How to Play

CryptoCam is a game you play outdoors with your phone. There is no lobby and no tutorial level: the map is the world map, and everything you record stays recorded. This page explains the loop from the first sighting to a traded specimen.

What you need

• The game installed on Android (API 24 and newer) or iOS.
• Location permission: the map is built out of your position, and sighting points are placed relative to where you physically are.
• Camera permission: every field report starts with a photograph.
• A network connection for anything that has to be generated or saved.

Step 1. Find a sighting point

Points appear on the map around you and they are not random per player: the same tile generates the same points for everybody, and they last for a day before they rotate. That means two researchers can walk to the same point and compare what they get.

Three kinds of markers exist:

• Cryptid sightings: the ones that matter. Walk within range and you can photograph the animal.
• Credit pickups: small amounts of in-game currency, free to collect.
• Lootboxes: a mix of items, some of them premium.

Distance is verified on the server, so a point has to be reached on foot. Moving faster than a person can move gets the position rejected.

Step 2. Document it

Documentation costs a film roll from your inventory and produces a permanent record:

1. Stand in range of the marker and open the camera.
2. Frame whatever is there and take the photo. The photo is the evidence; it is stored with the record.
3. The institute analyses the photo together with the weather and the map data for that spot, and writes the species report: a common name, a Latin classification, a rarity, a description and an illustration.
4. The report is published on the discoveries feed and indexed in the field guide.

Documentation makes you the discoverer. That credit never changes hands, no matter who ends up owning the specimen. That is why a species entry can list one researcher as finder and another as current owner.

Generation takes a moment (an image has to be produced), so a new entry shows up with its report slightly after you take the photo, and you get a notification when it is ready. If something goes wrong during processing, the entry records the reason instead of staying half-finished.

Step 3. Try to capture it

A capture item is a separate resource from a film roll. Using one starts a capture attempt against a specimen you have documented:

• It can succeed or fail, and it is not guaranteed by rarity alone.
• A successful capture gives the specimen an individual name and a modified illustration: the individual, as opposed to the species.
• Capturing transfers ownership to you. It does not remove the original discovery credit.
• A failed attempt tells you why and costs the item.

Specimens stored in a vault cannot be captured by anyone else, which is what the vault is for.

Credits, items and research level

Credits are the in-game currency. They come from pickups, daily logins, completed assignments, successful documentation, battles and lootboxes. They are spent in the shop on film rolls, lures, capture items and battle passes.

Research level rises with research points from documenting and completing assignments. A higher level unlocks better items and marks your profile as experienced.

A lure attracts a sighting to your current area, which is useful when you are stuck somewhere with nothing nearby. A detector extends how far you can see sightings on the map.

Assignments

Assignments are the game's quests. They are generated for where you are, so they ask for things that are realistically reachable: document a specimen of a given rarity, travel a distance, capture something specific. Completing one pays out credits, research points, film rolls, lures or capture items.

Battles

Battles are PvP, turn-based and opt-in. You and your opponent each pick a specimen and choose a move per turn; the outcome and the narrative are generated, and both players get the round explained in their own language. Damage is calculated per turn, but winners are decided over several turns. Draws happen, and losing a specimen permanently is rare.

Trading, the vault and minting

• Auction house: list a captured specimen with a starting price and an optional buyout. The highest bid when the timer ends takes ownership.
• Vault: storage that protects a specimen from capture attempts.
• Minting: a specimen can be minted as a collectible that carries its field report as metadata. Minting does not change who discovered it.

Practical tips

• Check the map before walking somewhere. Points rotate daily, so a wasted trip is avoidable.
• Keep one film roll in reserve; running out mid-route is the usual frustration.
• Documentation is cheap and permanent; captures are not. Document everything you pass.
• Weather and terrain are part of the input, so the same spot in different conditions is worth revisiting.
• Read the field guide before trading. A species with many specimens is usually worth less than a rare one.

CryptoCam is in Early Access, so mechanics can change between versions. If something behaves differently from this page, the update log is the record of what changed, and support is where to report it.