Bug Tracking for Social Deduction Games

Social deduction games depend on a delicate structure of hidden information: players have secret roles, some know things others do not, and the game is about deducing the hidden roles through discussion and trust. This makes a specific bug class catastrophic, the information leak, where a bug reveals hidden information a player should not have, who the impostor is, what a secret role is, which completely ruins the game by destroying the information asymmetry the whole experience depends on. Like asymmetric multiplayer but with hidden information as the core, social deduction bugs require capturing the roles and information state. Tracking them means capturing that context, especially to catch leaks.

Hidden information is the whole game

A social deduction game is built entirely on hidden information and information asymmetry: players have secret roles, certain players know things others do not, and the gameplay is the social process of deducing the hidden roles through discussion, accusation, and trust. The hidden information, who is the impostor, what is each player secret role, what does each player know, is the foundation, since the deduction only works if the information is genuinely hidden.

This makes the integrity of the hidden information sacred, and a bug that compromises it catastrophic. If a bug reveals hidden information a player should not have, showing who the impostor is, exposing a secret role, leaking what another player knows, it destroys the game, since the deduction is pointless if the information is not actually hidden. The information leak is the cardinal bug of the genre, far worse than in other games, because it does not just affect functionality but obliterates the core experience. Understanding that hidden information is the whole game, and that leaking it is catastrophic, frames the bug tracking: capturing the roles and information state, with particular vigilance for leaks.

Capture the roles and per-role information

The core context for a social deduction bug is the player roles and the per-role information state, who has which secret role, and what information each role has access to, since the genre is built on roles with asymmetric information, much like an asymmetric multiplayer game but with the information as the core. Capture each player role and the information their role should and should not have, so a bug is diagnosable in terms of the role and information structure.

Capturing the per-role information state is especially important for diagnosing information leaks, since a leak is a player having information their role should not, and to detect and reproduce it you need to know what information each role should have versus what the bug exposed. A report of seeing something they should not becomes diagnosable when you can see the player role and the information it should have, revealing the leak. Capturing the roles and per-role information is the foundation, providing the role-and-information structure against which a leak or a role-logic bug can be identified, which is essential for the genre whose core is exactly this hidden-information structure.

Hunt for information leaks

The most critical social deduction bug to hunt is the information leak, where the game reveals hidden information a player should not have, and these can be subtle: information leaked through the network even if not displayed, a tell in the UI or game state that exposes a role, a timing or behavior difference that reveals hidden information, since a determined player might extract leaked information even from data not meant to be shown. Capture and watch for any sign of hidden information reaching the wrong players.

Information leaks are especially insidious because they can be exploited quietly, a player who discovers a leak gains an unfair advantage without it being obvious, like an exploit, so they may not be reported directly and you must watch for them. Capture the per-role information state and what was actually accessible, and audit the information your game sends to each player, since a common leak is sending hidden information to a client that should not have it, even if the client does not display it. Hunting for information leaks, capturing the information state and auditing what reaches each player, is the most important part of social deduction bug tracking, since the leak is the genre catastrophic, integrity-destroying bug.

Capture the session and role logic

Social deduction games are multiplayer, so capture a session ID to correlate reports across the players in a game, since a bug, especially a leak or a role-interaction bug, involves multiple players and their differing role perspectives, and correlating by session lets you see the bug from each role, as in any asymmetric multiplayer game. The session context is essential for reconstructing a multiplayer social deduction bug from the players involved.

Capture the role logic state too, the role assignments, the role abilities, the game phase (discussion, voting, action), and the voting and elimination state, since social deduction has role-logic bugs beyond leaks, a role ability that misfires, a voting bug, an elimination that resolves wrong, that depend on the role and phase state. A report of a role or voting bug becomes diagnosable when you can see the role logic and phase. Capturing the session, for the multiplayer correlation, and the role logic and phase, for the role-mechanic bugs, covers the multiplayer and game-logic dimensions of social deduction bugs, alongside the information state where the catastrophic leaks live.

Setting it up with Bugnet

Add an in-game report option and attach the player roles, the per-role information state, the role logic and phase, and a session ID as custom fields. Bugnet stores them so a social deduction bug arrives with the role-and-information context needed to reproduce a role-logic bug and, crucially, to identify and reproduce an information leak by seeing what information each role should have versus what was exposed.

Group identical reports into occurrence counts, use the session ID to correlate across the players in a game, and watch especially for any reports suggesting information leaks, since these are the catastrophic bugs. Because hidden information is the whole game and a leak destroys it, this context capture, with particular attention to the information state and what reaches each player, is what lets you catch the information leaks that would ruin the genre core experience, alongside the role-logic and multiplayer bugs, keeping the hidden-information integrity that social deduction absolutely depends on intact.

Audit information delivery to clients

Beyond reactive bug tracking, proactively audit what information your game sends to each client, since the most common and dangerous information leak is sending hidden information to a client that should not have it, even if the client does not display it, because a determined player can inspect the network traffic or game data to extract the leaked information. Auditing the information delivery, ensuring each client receives only the information its role should have, is the key prevention for leaks.

This server-authoritative information discipline, sending each player only what they should know rather than sending everything and hiding it client-side, is the architectural defense against leaks, much as server-side validation is the defense against cheating. Combine this proactive auditing with your captured reports and leak-watching, so you both prevent leaks by design and catch any that slip through. Auditing information delivery to clients, ensuring hidden information never reaches players who should not have it, is the most important practice for social deduction integrity, since it prevents the catastrophic leaks at the source rather than relying on hiding information that has already been improperly sent.

In social deduction, leaked hidden information ruins the game. Capture the roles and info state, and audit what each client receives.