The Official Guidebook

INTRO

Welcome, Gamedec! So you’ve got yourself a license, huh?

But what’s next? Where to start? Who are you talking to? If
you feel lost in 22nd-century Warsaw City – don’t! We’ll make
the transition as clear as we can.

In this guidebook, you will find many entries that will help you
adapt to the new world you’ve awakened to. In the following
pages, we will inform you about the world (especially Warsaw
City itself) and its technology, game plot, and characters. At the
end, you will also find a glossary, so you can always take a look
if you forget a certain term or character.

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 WARSAW CITY IN
THE 22nd CENTURY

In 22nd-century Warsaw City, “real” is a relative term, and

“life” and “death” have many meanings. Virtual worlds give
rise to real problems: lust, sloth, envy, and pride. That’s why
the residents of these virtual game-worlds need specialists –
Gamedecs who discover and expose cheats hidden in the
realities of their clients. In the wild west or the jungle of
a prehistoric entertainment park, throughout these and many
other worlds, gamedecs are facing human nature – which, de-
spite many changes, has remained the same.

In Gamedecverse, nature took over, and people had to hide

throughout caged cities, which eventually grew into colossal
poleis. Warsaw City consists of four levels. High City – where
the CEOs, celebrities, and other “big fish” live – has access
to light, which has become a rare luxury. Mid City is home
to average people who did not excel in their field but still
managed to have some money. There’s also Low City – a place
where, even on a sunny day, it’s so dark that you can’t get
by without artificial lighting. Finally, beneath the polis lies the
dust-covered ruins of Old Warsaw. That’s Undercity – inhabited
by savages who rejected civilized life and nasty creatures like
poisonous bats or toxic, mutant rats.
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6
 GAMEDEC

You are a Gamedec – a private detective who solves crimes

inside virtual worlds. The decisions you make will alter your
character’s traits and impact the course of the game, but cases
are riddled with dilemmas and rarely clear-cut. 
Until the 2170s, gamedecs were called “solvers”. They started
calling themselves “gamedecs” following the death of Sam
Hawthorne - one of the best of their kind, who used to say
that, “detection ends the case.”
The labyrinth principle states that whoever is inside the
labyrinth cannot perceive its structure. This is why they need
an outsider with a bird’s-eye view. Such a person must possess
three key characteristics:
Is a good gamer

Knows basic coding

Knows human nature

Gamedecs are called in by gamers who cannot cope with an
in-game puzzle or need help with a particularly difficult part
of gameplay. They are hired by clans looking for an extra
gun to use in online battles or sought by game-developing
organizations and corporations who suspect they are being

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sabotaged by their competition. Gamedecs are also hired by
celebrities and politicians who have gotten involved in subtle
gaming relations and need discreet help getting out of it.

Every gamedec has a different past, a different story.

It’s a job performed by former doctors, journalists, businessmen,
professional gamers, artists, and soldiers alike. What they
all have in common is a similar change in their professional lives.
They lost interest in what they had previously done – or in all
traditional ways of life, for that matter. They experienced
disappointment and disillusion, felt deluded, and opened their
eyes – each of them describes it in their own way.

In Marcin Przybyłek’s books, the main protagonist – Torkil Aymore

– couldn’t force himself to keep working as a doctor, and working
as a toy seller exposed him to the grime of late 22nd-century
business. Major Duncan Powers lost his body on the training
ground and started using a military mobrium. His wife could not
handle it, and so she left him – taking their daughter with her.
As a journalist covering upper-class gossip, Vivien Lacroix ruined
several people’s lives before becoming a gamedec. Max Roma-
nov rejected the superficiality of show business, took up cage
fighting, and started working as a gamedec.

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 GAMEDEC’S
EQUIPMENT

What do you need to play games in Gamedecverse?

What do you need to enter sensory worlds? You need six things.
Four of them are equipment and two of them are drugs.
Your equipment consists of a computer, a couch, a suit and
a helmet. Your computer is controlling it all. It’s the brain of the
whole system. And it’s the firewall of the system because
it is connected to the Global Net. So if somebody is trying
to hack you, he must go through your computer – which
is connected to the couch, suit and helmet.

