Aberration Analyst

Aberration Analyst is a game prototype in which the player must process incomplete and unreliable data in order to determine the locations of monsters.  The player is an analyst whose decisions will determine the fate of a team of monster hunters and specialists.  

Players have various tools at their disposal in order to achieve their goal.  

Tabloids
Tabloids are a good place to start looking for information about monster sightings and attacks.  Unfortunately, the tabloids also have two major weaknesses.  First, they are unreliable, and cannot be trusted by themselves.  Second, their availability is limited, only ten headlines are released per day.

Police Reports
More reliable than Tabloids, but they do not tend to contain any information that an officer would have thought better of writing down.  Players must pay to view police reports for each city.  They provide a good avenue to determine what kinds of events are happening in a particular location, but sometimes they are confusing and may be cluttered with unrelated criminal activity.

Coroner Reports
Dead bodies don't lie.  The coroner reports are more pricey to view, but they may provide the most solid evidence available.  Each monster has a particular M.O. and it is mainly through coroner reports that these patterns can be established with certainty.  Still players may opt to skip them if their budget is tight.

Aberrations
Aberrations represent the source or hub of monster activities.  A coven of witches, a nest of vampires or a portal to the netherworld are all types of aberrations.  It is these central points that are most dangerous, but also most rewarding to the player.  If the player can shut down all the aberrations, then the game can be won.  

Teams
General teams are great when hunting monsters.  Team members are usually capable of capturing or killing any type of monster.  However, there is always a chance of injury or death.

Specialists are useful if team member casualties are a concern (which they should be!) and they will be much more effective in safely disposing of the monsters they focus on.  However, sometimes it's not always obvious which monster a player may have located, so choose carefully. 

Aberration specialists are costly, but absolutely necessary when trying to shut down an aberration.  This means a player must first identify the type of monster, then the location of the aberration, before selecting the right team.  Sending an unprepared team, even of specialists, to an aberration can be a fatal error.  But sending aberration specialists to the wrong location can kill your budget!

Budget
With all things there is a price.  The player must manage a budget and make sure they are not burning money.  Successfully defeating monsters can help, and shutting down aberration will result in a nice bonus, but running  a network of monster hunters has a lot of overhead costs involved.  Make sure your specialists are only called out when necessary!