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Sep-25-2005 09:05

I'm revamping and improving the "Sleuth Helper" to make things easier for myself. Couple questions for everyone:

1) Do people still use the Sleuth Helper?
2) What features/changes would you like to see?

The updates I'm putting into place thus far are to make it easier to organize my thoughts and decrease the amount of time spent copy/pasting/selecting information into it.

Sep-25-2005 10:27

I use it all the time! :D

I think it would be good to have another option in the alibi section that says "clammed" or something, so you know that they clammed up completely, which is why you don't have an alibi for them.

For now, I just leave those ones blank and assume they're a suspect until I have someone else, but it would be helpful to keep things straight. :)

Sep-25-2005 17:05

Sherlock if you want to create a cross check system in PHP, and don't have it on your website. Feel free to store it with my host.

I think it is pretty easily done in HTML as well, but felt I should offer. (I would do a redirect form post in to another webpage. With CFMs guilty formula underneath.)

Sep-25-2005 17:06

(I mean for PHP, if you do not have a php enabled host. Most free websites don't)

Sep-25-2005 17:40

I use it all the time now. Less incriminating paper lying around

I like the clammed option. Also, maybe a box that says CBR (cleared by research) cuz sometimes when i stop a case and come back to it, i forget if i did the research already or not

Also, maybe a "no, WE, PE" box, so we know who has what evidence against them?

Sep-25-2005 18:26

The update will be written totally in Javascript and HTML. Some of the things I want to do are:

1) Allow saving of case data
2) Paste text from Sleuth and parse it for suspect updates. This will likely only work for random cases
3) Allow better organizing of suspects. I want to be able to order the suspects in the order I want to talk to them and then in the order I want to test evidence against them.
4) A way to match up evidence with who its been tested against. Possibly eliminating suspects (from the evidence match) who can't possibly match (e.g. Slim footprint with a heavy person)
5) Add a Motive: Yes/No
6) Mark suspects as "cleared" or "clammed"
7) Make sure none of the above or unplanned additions take away from the fun of Sleuth!

Sep-25-2005 23:57

Wow, sounds really great! All the best with the update, Shrl0ck H0lmes. When you're done, I'd be happy to link to your update.

Let me explain that there are some special notations that I use that I haven't outlined on the site. This helps me keep track of what's going on when I move in to phase of the case where I start asking if x has noticed anything suspicious about y.

When someone (eg. James) has clammed up, I insert a '-' next to their name (eg. "James -").

When someone has been killed, I insert a 'x' next to their name (eg. "James x"). When they've gone into hiding, I put something like 's' there until I've weeded him out.

When I ask someone if they've noticed anything suspicious about other people, I'll make a note of the number of the suspects I've asked them about next to their name (eg. "James 36").

If they clam up before I've asked 'em about all the people I want to, I'll insert an '-' after the list (eg. "James 36-", if I didn't get to ask James about Filippa).

If I got to ask James about all the people I needed to (but he hasen't noticed anything about any of 'em), I'll insert a '-' before the list (eg. "James -368").

If James HAS noticed something suspcious about Filippa (8), I'll just leave it as "James 368".

I know this all sounds complicated ... but it seems to have worked ok for me, and in the really tricky cases (where I haven't actually been able to get ANY witness evidence), it helps me see who most probably did it, from a process of elimination.

Sep-26-2005 00:03

I dont use it because the list of alibis fits only to NY. I would like it if you can make it to fit all cities. Or make an option to write in the fields instead of just choosing from the list.
Then I would be able to use it in London.

Also marking when someone is cleared by research would be usefull.
and offcourse saving.

Sep-26-2005 05:00

I use it in London by assigning like Alibis.

The Tea Merchant Becomes the butcher because they both have edible stuff
The concierge becomes the church because they are both non PE people with factions inside
The curator becomes the music teacher because they are bother arty type of people
Librarian is the banker
Podiatrist is the shoe maker :)

Sep-26-2005 09:15

LOL

Sep-26-2005 09:40

I dont use it either, because I'm in London and its just too confusing to me when using it. So if one could be made where it is for ALL cities ,be great. Until then, Im just happy using my pen and paper lol :)