The couch is primarily a bed, but a very special bed. It does

several things. First, it prevents you from developing pressure
sores that you can get from lying down for
a long period by massaging and heating the
body. Most importantly, it heats the nutrifluid.
Your suit is something that
you put on before enter-
ing the Net. It reinforces the
couch’s function, by also
giving you a massage and
preventing pressure sores
and muscular atrophy.

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So, the suit is extremely important
because it protects you; with proper
equipment, your gametime can reach
as far as four days straight. Playing
for longer than the allotted time is
extremely dangerous, and we do not
recommend it.
Your helmet is a very intricate piece of machinery. It’s very
expensive, it’s very complicated, and it does three things.
First, users need the helmet for devitalization, which discon-
nects the movement centers of your brain from your real body
so that you can move in the virtual world – in the sensory
world. You can move your hands and legs, but your real limbs
are lying still on the couch. It’s like dreaming. You can dream
of running or fighting, but your real body remains still. The
opposite of devitalization is revitalization, which is also done
using the helmet. And finally, the most important function
is the simulation of the game itself.

We have, in our brains, one hundred billion brain cells and

neurons. Each of them has, more or less, ten thousand syn-
apses. It’s a lot, and the helmet stimulates and controls most
of it – it creates the phenomenon of experiencing sensations
in the virtual world. You can see this world, hear it, touch it, smell
it, and you can taste it. And, well, you don’t actually go anywhere.
Your brain doesn’t go anywhere. It doesn’t enter the game.
The game enters your brain, and this is all done by the helmet.

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And now, let’s move on to the drugs. The first is nutriflu-
id. Well, it’s just nourishment. You attach it to the couch,
and the nutrifluid warms the couch. Then, you attach it to
the nano-socket in your forearm so that you don’t starve
while staying in the Net.

The second drug is very complex and expensive – it is called

Gamepill. Gamepill is a little capsule that you have to swal-
low before entering the Net. This little capsule contains
billions of nanobots that change your metabolic pathways.
So you don’t have to worry about overfilling your bladder
or colon. This is especially important when you stay for longer
periods in the Net.

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 LOCATIONS AND
VIRTUALIAS

Low City

Low City’s biggest attraction is its nightclubs that are open

24 hours a day. As the name states, it is located in the
lower parts of Warsaw City. Less fortunate people tend to live
there, including Trolls and Sleeves. Low City is filled with many
shady alleys and presents many opportunities to get robbed.
We sincerely advise you not to tempt fate.

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 High City
The rich and spoiled have reached the tops of Warsaw City,
where natural sunlight is still shining through skyscrapers’
windows. High City is home to many corporations and fat cats.
Many people aspire to get out of the lower parts of the city.
Maybe, one day, they will succeed, but many have failed before.

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 Harvest Time
Harvest Time is a sensory world stylized as a Wild-West-
themed, free-to-play game where you can grow crops, milk cows
and enjoy a happy life filled with nature. Collect coins and spend
them to upgrade your farm, or show off with a kick-ass skin.
It’s a peaceful and bright place to be. Or is it?

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 Twisted & Perverted
Twisted & Perverted is a perfect place for thrill-seeking sadists
and nymphos. You get points for either having sex or killing
people - bonus points and multipliers if you combine these two.
People wear skins in T&P so that no one knows who they
really are.

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 Paradise Beach
Paradise Beach is designed for lonely hearts created by
Blue Whales Interactive. It is a dating game designed to look
like a beautiful beach. You can wear a skin that makes you
look more beautiful, and you’ll quickly meet a partner within
a few hours.
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 Happy Hunting Grounds
Happy Hunting Grounds is an illegal sensory world in which
sensory blockades have been lifted in the software, so every
injury feels real. When vital organs or blood vessels are
virtually damaged, the player’s autonomic nervous system
can react with shock or a sudden rise in blood pressure, lead-
ing to a stroke. You’ve been warned. This world is entered by
wealthy people looking for thrills, snobs, and really influential
people who are bored with the predictability of life.

