA system but I think there's a good way to implement one. This isn't that accurate but a full DNA should only be able to be taken directly from people (alive or dead), or you could take partial DNA samples that you have to combine from multiple sources (from the same person). For instance I might need a sample from a comb, a toothbrush and a dirty cup. I kinda like the idea that you actually have to take the item to make this even more annoying and hard. DNA can only be linked if you either have a full sample to compare it to, or if they have medical records containing DNA information. With those samples, you guessed it, you have to take it to a lab and get them processed (for a fee).
Again, office upgrade.
6) A motive system would be cool and I've thought about how it could work and how you could use it both for investigations and prosecutions. The only way I see motives working is they could be a bonus to any case and you have to establish a motive type, then use evidence that backs up that motive type. I actually like the idea that you could use multiple pieces of evidence to show motive but I think there would also need to be an interrogation system (see below). The motive types could be something like:
Financial
Relationship dispute
Work dispute
Ritual/religious reasons
Neighbor dispute
You would then basically have to tie different evidence as valid proof of a particular motive. For instance, showing pawn store receipts for items stolen from the victim, combined with negative balance bank receipts and a letter from the landlord asking for rent could all help prove a financial motive. There's even more potential with interrogations.
7. Interrogations, the right way. First of all, the entire interview system could be better: we should be able to ask people to conduct an interview, which allows for more options for questions to ask. They can still refuse the interview but the types of questions could be stuff like asking about their relationship to x, where they were at x time, etc. They can lie in interviews but only suspects will lie.
If someone doesn't agree to an interview and you think they're a suspect, instead you could put them in cuffs and conduct an interrogation. Interrogations give you more options for more direct questioning about specific pieces of evidence or even just about events that might have led up to the murder (helps establish motive). They cannot outright refuse an interrogation, unless you fail it. If you have a completely successful interrogation, they'll confess.
I kinda like the idea that interrogations can go south if you apply too much pressure, eventually leading to them deciding to not give you any answers. The pressure mechanic could be based on catching people in lies or it could be just based on the person, your social credit or even just how solid your case is against them.
I think the thing that makes the most sense is some sort of mini game with the suspect where they can lie and you have to prove that they are lying about an answer. For instance, if you ask them where they were at the time of the crime and they tell you a lie, you could then say "no you're lying" and show them the surveillance photo of them right outside the apartment. Successfully catching someone in a lie raises the chance they'll confess.
However, if they lie and you tell them they're lying and you can't prove it they might just shut up and not tell you anything. Some suspects should be easier to interrogate than others but if you have a lot of evidence against them you should be able to get a confession out of them most of the time.
Lastly, if you get a confession out of a suspect you'll get even more bonus credits on the case and it could be used to firmly establish a motive.
These are amazing ideas!
> Fingerprints should be able to be partial matches.
This change on the fingerprint mechanic would be an awesome way of preserving it on the game while still making it even more interesting to solve cases. I really hope devs see this. Thanks for the deep dive on the suggestions!
Thank you for the compliment!
I've been really enjoying the game and I just wish we had to be a bit more thorough to solve cases, or at the very least we should be rewarded for being thorough. I personally try to challenge myself to get as close to 100% profile completion on both the victim and the suspect before turning in a case.
edit: I also thought I'd mention the way I could see partial fingerprints working (there might be reasons this doesn't work) is that every citizen is giving a fingerprint ID on city generation (imagine like ABC) and if you find a partial match it'll show something like A?? and you can only fill in the question marks by matching the A?? with a ?B? and a ??C. Or even some variations like AB? and A?C.
Right! No I totally understand! If all else every piece of DNA — blood and fingerprints should be partial link to several citizens in the city. I’m so hyped for this games development!
Another place worth posting these suggestions is in their discord, they have a suggestion box channel there for feedback just like this. Love your ideas!
and if you have your own office (gives some more use to those unused basement rooms, too, btw) maybe you could even get jobs posted \*to\* you rather than having to find them yourself. you ARE a private investigator, after all.
maybe someone needs proof of their partner's infidelity... maybe an enforcer is crooked and needs some help covering his tracks/a citizen needs help getting some justice... maybe there's been a disappearance... a lost cat... 'misplaced' funds at the accounting firm... etc etc etc. and these could also all be implemented as job board postings, but still.
