#Murder Clues Before Police

64 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

drowsy meadow
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I think I personally have had less fun with murder investigations since the tutorial. Overall, I loved the idea of someone leaving a note that led to a case. But all jobs after, for me at least, they have all been reported by the police scanner and immediately the place is in lock down. By the time I get there, the cops are almost at the location and searching the crime scene undisturbed is near impossible.

Some people even sleep till murder cases happen. So you may lose even more time due to the fast forwarding.

Suggestion
I would like more methods then the police scanner and random luck to stumble on a murder. Having someone call the detective could be great incentive to buy a phone or maybe a payphone rings and you answer it to get a tip (which could be ominous and creepy). Maybe the homeless people can lead you to a building that has a case waiting to be found for some cash. Definitely could see some other ideas coming in.

Beyond this, my second suggestion is if the police scanner goes off then maybe wake up the player automatically and stop the wait time? They could just go back to sleep if they don't care and it could stop you missing vital minutes due to fast forwarding while while waiting/sleeping.

tidal warren
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more dynamic and various ways that cases can unfold / begin would absolutely be sick. I think one of the biggest things this game has going for it is its emergent story telling capabilities so having more ways that cases can play out will only make it even more immersive

hasty wolf
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will tack on in here, since this is technically a similar theme post (will close my one in here)

In the tutorial mission Dead of night, you receive a case from a simple slip under your door
Is it possible to see more of this in the sandbox mode, or at all for that matter, perhaps instead of the door, they slip it in your mailbox and you get a small notification of mail. (Obviously not available for the people without apartments)

Another means of acquiring jobs, perhaps, as your rank increases, maybe there is a chance for people to approach you when you are sitting down passing time, or knocking on the door/room where you are sleeping to ask you to take a case.

I would recommend in order to keep the balance of the game and explain why these would not be so common as you wouldn't want this every hour of every day, that these particular missions are deliberately difficult, for example, serial killers with low evidence drops per scene (adding too longevity of a run), Thefts that have since been stolen or sold - so you have to locate the thief of the thief+ or track down where something was sold to try and track down where it has ended up, you know, the kind of things that the enforcers would just throw in the bin because they are waaaaaaaaaaaay too much work or even are unaware of.

drowsy meadow
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I like the idea of people knocking on the door and using the mailbox gives it SO much more use, I'm surprised I didn't think of that one. 😮

Having new ways to get jobs based on your fame is really neat. Maybe some people don't trust the cops and call you due to this.

I think the idea of serial killers that got away is really cool. Maybe you could accept jobs to find a serial killer at the town hall which starts similar to side jobs. They won't kill till you accept them and it gives a way to manually start murder cases. But I think they should be hard.

echo obsidian
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Honestly after dead of night the best start to a case I had was I was looking for a target for a odd-job and I went to their office and found a fresh corpse in the lobby before anyone had reported it. It was actually behind the door so people walking out of the office didn't see it.

hasty wolf
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I felt the same when i saw the phone box suggestion you posted was like, why didnt i think of that xD
It all just adds that little more depth and really increases the gritty detective feel

drowsy meadow
tidal warren
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gotta find a balance so that it feels like it doesnt happen too often but also doesnt feel like its impossible. needs to be a shocking / surprising moment when you find a body on your own by just stumbling into someones house

drowsy meadow
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The serial killer idea is probably my favorite thus far. Like, I could 100% see wanted posters in the town hall. Give the serial killers unique names too. These would be high profile criminals that are unknown and may require a few murders to figure out. It sounds super cool.

echo obsidian
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But yah more dynamic options to starting cases would be great. There are a lot of options. Like if you have a phone, the game could check if you are in your apartment and give you a ring or have someone knock on your door and leave a note on your floor or just talk to you there and then. Or if you have a cruncher you could get vmails. This could be for a lot more cases than just murders. Like the classic 'I think I'm being followed, please help' type deals that COULD lead to the person who hired you being killed if you fail to help them in time.

drowsy meadow
hasty wolf
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Gotta agree with ALL of the above

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Never actually found a body without a mission, something to look forward too

drowsy meadow
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That way the moment someone slips a note in your mailbox it feels special.

echo obsidian
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of couse the classic 'police scanner' could still be a thing. But I'd like it if the scanner was sort of an optional thing or even a sync disk you have to find. Otherwise you have to rely on people talking in the streets . Or even bribing the cops to tell you information. Or just ambiently, like standing near an enforcer you can overhear their radio chatter.

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but that might be a little extreme

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though the idea of making friends with the enforcer dispatcher so they also give you heads up to cases is a cool idea too

hasty wolf
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I do like the police scanner personally, certainly should have to earn it i think?
for me, just needs other options, waiting for a scanner sometimes can be tedious
So more options = Faster gameplay
which is fine, if you do not want to retire :3

drowsy meadow
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So offices often would be police scannered but like homes of single people could have more events due to how the game works.

tidal warren
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maybe the longer someone goes missing if they are dead in their house theres a chance they could have a friend or family member reach out to you to investigate their disappearance

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just an idea for one even that could happen

drowsy meadow
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It would be like a visitor pass but once you leave they call it in and the police are notified so you can take the case at town hall.

tidal warren
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ye definitely would be sick

ripe slate
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The police response in the game is very annoying to me. First, they don't do anything except stand in the building and remark about how horrible it is, until they leave, and there's no way to distract them away from the scene until they decide to quit (they'll keep coming back until they decide they're done is what I mean). Second, you can usually walk in right in front of them and they do nothing, so their presence there is pointless. They literally exist just to waste time. On the flip side, if the victim's partner was home, often they don't leave the apartment even after the murder was reported, so even if you get there first, you will have a hard time investigating because they will find you, or else you'll take so long sneaking the police will arrive anyway. Usually when a murder is reported, if I'm not in or next to the building, I just wait an hour or two so I'm not stuck hiding from the police or waiting outside for them to leave.

drowsy meadow
ripe slate
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On topic: I agree getting to a case when the enforcers are involved is frustrating (for reasons stated above). I'm not sure I like the idea of a scanner but I would like something to be done.

drowsy meadow
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It's the one that tells you the Murder happened and forces the enforcers to go to the scene immediately upon it going off.