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 Knights Code
Knights Code is a MMORPG game. The only support for the
players consists of drifting islands that carry Strongholds
and the small islands scattered between those on which
Strongholds can be built, used for gathering forces,
regrouping and fighting. Clans control their own Strongholds
and try to conquer the Strongholds of their opponents, thus
expanding their territory. A home to the Hon Clan, where only
extraordinary people are invited to be a part of.

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 CHARACTERS

Bliss
Bliss is a virtual companion designed and produced
by the Blue Whales Interactive corporation. Bliss acts
as Gamedec’s digital housekeeper: it pays the bills, orders
food for the empty fridge, and watches over Gamedec’s
safety while he is on the case inside a sensory world.
Bliss appears as a holographic projection and has
a universally appealing, symmetrical appearance.

Cam Grozny
She used to be the leader of the trolls. Then, she got
bored with aimless wandering, left the group to Tick, and
took up drug dealing. She still carries a lot of clout in the
bar, and all the trolls there respond to her. She formed
an unlikely friendship with Yet, but things have soured
recently. She has a Mid City job, and the drug dealing
supplements her income considerably. Despite her means,
she displays obvious signs of aging. She is known to troll
all those who are afraid of the passage of time.

Captain Barnaba Basileus

Capt. Barnaba Basileus is astonishingly competent,
considering the band of misfits he leads. One could won-
der, was he punished? Or is he the only person that could

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manage this menagerie? He certainly holds a grudge
against Dr. Pax. He is accusing the doctor of a misdiagno-
sis that resulted in his husband’s body loss.

Dr. Samuel Pax

Dr. Samuel Pax was a promising doctor with a stellar
career. His family connections and brilliance granted
him a high position at a prestigious hospital in Warsaw
City. He was accused of misdiagnosis in a deceptively
simple case. The patient’s family called for a medical
council. Unfortunately, the committee knew they were
inferior to him and jealous of him, so they disagreed
with his brilliant diagnosis and left him out of a job and
in disgrace.

Eleonore Haggis
Self-absorbed Miss Universe. Vocation - wife. She’s
always looking nice, no questions asked, and taking
care of herself and her family. She has a son with
Geoffrey named Fredo. He is her everything. She allows
him to do whatever he wants and is overprotective.
She also understands that Geoffrey is not a good man,
but pretending otherwise is a part of the deal. She
drowns her sorrows in alcohol.

Fedra Phoebus
Corporate HR. She’s professional and good at her job.
A trained psychologist, she openly admits that she is
but a face for corporate AI. People feel comfortable talking

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to Fedra. She has a warm look and a manner that helps
people to open up and trust in the decisions imparted
by the HR AI. After hours, she takes her frustration out on
her employees. She’s not above stalking them.

Geoffrey Haggis
Programming director of Blue Whales Interactive. Geoffrey
is a self-made man of power. As a Programming Direc-
tor, he married an ex-Miss Universe, Eleonore Podgorski.
He talks down to people until they prove themselves to be
equal partners, not tools. Brutal and vulgar, he shows
his caring side only toward his son, Fredo. He is some-
times abusive towards both his employees and family.

Herman Tick
Tick comes from the lower class. He lives mostly in the
games. Tick is a king of Trolls who takes pride in being
banned from many virtualias. Trolling is his way of life.
He’s a weirdo with a military past connecting him with
Old Yet.

Ken Zhou
Born in Low City, Ken has a massive sense of justice.
He played for Goodabads, one of the most popular
esports teams. Unfortunately, he quit his career in a fit
of rage provoked by Ticks’s Trolls. He vehemently hates
cheaters and trolls. Ken can be hot-headed. He will be
a mirror image of Gamedec in many ways and will try
to gain the player’s trust.

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Kid

Kid was trying to escape poverty and looking for an easy

way to make money. He found a perfect opportunity
noticing high profits at online auctions generated by
“Nanette’s Gardens.” Kid worked for Nanette and showed
her ways to modify the program.

Old Yet

Old yet is the informal leader of the Sleeves. After his

military service, he got a small pension and a broken
robot, Rick. He fixed the robot, complaining that they
were both considered broken by the army and thrown
away. He bought an old striptease joint and turned
it into a bar. He allows Trolls to hang out there and use
couches to browse the Net because they pay, but he’s
not a fan of that faction. He used to be friends with
Cam Grozny but recently stopped trusting her.

