Behind the scenes

How an Ostraka investigation comes to life: choosing the memory, the workshops, checking the facts, the pictures and the Archive that keeps them.

One memory a day

Every investigation starts from a memory many people share: a place, a work of art, a famous person, an event, an invention, a character. Cases are prepared several days ahead, varying periods, regions of the world and fields, from the arts to the sciences.

Three workshops, three traces

A workshop isn't there to trick you: it takes a minute or two and needs no specialist knowledge. By solving it, you bring out a trace (a place, a date, a person…) that brings you closer to the memory. No trace gives the answer away on its own: you find it by putting them together.

Checked facts

The dates, figures and anecdotes in every case are checked against recognised sources (encyclopaedias, museums, institutions) before publication. A case is only published once all its facts are; an anecdote that can't be established is replaced.

Did a mistake slip through? Write to us at hello@playostraka.com with the date of the investigation.

Pictures that are deliberately off

The illustrations are made with a generative artificial intelligence tool, from a scene written for each case, then reviewed and redone when needed. They never show a real person: the memory is re-enacted, slightly wrong, by the inhabitants of the Archive.

That's on purpose: the picture sets the mood, sometimes raises a smile, but the traces are what lead you to the answer.

The Archive and its inhabitants

The Archive keeps the world's memories. It has read and seen everything, but gets humans slightly wrong: it takes sayings literally and sometimes mixes up two memories. Every day, one of them fades, and it has to be restored.

Its inhabitants are small creatures made of shards mended with gold. They work in the Archive's workshops: the Sorter sorts, the Binder puts pages back in order, the Copyist matches, the Censor spots what doesn't belong, the Surveyor measures…

And because it quotes without knowing it's quoting, the Archive sometimes slips into its stories a nod it doesn't recognise itself. Sharp-eyed players will spot it.

A game that keeps growing

Ostraka is free, with no ads, and gets better with its players' feedback. An idea, a memory you'd like to see? Write to us at hello@playostraka.com or on Instagram.