The Lone Detective online game

Quick history

The Lone Detective started in 2002 as PBEM game (play-by-e-mail) with Polish title Detektyw PBEM. The early version of the game contained only the basic information about the case, and it was up to the players to get further data by asking Game Master questions via e-mail. That formula gave every player a slightly different experience, based on the direction each of them have taken. On the other hand, it was a time-consuming method for the Game Masters.

After 4 years and adding English version to the game, Detektyw PBEM went into hiatus - the workload and the limitations of the primary formula proved to be not sustainable. During the hiatus there were several different approaches to revive the title in a new, lighter formula, but most of them had to be abandoned at rather early stage due to technical limitations or the concepts not being up to scratch when it comes to user experience.

The Lone Detective reborn

In 2017, a new version of the website was activated, this time with English as the basic language and with completely different approach - while still with Game Master in the center of the game, The Lone Detective was based around cold cases, which meant that all the information available for the players were already present on the website and their role was reduced to analyzing all the evidence and preparing a solution for the Game Master.

The new formula proved to be a balanced solution between high workload for the Game Master and the best user experience for the players. The experience from test runs since 2017 gave us the ideas for more open formula in future cases, some of which will include gathering of some of the evidence by players, as well as finding the missing evidence.

As of 2022, the two classic cases are still available on the website, while we are working on several new cases.