Support The Lone Detective online game

Why do we need your support?

Building a casefile for a game like this is both complex and time-consuming — and if you're curious how complex, the paragraphs below will explain it in detail. Beyond creating the casefiles themselves, there are also ongoing costs: the daily time spent reviewing and replying to player solutions, as well as the expenses of running the server and maintaining the domain.

Your donations help us cover these costs and keep the game running.

What will you get for your support?

The donors are granted access to few additional features:

premium cases,
informant help,
option to ask Game Master a question regarding some details of the casefile,
case aftermath - after solving a case, you will be given a closing chapter of the story,
for solving cases perfectly, you will be awarded more Premium Tokens than regular users.

How much should I donate?

Exactly as much as you feel comfortable with. For some people 1 USD is a lot, for some 100 USD is not a big deal, that's why we don't publish any suggestions regarding the amount. Even for a 1 USD, you will get some Premium Tokens that will allow you access to the premium features.

How hard can it be?

As you can imagine, a game like The Lone Detective is a time-consuming undertaking for us, the creators. On the surface, it may look like a very simple project - post some text on the website, add some photos, a contact form and voilà! But the reality is a bit more complicated.

Even a simple case requires several stages before it can be published.

What it takes to build a casefile?

The first step is the story behind the case, then there is the research into setting the case in time and location in the world. Everything needs to be checked, from what police ranks were in this particulat country at this moment in history, to how much an item would cost or what cars were popular in that reality. And there are of course checks into the logic and science behind the crime, how to balance the evidence available in the casefile so it wouldn't be too easy nor impossible to solve. And then, there is the writing of the case elements, finding the right photos that can be used, then the testing, testing and testing again.

How long does it take to put together a case?

It depends, some cases are simple, some are quite complicated. The main story is usually quite easy part of the process, it can take few days to put together a convincing story. Then there is the research, writing of the contents of the casefile, testing, critical verification of the story and the case - this could take few weeks.

And then there is the final phase of the process - the final review. Sounds like the easiest one, but at this point we check if the case is ready for publication or does it miss some details that would make it interesting. How long does it take? Could be days, could be weeks, could be months. Or, to put it differently, we have few cases in development, which are stuck on this stage for over 6 months. And counting. They are complete, they basically work, but miss a detail that would make them a bit more special.