Ramona

Her goal is to move out of Low City and provide a better

life for her beloved grandfather. She is a member of the
Sleeves. A hard worker and risk-taker, she’s never feared
to take on tasks typical of the sleeve. Trying to escape
poverty, she joined the Hon Clan to recruit for them.

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 Umbra

She presents herself as a High City person. She is

a sadist, gladly dominating people in Twisted and
Perverted. However, she spends most of her time in the
Knight’s Code. She likes to manipulate people and watch
them jump to her whistle. She respects when some-
one can stand up to her and conduct a meaningful and
substantive conversation with a touch of flirtation.

Venon Vera

An idealist battered by the world. He is a genius, self-

taught engineer. He designed the first CKM buoys but
got scammed by the corporations. He is now desper-
ately trying to earn enough for a motomb and retire.
These days, Venon seems not to care about anything
except money. He follows no regulations nor orders
but, as an expert on old CKM Buoys, is impossible
to fire. He deals with problems in his own way and is
very efficient.

These are some of the characters you will find along the way,
but certainly not all of them. The above information should be
useful when you traverse both real and sensory worlds looking
for clues and interactions.

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 DEDUCTION

When we started working on Gamedec, we knew that simulating

the detective experience would be our top priority.  We weren’t,
of course, the first developers to include investigations as a primary
element of the game and not the first ones to build systems around
it, but we believe there is still something interesting to be done
with that kind of gameplay.

What we wanted to avoid was the checklist-deduction, by which you

can get to the correct answer only after gathering a specific amount
of evidence. It›s a binary state in which you must fill the checklist and
get the right deduction, or you›re unable to progress. Other examples
of designs we didn›t want to incorporate in Gamedec include ones
where the player almost instantly gets feedback about whether he is
right or not. In other words, there is this objective, all-knowing force
that can, with all certainty, tell you what happened and pass judg-
ment. And you, as the player, can only agree with The Truth or not,
which to us is not that fun or realistic.

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So our approach is different. On the one side, you gather info
–  this can be a statement, some intel, your findings, pieces
of evidence, etc. They unlock the possible interpretation of facts
(i.e., deductions). They are usually phrased in a precise way –
e.g., if someone tells you they were unconscious during the mur-
der, the deduction screen will state that “they say they were
unconscious,” and not “they were unconscious.” Finding and in-
terpreting contradictory statements is up to you.

But the more critical part of deduction is on the right side

of the screen. Those are the actual deductions: gamedec’s
understanding of the investigation — a spanning network

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of choices that unlock the next set of reasoning structures.
And, of course, there will be moments when you make the
deduction and are corrected minutes later (e.g., when you
deduce someone ran into the alley, and after going there you
see no trace of the perpetrator). But most of the time, the
game will allow you to roll with it.
What is extremely important is that what you think happened
is not the same as what you think *about* what happened.
So you can deduce that a person is responsible for murder
(and you may or may not be right), but you can still decide
whether you would condemn them or let them free, depending
on what you think about the whole context.

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 ASPECTS

When we started working on Gamedec, the idea of transfer-

ring pen & paper roleplaying experience onto the comput-
er screen was one of our most important goals. What we
aimed for was simulating the fact that your character, during
p&p sessions, is a work in progress, defined by choices, with
character traits emerging in the most unexpected situa-
tions. That’s why we decided to go with the aspects.

Aspects are elements of Gamedec’s characterization that cover

many different sides of a character – some of them are typical
traits, while some describe assets in possession of your character,
Aspects can also tell you about Gamedec’s background or skills.
Think of them as tags, if you like.

A few of them we gain during character creation. After

answering a set of questions, you are presented with
a bunch of Aspects that seem to define your character best.
You will gain most of them during your playthrough. Choosing
a vicious answer during dialogue or showing MacGyverish
levels of problem-solving skills will give you certain aspects.
Beware – you may also lose Aspects. For example:

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if you have the “Rich” Aspect, people from higher reaches of
society will be more willing to talk with you. If you spend too much
money, you will lose the “Rich” tag, and dialogue options
available before will be greyed out.

