#Yet another Fingerprinting overhaul suggestion

21 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

stone swan
#

Fingerprints are kinda all or nothing...and sometimes, the value of the fingerprint themselves gives you a hint as to whether or not you have met the NPC, and how long ago you've met them.

My proposal is that all fingerprints are re-worked as a binary string of 16 chars long (so 65536 possibilities). The fingerprint scanner gives out incomplete prints (think of them as smudged prints) based on difficulty level and/or tool level (i.e. brings in the possibility of buying/unlocking via higher social credit scores better fingerprint scanners), though to keep things sane I would recommend a max of four smudged characters. Each new NPC fingerprint acquired by the detective would be assigned a random binary string, so no ordinal progression like it is currently with alphabetical order.

Finally to simulate the fact that no two fingerprints are alike and that our player character is an expert at these things (read: make things easier in game), the detective will automatically recognize different smudged prints that belong together, even if other possibilities technically exist, and combine them together accordingly.

chilly topaz
#

I actually really like this.

Sync Disk to have more of a print revealed could be great

robust cove
#

This is excellent.

umbral bobcat
#

I don’t get it, so do you need to find and scan 4 different smudged prints belonging to the same person to combine them into one whole print?

stone swan
# umbral bobcat I don’t get it, so do you need to find and scan 4 different smudged prints belon...

Not necessarily, since it depends on both tools and difficulty level.

At the lowest difficulty level, you’ll get complete prints almost each and every time.

At the highest difficulty level, combined with the lowest tool level, up to 4 of the 16 binary digits may be smudged. If you find and scan another print from the same individual, yet another 4 binary digits may be smudged, but since it can be any 4, if you’re fortunate the 4 smudged this time is totally different from the first time. This means that between the first and second scans you have the complete print, and your detective player character is sharp enough to recognise that and automatically combine and synthesise the complete print on their own.

remote obsidian
#

This is a really good idea for reworking the fingerprints to be a little more indepth whilst also not adding much processing overhead, at least to my knowledge.

stone swan
# remote obsidian This is a really good idea for reworking the fingerprints to be a little more in...

Well, there will be some challenges, the biggest of which I envision to be the UI: given the current interface, I’m uncertain that there is enough room to display a 16-digit binary string in the current spot where the fingerprint id currently resides. Sure, they can go for a single click modal dialogue expansion, but that’s an extra click where none existed, and introducing extra clicks in a previously existing UI that has been widely used is always a gamble.

The flip side, to reduce the length of the binary string to something smaller, is equally problematic: 8 digits is simply too small (only 256 possibilities, and most, if not all, cities have higher population than that), and 12 digits (4096 possibilities), the next logical word boundary, leads to memory inefficiencies and possible vectors of attack for malware, especially those capable of stealth.

And I haven’t even touched how maintaining dynamic fingerprints along with all the smudges would impact to both in-game memory and also saved game files.

So while the idea is sound on a performance and processing efficiency level, there are serious not-necessarily-technical challenges to overcome as well.

tawny spoke
#

I think, at least in terms of the UI, if the space for fingerprints was made a bit larger and utilized a 4x4 grid to display values, you wouldn't have to sacrifice additional clicks. Hell, you could even introduce a sub-window that opens in tandem with documents containing fingerprint data. It might become a little bulky, but it definitely seems feasible

frail field
#

A 4x4 grid that symbolises the different 'puzzle pieces' of the fingerprint you're missing would be good, I think.

#

To the player, it looks like they're revealing a full print - the generated number could just be fully in the background.

#

Though you could have the actual number be visible upon 'inspecting' the print, so that the player can see more precisely.

#

Or the number could be in the background of each 'puzzle piece', so that it works as a label.

signal raft
barren sleet
#

it would help us understand what you are proposing and it catches the devs eyes

signal raft
#

and I am thinking that when you find a piece it would say something like "Found partial print (Part 3/4)" or w.e. and then it becomes complete when you get all pieces or use the fingerprint rebuilding mechanic.

barren sleet
#

It's a level of complexity that would be harder than what we have but not too hard

signal raft
#

Yeah that is what I am thinking, and coupled with them adjusting the placement of fingerprints to places that make more sense, like doors, elevator call buttons, etc, you would still sus out what the killer touched to collect them

#

instead of the need in a haystack method we have right now, with the exception being calling cards