Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Sleuth Talk

Aug-11-2005 10:32

How do YOU Sleuth, I ask? :O Do you memorize alibis, etc., open Notepad, or what? Personally, I open Notepad. It makes the Sleuthing process much easier for me.

Aug-21-2005 15:02

Second point for Notepad! :D Thanks, Reda.

Aug-27-2005 22:00

I've got a spreadsheet I use to play Sleuth with. I've only put a few hours into it, but it helps me quite a bit. I don't want to break any rules here, so if someone could PM me with the proper etiquette for posting a link to my site with the file on it I will gladly share it with everyone.

Aug-27-2005 22:11

Ack! well, that's what I get for not looking at the other pages in this thread. Sorry, not trying to waste bandwidth, but here is the link:
http://www.datasolinc.com/
Click on the Sleuth quick link to get to it.

[Disclaimer: I used information from Naomi's webpage in the spreadsheet. I had already been using my own design but once I found the information gathered on that page I integrated it with my own. If anyone objects, especially Naomi, I will take the file off my website immediately.]

Sep-4-2005 05:40

*laughs* This is crazy.. a notebook with 1000+ cases.. people that create their own forms ... (by the way, can we download it? ;)) jskdn, I'm beginning to think this "12 Step Program" you mentioned may not be so mythical...

Sep-4-2005 05:48

Ok, I found link, sweet... trying to get used to this whole msg board thing...

Sep-6-2005 09:16

I was wondering is there anyway of adding a motive box... that's what I lose track off the most, then I waste questions by asking when everyone has one. I'm really paranoid since I had two Witness evidences, a fake alibi and one physical evidence and no sblibi with one of my boy detectives... I know there's a note section, still it would be easy to click on button :) Otherwise I'm loving it, thanks so much!

Sep-7-2005 00:46

There is now an alternate Sleuth helper available on the http://members.optusnet.com.au/hongus/Sleuth_helper/ page, without the different difficuly variables listed. This is in case you want to have the 'joy' of working it out the different difficuly settings yourself... I realise it's a bit spoiler-ish to have it all listed there for you already (not that the data's necessarily correct).

Sep-7-2005 00:55

Also, if you want to modify Sleuth helper for your own use, go right ahead - open it up with Notepad, and if you know a bit of HTML it's not a problem to add a field or checkbox somewhere (like with Lady Emerald Devon's suggestion about a motive box).

The code you want to insert is <input type="checkbox" value="motive">. That will give you a box you can click on and off.

So it would look like this as you insert that line for into each of the ten suspects:
3 <input type=text name="suspect 1" size=10></input>
<input type="checkbox" value="motive">
<select name="suspect alabi 1">

Hope this helps!

Sep-7-2005 08:11

Thanks so much

Oct-6-2005 16:09

I use a spreadsheet like OpenOffice or Excel. I lay it out this way:
Name . . . . . .| Alan | Beth | Carl | more as I get them
Motive . . . . .| Y | | Y |
Records. . . . .| . | Y | . |
Picklock . . . .| | | Y |
Alibi. . . . . .| shoe | xxxx | bar |
Tactic . . . . .| ST | !ST | |
Any Others?. . .| Y | | |
Alibi Valid. . .| ! | xxxx | Y |
footprint. . . .| ! | | Y |
footprint 2. . .| | | |
hair . . . . . .| Y | | |
Alan?. . . . . .| xxxx | | ! |
Carl?. . . . . .| Y | | |

I use Y for Yes and ! for No merely out of habit. Here ST means I used Sweet Talk and !ST means it failed. I stick xxxx in a column to remind me not to ask that question. If someone clams or dies on me I select the column and hit CTRL I to italicize it. If I just busted someones alibi I'll select the column and hit CTRL B to bold it as a reminder. Then when I'm questioning someone else and jotting down facts, I'll see the bold values nearby. That reminds me to ask that person if they suspect the guy I bolded.

The webform just took too long for me, I was Tabbing and SHIFT Tabbing forever. In a spreadsheet you can move in any direction using the arrow keys, or TAB left or right, or ENTER will take you to the first empty column of the next row. If I have to go, I email the file to myself as a XLS or CSV attachment. Once, in a pinch, I couldn't email it because Hotmail was down. So I saved it as a CSV, opened it in Notepad, copied it to the clipboard, clicked the Detective and Edit Bio links, pasted it into my bio, and saved it that way.