This is where it gets interesting. Aspects, while describing

your character further, are here for a different reason. They
are used as a currency for unlocking different branches of the
Profession tree. And Professions are – next to the Deduction
system – your primary way of leading your investigations. Think
of them as skills you obtain to unlock specific dialogue options
or environmental actions. Want to manipulate your suspect?
Professions are your answer – unlock a profession to be a mas-
ter in people skills. Locked door? Bypass the lock if you chose
to go with a “Hacker” profession.

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 PROFESSIONS

Every gamedec has a story to tell about a life they once had.
Every one of them has a background that shapes the way they
see the world and defines their approach to problem-solv-
ing. It’s like second nature - sometimes long forgotten, other
times locked away like a bad dream.

This is how professions work in our game – on the mechanical

level, they define character progress. On a narrative one – they
help you flesh out details about your gamedec’s past.

When navigating the profession tree – you can choose whether

you are a focused expert, brilliant in one chosen field, or rather
a jack of all trades, master of none. The latter gives you specific
freedom of approach when dealing with day-to-day challenges
of medium difficulty. Still, it might be impossible to tackle
complicated situations – you won›t be in control anymore, left
with a need to improvise and hope for the best.

For example, let’s say you have a pack of three bottom-tier

professions, like influencer, medic, and technician. That would
allow you to work your natural charisma to manipulate people
around you, find hidden data caches that belong to virtualia
designers, and give someone CPR. But if you were to invest
fully in the  news-related branch (that is: go from influencer

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to journalist, reporter and, finally, a swapper), you would be-
come a real information broker. You have a press pass, your
own informants, the ability to install and disable micro-camer-
as, and an inhuman ability to find your way into any database.

On the other hand – being an expert in a specific path lets

you thrive in some environments but leaves you somewhat
awkward in others. Not every case can be solved only by your
vast knowledge of Chi-Tong - a programming language based
on ideograms, allowing you to hack the hell out of everything.
Sometimes, you might need to be able to perform a field oper-
ation or use the strength of your muscles.

What you might find difficult, as a player, is to resist tempta-

tions – since you are retro-actively defining your background,
we allow you to unlock professions mid-interactions. During
a dialogue with a character, you will see profession-specific
choices, even those you did not choose, and – if you have the
aspects needed – you can unlock them at that very moment.

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 CODEX

Codex tracks your progress, clues you find, and information about
almost every significant event or character you see on your way.
Unlike deduction, the codex collects information between all the
cases you have started and/or solved. Codex is a data center that
includes interviews about specific topics or characters. It might
be an advertisement or a piece from a newspaper. You can come
back to the codex at any time to get more data.

When reading about a specific character, sometimes you will

find a bolded phrase that is clickable and will redirect you

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to another entry, which will further explain the term you were
reading about or is simply connected to the previous one.
We strongly advise you to carefully read the codex every time
you unlock an entry – it expands your know-how about the
world. It might cast a new light on the case you’re on at the
moment or describe the behavior of a specific character you’re
about to interview.
ENDING
Well done, Gamedec! Your training is now
complete. We feel you are ready to dive
into the game with basic knowledge.
Don’t be confused about the terms and
characters you might find along the way.
Happy case-solving. Warsaw City awaits!
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 Anshar Studios
Writer: Mateusz Greloch
Editorial Design: Marta Słupska, Marta Szudyga
Publisher: Eugeniusz Waloch
Illustrations: Gamedec Art Team
Project Manager: Jakub Kwinta, Krzysztof Wojdyła

Special Thanks:
Krzysztof Biegański, Marcin Rybiński, Marcin S. Przybyłek, Porsche Steele,
Dante Robinson

Gamedec: The Official Guidebook

© 2021 Anshar Studios. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the express written
permission of Anshar Studios Spółka Akcyjna. Names, characters, places, and incidents
featured in this publication either are the product of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, instittions,
or locales, without satiric intent, is coincidental.

Published by Drukarnia Cyfrowa ARAMIS

ul. Kościuszki 229, 40-600 Katowice
First Edition: April 2021
Printed in Poland

www.ansharstudios.com
www.gamedec.com

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