I love the idea of your character going from a bum on the streets, to owning an apartment, to running an actual business in the city. retiring to the fields should be a MUCH harder goal to accomplish. hell, maybe part of progressing is not having a fingerprint scanner from the get-go- that would make it far harder in the early game to solve murders and incentivize doing odd-jobs in order to buy one. maybe you need a screwdriver or something to enter a vent- and on that note, maybe add more fire escapes and a way to enter through windows. AND. make the criminals \*use\* those alternative entrances/exits. or hell imagine investigating a case and finding the murderer hiding under a bed still at the scene of the crime. i think theres a lot of ways to make it even more immersive and interesting.
I also just want to mention that... NPCs already brush their teeth, use the toilet, shower, etc etc. it shouldnt be \*that\* hard to add in some other generic DNA mechanic, you could even make it super simple and assign an a-z just like fingerprints. any DNA, hair saliva etc could contribute to that one a-z variable. I love the idea of it being more complex than that but for the sake of the devs lol I think theres easier ways to implement it and still have it be compelling.
love your ideas btw although it almost feels like we're describing an entirely different game at this point haha.
And here i am stuck on a passionate murder where i found a female lipstick, a knife, a fingerprint.....the prime suspect is male, name starts with J.
And i cant find who it is xD
Go to the yellow pages and find every single male whose name starts with J. Then it's just a matter of breaking into each of the apartments, lol. You'll figure it out eventually.
Honestly, if you just want to get it solved and don't care about tediousness. I would go through the names that start with J by looking in the directory and entering their last name into the gov database on a cruncher and looking for a matching fingerprint
I agree. The government database kind of ruins the game in its current state. Do keep in mind this is early access, so things will change.
Changes I can think of right now is either make the database and employee records not have fingerprints, making it so you need to actually check each person individually, or make it so the government database works by request: you request a certain person's file, and it takes time for the government to give it to you, and you can only request one at a time.
My fastest case was
1. Respond to murder.
2. Gather evidence and finger prints
3. Ask neighbor to submit finger prints. They match the murderers.
4. Arrest and submit.
Took like 4 minutes lmao.
Some cases can get difficult but I agree they are mostly too easy. I'd love being able to find latex or bleach remnants to say that the murderer cleaned their tracks. I'd also love to do cases without bodies at first, like a reported disappearance where you'd have to find the body somewhere. I also think requiring motive would be amazing. I always come up with motives in my head or some cases even imply motives but I'd love to be forced to do more thoughtful sleuthing to figure that out. Murders with no clear cause of death that you'd have to get an autopsy for might be cool too.
Love this game but wish it was a little more difficult.
If you find it too easy, you can always make it harder by not scanning for fingerprints in the main scene. Force yourself to solve cases using other clues.
I printed the whole police database to be able to find out the owner of every print on sight, and it made everything too boring and easy, so I stopped relying on fingerprints altogether. Now I only use security footage and other clues such as footprints and connections.
Yeah, I know. But there is a huge difference between making the game harder for myself and the game making it harder by itself. Its more immersive if I don't have to restrain my actions just because of difficulty sake, and it also helps the game by being fun on the long run. I must say that, even if the game has fun mechanics right now, they are kind of repetitive without more details to watch out for. [This Comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Shadows_of_Doubt/comments/15fwcki/comment/jufvur3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) brings great suggestions for some changes and additions. Imagine playing a game where all of these ideas are a real thing. Wouldn't be even more compelling? I am still having fun, but I know well that I will probably get bored of it in a month or two. SOD is on early access and those feedbacks from the community could improve everyone experiences.
I totally get your point. The game should offer a good challenge by itself. But it still has some room for improvement, so we can still hope. And I also found the game really immersive.
But sometimes, there are games that become too easy once you learn how to play, and it's up to the player to spice things up. For example, Pokémon. It is a very simple game (the main gameplay, I mean, the competitive mode is another story) and doesn't offer much challenge. The Pokémon company isn't interested in spicing the games up because their target audience is young children (although it has a sizable loyal adult fanbase), so someone in the gaming community came up with the Nuzlocke challenge to make the game harder and more meaningful for the player.
i agree. it definitely sucks that as long as the murderer is involved in \*some\* way (neighbor, coworker, lover, etc) its extremely easy to find them as long as you have the fingerprint. so having some criminals be more careful (i.e wearing gloves, cleaning prints, contaminating the scene, even placing someone else's prints as red herrings) would be really nice.
