Sleuth helper

Sleuth helper is a web page with a html form designed to make the solving of Sleuth cases easier.

Here is a link to the Sleuth helper page. What you probably want to do is save a copy of it onto your computer for fast access (right click on the link, then select 'Save target as...').

And in case you haven't yet discovered Sleuth for yourself, it's a free, fantastic online game where you track down clues to find out who the murderer is!

How to use Sleuth helper

Open a web browser, and select 'File' > 'Open...' Then navigate to where you might have saved your sleuthhelper.html file, and open it. This is what it'll look like.

It should be pretty straightforward, but in case you are wondering what it's all for...

When you start up a mystery, you can fill in the types of physical evidence in the top left corner (a). The middle left section (b) is for you to put in the names of your suspects (I ususally just copy and paste).

Once I work out their description (eg. male, heavy, curly hair, right handed) I'll put that in as well in the drop down lists to the far right of each name (c).

Their alabis go in the column next to their name (eg. church, bar, restaurant). Then next to that is whether their alibi is ok ('ok') or false ('sus') (d). If I narrow down that this is the killer, there's also 'bad'...

The middle column is for the hints that the shop keepers give you (e). For instance, if Maria tells me that Wilbur hasn't heard or seen anything about the case, I'll put in 'doesn't'. But if she says that Wilbur thinks he knows who the murderer is, I'll put in 'knows'.

So I keep track of which shopkeeper I've asked about whether they know anything else about the case, at the bottom right is a series of checkboxes for each of the shopkeepers (f).

On the right hand side there is a list of difficulty levels so I remember which level I'm playing, and so I know what I should be looking out for in terms of numbers of characters, and numbers of suspects with no alibis (g). This section is a work in progress - no guarantees that I've got it right, OK? And I haven't played "Almost impossible" yet, so I don't know anything about that. Since this is a little bit spoiler-ish, there is an alternate version of Sleuth Helper that you can download WITHOUT the difficulty details listed (called sleuthhelper1.html).

There is also a drop down list for the twist that I encounter. This is so I can keep track of whether the twist has come up yet, or not (h). This is primarily useful if you're looking to modify your alignments with the different factions.

There is also a space for notes on the top right (i) - this is where I jot down things like 'DAB+; OS-' if it's a case that'll put me in good stead with the Dies Arcanum Brotherhood, and annoy the Order of Socrates.

There's also a link to 'Notes' (j) - this is a file where I keep all the questions and answers I've come across that the shopkeepers ask when trying to do a little job for the factions. I haven't included that file since it would be full of spoilers. Sorry, you'll have to create your own list of questions and answers!

And of course, there's a button to clear the form (k). Don't click this accidentally!

Improvements

It'd be great to find a way to save and retreive a form (say, if you have a partly completed game and have to go carry on with normal life), but I haven't worked that out yet. I suppose one thing you could do is print your partly-completed form out on a printer, and carry on later with a pen.

The difficulty levels might need to be checked. However, as far as I can tell I think they are right. Thanks to Luniar Arkain for information about the 'Almost impossible' cases.

Have fun with Sleuth helper!

Naomi Hong
August 2005