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The topic is that we should have ways to get Murder Clues before the Police showing up. Like a note under the door (in the tutorial), a guy walking up and saying he heard some sounds near his house and wants you to check it out, a call on the phone, ect.

ripe slate
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That's a radio and I think the explanation is that you hear the dispatch call over it?

drowsy meadow
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Just any way to get to the scene before the scanner goes off because the tutorial feels better then the actual game atm

ripe slate
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Although you can't seem to talk through it so saying it's a scanner might be more accurate, yeah

ripe slate
drowsy meadow
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Yeah it's a police scanner. You scan the radio of the police and hear when a murder happens.

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That's why the enforcers are already going there. The body was found by a person and the latch was pulled.

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Which is why if I get there before the police the hatch is down. The enforcers are already getting there so the vents really don't help you get in first.

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and it's pretty are to stumble accidentally on a crime. Especially since some people sleep till the scanner goes off atm.

ripe slate
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Hrm, yeah

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I think maybe, just add a time delay for the enforcers showing up? Like an hour or two before they start going over instead of immediately? Otherwise I'm not sure how you'd do it since pretty much everyone's natural reaction would probably be to raise the alarm instead of walk all the way across town to some gumshoe you don't even know (assuming it's the start of the game)

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Though if they lived alone there's more leeway of someone else saying they heard noises or screams if you ask if they've seen anything sus

drowsy meadow
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I think a small delay would be good, basically slow police response. Which is pretty normal.
Though I have to say, having other ways would be cool. I'd love to get phonecalls for cases, notes under the door, maybe even from payphones for spooky atmosphere. Just having other ways to find them sounds very immersive.

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I don't think everyone would like the Cola Police after all.

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So I could see some people contacting the detective due to their distain.

ripe slate
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They would have to eventually though, otherwise you wouldn't be able to hand the case in. Although solving murders directly for corps, gangs, etc, who would keep it off the books, sounds like a lot of fun.

drowsy meadow
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Mentioned that bit too. That the person would give you time till they have to report it as they don't want to be seen as an accomplice covering it up. That or if they live there they give you a guest pass and once you leave they report it.

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or you report it yourself to the police.

ripe slate
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Works for me. But do you see that as a perk which happens if you get more notoriety, or would you want it to be in the game from the beginning?

gray jay
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I think a delay before the police gets there is needed and probably fits the lore better. In a dystopian theme most of the time the police don't respond too fast to crime as the population is huge. Here, they immediately run to the crime like superheroes when they're really supposed to be enforcers hired by megacorp. Why would they race to every murder when lore-wise cities are huge and crime probably happens regularly?

ripe slate
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Even if they just walk instead of run, that'd probably give enough time

gray jay
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I'd prefer being at a crimescene and having a psuedo timer in my head ticking down til the enforcers arrive and having to worry about that as opposed to having to wait it out until they're done inside the apartment because there's no point in trying to investigate with them patrolling inside just to get shot in the face.

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Similar to how you can loot camps after killing folks in Red Dead's singleplayer but the police eventually show up if you stick around too long or w.e

drowsy meadow
# ripe slate Works for me. But do you see that as a perk which happens if you get more notori...

We talked about this a little bit. The mechanic could basically be when a murder happens and it's not found, there is a chance every x amount of time that someone reports it to the detective. Not all murders are found immediately after all. Then it keeps checking with a higher chance for someone to get into contact with the detective. Through notes, phonecalls if a phone is present, ect. Then once the body is found, the individual that calls it in has a chance to call the detective or the police depending on how much that NPC likes the Cola Company. If they hate it, they would call the detective first. So this would be another percentage thing.

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Just an example of how it could be done.

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and maybe at your fame increases it increases the odds of how often you are called instead of the cops.

ripe slate
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Right, it's the how they know to contact you bit that I'd get stuck on. Though, there's plenty of hooks for the different styles of murders that could work. Someone suggested 'missing persons' cases, so perhaps if someone doesn't show up for work for 2 days, they send out a job for a wellness check. The more insane killers could contact you themself if no one reports it. Stalker victims usually have a police complaint filed before they die, so maybe they could send you a message since the police don't do anything about it. Stuff like that

drowsy meadow
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Currently in the game, if you ask if anyone saw anything suspicious and there is a body, they can already lead you to a body. I heard that cops can even do this currently which makes zero sense as if they think there is a dead person there you'd imagine they'd check it. But there has to be someone on the map dead.

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So the main difference really would just be they contact you instead of you contacting the person on the street to find the body.

loud elbow
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It could just start as a missing persons case. A coworker or spouse saying they haven't seen a person in X days.

drowsy meadow
fossil storm
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could also get emails about jobs so you would go home to check your pc once in a while.

hasty wolf
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yeah that would be a good idea as well
I continously go back to my place, check Vmail
And there is never anything in there, its always devoid of any mail
like
In a city where everyone gets spamemd
WHY NO SPAM FOR ME
INsert sad violin noises