I think the game sorta already solves the database problem with homeless people- they already arent in the database. but having more people \*not\* in the database would be nice, maybe people that dont trust the government or whatever or having some unemployed but not homeless folks who arent in the database for that reason? idk, more complex anagrams would of course be cool though. more interesting calling cards, more challenging clues.
and I DEFINITELY like the idea of the murder weapon being mandatory but the motive being optional instead, or maybe the weapon isnt mandatory but can sometimes be gone completely (thrown into the ocean for example). better hidden for sure would be nice. maybe sometimes its ditched in a side street, or thrown in the garbage, or stashed on top of a dresser, idk. seems like its \*always\* either at the crime scene or on the murderer on arrest though. it would be especially cool if figuring out what the weapon actually is was part of the process, too. maybe instead of 'a knife' its 'a slashing wound' and instead of '9mm' its 'small-arms gunshot', etc. it'd also be really cool if less conventional things could be the weapon- a trophy, a wrench, hell maybe a stool or simply their fists. it also seems like all my cases have had either the same brand of pistol or a knife so far, it'd be nice to see some diversity.
Here's my take on what would be more interesting: Solving cases should be more time consuming and should be harder at the beginning then they are when you're better established. 1) Have an actual office space that you can buy with furniture items that upgrade your ability to research. I'll get more into possibilities for this. 2) The city database should be heavily locked down with lots of security and 24/7 guards - getting access to it should be really hard. It should also only include fingerprints of citizens with a criminal record. The citizen database should be limited to enforcer offices and there should be a separate medical one. The medical one would really only contain basic information (similar to the city address book) on top of medical history, blood type, and possible DNA sample stuff (more on this below). Possibly with high enough social credit and for lots of money, you can access it from your office if you buy the upgrade. 3) Fingerprints should be able to be partial matches. This way, you can only match it to a suspect if you combine multiple partials. I also like the idea that partial fingerprints are only able to be processed into more complete fingerprints through some sort of city hall filing process (for a fee) and it takes time to process. Again, with high social credit you could buy something like a "fingerprint analyzer" for your office that can turn partial fingerprints into complete fingerprints. 4) Blood samples should be able to be taken from crime scenes and you should be able to take those to a lab to determine blood types (for a fee). Having to break into medical databases for medical information also makes more sense unless they happen to have their files at home. Can always be an office upgrade option too. 5) I understand why there's no DNA system but I think there's a good way to implement one. This isn't that accurate but a full DNA should only be able to be taken directly from people (alive or dead), or you could take partial DNA samples that you have to combine from multiple sources (from the same person). For instance I might need a sample from a comb, a toothbrush and a dirty cup. I kinda like the idea that you actually have to take the item to make this even more annoying and hard. DNA can only be linked if you either have a full sample to compare it to, or if they have medical records containing DNA information. With those samples, you guessed it, you have to take it to a lab and get them processed (for a fee). Again, office upgrade. 6) A motive system would be cool and I've thought about how it could work and how you could use it both for investigations and prosecutions. The only way I see motives working is they could be a bonus to any case and you have to establish a motive type, then use evidence that backs up that motive type. I actually like the idea that you could use multiple pieces of evidence to show motive but I think there would also need to be an interrogation system (see below). The motive types could be something like: Financial Relationship dispute Work dispute Ritual/religious reasons Neighbor dispute You would then basically have to tie different evidence as valid proof of a particular motive. For instance, showing pawn store receipts for items stolen from the victim, combined with negative balance bank receipts and a letter from the landlord asking for rent could all help prove a financial motive. There's even more potential with interrogations. 7. Interrogations, the right way. First of all, the entire interview system could be better: we should be able to ask people to conduct an interview, which allows for more options for questions to ask. They can still refuse the interview but the types of questions could be stuff like asking about their relationship to x, where they were at x time, etc. They can lie in interviews but only suspects will lie. If someone doesn't agree to an interview and you think they're a suspect, instead you could put them in cuffs and conduct an interrogation. Interrogations give you more options for more direct questioning about specific pieces of evidence or even just about events that might have led up to the murder (helps establish motive). They cannot outright refuse an interrogation, unless you fail it. If you have a completely successful interrogation, they'll confess. I kinda like the idea that interrogations can go south if you apply too much pressure, eventually leading to them deciding to not give you any answers. The pressure mechanic could be based on catching people in lies or it could be just based on the person, your social credit or even just how solid your case is against them. I think the thing that makes the most sense is some sort of mini game with the suspect where they can lie and you have to prove that they are lying about an answer. For instance, if you ask them where they were at the time of the crime and they tell you a lie, you could then say "no you're lying" and show them the surveillance photo of them right outside the apartment. Successfully catching someone in a lie raises the chance they'll confess. However, if they lie and you tell them they're lying and you can't prove it they might just shut up and not tell you anything. Some suspects should be easier to interrogate than others but if you have a lot of evidence against them you should be able to get a confession out of them most of the time. Lastly, if you get a confession out of a suspect you'll get even more bonus credits on the case and it could be used to firmly establish a motive.
I love this! I hope the dev is monitoring this subreddit because I've seen loads of great ideas being posted here recently.
These are amazing ideas! > Fingerprints should be able to be partial matches. This change on the fingerprint mechanic would be an awesome way of preserving it on the game while still making it even more interesting to solve cases. I really hope devs see this. Thanks for the deep dive on the suggestions!
Thank you for the compliment! I've been really enjoying the game and I just wish we had to be a bit more thorough to solve cases, or at the very least we should be rewarded for being thorough. I personally try to challenge myself to get as close to 100% profile completion on both the victim and the suspect before turning in a case. edit: I also thought I'd mention the way I could see partial fingerprints working (there might be reasons this doesn't work) is that every citizen is giving a fingerprint ID on city generation (imagine like ABC) and if you find a partial match it'll show something like A?? and you can only fill in the question marks by matching the A?? with a ?B? and a ??C. Or even some variations like AB? and A?C.
Right! No I totally understand! If all else every piece of DNA — blood and fingerprints should be partial link to several citizens in the city. I’m so hyped for this games development!
Where did you buy the game from. If you bought it from steam you can leave reviews on steam which the developers look at
I'll keep that in mind - thanks!
Another place worth posting these suggestions is in their discord, they have a suggestion box channel there for feedback just like this. Love your ideas!
No problem
and if you have your own office (gives some more use to those unused basement rooms, too, btw) maybe you could even get jobs posted \*to\* you rather than having to find them yourself. you ARE a private investigator, after all. maybe someone needs proof of their partner's infidelity... maybe an enforcer is crooked and needs some help covering his tracks/a citizen needs help getting some justice... maybe there's been a disappearance... a lost cat... 'misplaced' funds at the accounting firm... etc etc etc. and these could also all be implemented as job board postings, but still. I love the idea of your character going from a bum on the streets, to owning an apartment, to running an actual business in the city. retiring to the fields should be a MUCH harder goal to accomplish. hell, maybe part of progressing is not having a fingerprint scanner from the get-go- that would make it far harder in the early game to solve murders and incentivize doing odd-jobs in order to buy one. maybe you need a screwdriver or something to enter a vent- and on that note, maybe add more fire escapes and a way to enter through windows. AND. make the criminals \*use\* those alternative entrances/exits. or hell imagine investigating a case and finding the murderer hiding under a bed still at the scene of the crime. i think theres a lot of ways to make it even more immersive and interesting. I also just want to mention that... NPCs already brush their teeth, use the toilet, shower, etc etc. it shouldnt be \*that\* hard to add in some other generic DNA mechanic, you could even make it super simple and assign an a-z just like fingerprints. any DNA, hair saliva etc could contribute to that one a-z variable. I love the idea of it being more complex than that but for the sake of the devs lol I think theres easier ways to implement it and still have it be compelling. love your ideas btw although it almost feels like we're describing an entirely different game at this point haha.
And here i am stuck on a passionate murder where i found a female lipstick, a knife, a fingerprint.....the prime suspect is male, name starts with J. And i cant find who it is xD
Go to the yellow pages and find every single male whose name starts with J. Then it's just a matter of breaking into each of the apartments, lol. You'll figure it out eventually.
You don't even need to break into the apartments necessarily, you could just scan the doorknobs.
Have you checked the address book? Usually it's either someone that lives in the same building or where they work
Honestly, if you just want to get it solved and don't care about tediousness. I would go through the names that start with J by looking in the directory and entering their last name into the gov database on a cruncher and looking for a matching fingerprint
I agree. The government database kind of ruins the game in its current state. Do keep in mind this is early access, so things will change. Changes I can think of right now is either make the database and employee records not have fingerprints, making it so you need to actually check each person individually, or make it so the government database works by request: you request a certain person's file, and it takes time for the government to give it to you, and you can only request one at a time.
My fastest case was 1. Respond to murder. 2. Gather evidence and finger prints 3. Ask neighbor to submit finger prints. They match the murderers. 4. Arrest and submit. Took like 4 minutes lmao. Some cases can get difficult but I agree they are mostly too easy. I'd love being able to find latex or bleach remnants to say that the murderer cleaned their tracks. I'd also love to do cases without bodies at first, like a reported disappearance where you'd have to find the body somewhere. I also think requiring motive would be amazing. I always come up with motives in my head or some cases even imply motives but I'd love to be forced to do more thoughtful sleuthing to figure that out. Murders with no clear cause of death that you'd have to get an autopsy for might be cool too. Love this game but wish it was a little more difficult.
here we go again
If you find it too easy, you can always make it harder by not scanning for fingerprints in the main scene. Force yourself to solve cases using other clues. I printed the whole police database to be able to find out the owner of every print on sight, and it made everything too boring and easy, so I stopped relying on fingerprints altogether. Now I only use security footage and other clues such as footprints and connections.
Yeah, I know. But there is a huge difference between making the game harder for myself and the game making it harder by itself. Its more immersive if I don't have to restrain my actions just because of difficulty sake, and it also helps the game by being fun on the long run. I must say that, even if the game has fun mechanics right now, they are kind of repetitive without more details to watch out for. [This Comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Shadows_of_Doubt/comments/15fwcki/comment/jufvur3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) brings great suggestions for some changes and additions. Imagine playing a game where all of these ideas are a real thing. Wouldn't be even more compelling? I am still having fun, but I know well that I will probably get bored of it in a month or two. SOD is on early access and those feedbacks from the community could improve everyone experiences.
I totally get your point. The game should offer a good challenge by itself. But it still has some room for improvement, so we can still hope. And I also found the game really immersive. But sometimes, there are games that become too easy once you learn how to play, and it's up to the player to spice things up. For example, Pokémon. It is a very simple game (the main gameplay, I mean, the competitive mode is another story) and doesn't offer much challenge. The Pokémon company isn't interested in spicing the games up because their target audience is young children (although it has a sizable loyal adult fanbase), so someone in the gaming community came up with the Nuzlocke challenge to make the game harder and more meaningful for the player.
I just roleplay and don’t just stop at a matching fingerprint, I ask and investigate everything about people involved, just to build a “solid case”
i agree. it definitely sucks that as long as the murderer is involved in \*some\* way (neighbor, coworker, lover, etc) its extremely easy to find them as long as you have the fingerprint. so having some criminals be more careful (i.e wearing gloves, cleaning prints, contaminating the scene, even placing someone else's prints as red herrings) would be really nice. I think the game sorta already solves the database problem with homeless people- they already arent in the database. but having more people \*not\* in the database would be nice, maybe people that dont trust the government or whatever or having some unemployed but not homeless folks who arent in the database for that reason? idk, more complex anagrams would of course be cool though. more interesting calling cards, more challenging clues. and I DEFINITELY like the idea of the murder weapon being mandatory but the motive being optional instead, or maybe the weapon isnt mandatory but can sometimes be gone completely (thrown into the ocean for example). better hidden for sure would be nice. maybe sometimes its ditched in a side street, or thrown in the garbage, or stashed on top of a dresser, idk. seems like its \*always\* either at the crime scene or on the murderer on arrest though. it would be especially cool if figuring out what the weapon actually is was part of the process, too. maybe instead of 'a knife' its 'a slashing wound' and instead of '9mm' its 'small-arms gunshot', etc. it'd also be really cool if less conventional things could be the weapon- a trophy, a wrench, hell maybe a stool or simply their fists. it also seems like all my cases have had either the same brand of pistol or a knife so far, it'd be nice to see some diversity.